Is JUDAISM the Religion of Moses?
December 1960
Vol. IX, Number
12
Many people have
erroneously assumed that the Judaism in the time of Christ was a religion
united in a common bond -- every Jew believing about the same thing -- all
united into one major Jewish denomination. This is the first illusion that
history reveals. Judaism was divided into MANY SECTS in Jesus' day. Each had
its peculiar beliefs. One of the most authoritative Jewish writers on Judaism,
Dr. Herford, tells us: "If it were possible to analyze the Judaism of the
New Testament period into all its component elements, the results of the
process would be to show HOW COMPLEX A VARIETY is summed up under that name,
and HOW FAR FROM THE TRUTH it is to speak of the Jews collectively as if they
were all alike, in respect to their Judaism" ("Judaism in the New
Testament Period," pp. 41, 42). Judaism was not one unified organization.
Actually, there were many religious sects comprising it. And, even within some
of these major sects there were many "splinter" groups which had
their own ideas and beliefs. In many respects, the Judaism of Christ's time was
not unlike our own world. We have many competitive sects representing
"Christianity." So likewise, the Jews had their divisions, differing
sects representing "Judaism." Some of these sects will be familiar to
readers of the New Testament. There were the Pharisees, Scribes, Sadducees,
Zealots and Herodians. However, there were many more divisions of which we have
a good deal of history. Some of these were the Essenes, the Qumran sects (who
wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls of which so much has been written lately), and
others who are called, by contemporary religious historians, Apocalyptics.
There were other divisions among the Jews who lived in the surrounding areas,
such as Egypt, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Greece, etc. There certainly was not
just one single Jewish sect -- Judaism was split into many fragments. But
history reveals another shocking and little-understood fact. It will eradicate
the fiction from many people's minds that the Jews, as a whole, were deeply
interested in religion at this time in history.
The records show
that FAR LESS THAN 5% OF THE TOTAL JEWISH POPULATION OF PALESTINE BELONGED
DIRECTLY TO ANY OF THE RELIGIOUS GROUPS MENTIONED ABOVE! Unbelievable as it
sounds it is true! Over 95% of the total Palestine population were neither
Pharisee, Scribe, Zealot, Herodian, Essene, Qumran, or Apolcalyptic. These
people -- the overwhelming majority in Palestine -- had no direct membership in
these religious denominations of Judaism and in most cases were not
particularly religious at all. The Pharisees referred to the mass of the people
as the "Am ha-aretz." This word is Hebrew and signifies "The
People of the Land," or simply, "The Common People." These
people were the multitudes who lived in the cities, towns, and country. They
were, in many respects, like many non-church members today -- some went to the
synagogues frequently, many only occasionally, and many never attended at all.
The scholar Herford has this to say about these people: "It is clear that
the "Am ha-aretz" (the Common People) were not all of one type,
either in respect of their religion or socially and economically. Just as they
included rich and poor, capitalist and labourer, the merchant, the farmer, the
artisan, the tax-gatherer (publican) and the tradesman, so, on the religious
side, they included those who were just not Pharisees, and those who paid
little or no heed to religion at all, with every shade of piety and
indifference in between" (ibid. p. 72).
We can
demonstrate quite easily that far less than 5% of the population in Palestine
belonged to the Jewish religious sects in New Testament times. By comparing the
number of members within the Jewish religious sects with the sum of the total
Palestine population, we will arrive at some surprising answers. The figures
should be interesting. The "Encyclopedia Biblica" records that the
population of Palestine must have been somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 million
inhabitants at this time (Column 3550). This is the figure that most scholars
represent as the total population of Palestine. There is a full discussion on
the Palestine population question in Salo Baron's, "A Social and Religious
History of the Jews," vol. i. pp. 370-372. This Jewish historian has
summed up the opinions of the experts in this matter. He quotes as his
conclusion to the whole question, the findings of Dr. J. Klausner, a
contemporary Jewish scholar: "J. Klausner, finally, has studied in
particular, the records pertaining to the wars between 63 and 37 B.C. and has
reached the conclusion that at the end of the Maccabean reign there lived in
all of Palestine approximately 3 million Jews, not including half of a million
Samaritans, Syro-Phoenicians, Arabs and Greeks"' (ibid., vol. i., p. 372).
This figure should not be far from right. There were nearly 3,000,000 Jews
living in Palestine in the days of Christ.
