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Jewish Groups at the Time of Christ

Today we’re going to look at various Jewish groups that were around at the time of Christ (in His physical incarnation on earth).

Various sources used for research (outside of direct Biblical text):

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2846/2846-h/2846-h.htm
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (1996). Life Application Study Bible New Living Translation. Wheaton, IL.
Tremper Longman III (2013). The Baker Illustrated Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Pharisees. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.
Johnson, B. T. (2016). Pharisees. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
Draper, C. W. with Harrop Clayton. (2003). Jewish Parties in the New Testament. In C. Brand, C. Draper, A. England, S. Bond, E. R. Clendenen, & T. C. Butler (Eds.), Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (p. 918). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
Scott, J. J., Jr. (1996). Pharisees. In Evangelical dictionary of biblical theology (electronic ed., p. 608). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.
Saldarini, A. J. (1992). Pharisees. In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 5). New York: Doubleday.
https://www.gotquestions.org/sects-of-Judaism.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/Pharisees.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/Sadducees.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/Sadducees-Pharisees.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/Essenes.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/scribes-Jesus.html
https://www.gotquestions.org/Sanhedrin.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_religious_movements#Sects_in_the_Second_Temple_period
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanhedrin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadducees
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essenes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zealots
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judas_of_Galilee
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucid_Empire
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maccabean_Revolt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasmonean_dynasty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbinic_Judaism
https://bible.org/seriespage/pharisees
https://bible.org/seriespage/3-sadducees
https://bible.org/seriespage/essenes

https://www.amazon.com/Accidental-Pharisees-Avoiding-Exclusivity-Overzealous/dp/0310494443/ is an interesting book. While I don’t necessarily agree with everything the author says, he does make some good points about avoiding falling into the same kinds of traps as the Pharisees.

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List of Groups

Sects/philosophies:

Pharisees
Sadducees
Essenes
Fourth Philosophy - Zealots?

Other terms:

Sanhedrin
Scribes
Chief priests
Elders
Lawyers
Rulers
Herodians
“the Jews”

On the left is a list of the major Jewish “sects” or “philosophical schools” at this time. These will be our focus today. The first 3 of these groups are primarily religious in nature - differing around specific religious beliefs. The last group is more of a political group, which we’ll get into later. However, all of them had some form of political influence at various times, although there overall influence on society may be overstated at times.

On the right is a list of other terms that you may see related to Jewish groups that we won’t really be focusing on today. However, they’re important to be aware of as you may encounter these terms if you read the Bible or do other research. In general, you can think of these terms as the right as either being different “roles” that someone in one of the religious sects might occupy or as some other group that wasn’t necessarily primarily organized around some particular religious beliefs. Comments on some of these groups:

Sanhedrin - Jewish ruling council with highest judicial authority at time of Christ, charged by Romans to maintain order at this time. May go all the way back to Moses gathering 70 elders for assistance (Numbers 11:16-17) or during the time of Ezra. Contained at least some Pharisees and Sadducees (Acts 23:6). Included high priest, chief priests, elders, and scribes (Mark 14:53).
Scribes - Generally a role for someone skilled in reading/writing (able to scribe things, particular in relation to the Jewish law).
Herodians - The Herodians largely supported the kingly dynasty of Herod as appointed by the Romans. They’re mentioned 3 times in Gospels, collaborating with the Pharisees (https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=Herodian&qs_version=ESV), but there’s not much else about them.
“the Jews” - The Gospel of John in particular generically refers to “the Jews” numerous times in situations that seem similar to those in the other Gospel accounts where more specific religious groups are identified.

As a note before we dig in deeper, we don’t really have information on most of these groups. The New Testament and Josephus (potentially a Pharisee for at least a portion of his life) are the main sources of information, with some later Rabbinic writings possibly shedding more insight (potentially due to Judaism after the fall of the temple in 70 AD largely descending from the Pharisees). Some scholars question the reliability of Josephus in certain areas (thinking it may have been too biased).

