Jewish Groups

Lesson:

List the six Jewish groups on the board and ask students what they know about each group: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes Zealots, Scribes, Sanhedrin. After the outline presentation, ask students which group they would have belonged to and why.

(Note that the last two groups can overlap with the first four.) See also The NIV Study Bible, p. 1476, at Matthew 23.

1. Background
1. Jewish population estimated at around at 500,000 or 600,000
2. Only a fraction belonged to the four major religious parties or groups:
1. Pharisees,
2. Sadducees
3. Essenes
4. Zealots
3. Most of the Jews (approximately 95 percent), were unaffiliated with a religious party or sect.
1. the people of the land, the common folk,
2. They were alienated from the official religious hierarchy 
1. which made the religious code of conduct and rules of behavior 
2. and passed judgment on transgressors
2. Pharisees
1. Background
1. originated shortly after the Maccabean revolt 
2. an outgrowth of the Hasidim 
1. who had opposed the efforts of hellenization of Antiochus Epiphanes 
2. and had supported Mattathias in his rebellion against this paganization.
3. Pharisees were the largest religious party,
1. Pharisees Estimated at about 6,000 strong during the time of Herod the Great,
2. most members coming from the middle class.
2. Beliefs
1. The word "Pharisee" means "separatist."
2. The Pharisees separated themselves from any evil, including people:
1. the Romans 
1. they were pagan foreigners,
2. the common people: 
1. these could not or did not adhere to the smallest details of the rabbinic laws.
3. The Pharisees accepted as religiously authoritative the:
1. Tonth (the Pentateuch, the Prophets and the Writings) 
1. the God-given Scriptures we consider the Old Testament, 
2. the oral law and traditions, 
3. the interpretations and writings of outstanding rabbis in the past.
4. The Pharisees were a progressive party for they kept applying the Old Testament law to new and changing circumstances,
5. Restrictions:
1. Eating
1. A Pharisee could not eat at the house of a "sinner" 
1. (one who did not practice Phariseeism), 
2. but might entertain a sinner in his own house. 
1. He had to provide clothes, however, lest the sinner's own clothes be ritually impure.
2. Observance of the Sabbath
1. Some rabbis of the Pharisees forbade spitting on the bare ground during the Sabbath lest the action disturb the dirt and thus constitute plowing, which would break the prohibition of working on' the Sabbath. 
2. A woman should not look in the mirror on the Sabbath lest she see a gray hair, be tempted to pluck it out, yield to the temptation, and thereby work on the Sabbath. 
6. Legal loop-holes
1. Though one could not carry his clothes in his arms out of a burning house on the Sabbath, he could put on several layers of clothing and bring them out by wearing them.
2. A Pharisee was not supposed to travel on the Sabbath more than three-fifths of a mile from the town or city where he lived. But if he wished to go farther, on Friday he deposited food for two meals three-fifths of a mile from his home in the direction he wished to travel. The deposit' of food made that place his home-away-from-home, so that on the Sabbath he could travel yet another three-fifths of a mile.
7. Jesus and the Pharisees repeatedly clashed over the artificiality of such legalism.
3. The Good
1. Not all Pharisees, however, were legalistic; many of them had pure motives. 
2. The average Jew admired Pharisees as paragons' of virtue.
1. they were the mainstay of Judaism.
3. God had said that Israel was to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:6); 
1. the Pharisees took this call seriously
2. voluntarily took on themselves the strict rules of holiness that were to be followed by priests, 
1. even though they were not of the priestly family. 
4. The Pharisees were influential in synagogue worship, and in instructing the people regarding the Torah and the oral law. 
5. Many Pharisees were members of the Sanhedrin. 
6. After the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70, the rabbis emerged out of the Pharisees and became the foundation of orthodox Judaism in later centuries. 
3. Sadducees
1. Background
1. Smaller and less influential than the Pharisees, 
1. with whom they did not get along, 
2. the Sadducees also originated during the Hasmonean dynasty.
2. Beliefs
1. The Sadducees accepted as religiously authoritative:
1. the written Old Testament as the Word of God 
1. like the Pharisees,
2. but rejected the oral law and traditions of the ancient rabbis.
1. unlike the Pharisees
2. The Sadducees also did not believe in the resurrection after death, angels and spirits. 
1. The Sadducees' denial of the resurrection comes up a number of times in the New Testament, most interestingly in Matthew 22:23-33 when they bring that issue in a mocking way to Jesus; 
2. see Acts 23:6-10 for Paul's use of this denial to save himself. 
3. Most recent scholarship is agreed that the Sadducees accepted the whole of the Old Testament.
4. The Sadducees wanted to maintain the status quo and therefore resisted any contemporizing of the law lest they lose their favored positions of affluence and wealth
5. The Sadducees were wealthy, powerful aristocrats who maintained a friendly relationship with the Romans. 
6. They controlled the priesthood, and made sure that the high priest was always a Sadducee in order to maintain a good political relationship with the Roman authorities. 
1. Because of this, the Sadducean party disintegrated after the temple, the center of priestly power, was destroyed in A.D. 70. 

