Who were the Pharisees and the Sadducees?

When we read the stories of Jesus in the Gospels and the stories of the book of Acts we often come across a couple terms which we might have a little trouble understanding. I've done some research and want to share what I've found. I believe that understanding the cultural, historical, and political context of the New Testament can help us better understand the message that Jesus and his apostles brought and what it means for us.

The New Testament frequently mentions two basic types of religious leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. There were actually five sects including the Essenes, Zealots, and Herodians. The Essenes are never actually mentioned and the Herodians are only mentioned three times. Jesus actually had an apostle who was a Zealot; Simon. A little examination of their beliefs will show us that, though they were all JEWS, they had their own flavor of Judaism. It was kind of like different Jewish denominations. These groups arose after the Old Testament times during the captivity period when temple worship was impossible due to the dispersion of Israelites and the destruction of the temple.Sectarianism had divided these people and the religious situation of the Jews during the time of Christ was not what God had intended when he gave them the law through Moses.

The Sadducees were a group of religious teachers who were a bit of a sophisticated group. They did not usually like to associate with the common Jew. They were very influential as far as politics goes, and were usually wealthy educated men of rank. They were of a small number and not many Jews cared for them.

The Pharisees were a different story. They, too, were religious teachers, but they were the teacher of the common man. They were a relatively large group, and were very legalistic. This can be seen in their dealings with Jesus and his disciples when discussing the Sabbath, among other things. Leaders of this sect were usually considered hypocrites, preaching and teaching what was right but not practicing it (Matthew 23:2-4). The English term "Pharisaical" comes from this group of people and means "hypocritical and self-righteous".

Though the Pharisees and Sadducees are both mentioned in the New Testament, the Pharisees are more commonly discussed. John the Immerser called them a "brood of vipers" in Luke 3:7, and Jesus spoke in Matthew 23 about them, beginning each paragraph with "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees..." Not all Pharisees were bad, however. Jesus spoke with Nicodemus, who was a Pharisee (John 3), and Paul was a Pharisee (he turned out all right =D).

There were a few basic differences in beliefs between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The following is a basic outline of what Josephus said their differences were (Jewish War, II.viii.14; Antiquities, XVIII.i.3):

1 - The Pharisees believed in predestination by God, but not everything. The Saducees believed that the history of the world was dependent on the free will of man and that God did not interfere.

2 - The Pharisees believed in the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the dead. Sadducees did not.

3. The Pharisees believed in angels and demons while the Sadducees did not.

4 -The Pharisees believed that the Holy Scriptures, including the oral traditions passed down throughout the centuries, were to be recognized as supreme authority. The Sadducees only recognized the written Holy Scriptures.

The scriptures mention some differences between the two groups, and the dispute between the two groups about the resurrection is one that multiple times. There is one situation, in Acts 23, that I find rather amusing. Please turn there and read Acts 21:27-23:10 to get the context.

Paul had returned to Jerusalem and had been going to the temple. One day the Jews recognized him and had him arrested. He tried to defend himself by explaining his conversion, but that only angered the crowd. He then was turned over to the Roman guards where they intend to whip him. Before this could happen, he turned to the men who had bound him and asked if it was lawful to whip a Roman citizen without proof of guilt (what a blessing for Paul that he was a Roman citizen!). They then become frightened and don't beat him, but wait to hear from their superiors (eventually he is taken to Felix). The following day Paul asks to speak to the people. After some clamour and yelling he got their attention. In 23:6, we learn that Paul is both observant and clever. He noticed that the crowd listening to him was made up of Pharisees and Sadducees, and so declared to the people that:

"Brothers, I am a Pharisee, son of Pharisees, I am being judged concerning the hope and the resurrection of the dead." Acts 23:6b (SAM)

What happened after this? Chaos!!! Paul caused a mini riot. Some of the Pharisees stood up and said that, maybe he HAD been visited by an angel or had seen a vision. They took Paul into the prison to protect him, and eventually he was taken to Rome to be judged by the Emperor.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed these random facts and that they might help you understand the scriptures a little better when you read about these two groups.

An old game I found :)

For those of you who know me, you know that I'm a bit of an Archaeology fan. I love ancient languages and dabble in them, and I like to do research on ancient cultures and places. Perhaps this comes from studying the Bible as I have and teaching classes on Archaeology, but there it is.

I came across an ancient Egyptian game called Senet and figured I'd try playing it. This game is one of the oldest board games in the world. Ancient Egyptians, from the Pharaohs and their wives, to the common Egyptian man, played this game. To them it represented something of one's journey to the afterlife and some believed that if you won, you would have no problem on your journey after death.

As old as this game is, no one knows how to play it. There were never any records, and I presume this is because EVERYONE knew how to play and therefore did not need instruction. Despite the lack of records, different people have speculated and come up with different ways of playing. The link below is to a PDF with Kendall's rules and a board to play on. This game is for two players, so you'll need 14 pieces to represent the seven pawns of each player. You could use two kinds of coins. You'll also need 4 sticks. You could use popsicle sticks and draw some kind of mark on the tops of each, but the sticks should be flat. You can even use coins and count how many times "heads" shows up. If all sides show "heads", you move five spaces and can flip again.

The rules are pretty simple. Place the game pieces on tiles 1-14 of the board. Your goal is to get all your pieces off the board. If, while moving pieces, you should land on your opponent's piece (or vice versa), the your pieces will exchange places (meaning their piece moves where your's started). There are five special spaces; 15 and 26-29. Each piece has its restrictions and functions. If you pass square 15, you will not have to move further back than this square. No one can exchange pieces with a piece on this space. The same thing goes for space 26. If you land on space 27 you must move your tile all the way back to space 15. If you land on space 28 you may only leave if you roll a three. If you land on square 29 you may only leave if you roll a 2.

So, if you are bored and have been staring at your computer screen refreshing your twitter or facebook page over and over again, don't! Try entertaining yourself the way the Ancient Egyptians would. Or better yet, pick up your Bible and read something! The story of Joseph and Moses is pretty interesting :)

http://legacy.mos.org/quest/pdf/senet.pdf