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Origin of First 3 Groups

586 BC - Southern kingdom of Judah falls to Babylonians
538 BC - First Jewish exiles return to Jerusalem
516 BC - Temple in Jerusalem rebuilt
458 BC - Ezra returns to Jerusalem
445 BC - Nehemiah rebuilds wall in Jerusalem
430 BC - Malachi (last OT prophet)
331 BC - Alexander the Great (Macedonia/Greece) defeats Persians
323 BC - Seleucid Empire
167 BC - Maccabean Revolt

Hasmonean dynasty - Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes believed to have emerged

63 BC - Romans invade Israel
37 BC - Herod appointed king of Judea by Romans

None of the groups we’re going to look at today existed in the Old Testament, but they show up in the New Testament. So how did they come about? When did they form?

The above shows a basic timeline of events (*dates are approximate - may be off by a few years) toward the end of what’s recorded in the Old Testament up to close to when Jesus was born. As you can see from this timeline, the Jews were in exile for a while, and even though they got to return to their Promised Land at some point (in which Ezra worked to bring about somewhat of a revival to turn the Jews back to God), there was still a lot of political upheaval and subjection under other governing authorities.

It is during this time, this kind of environment, where we start to see records of some of groups. And specifically, they largely seemed to appear during the Hasmonean Dynasty.

After Alexander the Great died, his generals had conflict about succession to his throne. It was split into 4 different kingdoms, and the Seleucid one basically won out control of Israel and ruled until the Maccabean revolt, which led to the Hasmonean dynasty of priest-kings (Maccabees/Hasmoneans are basically same family). The Maccabean revolt was largely spurned on by attack on the Jewish temple/religious customs by Antiochus IV Epiphanes. This Hasmonean dynasty lasted until the Romans cemented control (they invaded around 63 BC but didn’t really establish control until later).

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Pharisees

Most commonly mentioned in NT (95 times)
Name possibly derived from word meaning “to separate”
Held great influence over common people
Focus on righteousness, pleasing God, knowledge of Law
Beliefs:

Both divine fate + human action affect things
Soul is eternal - either eternal reward or punishment
Resurrection
Oral tradition in addition to Scripture

https://biblehub.com/greek/5330.htm

From Josephus - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2846/2846-h/2846-h.htm:

General overview:

“Now, for the Pharisees, they live meanly, and despise delicacies in diet; and they follow the conduct of reason; and what that prescribes to them as good for them they do; and they think they ought earnestly to strive to observe reason's dictates for practice. They also pay a respect to such as are in years; nor are they so bold as to contradict them in any thing which they have introduced; and when they determine that all things are done by fate, they do not take away the freedom from men of acting as they think fit; since their notion is, that it hath pleased God to make a temperament, whereby what he wills is done, but so that the will of man can act virtuously or viciously. They also believe that souls have an immortal rigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again; on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people; and whatsoever they do about Divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their direction; insomuch that the cities give great attestations to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their lives and their discourses also.”

“the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skillful in the exact explication of their laws, and introduce the first sect. These ascribe all to fate [or providence], and to God, and yet allow, that to act what is right, or the contrary, is principally in the power of men, although fate does co-operate in every action. They say that all souls are incorruptible, but that the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies,—but that the souls of bad men are subject to eternal punishment.”

On focus of the Pharisees:

“that they knew he was desirous to be a righteous man, and to do all things whereby he might please God, which was the profession of the Pharisees also”

“For there was a certain sect of men that were Jews, who valued themselves highly upon the exact skill they had in the law of their fathers, and made men believe they were highly favored by God, by whom this set of women were inveigled. These are those that are called the sect of the Pharisees, who were in a capacity of greatly opposing kings.”