The most
prominent sect in Judaism at this time was the Pharisees. This was the group
Christ had more to say against than any other. One of the reasons for this is
because the Pharisees were the most influential group and had more members than
any of the other sects. They also had direct control over the majority of
synagogues and schools, and in this respect, were the most popular with the
people. But yet, even though the Pharisees were the most influential and the
most prominent religious group among the Jews in the time of Christ, it is
astounding and dumbfounding to realize that out of 3,000,000 Jews in Palestine
ONLY A MERE 6,000 WERE PHARISEES. The Jewish historian, Josephus, who was a
contemporary of the Apostle Paul, and a Pharisee himself, informs us of this
fact in his history "Antiquities of the Jews," xvii, 2, 4. But just
imagine what this means! Here were the Pharisees, the MAJOR RELIGIOUS SECT
AMONG THE JEWS, representing nothing more than an insignificant .2% of all the
Jews in Palestine. These facts will have to change the convictions of many
people who have had the erroneous idea that most of the Jews in Christ's time
were Pharisees. Most readers of the New Testament have never thought it
necessary to ascertain the religious condition of the Jews in Roman times. And
because of this, most people have been making erroneous assumptions based on
our own contemporary conditions.
All other sects within Judaism WERE OF LESS
SIGNIFICANCE than the Pharisees. The Sadducees, for example, were a sect that
Christ came into contact with frequently, but they were less prominent than the
Pharisees. There is no question about the fact that they had fewer members
("Antiquities of the Jews," xviii, 1, 4 and "Life and Times of
Jesus the Messiah," vol. i, p. 322). If we number the Sadducees at less
than 3,000 members we will not be far from the truth. Another sect among the
Jews at this time, but not mentioned in the Bible, were the Essenes. Josephus
informs us that there were ONLY ABOUT 4,000 OF THEM ("Antiquities of the
Jews," xviii, 1, 5). A group known as the Qumran, associated with the Dead
Sea Scrolls just recently found, were a part of this Essene sect and
represented part of the 4,000 members. The rest of the sects in Palestine were of
minor importance and definitely had fewer members than the Pharisees, Sadducees
or Essenes (e.g., Herford, "Judaism in the New Testament Period," pp.
127, 128). These figures represent the startling truth that the overwhelming
majority of Jews DID NOT belong to the religious sects. With the facts staring
us directly in the face, it should not be difficult to understand why it can be
stated with absolute assurance that FAR LESS than 5% of the 3,000,000 Jews of
Palestine belonged to these religious sects.
The majority of
people, known as the "Am ha-aretz," the Common People, who were not
members of the religious sects, represented all classes and varying degrees of
feeling in regard to religion. It is definitely known that some of these Common
People were not totally irreligious. Some of them did hold to a form of
religion, even though they did not belong to the accepted religious sects.
Since there were synagogues scattered throughout Palestine, it is altogether
obvious that those Jews who did attend had some form of religious conviction.
Because the "ministers" in charge of most of the synagogues were
Pharisees, it is likely that much of the Pharisaical teaching influenced them.
However, these Common People WERE NOT PHARISEES! Most of the people had no
desire to practice the strict and disciplinary rules of the Pharisees.
Nevertheless, some of the people did attend the Pharisaic synagogues to hear
the Scriptures expounded on the Sabbath or on other occasions. The Common People
who did attend the synagogue services, however, were not required to hold to
the teachings of the Pharisees. The Pharisees exercised little real authority
over the religious life of the people. If a person desired to attend the
synagogue, he could; if he obliged himself to stay away, that was his
prerogative. There was no coercion to attend Sabbath services, for THERE WAS
LITTLE EXERCISE OF ANY CENTRAL RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY WITHIN JUDAISM AT THIS TIME.
"PHARISAISM HAD NO MEANS OF COMPELLING THOSE WHO WERE NOT IN THEIR
FELLOWSHIP TO CONFORM TO THEIR REQUIREMENTS" (ibid., p. 137).
Even though the
synagogues ruled by the Pharisees were open to all the Jews and they could
attend them on the Sabbaths, this does not mean that all the Jews attended. In
fact, from the available evidence, it appears quite strongly that only very few
Jews, relatively speaking, attended the synagogues regularly. At least, if the
size and number of synagogues, of which records exist, are any guide, and they
obviously do represent a guide, then we can safely say that very few of the
Common People attended the synagogues with regularity. Take as an example the
Capernaum Synagogue.
It is a matter
of history, recorded in the New Testament, that there was only ONE synagogue in
the city of Capernaum in Galilee and even that was built by a Gentile (Luke
7:1-5). That ONLY ONE synagogue existed in such a large city SURPRISES even
Edersheim (one of the foremost Jewish writers on early Judaism), because
Capernaum was very significant in New Testament times and had a considerable
Jewish population. See "Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah," vol. i,
pp. 365, 432, 433. The ruins of this synagogue shows that it would have
probably seated around 500 people at the very most. This was certainly not
large for the city of Capernaum. Josephus tells us that there was no city or
village (township) in all of Galilee that had less than 15,000 inhabitants
("Wars of the Jews," iii, 3, 3). There is no reason to doubt
Josephus' statement regarding this, for he should have known. He was governor
of the province of Galilee under the Romans and was well aware of the number of
his constituents, especially since he was responsible for collecting taxes from
them. So, from Josephus, we can be certain that Capernaum had at least 15,000
inhabitants, but from other evidence which shows its political importance in
Galilee, there must have been considerable more inhabitants.
