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Is Judaism the Religion of Moses? 81

The Pharisees and Sadducees

The differences of opinion between the lay leaders and the priests caused a permanent
breach between these two groups. The lay leaders, with the religious Jews on their side and believ-
ing in the traditional laws, gathered themselves together into one major group. The priests, on the
other hand, who tended to agree with one another, gravitated into another group.

This breach between the two leading religious factions among the Jews was the beginning
of two prominent New Testament Jewish sects: the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The lay leaders
comprised the Pharisaic group. Most of the priests represented the Sadducees. Members from both
groups remained in the Sanhedrin, but they were almost always divided on policy.

It is not to be supposed that the whole Jewish population was anxious to get back to some
form of religious observances after the period of religious anarchy. The great majority of people
were not overly interested in religion. As stated before, 95% of the Jews in Christ's time were not
members of the Jewish sects. This lack of real interest in religion among the Jews in New Testament
times had its origin within the period of religious anarchy.

THE JEWISH PEOPLE AS A WHOLE NEVER RECOVERED FROM THE
CONDITION THAT EXISTED WITHIN THAT ANARCHIAL PERIOD. There was, of course, a
limited amount of religious compunction, but not enough for the whole nation to become members
in the sects of Judaism.

The Pharisees, however, did have on their side those Jews who were religiously inclined,
but the majority showed varying degrees of indifference to the religious squabbles among the Phari-
sees and Sadducees.

Josephus, the Jewish historian, has this to say about these Pharisees and Sadducees:

The Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from
their fathers, AND ARE NOT WRITTEN IN THE LAWS OF MOSES; and for that reason
it is that the Sadducees reject them, and say we are to esteem those observances to be
obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from
the tradition of our fathers. And concerning these things it is that GREAT DISPUTES
AND DIFFERENCES have arisen among them, while the Sadducees are able to persuade
none but the rich, and have not the populace obsequious to them, but the Pharisees have
the multitude on their side (Antiquities of the Jews, XIII, 10, 6).

Pharisees Repudiate Sole Authority of Priests to Teach Law

A major decision of the Pharisees was that of rejecting the sole authority of the priests to be
the religious authorities. The Pharisees admitted that the priests were the only ones with the right to
perform the ritualistic services in the Temple. But other than this minor role in directing the reli-
gious life of the people, the priests henceforth had little to do, religiously speaking. The Pharisees
came to RECOGNIZE THEMSELVES as the only real religious leaders.

The Berean Voice November-December 2002