“the Pharisees joined themselves to her, to assist her in the government. These are a certain sect of the Jews that appear more religious than others, and seem to interpret the laws more accurately”

“sect of the Pharisees, which are supposed to excel others in the accurate knowledge of the laws of their country”

On influence of the Pharisees:

“These have so great a power over the multitude, that when they say any thing against the king, or against the high priest, they are presently believed.”

“put some of her authority into the hands of the Pharisees; for that they would commend her for the honor she had done them, and would reconcile the nation to her for he told her they had great authority among the Jews, both to do hurt to such as they hated, and to bring advantages to those to whom they were friendly disposed; for that they are then believed best of all by the multitude when they speak any severe thing against others”

“So she had indeed the name of the regent, but the Pharisees had the authority; for it was they who restored such as had been banished, and set such as were prisoners at liberty, and, to say all at once, they differed in nothing from lords.”

“But these Pharisees artfully insinuated themselves into her favor by little and little, and became themselves the real administrators of the public affairs: they banished and reduced whom they pleased; they bound and loosed [men] at their pleasure; 4 and, to say all at once, they had the enjoyment of the royal authority, whilst the expenses and the difficulties of it belonged to Alexandra.”

“while she governed other people, and the Pharisees governed her.”

On the topic of “divine fate” and human actions:

“At this time there were three sects among the Jews, who had different opinions concerning human actions; the one was called the sect of the Pharisees, another the sect of the Sadducees, and the other the sect of the Essens. Now for the Pharisees, 11 they say that some actions, but not all, are the work of fate, and some of them are in our own power, and that they are liable to fate, but are not caused by fate. But the sect of the Essens affirm, that fate governs all things, and that nothing befalls men but what is according to its determination. And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal; but they suppose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the causes of what is good, and receive what is evil from our own folly.”

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Sadducees

Mentioned only 14 times in NT
Name possibly derived from “son of Zadok” (high priest during time of David)
Aristocratic - less influence over common people
Stricter punishment than Pharisees
Beliefs:

Reject divine fate - only human action affect things
Soul dies along with body
No resurrection
Authority of Scripture only and not oral tradition

Mentioned much less frequently in NT (and the few references with details to beliefs are mostly related to single issue of resurrection).

https://biblehub.com/greek/4523.htm

From Josephus - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm:

General overview:

“But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the bodies; nor do they regard the observation of any thing besides what the law enjoins them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent: but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity. But they are able to do almost nothing of themselves; for when they become magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be, they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the multitude would not otherwise bear them.”

“But the Sadducees are those that compose the second order, and take away fate entirely, and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is evil; and they say, that to act what is good, or what is evil, is at men's own choice, and that the one or the other belongs so to every one, that they may act as they please. They also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades. Moreover, the Pharisees are friendly to one another, and are for the exercise of concord, and regard for the public; but the behavior of the Sadducees one towards another is in some degree wild, and their conversation with those that are of their own party is as barbarous as if they were strangers to them.”

On sphere of influence:

“the Sadducees are able to persuade none but the rich, and have not the populace obsequious to them, but the Pharisees have the multitude on their side”

On stricter punishment than Pharisees:

“So the Pharisees made answer, that he deserved stripes and bonds, but that it did not seem right to punish reproaches with death. And indeed the Pharisees, even upon other occasions, are not apt to be severe in punishments.”

“he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, 23 who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews”

On disregarding oral tradition:

“What I would now explain is this, that the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the laws of Moses; and for that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them, and say that we are to esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers.”

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Essenes

Not mentioned in NT
Qumran (Dead Sea Scrolls) community may have been Essenes
Isolated selves from society but strong community
Highly regarded for pure lives and having divine insight into the future
Beliefs:

Divine fate, not human action, affects things
Soul is eternal
Souls escape bodily prisons
Ascetic lifestyle - hold all things in common, avoided pleasure, devoted to prayer, deep study, superior sacrifices to typical temple ones

From Josephus - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm:

*Josephus’ Jewish War (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm) goes into much greater detail on the Essenes in book 2, chapter 8.