It is known that
the great bulk of the synagogues of Galilee were quite small in size even
though there were a considerable number of Jews living in every city. (Mathews,
"History of New Testament Times in Palestine," p. 149). In Nazareth,
where Jesus was brought up, there was ONE synagogue. This, in itself, is not
surprising, for Nazareth was not of the same prominence as Capernaum. Yet,
Nazareth, with its immediate environs, to again cite Josephus, had at least
15,000 inhabitants. It was certainly no mean city, even though it was smaller
than Capernaum. Edersheim informs us that Nazareth was a religious center for
certain of the priests who ministered in the temple ("Life and Times of
Jesus the Messiah," vol. i, p. 147). Also, Nazareth was one of the major
cities located on the great caravan route from the Mediterranean Sea to
Damascus (ibid.). This location gave it a particular importance. But even with
these advantages, the ruins of the synagogue at Nazareth show that it was so
small that it could hardly seat more than 75 souls. This size shows how
insignificant was the synagogue compared to the population of the township of
Nazareth, which numbered over 15,000 inhabitants. This again serves to indicate
that the synagogues were not attended regularly except by the most pious of the
Common People. The rest of them were not particularly interested in religion.
Undoubtedly many of them did attend the annual festivals which were held in the
synagogues and at the Temple in Jerusalem. To the Jews the annual festivals
were like national holidays. But the evidence is clearly against the masses
attending the synagogues REGULARLY every Sabbath. It has been conjectured by
some that the Nazareth synagogue may have been built later than the time of
Christ because it was not situated in the highest part of the city, as they
supposedly think it should have been. However, Edersheim shows that this is not
a proper criterion and rejects the supposition. (ibid., vol. i, p. 433). There
is every reason to believe that this small synagogue was the one Jesus
attended. In their visit to Nazareth in 1956, both Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong came
to the same conclusion as did Edersheim -- it is the very synagogue that
existed in Jesus day. This religious condition in Palestine nearly 2,000 years
ago should not surprise us much. Today it is common for many of the people who
profess Christianity to attend church only on the two pagan holidays that
almost all churches celebrate today -- Easter and Christmas. The rest of the
year finds the majority not attending church with any regularity. The Jews, in
Christ's day, can be compared in like manner with the common tendency today.
It is not known exactly how many synagogues
there were throughout Palestine in Christ's time. However, there are some hints
as to the number. Herford tells us that almost every area which had a
considerable Jewish population had at least one synagogue in each of its
cities. ("Judaism in the New Testament Period," pp. 27, 133). It must
be remembered that Capernaum, as large as it was, had one synagogue. There can
be little question about the fact that there was at least one synagogue in
almost every town of any size. This seems to be a foregone conclusion of all
the writers on the subject. We happen to know, again from Josephus, that there
were 240 cities and villages in all of Galilee ("Life of Josephus,"
p. 45). Galilee was much more prosperous than Judea in the south, and in fact,
Galilee was far and above the province of Judea in material blessings.
Edersheim says the cost of living in Judea, for example, was five times that of
Galilee because of Judea's relative scarcity of good soil and crops ("Life
and Times of Jesus the Messiah," vol. i, pp. 224, 225). However, if we
allow Judea to also have had about 240 cities and villages as did Galilee
(although there were probably less), then we arrive at about 500 cities and
villages in all of Palestine that could have had a synagogue. This would
represent about 500 synagogues. But, if we allow some of the cities to have had
two or more synagogues, the number could be raised to about 1,000 synagogues.
That is, if every city and village did have a synagogue. If there were, being
extremely liberal, about 1,000 synagogues scattered throughout Palestine out of
a population of 3,000,000 people, this would mean one synagogue for every 3,000
people. The sizes of the synagogues were from the very small, held in the home
(ibid., vol. i, p. 433), to the size of the Capernaum synagogue with as many as
500. There were certainly none which could hold 3,000, nor even a third of that
amount. And the majority were small synagogues not much bigger than the one in
Nazareth. That there could hardly be more than 2,000 synagogues throughout
Palestine is obvious in another respect, too, when we consider that there were
only 6,000 Pharisees to minister in these synagogues. THE PHARISEES WERE THE
SYNAGOGUE RULERS (Herford, "Judaism in the New Testament Period," p.
134). However, not all Pharisees were religious leaders in the synagogues. For
example, Josephus, the Jewish historian, was a Pharisee but was not a ruler or
synagogue official. In fact, a good percentage of Pharisees were not a part of
the synagogue government. And besides this, there were several offices to be
filled in each synagogue (ISBE, vol. v, pp. 2878, 2879). The limited number of
Pharisees available could hardly have filled the necessary posts for more than
1,000 separate synagogues. With about 3,000 Jews for each synagogue in
Palestine, and the synagogues ranging in size from around 75 members (even 10
if held in a home, as was sometimes allowed) to around 500 people, it can
easily be seen that a good number of the Common People DID NOT ATTEND.
