{And not as their scribes} (kai ouch h(9373) hoi grammateis
aut(936e)). They had heard many sermons before from the regular
rabbis in the synagogues. We have specimens of these discourses
preserved in the Mishna and Gemara, the Jewish Talmud when both
were completed, the driest, dullest collection of disjounted
comments upon every conceivable problem in the history of
mankind. The scribes quoted the rabbis before them and were
afraid to express an idea without bolstering it up by some
predecessor. Jesus spoke with the authority of truth, the reality
and freshness of the morning light, and the power of God's
Spirit. This sermon which made such a profound impression ended
with the tragedy of the fall of the house on the sand like the
crash of a giant oak in the forest. There was no smoothing over
the outcome.