Brief on Pharisees and Sadducees

During Jesus time, the Jews had three predominant sects of philosophy: Essenes, Sadducees, and Pharisees (Whiston, 1981). I shall write to the Sadducees and Pharisees and address Essenes in another article.

The terms priests and scribes of the Jewish nation use to be one in the same (Taylor & Christie, 2012). Eventually, the one separated into two: Sadducees (Priests) and Pharisees (Scribes). Also, and eventually, these two groups would often become hostile to each other, as the Sadducees—to put it in modern terms—held their teacup with the pinky finger sticking in the air while the Pharisees insured that the teacup was constructed to established standards and requirements. Scholarly research does differ regarding how vehemently these two groups argued (Taylor & Christie, 2012; Whiston. 1981) but that they were hostile toward each other to some degree is not in question among scholars.

The Pharisees followed interpretation and observance of the law in an exact manner. Rigidly legal, the Pharisees considered the need for life’s comfort as anathema. They were proud of having the reputation that they followed the law with accuracy. The Pharisees followed not only the written Torah, but also oral law passed down through generations; thus, and as Josephus wrote, “The Pharisees have imposed upon the people many laws taken from the tradition of the fathers that were not written down in the Law of Moses” (Taylor & Christie, 2012, p. 11). Josephus wrote the Pharisees had a stringent life, shunning the delicacies that the world offered. They were very respectful of and averse to arguing with the elderly, and held fate as an irrefutable fact of life. They also believed that souls are immortal and there will be rewards for good and evil conduct.

The Sadducees, having evolved from the aristocratic (hence, the pinky finger in the air analogy), believed that souls die with the body. They had the reputation of not caring about the common man (Whiston, 1981). High-priestly families belonged to the Sadducee party. Often, the Sadducees publically acquiesced to the Pharisees regarding behavior because they feared the common-folk would otherwise not tolerate them (Taylor & Christie, 2012). Regarding behavior, Josephus wrote, “nor do they regard the observation of anything besides what the law enjoins them, for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy who they frequent” (Taylor & Christie, 2012, p. 377). Thus, the Sadducees willingly followed established law, but oral law was a thing to be argued. Consequently, Sadducees recognized only the written Torah as binding and tended to reject tradition as an interpretive tool.

Taylor, S., and Christie, P. (1994). A history of the Jewish people in the time of Jesus Christ. (Revised edition by Emil Schurer) Vol. 2. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson.

Whiston, William. (1981). Josephus Complete Works. Grand Rapids, MI.