The religious condition
of the Jews during the days of Christ can be compared with our own society.
Today, there are about 750 million people who claim to be Christians, but how
many of these are fervent in their beliefs? How many are consistent church
goers? How many are zealously interested in their church? How many put their
church above anything else in their lives? How many really know God? Even the
major Protestant and Catholic leaders are appalled at the seeming lack of real
interest expressed by so many of their members. It is a known fact that the
majority of people today just aren't interested in real, heart-felt religion at
all -- even though most claim to be Christians. Should we then be amazed that
over 95% of the Jews of Christ's time were no more religious than our own
people? Of course not! People were the same then as they are today. The false
notion that the Jews of Christ's day were intensely interested in religion --
the religion of Moses -- must be eradicated from our minds. Such deception must
be replaced by the cold facts! The Jews were no more fervent about the religion
of Moses than the majority of Christians are today about the religion of
Christ!
January 1961
Vol. X, Number 1
How much do you
know about the Jewish sects mentioned in your New Testament -- the Pharisees,
Sadducees, Scribes, and the Herodians and Zealots? Were they all really God's
Old Testament Church?
There are
"pentecostal" sects that cater to those of certain emotional
tendencies. Others appeal to the educated and the intellectual. There are
puritan and fundamentalist denominations and at the other extreme, cold, formal
and modernistic ones. On the other hand, we find certain denominations having a
strong central government and in others the congregations rule. There are those
with pomp and ritual, and those having no religious adornment. And yet, the
irony of the whole thing is the fact that all these opposing and irreconcilable
denominations claim to be the Church that Christ founded while they preach
conflicting and contradictory "gospels." It certainly is obvious that
they are not preaching the ONE Gospel of Christ (I Cor. 1:10-13). Our people --
claiming to be Christians -- have gotten themselves into a chaotic state of
confusion in regard to religion. They have abandoned the Gospel of Christ --
which is clearly and plainly revealed in the Word of God -- and substituted for
it their various opinions and beliefs resulting in our modern
denominationalism. It should therefore not be surprising to us today, who are
so used to the splits and schisms based on the opinions of men, to find that
the Jews in the New Testament times were ALSO SPLIT UP INTO MANY DIFFERING AND
OPPOSING SECTS.
It is a common
law of human nature that when mankind uses human reasoning to arrive at the
truth of a religious subject, there are going to be many differences of
opinion. The Jews in the New Testament period were not one unified denomination
preaching one message. They were far from common agreement with one another in
many basic points of religion. Judaism had its sectarian divisions as we have
ours. How did they originate -- and why? Let the Jews themselves answer. Here
are the candid admissions of Hereford: "If it were possible to analyze the
Judaism of the New Testament Period into all its component elements, the result
of the process would be to show HOW COMPLEX A VARIETY is summed up under that
name, and HOW FAR FROM THE TRUTH it is to speak of 'the Jews' collectively as
if they were all alike, in respect to their Judaism" (Herford,
"Judaism in the New Testament Period," pp. 41, 42). "When looked
at from a distance, as is usually the case with non-Jewish students, Judaism
appears to be a well-defined and fairly simple system, with a few strongly
marked lines of thought and practice capable of easy description, and supposed
to be not less easily understood. But, when studied from near at hand, and
still more when studied from within, Judaism is seen to be by no means simple.
THERE WERE MANY MORE TYPES THAN USUALLY APPEAR, MANY MORE SHADES OF BELIEF AND
PRACTICE THAN THOSE WHICH ARE COMMONLY DESCRIBED. In this sense it is true to
say, in the words of Montifiore, that THERE WERE 'MANY JUDAISMS' ..."
(ibid., p. 14). The fact that there were all types of conflicting and opposing
sects in Judaism is important to recognize if an adequate understanding of the
New Testament Period, and especially Paul's writings, is to be gained. These
various sects, TO WHICH ONLY A VERY SMALL PART OF THE POPULATION BELONGED,
disagreed among themselves on many religious doctrines. Even within the sects,
many individuals or groupings were at variance with one another. This condition
of religious discord among the various sects, with the independent and
differing views of many even within the sects, undoubtedly was a prime factor in causing the Common People of the
land to dissuade themselves from joining the sects of Judaism. When there is
not unanimity of belief in religious teaching, there is a natural repulsion on
the part of most people to religion itself -- or at least in taking a serious
interest in it. This is the condition existing in our contemporary world, and
it was the very condition that existed among the Jews of Palestine during the
days of Christ. The overwhelming majority of the Jews did not directly belong
to the religious sects, and the sects, themselves, were in a state of confusion
as to religious belief. Let us look at some of these divided sects of Judaism
in order to help us better understand the New Testament period.