Some Essenes seem to avoid marriage out of purity, but others see it as necessary for continuation of human population.

General overview:

“The doctrine of the Essens is this: That all things are best ascribed to God. They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for; and when they send what they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer sacrifices 3 because they have more pure lustrations of their own; on which account they are excluded from the common court of the temple, but offer their sacrifices themselves; yet is their course of life better than that of other men; and they entirely addict themselves to husbandry. It also deserves our admiration, how much they exceed all other men that addict themselves to virtue, and this in righteousness; and indeed to such a degree, that as it hath never appeared among any other men, neither Greeks nor barbarians, no, not for a little time, so hath it endured a long while among them. This is demonstrated by that institution of theirs, which will not suffer any thing to hinder them from having all things in common; so that a rich man enjoys no more of his own wealth than he who hath nothing at all. There are about four thousand men that live in this way, and neither marry wives, nor are desirous to keep servants; as thinking the latter tempts men to be unjust, and the former gives the handle to domestic quarrels; but as they live by themselves, they minister one to another. They also appoint certain stewards to receive the incomes of their revenues, and of the fruits of the ground; such as are good men and priests, who are to get their corn and their food ready for them. They none of them differ from others of the Essens in their way of living, but do the most resemble those Dacae who are called Polistae 4 [dwellers in cities].”

On being held in high regard:

“Herod had these Essens in such honor, and thought higher of them than their mortal nature required”

On having future insight:

“one of these Essens, whose name was Manahem, who had this testimony, that he not only conducted his life after an excellent manner, but had the foreknowledge of future events given him by God also.”

“many of these Essens have, by their excellent virtue, been thought worthy of this knowledge of Divine revelations”

“Judas, who was of the sect of the Essens, 31 and who never missed the truth in his predictions”

“Simon, a man of the sect of the Essens, desired leave to speak his mind freely, and said that the vision denoted a change in the affairs of Archelaus”

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Fourth Philosophy - Zealots?

From Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews:

“But of the fourth sect of Jewish philosophy, Judas the Galilean was the author. These men agree in all other things with the Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord. They also do not value dying any kinds of death, nor indeed do they heed the deaths of their relations and friends, nor can any such fear make them call any man lord.”

Josephus mentions an additional fourth philosophy in addition to the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. This fourth philosophy doesn’t seem to primarily be religious - rather it seems to have been started in 6 AD by Judas the Galilean and engaged in a short rebellion (referenced in Acts 5:37).

There’s some debate about whether this “fourth philosophy” is the same as the group known as the “Zealots” (although there are actually distinct sub-groups of Zealots, some of which may hot have emerged until after Jesus’ time on earth). There is a “Simon the Zealot” referred to in the Gospels (https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=Zealot&qs_version=ESV), but this may be more of a reference to his zealous faith - the term “zealot”, even when used by Josephus, is often used in a very generic sense.

From Josephus - http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2848/2848-h/2848-h.htm, http://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm:

“Yet was there one Judas, a Gaulonite, 1 of a city whose name was Gamala, who, taking with him Sadduc, 2 a Pharisee, became zealous to draw them to a revolt, who both said that this taxation was no better than an introduction to slavery, and exhorted the nation to assert their liberty”

“a certain Galilean, whose name was Judas, prevailed with his countrymen to revolt, and said they were cowards if they would endure to pay a tax to the Romans and would after God submit to mortal men as their lords. This man was a teacher of a peculiar sect of his own, and was not at all like the rest of those their leaders.”

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Summary

	Pharisees	Sadducees	Essenes
Societal interaction	Greater influence over common people	Greater influence over ruling elite	Isolationist but held in high regard
Who affects things	God + humans	Humans	God
Soul	Eternal	Dies with body	Eternal
Resurrection	Yes	No	Viewed bodies as prisons from which soul could escape
Law	Scripture + oral tradition	Scripture only	Complicated...but better sacrifices