1. Essenes
1. Background
1. Like the Pharisees, the Essenes also grew out of the Hasidim but were an even more conservative group.
2. Beliefs
1. They lived an austere, ascetic existence, 
1. Some of them in monastic communities such as the one at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls originated.
2. They were often celibate
2. Believed in communal ownership.
3. They were more religiously legalistic than the Pharisees
4. They wore white robes to symbolize their purity and regarded themselves as the elect remnant living in the last days.
5. They do not appear in the New Testament but are another group that was waiting and ' praying for God to do something for his people.
3. Some scholars suggest that John the Baptist may have been an Essene
2. Zealots
1. Background
1. The Zealots were not necessarily a religious group though their beliefs were very much like those of the Pharisees.
2. Beliefs
1. They were radical nationalists who were dedicated to the overthrow of the Roman authorities because their overriding conviction was that God was their only master.
2. They refused to pay taxes to Rome and regarded loyalty to Caesar as a sin.
3. In order to be ready for the "revolution," they carried a concealed weapon at all times.
1. Mentality of the Zealots can be understood from the story of Phinehas who, in his zeal for the Lord, killed a fellow Israelite who was committing sin in front of the whole nation (Numbers 25:1-13). 
4. In similar fashion, the Zealots believed that violent acts of murder and sabotage were pleasing to God and made atonement (i.e., provided salvation) for the people of Israel. 
3. One of Jesus' disciples was a Zealot (Luke 6:15)
3. Scribes
1. Scribes were neither a religious group, nor a political party, but professional lawyers, teachers of the law, or "rabbis," devoted to the study of God's laws.
2. Background
1. The office of scribe originated during the years of captivity when people were away from "the holy city" and the temple and needed help interpreting God's will for their lives.
2. Gradually, the scribes began to place more value on the interpretations of the law than on the law itself.
3. Many scribes were Pharisees.
4. The scribes often quoted past rabbis as authority for their teaching; 
1. In contrast, Jesus taught in his own authority: 
1. "1 tell you the truth, ... " (Matthew 5:18ff.; cf. Matthew 7:28-29). 
4. The Sanhedrin
1. The Sanhedrin was the supreme court of the Jews,
1. consisting of 71 members,
1. most of whom were Pharisees and Sadducees.
2. Chaired by the high priest, 
1. who was an important political figure, 
2. The Sanhedrin could deal with religious and domestic matters only.
2. The Sanhedrin met daily in the temple area, 
1. except on the Sabbath and other holy days. 
3. In order to convict anyone of a crime, 
1. the Sanhedrin needed two witnesses and 
2. always had to let 24 hours go by before an accused person was tried (a "cooling-off' period). 
4. The Sanhedrin could not condemn anyone to death; 
1. only the Roman authorities could do this. 
5. In their zeal to get rid of him, for Jesus' trial the Sanhedrin did not abide by its own rules 'and regulations, and many of its members, such as the Pharisees, acted totally out of character. 

Lesson Activities 

1. Disclosure 

In groups of two, identify how Jesus related to the various religious and political groups by doing the following: 

• Read Matthew 23, and discuss why Jesus reacted so strongly to the Pharisees. 
• Read Matthew 22:23-32 and discuss Jesus' rebuttal of the Sadducees. 
• Given Jesus' task and knowing how he lived, would Jesus have attracted Essenes among his disciples? Why or why not? 
• Why would Zealots be attracted to Jesus? Who was the Zealot among Jesus' disciples (Luke 6:15)? How did Jesus respond to their radical revolutionary tendencies? 
• Read the accounts of the arrest and trial of Jesus in at least two of the four gospels. Describe and evaluate the procedures used by the Sanhedrin to convict Jesus. 
• How would each group respond to the healing of the royal official's son by Jesus (John 4:43-54)? Be specific. 

2. Reformulation 

Here is a list of 39 different kinds of work forbidden by the Pharisees on the Sabbath: 

plowing, sowing, reaping, binding sheaves together, threshing, winnowing, bolting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking or cooking, shearing fleece, bleaching fleece, combing it, dyeing it, spinning, braiding, knitting, weaving, un-knitting or separating strands, knotting or tying, un-knotting or untying, sewing, threading a needle, snaring a deer, slaughtering, cutting meat, salting meat, marking (branding), erasing the mark, whipping an animal, writing more than two letters, erasing more than two letters, building, breaking down, kindling a fire, extinguishing a fire, beating with a hammer, carrying (almost anything) from one place to another. 

• What is your reaction to this list? Can you understand why Jesus invited the common people to come to him and to take his yoke upon them (Matthew 11:28-30)? 
• Rewrite this list in terminology and tasks of today, and give your thoughts on how you could or would cope with such a prescriptive list. 
• Read Matthew 12:1-14 and describe how Jesus understood "Sabbath rest" (cf. Hebrews 4:1-11). How does your family celebrate the day of rest: like the Pharisees, or like Jesus? Be specific. 

3. Transcendence 

"We all have a little bit of the Pharisee, Sadducee, Essene and Zealot in us." Agree or disagree. 

• Write a paragraph of 200-250 words explaining your opinion. Be specific.