The major sect
among the divisions of Judaism was that or the Pharisees. This was the most
influential group at the time and can be called the leading division. Even
though their membership was only 6,000 out of a population near 3,000,000, they
had greater religious influence over the people than any other group. The main
reason for this is because the individuals in charge of the majority of
synagogues were Pharisees. Being in charge of the synagogues gave them a
certain amount of sway over the Common People who attended the synagogue
services. We must remember, however, that the evidence shows that only a
minority of the Common People attended the synagogues with regularity. The
Pharisees had no direct control over the bulk of the people at all.
The Pharisees
were not exactly like a church as we know it. They were, instead, a group of
men, and even some women, representing many different walks of life --
teachers, ministers, businessmen, politicians, etc. These men had voluntarily
bound themselves together in a covenant to live a particular manner of life.
Instead of calling them a church, they can best be described as a RELIGIOUS
FRATERNITY or ASSOCIATION (Edersheim, "Life and Times of Jesus the
Messiah," vol. i, p. 311). These were Jews who bound themselves together
into an exclusive fraternity to perform certain religious customs and
traditions that the Common People did not wish to keep, or did not wish to keep
with the strictness of the Pharisees. Edersheim continues: "The object of
the association was twofold: to observe in the strictest manner, and according
to traditional law, all the ordinances concerning Levitical purity, and to be
extremely punctilious in all connected with religious dues (tithes and all
other dues)" (ibid., vol. i, p. 311). It is important to note that the
Pharisees were merely an association of men who had bound themselves to keep
the Levitical laws of purity and also to conform very strictly to the laws or
tithing. THEY HAD NOT BOUND THEMSELVES TO ACCEPT ANY CREED OR SET OF DOCTRINES.
"The Pharisees WERE NEVER a homogeneous body possessed of a definite
policy or body of doctrine" (Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., vol. xxi,
p. 347). AT NO TIME WAS IT REQUIRED OF ALL PHARISEES TO BELIEVE ALIKE. This
fact is very important! By understanding this, we can come to a clear
comprehension of the true activity of the Pharisees during the time of Christ.
It can be plainly shown that the Pharisees exercised little central authority
among themselves at all. In fact, other than their uniformity in their desire
to keep the laws of purity and the other religious dues, the Pharisees
represented a group of men WITH UNLIMITED DIFFERENCES OF OPINION. They were not
one unified group in the matter of religious doctrines. One Pharisee would
teach his opinion on a religious question and another would teach another
opinion, in many instances, often totally different or diametrically opposite.
Each Pharisee could teach whatever he pleased concerning the Scripture and
STILL BE A PHARISEE so long as he kept bound to the Pharisaical rule of life.
You can imagine what confusion this would bring among the Pharisees!
JUST A FEW YEARS
BEFORE THE BIRTH OF CHRIST, and also during His lifetime, we have record of
many divisions within the Pharisaical group. These divisions resulted from
differences of opinion among the Pharisees. Some Pharisees, who might believe
one particular set of doctrines, would tend to associate themselves together
into their own societies. Some of the prominent of these societies would also
form themselves into schools where any differences of opinion on religious
questions among themselves could be discussed and then accepted or rejected by
the whole of the school. Two of the most distinguished schools at this time,
representing the two major divisions of the Pharisees, were the School of
Hillel and the School of Shammai. These two schools were the rivals of one
another. The points over which they disagreed were practically innumerable
("Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical
Literature," by McClintock and Strong, vol. ix, p. 472). There was hardly
a point of religious doctrine that these two schools completely agreed on.
Edersheim says that at one time there was such violent disagreement between
these two schools that blood was shed between them ("Life and Times of
Jesus the Messiah," vol. ii, p. 13).These two schools were NOT THE ONLY
DIVISIONS of the Pharisees, however. There were many more! Dr. George H. Box,
of the University of London, informs us: "The Pharisees at this time WERE
SHARPLY DIVIDED INTO VARIOUS SECTIONS which were NOT exhausted by the rival
schools of Hillel and Shammai" ("Abbington Bible Commentary," p.
841). There were many other splinter groups existing even among the Pharisees,
almost all teaching different doctrines.
It is readily
understandable why the rulers of the synagogues were adherents to the code of
the Pharisees. It was a mark of religious piety to keep the Levitical laws of
purity and to be scrupulous in keeping the laws of tithing, etc. So, the
majority of the rulers or the synagogues (ministers) were Pharisees. This does
not mean that these synagogue rulers taught a unified creed. The ruler of the
synagogue, in most cases, would teach what he, himself, thought was proper.
Some of these Pharisees would conform as near as possible to the Hillel School
of interpretation. Others would lean towards the Shammai School. Many would
teach a combination of the two schools' doctrines infused with their own
peculiar beliefs. No creed existed in the synagogues ruled by the Pharisees.
This is the reason why almost every opinion was tolerated in the synagogues.
THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES NEVER TAUGHT WITH AUTHORITY as did Jesus! (Herford, "Judaism
in the New Testament Period," p. 170). Now we can understand why it was
not difficult for Christ and the Apostles to speak in most of the synagogues
without molestation. Each ruler of the synagogue could teach what he pleased
and he allowed those of the congregation to express their opinion if they
wished. There was little government of God -- and there was little truth. The
Apostle Paul spoke many times in the Jews' synagogues about the TRUTH of
Christianity (Acts 13:15; 14:1; 17:1-2). Sometimes Paul met with approval and
other times with opposition. Jesus also preached the true gospel in many of the
synagogues throughout Judea and Galilee without being prohibited (John 18:20).
Because the majority of the synagogues were under the control of individuals
who were Pharisees, it is safe to conclude that the Common People who attended
endeavored to keep some form of the Pharisaical teaching. In this sense, it
would be proper to say that those who attended the synagogues were following a
type of NOMINAL Pharisaism -- even though they were not Pharisees themselves.
"The popular religion therefore, SO FAR AS IT WAS ENTITLED TO BE CALLED
JUDAISM, might be described as more or less DILUTED PHARISAISM" (ibid., p.
136). And because the Pharisees did control the synagogues, and had greater
influence over the Common People who attended, they assumed the position of
being the major sect of Judaism. They by no means represent the only religious
group, however. There were many more!
It is necessary
to mention the Scribes. They adhered to the Pharisaical rules of piety and, in
fact, represented a particular group within the Pharisees. They were the
SCHOLARLY PHARISEES -- sometimes called "doctors of the law" (Lake
5:17). In other words, they were the ones most learned in the Law. Both Hillel
and Shammai, who founded the two prominent Pharisaic Schools, were Scribes, or
Doctors of the Law. Not all Pharisees were Scribes, but ALL SCRIBES WERE
PHARISEES (ibid., p. 158). To them was committed the copying of the Hebrew
Bible.
Another major
group within Judaism at this time were the Sadducees. Even though the members
in this sect were fewer than the Pharisees, they could command attention
because they were in influential political positions in Jerusalem. Actually,
MANY OF THE SADDUCEES WERE PRIESTS who ministered in the Temple in Jerusalem.
Performing these functions was about the ONLY religious service that the
priests were doing at this time. In the distant past, it had been the job of
the priests, along with the Levites, to be the religious leaders in Israel.
But, by the time of Christ, the Pharisees, who were not priests, had been
allowed by Queen Alexandra (79 B.C.) to take this leadership to themselves,
while the priests were relegated to the place of performing only the rituals at
the Temple. Jesus recognized the Pharisees' authority, however (Mat. 23:2-3).
Because the Pharisees had deprived the priests of their rightful position as
teachers of the people, we can see one reason why the priests did not favor the
Pharisees nor what they taught. This is why the majority of priests were
Sadducees! They had a spite for the Pharisees, so they joined themselves to the
sect which disapproved of the Pharisees the most. The Sadducees had no set
religious creed EXCEPT that they ALL DISBELIEVED in the resurrection from the
dead, in angels, and spirits (Acts 23:8). They claimed to believe explicitly in
the Scriptures, but even in their fundamental doctrines just quoted, it is
clearly obvious that they rejected much of the Scripture, for the Word of God
plainly teaches the resurrection, the existence of angels and spirits (Job
14:14; Eze. 37:1-14; Dan. 12:1-3; Ex. 14:19; Dan. 6:22; I Sam. 18:10). Probably
they rejected such essential and basic doctrines because the Pharisees held all
of these as indispensable doctrines of the Scriptures. Perhaps it was our of
spite that the Sadducees rejected them. They certainly had no Scripture proof
for doing so. It is known that the Sadducees detested the Pharisees so much
that they would counter almost every belief the Pharisees would teach. These
doctrines of the Sadducees were not popular with the people. Very few of the
Common People ever joined with them. And, the Sadducees made no attempt to
proselyte. They also had no synagogues in which to worship (Herford,
"Judaism in the New Testament Period," p. 122). Nor did they have any
real centralized authority among themselves. The individual members of this
group could believe whatever he pleased, and there was "A CONSIDERABLE
VARIETY OF TYPE AMONG THE SADDUCEES," declares Herford. Their real
prominence was mainly POLITICAL. During the time of Christ, the Sadducees were
in control of the civil Supreme Court of the Jews (the Sanhedrin). Because of
their being majority leaders in this powerful judicial organization, they had
recognizable respect from the people. The Sanhedrin was the high
civil court,
allowed under the Romans to try legal disputes which would arise between Jews.
It even had power, in some instances, to give capital punishment. And, by the
Sadducees having the majority vote in this court (called "the
council" in the New Testament -- Luke 22:66), they could command certain
political esteem from the people -- even at times from the Pharisees. Religiously
speaking, however, very few of the Jews were Sadducees. Their materialistic
concept of Scripture and the fact that they were mainly priests plus some rich
and influential men, caused this sect not to be in any way popular. "The
priestly and aristocratic Sadducees were rigidly exclusive, and insignificant
in numbers" ("The Cambridge Companion to the Bible," p. 134).
