Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes

Re-Publish this Article

<h1>Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes</h1><strong> Author: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/profile_Steve-0.aspx'>Steve-0</a></strong><br /><p>There were three main religious groups that were around in the time of Jesus. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes many have heard of, however the Essenes are often unknown by most people. Learn about these groups and what they taught. The Pharisees The best known and most important of the three were the Pharisees because they are the spiritual fathers of modern Judaism. Their main distinguishing characteristic was a belief in an Oral Law that God gave to Moses at Sinai along with the Torah. The Torah or Written Law was akin to the U.S. Constitution in the sense that it set down a series of laws that were open to interpretation. The Pharisees believed that God also gave Moses the knowledge of what these laws meant and how they should be applied. This oral tradition was codified and written down roughly three centuries later in what is known as the Talmud. The Pharisees also maintained that an afterlife existed and that God punished the wicked and rewarded the righteous in the world to come. They also believed in a messiah who would herald an era of world peace. Pharisees were in a sense blue-collar Jews who adhered to the tenets developed after the destruction of the Temple; that is, such things as individual prayer and assembly in synagogues. The Sadducees The Sadducees were the social elitists who wanted to maintain the priestly caste, but they were also liberal in their willingness to incorporate Hellenism into their lives, something the Pharisees opposed. The Sadducees rejected the idea of the Oral Law and insisted on a literal interpretation of the Written Law; consequently, they did not believe in an afterlife, since it is not mentioned in the Torah. The main focus of Sadducee life was rituals associated with the Temple. The Sadducees disappeared around 70 A.D., after the destruction of the Second Temple. None of the writings of the Sadducees survived, so the little we know about them comes from their Pharisaic opponents. These two "parties" served in the Great Sanhedrin, a kind of Jewish Supreme Court made up of 71 members whose responsibility was to interpret civil and religious laws. The Essenes Another faction, the Essenes, emerged out of disenchantment with the other two groups. This sect believed the others had corrupted the city and the Temple. They moved out of Jerusalem and lived a monastic life in the desert, adopting strict dietary laws and a commitment to celibacy. The Essenes are particularly interesting to scholars because they are believed to be an offshoot of the group that lived in Qumran, near the Dead Sea. In 1947, a Bedouin shepherd stumbled into a cave containing various ancient artifacts and jars containing manuscripts describing the beliefs of the sect and events of the time. The most important documents, often only parchment fragments that had to be meticulously restored, were the earliest known copies of the Old Testament. The similarity of the substance of the material found in the scrolls to that in the modern scriptures has confirmed the authenticity of the Bible used today. The Scribes The Scribes (learned clerk) were not a sect but a profession; they were scholars learned in the law, who lectured on it in synagogues, taught it in schools, debated it in public and private, and applied it in judgment on specific cases. A few of them were priests, some were Sadducees, most were Pharisees. In theory, not all Scribes were Pharisees, as in practice not all Pharisees were scribes, very few priests or Sadducees. Scribe denoted par excellence the man of the Law, whether priest or layman, Pharisee or Sadducee.. The Man of the Book.. one skilled in the Law, and the title of honor, Rabbi (Great One) was reserved for him. They were the copyists of Scripture and teachers of the Law. The Scribes date as a distinct body from the period of Ezra. The name is derived from sepher, or "book" and means scripturalists - those who explained and copied the law. Their functions were to copy, read amend, explain, and protect the law. The main problem that the Lord had with Pharisees and Sadducees was that upheld their own traditions above the law or truth. Their teachings kept men from entering the kingdom of heaven, because instead of a heart commitment to God, they taught a rigid adherence to traditions. They devoured "widow's houses" by exploiting their usually meager resources. As master hypocrites (one who pretends to be righteous), they put on a big show of public piety, to impress others with their religious correctness. They went to great efforts to make a new convert, but then the new convert became twice as bad as they were. They fulfilled little parts of the law, such as tithing herbs, but in big things like taking care of their needy parents (acts of love and mercy to humans), they violated the law. They held themselves up to the public as very righteous people, but in their hearts, they were robbers and gluttons. They paid tribute to prophets of old by building monuments to them, but killed the modern ones. His monologue against them is found in Matthew 23:1-36. Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, Saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty. Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation." </p><strong>About the Author:</strong><br />Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, King James Bible<p> Article Source: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Pharisees-Sadducees-and-Scribes_80834.aspx'> http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes_80834.aspx</a></p>

Article Source : http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes_80834.aspx

Keywords : tradition, Pharisees, God, law, Moses, temple, prayer, righteous, scribe, Essenes, woe, Matthew, love, robber, Rabbi, humble, exalt, great, bre,

Category : Society : Religion