Session 1 – Ancient Judaism

Information is taken from: http://www.bible.ca/d-jewish-sects-

pharisees-sadducees-essenes-zealots.htm

In this first session we will be looking at Judaism from the time of Christ, what the

different groups were and what their beliefs are (many still influencing today)

Much of the information for this class was taken from the link below:

Jesus said that "Salvation is of the Jews!" (John 4:22) And we need to remember that we serve a Jewish Messiah and Savior and

this is different than dealing with Islam

As Christians, we owe a great debt to the Jewish people

St. Paul recorded in Romans 15:27 "For if the Gentiles have shared in their (the Jews)

spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things."

The Sacred ScriptureThe ProphetsThe Patriarchs

Mary, Joseph, and Jesus Christ of NazarethThe Twelve Disciples

The Apostles

Consider what the Jewish people have given to Christianity:

The lost Jewish people (despite some views) still has a future prophetically

During the time of Christ there are several different “movements” or “sects” of Judaism

active in the region

Aside from the Bible, Josephus is the only other primary source for the Pharisees

and Sadducees at the time

Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots

We will spend a moment looking at each of these New Testament sects of Judaism

The Sadducees were evidently a small group which attained power only

occasionally through a high level official.

The Sadducees

They favored the status quo and the interests of the governing class. Rabbinic

tradition has them arguing with the Pharisees over purification rituals.

The Sadducees may well have been correct in questioning these Pharisaical dogmas.

At least three suggestions have been offered for the origin of the party of the Sadducees:

1) descendants of Davids high priest Zadok (or Sadok) or some other priest by that name

2) Sadducee is derived from a word that means righteous, thus righteous ones;

3) F. F. Bruce believes the name derived from a word meaning members of the council

We have a few scattered references to them in the Gospels, including

the fact that they controlled the high

priesthood in apostolic times: Acts 5:17

Acts 5:17: “Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the

sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation”

Some beliefs of the Sadducees :

No divine providence

Free will

God is not “in control” of the things going on

Because they play down the divine providence, that means humans free will is going to be greatly emphasized, this is not

right or wrong, we are just giving you an idea of what that group believed

They accepted only written law (OT) as authoritative

Acts 23:8 “For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the

Pharisees confess both.”

No resurrection or life beyond the grave

Josephus concurs that they denied the immortal duration of the soul

This is one thing they got right, the idea of Sola Scriptura even at that time

Unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees, Essenes are nowhere talked about in New Testament

or the Jewish Talmud, however Philo, and Pliny the Elder do mention the group, and

Josephus gives a detailed description of them, along with sources later on.

When we consider the term radical, the Pharisees nor Sadducees do not fit this

description, but the Essenes Jews do

The Essenes

Because of the wealth of information from Josephus and the records from Qumran, we have more knowledge of the Essenes than

Sadducees or Pharisees.

You may not think you’ve heard of the Essenes and their communities, but most

Christians have

The texts of the dead sea scrolls were copied and stored by a community of

Essene Jews at Quram

the first year the initiate lived entirely outside the Essene community but lived the

Essene life

The name Essenes could mean holy ones or pious

ones. Although others think it may mean healers

Initiation into the Essene group was quite the lengthy process, it took three years and

had three stages to it

The second and third years, the initiate participated in their purification washings

but remained outside the community

After successfully doing those things, he was “Added” to the fellowship

We know a lot about their beliefs:

Deterministic: They believe in fate, that everything happened for a reason and is determined beforehand (this stands in

contrast to the Sadducees

They believed that the soul was “set free” at the point of death

“coming forth from the most rarefied ether they are trapped in the prison-house of the body…but once freed from the bonds of the

flesh, as if released after years of slavery, they rejoice and soar aloft” (The Jewish

War, tr. G.A. Williamson, Penguin, 1959, page 374).

Their philosophy was very dualistic

One thing we do not have evidence of is their belief in the resurrection of the body. In this aspect they do appear more Gnostic with the idea of needing to be “freed” from

the physical

They believers that souls/spirits are eternal, and that God would judge the wicked souls

They did believe in the law of Moses and held to those traditions, although they did

add their own interpretations

For example, they not only refrained from cooking on the Sabbath but would not even

move a cooking utensil or even relieve themselves

Some other views they held:

Obedience to elders was important to the Essene communities, you were

excommunicated if you disrespected them. They also took this to the extreme where a

young person couldn’t touch an elder

Communalism: Josephus says A that those who come to them must let what they have

be common to the whole order

Ritualistic: Their daily ritual involved rising before sunrise, prayer, work until midday, purificatory bath and common meal, work until evening and a second common meal

Common meals were so sacred that the priest would pray before and after, and no

one would talk during the meal

They refused even to handle a coin with the image of a man on it, believing it was

idolatry even to look at it

Celibacy is often identified with the Essene Jews, but we have evidence for groups who

were celibate (like Catholic Monks) and groups who were not

Hopefully you are starting to understand why we say they’re the ones who would

classify as radicals among Jews of the day

Apocalyptic: The Essenes were very focused on the apocalyptic (with a lot of focus

given to Angels)

Paul may have been addressing them in Colossians 2:18-23.

