JEWISH POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES IN THE FIRST CENTURY
In the first century, the majority of the Jews lived in Judea, in the south, Galilee in the north, was heavily Gentile (“Galilee of the Gentiles,” Matt. 4:15). The Sadducees were the ruling hierarchy; the Pharisees and the Essenes were the “religious” of Israel, to which the scribes were attached or related; and the Zealots were the “freedom fighters.” The following are some comments about each of these groups.
THE SADDUCEES
The Sadducees were Israel’s priestly party. They controlled the temple and the Sanhedrin, the ruling council. The Sadducee comed from Zadok (Greek: Saddouk), a priest during David’s reign whose descendants held office in Israel from the time of Solomon (1 Kings 2:35). The Sadducees gave priority to the Torah over the rest of the Jewish Scriptures and did not believe in bodily resurrection. Their focus was on the temple and maintaining the status quo. it is believed that the Sadducees were responsible for the arrest and death of Jesus, whom they regarded as a dangerous revolutionary who might provoke a riot that would bring down the heavy hand of Rome. The Sadducees were linked with the temple; after its destruction in the year 70 they disappeared from the scene.
THE PHARISEES
The Pharisees were the “religious” of Israel. It is believed that the term Pharisees meant “separated one” because they avoided or separated themselves from anything that was impure. The Pharisees came to prominence in the years following the Maccabean uprising. In the first century A.D. they were middle-class fundamentalist laymen, and few in number - only six thousand, according to Josephus. In contrast to the Sadducees, they were much admired, especially for their learning and piety. The Pharisees believed in the whole of Scripture, not just the Torah; in an expanded law of “fence around the Torah” (stringent rules and regulations concerning the Sabbath an other matters); and in the resurrection of the dead (see Acts 23:8). It was the Pharisees who led the Jewish community after the fall of the temple and who determined the books that were accepted into the Jewish cannon.
The Pharisees believed the best way to reflect God was to keep the law. They challenged Jesus when they felt he did not do so - for instance, when he ate with sinners, healed lepers and broke the Sabbath. Jesus countered by saying the Pharisees paid more attention to the law than to matters of “justice and mercy and faith” (Matt. 23:23).
THE ZEALOTS
The Zealots were Jewish resistance fighters (“heirs of the Maccabees) who wanted to overthrow Rome. Galilee was a hotbed of Zealot activity). One of Jesus’ disciples was called Simon the Zealot, which may mean that he had been a Zealot. Some think that Judas Iscariot was a Zealot who became disillusioned with Jesus. It was the Zealots who provoked the uprising against Rome in the year 66, which precipitated the First Jewish War.
THE ESSENES
The Essenes, a term some believe means “pious one,” lived celibate lives in small semi-monastic communities (the “monks of Judaism”) like the one at Qumran on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. They believed they were Israel’s true remnant. Although a peaceful people, the Essenes were destroyed by the Roman Tenth Legion in the year 68 in the First Jewish War. Fortunately, they hid their “library” - some eight hundred manuscripts, including every book of the Old Testament except Esther - in clay jars in eleven caves near Qumran west of the Dead Sea, which were accidentally discovered by a Bedouin shepherd boy in 1947. The Qumran documents are the oldest extant Jewish Scriptures, some dating back to 250 B.C.
THE SCRIBES
The scribes were not a political party or religious community but professional people who could read and write. Their principal function was to copy, interpret and teach the Scriptures. They are variously referred to in the New Testament as scribes, “scribes of the Pharisees,” teachers and experts in the Law (of Moses).
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