During the days of His ministry, Jesus met a man who had been blind from birth and He healed him. The news spread far and wide and the Pharisees heard of it. Astonished and curious, they wanted to investigate the matter so they invited the healed blind man for interrogation. In the heat of the interrogation, this happened:
24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. (John 9:24-28).
At the time the Pharisees made this statement, Moses was long dead and gone – about a thousand years since. But Moses had received and left behind a rich document of laws – ceremonial laws, moral laws, religious laws, etc. – and the Pharisees were devoted to these laws. They learned it, taught it, and lived it, at least, in their own way; hence their boldness to think and say about themselves, “…we are Moses’ disciples”.
The claim of the Pharisees to be Moses’ disciples was not false; they were Moses’ disciples indeed, for even Jesus Christ made reference to it in His teaching, saying,
“The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.” Matthew 23:2-3
Some prominent Pharisees and disciples of Moses whose names were mentioned during the days of Jesus and His disciples were: Nicodemus (John 3:1), Gamaliel (Acts 5:34, Acts 22:3), Simon (Luke 7:36-50).