Colossians 2:18-23: “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed

up by his fleshly mind…

19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit

together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. 20 Therefore, if

you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living

in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—21 “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” 22 which all concern things which perish with the using—according to

the commandments and doctrines of men?

23 These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed

religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the

indulgence of the flesh.”

The thought that the end was coming soon, and because of that interpreted the

prophets as speaking about their time, they believed in an Armageddon like ending

Some suggest Jesus was an Essene

The Case Against the Essene Jesus

The idea of Jesus being an Essene (Gnostic type) Jew has become more popular

Here is the quick Biblical case against it:

1. The elders became unclean if they were touched by a younger person

Matthew 19:14: “But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me”

2. Touching a coin with a mans image was idolatry to the Essenes

Jesus didn’t avoid money, Biblically speaking it seems that people supported him

financially (Luke 8:1-3)

Jesus spoke on money many times, and never said this to his followers

Jesus talks about the poor women who gave all the money that she had in a positive way

(Mark 12:41-44)

Matthew 17:24-27 tells us that Peter and Jesus paid the temple tax of two coins

Matthew 22:17-22: “Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or

not?”18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you

hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And

Jesus said to them,

The most well known example:

“Whose likeness and inscription is this?”21 They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that

are God's.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.”

3. Essene Jews were Vegetarian and couldn’t touch meat

The first problem is the miracle Jesus performs to feed the crowed (bread and fish)

Luke 24:42-43: “So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He

took it and ate in their presence.”

Even if you say Jesus didn’t eat the fish when he did that miracle (still a problem that he

fed everyone else it) there are several other passages that you can’t get around

Jesus eats lamb with his disciples for the Passover dinner (Luke 22:8-15)

4. Couldn’t touch wine

While there is some debate on this issue, there is a good chance Jesus did

Matthew 11:19: “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax

collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

A popular miracle we all know about is Jesus turning water in to wine

Matthew 26:12: “For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial.”

5. They couldn’t touch oil

6. Essenes had strict Sabbath rules

The Sabbath comes up during the ministry of Jesus quite a few times

Jesus does many things on the Sabbath that an Essene Jew could NEVER do

Matthew chapter 12 talks about the disciples picking grain on the Sabbath, and the

Pharisees get on Jesus’ case and he tell them it’s okay (and that he is Lord of the Sabbath)

In the same chapter Jesus does something that he does several other times too, he

performs a miracle on the Sabbath

Mark 2:27: “And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man

for the Sabbath.”

7. The apparent belief that there is no resurrection of the body

Jesus had something to say about that:

John 2:19-21: “Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three

days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,

and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body.”

Jesus was not an Essene Jew

The Pharisees

We don’t know exactly who they are and where the group came from, but we do

know so about the group from these sources

We have three sources for this group of religious leaders during Jesus’ time

The New Testament Josephus

Rabbinic Writings

Paul tells us that the Pharisees were very religious, firm

believers in revelation and the law, morally pure and zealous

for their beliefs, etc.

The two people we have the writings of who claim to be Pharisees is Paul and Josephus

Josephus was more of a nominal Pharisee and doesn’t seem to take it very seriously,

while Paul was the opposite

Paul talks about it in Philippians 3:5: “circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of

the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee”

Josephus’ purpose was to impress the Romans with the Jews and to praise those who keep stability in society (Pharisees)

While the Pharisees and Sadducees are religious groups, they are also very

political in nature

The Pharisees influence on history and the Jewish people was extremely limited, but the time when they were powerful was important (around the time of Christ)

Also keep in mind that the writings of “Pharisees” (in rabbinical tradition from

hundreds of years later) may not accurately represent what the Pharisees believed that

Jesus was dealing with

The Pharisees reached the height of their power in the first century B.C. and still

wielded considerable power in Jesus’ day

Th word Pharisee could mean either separate ones (separate from ordinary

citizens in their dedication) or it could mean interpreters (which also makes sense)

Beliefs: when it came to the topic of free will, they were in the middle of Essenes and

Sadducees (providence and free will)

In this respect, we would call the Pharisees liberals and the Sadducees conservatives..

They believed in the authority of not just the OT but also the oral traditions

They believed in resurrection: Acts 23:8. Though they were not interested in seeing

Jesus’ claims for resurrection come true

They believed that souls were either punished or rewarded after this life

They believed bad souls go to eternal prison (Hell) but the good souls have a chance to

live again

We know they have many non-biblical views about the Sabbath because of the amount of times Jesus clashed with them on the topic

(we gave examples earlier)

They were comprised of upper class citizens, Josephus says there were about six thousand

of them (which is a huge number)

They were well respected, according to Josephus people considered them to be the

most accurate interpreters of the Law

Paul's appeal in Philippians 3:5 tell us that the way of life for a Pharisees was well-known and respected among the Jews

The evidence indicates that it was an achieved position (Pharisee) not something

that was hereditary and passed down

Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13 mentions this name/title

Luke 6:15 “Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot;”

Zealots

Josephus lists them as a fourth sect, but they were not a religious group as much as they were a political group who fought against

and spoke against the Roman rule. Because of this we won’t spend time on them

Mark 2:27: “And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for

man, and not man for the Sabbath.”

Memory Verse