Groups and Communities in First Century Palestine

GROUPS AND COMMUNITIES IN PALESTINIAN JUDAISM IN N.T. TIMES

I. Pharisees – means separated ones

A. The Pharisees held themselves aloof from their environment so that, as God’s holy community, they could avoid contact with any impurity.

B. The Pharisees oriented their lives to the coming messianic age and to the fulfilling of the righteousness which the Law demanded. Therefore, they built a “fence around the law” in order not to commit an offense through oversight.
1. Example – they would stop work an hour before sundown on the eve of the Sabbath so that they would not be unwittingly guilty of breaking the Sabbath law.

C. The standard of purity demanded of their members was that of cultic purity. This means that the O.T commands which describe priestly purity are to be maintained by all Pharisees, even in everyday life.

D. The Pharisees were engaged in excessive tithing and in voluntary fasting.

E. They were primarily a lay organization, composed of craftsmen, farmers, and merchants.

F. They were led by scribes, who studied the Law of Moses and the oral tradition, and attempted to relate the two.

G. For the Pharisees this oral tradition, called the tradition of the elders in Mark 7:3, was as important and authoritative as the Scripture.

H. Politically, the Pharisees neither actively supported the government nor actively opposed it, since they were waiting for the Messiah to come who would deliver them from the Roman oppressor.

I. In terms of significance, the Pharisees are probably the most powerful and important group within Judaism. They were the party of the people.


II. Sadducees

A. Held almost all of the high priestly offices.

B. Were part of the Jerusalem aristocracy; they came from influential Jerusalem families.

C. They helped support the Roman government by moderating the hostility of the people towards the government. It was necessary for them to do this if they were to remain in power, since Rome would blame them for any disturbances.

D. Theologically, the Sadducees held to the literal wording of the O.T. and refused to grant equal authority to the oral tradition.
1. They did not believe in angels, demons, or resurrection from the dead.


III. Zealots

A. Agreed with the Pharisees on doctrine, but were interested in actively overthrowing the Roman government.

B. They refused to submit to the Roman emperor and to call him “Lord”, since they saw this as a transgression of the first commandment.

C. They thought that they could initiate the promised messianic transformation of society.

D. They were the driving force in the Jewish war of revolt in A.D. 66 which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by the Romans.


IV. Samaritans

A. Descendants of the intermarriage of foreigners and Israelites after the fall of Samaria in 722 B.C.

B. Hated by the Jews for they are seen as being racially impure.

C. They accept only the Pentateuch, no other part of the O.T.

V. Essenes – most famous group found in Qumran

A. Qumran is a place located along the Dead Sea. Most of what we know about these people comes from the scrolls found in caves along the Dead Sea; these are known as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

B. The Essenes were an independent Jewish movement who preferred to live in seclusion.

C. They are distinguished from the Pharisees (from whom they broke off), by an even stricter obedience to the Law. Whereas the Pharisees would sometimes make concessions for the sake of practicality, the Qumranites made none.

D. Most Essenes did not marry and those that did so solely for the purpose of procreation.

E. The leader of this group is called the Teacher of Righteousness.

VI. Apocalyptic

A. Different from the above groups because it is not a group but a mindset.

B. Apocalyptic thought sees the world as coming to an end amid many frightful terrors; this will happen soon. This judgment of God is the next act of God in history.

C. They have a basic dualism in their thinking. This world or age is passing away, the next world or age is coming. There is no overlap between these two ages.

D. Therefore, their may only be despair about the present evil age, since the next expected act of God is judgment.

E. There is a whole body of apocalyptic literature which deals with dreams, secret revelations, parables, and the coming of the end-time judgment.

F. Numbers play a major role in apocalyptic thought since they possess symbolic value and thus share in the aura of secret know