The last MAJOR
group of Judaisers to be considered as representing Judaism, and having about
4,000 members, were the Essenes. This sect is not mentioned in the New
Testament, although they were in existence at the time. Because Jesus never
directly by name condemned this group, as He did the Pharisees and Sadducees,
some modern scholars have been led to assume that perhaps Jesus was a member of
this sect! Nothing could be further from the truth! Members of this group were
ascetics who lived in the desert near the Dead Sea. They were anti-social in
the extreme, withdrawing from society altogether, having no social intercourse
with any except members of their own sect. They practiced celibacy (repudiating
marriage entirely), drank no wine, did not attend Temple services, nor did they
sacrifice (Cyclo. Bib., Thes. & Ecc. Lit., vol. iii, p. 302). Their order
was similar to the practices in monasteries and nunneries of the Catholic
Church with which we are familiar (Herford, "Judaism in the New Testament
Period," p. 63). They even had their own synagogues in which to practice
their ascetic customs. Christ practiced none of their basic tenets! Simple
reference to the New Testament shows us that He was certainly not an ascetic.
HE CAME EATING AND DRINKING WINE (Matt. 11:19). He went out into the highways
(Matt. 22:9) and even ate with the Common People of the land, called SINNERS by
the Pharisees (Matt. 9:11). He attended the annual Holy Days ordained of God
(John 2:23; 5:1; 7:14). ALL these things the Essenes WOULD NOT DO! The Apostle
Paul CONDEMNS asceticism as a way of life (Col. 2:21-23), while the Essenes
believed in it as a fundamental doctrine. Neither Paul nor Christ was in any
way connected with this sect of the Jews nor did they propound any of this
sect's peculiar doctrines. Even the most skeptical of scholars must admit this
fact ("Abington Bib. Com., p. 842). Most of the doctrines adhered to by
the Essenes actually came from heathen influences, not from the Bible.
Another sect --
or perhaps sects -- connected directly with the Essenes, were the Qumran group.
Before 1947, no one knew that this sect existed in Palestine. In that year,
however, some scrolls were found by an Arab in a cave near the Dead Sea. It was
found that these scrolls were hidden by this sect now known as the Qumran.
Subsequent archeological discoveries revealed that this group were like the
Essenes in many ways. They preferred a life of asceticism and lived in
monastery-like institutions (Thompson, "Archaeology and the Pre-Christian
Centuries," p. 107). However, a study of their writings indicated that
they may have been a splinter group of the Essenes. Their own writings tell us
that there were differences of opinions among themselves and that there were
different sections within the group (ibid., p. 115). That Jesus had nothing to
do with them is apparent! Professor Thompson says that the teaching off these
Qumran sects differed from that of Christ in a thousand ways (ibid., p. 118).
The Zealots were
a religious group (Herford, "Judaism in the New Testament Period," p.
66), who had as their basic philosophy -- the defense of the Law of Moses. At
least, this was their supposition. In their religious beliefs they sided with
the Sadducees IN ONE RESPECT: they rejected the authority of the Pharisaic
teachings (ibid., p. 68). But they were not Sadducees! They held that the Law
of Moses was sufficient to guide the religious life, and that it did not need
the extra teachings of the Pharisees or any other group to make it clear. It is
not known just how fervent they really were in adhering to this religious conception. Their main point of
doctrine, and the one which gave them their name, was their ZEALOUSNESS for the
Law. They were supposedly willing to fight or even to die for the Law if
necessary. However, we find that this seemingly good quality was actually a
tool by which they could get the Common People to come to their aid in order to
accomplish their own nationalistic desires of driving all foreigners from the
land of Palestine. It was the overthrow of the Roman yoke more than anything
else that gave them impetus for zealousness. We often meet with this sect in
the New Testament only because one of the Apostles WAS ONCE a member of it
before becoming a Christian (Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13). Their importance was not
overly great during the time of Christ, but their influence grew, after the
crucifixion, to the extent that much of the blame for the rebellion against
Rome, that caused the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D., is to
be accorded directly to them. Their fundamental doctrine of rebellion against
all foreign domination (using the pretext of fighting for the Law of God)
brought much of the misery the Jews suffered during the destruction of
Jerusalem nearly 40 years after the crucifixion. This sect was extinguished from
Judaism after that destruction.
During the time
of Christ there was another minor group represented in Judaism called the
Herodians. They are mentioned twice in the New Testament (Matt. 22:16, Mark
12:13), and are in both cases aligned with the Pharisees against Christ. Little
is known of them except that they had independent doctrines of their own. It
has been CONJECTURED by some that they were endeavoring to proclaim Herod the
Great as the King and Messiah. The Jews were well aware that the Messiah was to
come at about this time because of the prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27. It is
possible -- say some scholars -- that the Herodians were proclaiming Herod as
their coming King. However, this is entirely conjecture. It is not known how
many members were in this MINOR group, nor is it really known what they taught.
