Page 13 - Advanced Life of Christ - Student Textbook

hundreds of years. As time passed, they added 613 new additional laws to those given by Moses. They
instructed their followers that obedience to the Law brought acceptance before God. The Pharisees
were deeply concerned with obedience to the laws and had thus separated themselves from the great
mass of the populace (the so called "people of the land" Heb. "am ha-aretz") by their strict adherence to
the minutia of their legal tradition.

Apparently, several of these "holy communities" existed within Jerusalem, where they could be seen by
the masses and thus made their influence much more effective. Admission into these communities was
strictly regulated. A candidate must first agree to a vow of obedience to all of the detailed legislation of
the Pharisaic tradition including tithing, ceremonial laws and dietary purity. He then entered a period of
probation (one month to one year) during which he was carefully observed with respect to his vow of
obedience. Successful completion of this probation entitled the candidate to full membership in the
community.

Each community was under the leadership of a scribe, who served as the professional authority in the
interpretation of the law and other less important officers. All members were carefully scrutinized,
criticized when they fell short and highly praised when they observed accurately.

There were regularly scheduled meetings for worship (usually on the eve of the Sabbath). They studied
the Torah and had community meals. Most likely the pseudepigraphon known as the Psalms of Solomon
was used liturgically in their worship services.

The synagogue was also a place for the Pharisees to show their piety. Pharisaism influenced a large
number of the masses, many of whom inclined toward the views of the Pharisees without taking upon
themselves full membership in the community.

It is amazing how close the closed communities of the Pharisees were to the Essene separatist groups,
known today particularly from the Damascus Document, and also, to a lesser extent, known through the
Qumran Manual of Discipline. The Pharisees and the Essenes no doubt had much in common, in goals
and methodologies as well as in the common environment that constituted the motivating force of both
movements (https://www.bible-history.com/pharisees/PHARISEESPractices.htm).

During Christ’s ministry, his greatest opponents were the Pharisees who seemed to be blinded by their
self-righteousness. After observing Christ healing a blind man, their main concern was that He did it on
the Sabbath. The Pharisees majored on the minors and minored on the majors. They were, as Jesus
told them, blind men leading the blind.

A second group of religious and political leaders were the Sadducees who were the aristocrats and
wealthy Jews. The Sadducees wielded great power in the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin were assemblies of
either twenty-three or seventy-one elders, appointed to sit as a tribunal in every city in the ancient Land
of Israel. There were two classes of Jewish courts called Sanhedrin, the Great Sanhedrin and the Lesser
Sanhedrin. In the writings of Josephus, the Sanhedrin is presented as a political and judicial council
headed by the high priest (in his role as civil ruler); in the Talmud it is described as primarily a religious
legislative body headed by sages, though with certain political and judicial functions. We will learn more
about the Sanhedrin in the next section.

The Sadducees were the religious liberals of Christ’s day. They rejected all the Old Testament books
except the Mosaic books. The refused to believe in the resurrection or angels and brought the Greek

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