Page 165 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Revised

threatened their rule. One comical scene in the early church is when Paul stands before the Council and
recognizes some are Pharisees and some Sadducees. So, he cries out to the Pharisees that he was on
trial for believing in the resurrection (Acts 23:6). As he planned, a huge argument developed between
the two groups. The Pharisees wanted to protect him because he agreed with them. The Sadducees saw
this as proof of his guilt.

The Essenes
Many have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found in the caves in the Qumran. 214 It is likely that
the mystical sect that copied them was an Essene group. They were disenfranchised by the political and
religious corruption of their time and withdrew to live out the purity they believed would entice the
Messiah to return. Some have said John the Baptist may have been an Essene because he withdrew
from society to the wilderness and practiced a careful purity and diet regimen.

The Scribes

The scribes were learned individuals who could read and write. Their primary job was teaching the law
and settling disputes about it.

The Samaritans

The Samaritans were the descendants of the Israelites who had survived the destruction of the Northern
Kingdom. Over the years, they had intermarried with those who had moved into the region. This made
them unclean and therefore despised among the Jews. They did not appreciate this ostracism, so they
built their own temple and tried to defile the Jewish temple by spreading human bones inside it. 215

The Herodians

The Herodians are mentioned in Scripture, but not much is known about them. We believe that they
likely were related to or patrons of the Herodian rulership. They were involved in the trap to discredit
Jesus. They and the Pharisees asked Jesus whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus saw the
trap and asked them something akin to, “why are you carrying around pagan money?” 216 That could be
considered unclean.

The Zealots
Zealots were the political revolutionaries of Jesus’ day. They could not abide by the continued rule of
Rome and sought to violently overthrow it. Barabbas is said, in Mark 15, to have been a murderer and to
have been involved in the insurrection. For this reason, he is thought to have been a zealot.
Jewish Government structure under Rome:

214 Gary M. Burge, Gene L. Green, and Lynn H. Cohick, The New Testament in Antiquity (Grand Rapids, Mich.:
Zondervan, 2009), 65.
215 Ibid, p. 67.
216 N.T. Wright and Michael F Bird, The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and
Theology of the First Christians. 52.

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