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 he Pharisees and Sadducees were the major ruling parties at the time Jesus walked this earth. Josephus says that the Pharisees came into existence as a religious group sometime around 160 BC. The Sadducees appeared sometime after the Maccabaean revolt which occurred approximately 165–160 BC. The name Pharisee means “Separated Ones,” and the term Sadducee means “Righteous Ones,” “Zadokites,” or “judges.” The Pharisees believed in the entire Old Testament, the Prophets and the Writings. They considered scripture to be authoritative and applied the scriptures to everyday situations. They developed the oral law which they considered to be as important as the written scriptures or the Word of God. They believed in angels, demons, obedience to the law, resurrection, punishment after death except for the holiest who would experience some type of purgatory. They were missionary minded. They were highly respected and honored by the Jewish people. They controlled the synagogues and consequently the mass of people. The Sadducees were the conservatives of their day. Yet, they rejected much of the Old Testament or the scriptures and believed only the first five books of the Bible were authoritative. They opposed the Oral Law of the Pharisees. They rejected the idea of life after death and did not believe in angels, demons, punishment after death or that God really cared about people. They held to a literal interpretation of the Torah. That was good. They had control of the Temple and its ministry. The Sadducees had great political power. The were the aristocrats of the Jewish society.
The Setting. Both the Pharisees and the Sadducees slaughtered the meaning of the scriptures. The Pharisees added the Oral Law to the scriptures and the Sadducees rejected the vast majority of the scriptures. Some would even add up the numerical value of various Hebrew letters, words, and phrases and compare them in order to discover hidden meanings in the scriptures. The Pharisees used allegory to understand the scriptures. Then came Jesus.
At the start of Jesus’ ministry, the people thought that He was teaching something new and different. The gospel of Mark records this event for us.
The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” (NASB) Mark 1:27 The people were amazed at His teaching.
. . . for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. (NASB) Matt. 7:29 The people also heard Jesus rebuke the Pharisees and Sadducees about their rules regarding the Sabbath. Jesus even ignored some of their rules about not working on the Sabbath. |
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| Life & Heart of Jesus | ||||||
