The Sadducees

The system preached by Moses and the prophets was not the system operating in most of Judea by the arrival of Jesus. The Sadducees and Pharisees including the scribes were the dominating political and philosophical groups of Judea, although there was a third. The Sadducees espoused the hellenizing philosophy of the Hasmonean princes which had merged Church and State allowing the Levites to own land and collect taxes.

The Pharisees or Separatists abhorred all forms of Greek or any foreign influence. Aristobulus and the Sadducees opposed Hyrcanus II who was supported by the Pharisees. It was Aristobulus who had invited Rome to Judea to settle the dispute as to who should be the king.

When Pompey discovered Hyrcanus' claim was more legitimate, he gave away the gifts of Aristobulus considering them bribes and entered Jerusalem (63 B.C.). He executed many of the leaders of the Sadducees and allowed Hyrcanus to take the throne. The Sadducees retained their traditional priestly functions although altered slightly by Pompey to turn back some of the power granted by the Hasmoneans.

Herod the Idumite, on his accession to power in 37 B.C. attacked the Sadducees to thwart their influence. Even the Roman procurators of Judea found it necessary to remove the high priests due to corruption and the complaints of the people. The Romans wanted a peace in which to ply their trade and commerce. Romans were practical peace keepers.

The Sadducees were unpopular with the masses because of their tendency to side with the ruling power. They rejected likewise the oral traditions. They concluded that certain religious beliefs were the opiate of the people. They denied the resurrection, the immortality of the soul and the existence of angels which is hard to imagine in what we have come to know as a priestly role.

What did a Sadducee priests do? What policies did they promote? Israel was not a religion it was a kingdom and Judea was all that was left of it. Many of the duties of the priests are now the duties of modern government.

The Sanhedrin, composed in part by the Sadducees, was the council in Jerusalem. It had 71 members and met twice a week in the Temple. The Sanhedrin enacted laws and regulated the life of the people. It was presided over by the High Priest and had its own Temple police or guards to maintain order. Such rolls today are filled by superior and supreme courts. The Pharisees supplied an opposing party to the Sanhedrin

The Pharisees

The Pharisees were zealous Jews calling themselves Chasidim or "pious ones", and in history referred to as Jewish Puritans. They were patriotic and became more and more the popular leaders of the people. Under the oppression of the people by Herod and more and more the federal power of Rome the power of the Sadducees was becoming less desired. Not that Herod and Rome and even the Sadducees did not enjoy popularity under the growing wealth of commercialism, but under all great economic machinery there is a group who live where the rubber meets the road.

These Pharisitical separatists found a fertile ground for their love of the ancient traditions and the constitution of Israel. They spoke of liberty and freedom under their law, the law as they saw it.

Owing to their heroic history in their fight for independence the Pharisees enjoyed a certain influence over the hearts of people. Instead of the priests they became the sources of intellectual authority with certain power and prestige. They also became arrogant and conceited and eventually betrayed their own conservative ideals.

Matthew 23:2-4 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

The Pharisees represented the democratic tendency with a spiritual twist. The Pharisees were fond of preaching and teaching including the schooling of children and working in the missions, converting the gentiles and heathens. Many in Judaism were converts due to the zeal of the Pharisees. They cleared the way to what has become known as modern Christianity. They developed a proud and arrogant orthodoxy and an exaggerated formalism, which insisted on ceremonial details at the expense of the more important precepts of the Law.¹

They attached a great importance to their descent from Abraham not ever really understanding his purpose and repulsion to the very seats of authority they desired to create in the name of freedom. As is usual with those who assert freedom based on force and power, that freedom was defined in their own terms.

The precepts upon which they functioned has been incorporated into more modern states and religions. Now their jealous desire for exclusive nationalism and patrimonial control has been replaced by a cunning universalism. Such a progression is only natural from the same spirit of rigidity, vanity and control that guided them, their predecessors and successors. Just as patriotic nationalism and ritual orthodoxy are today replaced by a single minded mix of global union and ecumenicalism.

PAX ROMANA: Name given to the 200 years of internal peace in the Roman empire initiated by Caesar Augustus, who was hailed as the "peacemaker" and "savior" of Rome.

Possibly because of their bitter defeats or the comfortable positions the Pharisees openly opposed taking up arms but chose to recite their prayers, practice their rituals and condemn those who did not measure up to their expectations. While the Zealots were usually simply pharisitical men of action who ran out of patience with corruption, sin and the Roman presence. Their idea of a good prophet was a good military strategists who would overthrow the constitutional heretics of Judea.

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