Other than the
sects and divisions already mentioned, THERE WERE MANY OTHER MINOR RELIGIOUS
GROUPS IN JUDAISM. That these sects existed is readily recognized because they
wrote many erroneous and fantastic apocryphal books which show that they were
people who believed doctrines totally different from the common sects. These
books express different opinions among themselves as well, and in every case
endeavor to teach what the Bible clearly does not teach. The name that has been
applied to many of these small and independent groups, or perhaps they
represent nothing more than a few individuals, is Apocalyptists. The word means
"the revealing-ones" or those who purport to give SECRET doctrines or
prophecies never heard before. Many of the writers of these books claimed the
names of famous Old Testament personalities, such as Enoch and Moses, as the
supposed authors of their books. However, it is well known that these books
were written about one to two hundred years before Christ. See R. H. Charles',
"Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha," Oxford University Press, page 123,
for the evidence of this. Instead of revealing many hidden truths, these books
reveal only the errors that some of the Jews had foolishly come to believe. The
important point to realize is the fact that these false books are at variance
with the teachings of the Holy Scriptures. THEY DO NOT BELONG IN THE BIBLE!
They were all rejected by the Jews of Palestine. In a future chapter we will
see just what books really belong in the Old Testament and who had the
authority to decide it. It is important to know!
Let us summarize
the religious condition of the Jews during the time of Christ. Out of a total
population of about 3,000,000 Jews in Palestine, there were only about 6,000
Pharisees, about 3,000 Sadducees, 4,000 Essenes, and a few thousand
representing the other sects of Judaism. Those belonging to the religious sects
represented only a mere fragment of the population -- less than 5% of the total
population. The evidence shows that, relatively speaking, very few of the Jews
attended the synagogues each Sabbath. The synagogues were just too small or
there were not enough of them to allow all to attend. Of the sects themselves,
the Pharisees, the major group, WERE DIVIDED into many opposing divisions. Nor
were the Sadducees a unified group, for there WERE MANY VARIETIES OF BELIEFS
AMONG THEM. The Essenes and Qumran, by their own writings, were not a uniform
group, BUT WERE DIVIDED INTO VARIOUS ELEMENTS OF BELIEF. The rest of the sects
were minor in importance. Even the writings of the Apocalyptics show a variety
of opinions. They certainly did not agree with one another -- and especially
they did not agree with the Bible. Among all these differing sects we find some
keeping the traditions of the elders. Some believed in asceticism; others
repudiated it. There was disagreement over the rituals, marriage, the Sacred
Calendar, the correct observance of the Holy Days, etc. In fact, the points of
disagreement were virtually INNUMERABLE. About the only things held in common
by them all were some kind of observance of the Sabbath, the rite of
circumcision, the calling of Israel "a chosen people" and the expectancy
of the Messiah. However, even in these fundamental doctrines there were
countless shades of interpretations. The condition of the Jews in New Testament
times can best be described by the statement in the Bible: "every man did
that which was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25). There is no question
but that the religion of the Jews, as taught by the differing sects, was not
the religion that God gave Moses. In truth, the message that Christ brought
re-emphasized the religion of Moses IN ITS TRUE SPIRITUAL INTENT, and to give
it to a people who had forgotten the true spiritual application of the Law! In
the next chapter we shall see how the Jews originally departed from the Mosaic
faith; how they instituted the commandments of men which Christ condemned (Mark
7:7); how the religious sects first arose; and why the Jews came to such a
state of religious confusion during Christ's time.
February 1961
Vol. X, Number 2
The proper place
to begin a study of the development of Judaism is with the Babylonian captivity
of the Jews. Between the years of 604 B.C. and 585 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar, king
of the Babylonians, made war with the Kingdom of Judah. The Jews were not
successful in any or the skirmishes with the Babylonians. In the first years of
this war, Nebuchadnezzar carried away the majority of the Jews from Judah to
Babylon. At the end of the war, in 585 B.C., ALL THE JEWS, except those under
Gedaliah, were finally carried to Babylon. And even those under Gedaliah
finally fled Palestine. This was a complete captivity. The Babylonian captivity
came to an end with the downfall of the Babylonian Empire in October 539 B.C.
Isaiah had prophesied, about 200 years before, that Cyrus, the king of Persia,
would be responsible for the overthrow of Babylon and for making it possible
for the Jews to return to Palestine (Isa. 45:1-4). Thus, Cyrus and his armies
captured the capital of the Empire and Babylon was absorbed into the Persian
Empire. Cyrus was so betook over the exact prophecy by Isaiah concerning
himself, that he determined to honor the God who had granted him victory over
the Babylonians. He issued an edict that the Jews who had been carried captive
by the Babylonians could return to Palestine and rebuild the Temple of God (II
Chron. 36:22, 23; Ezra 1:1,2). The issuance of this decree resulted in about
50,000 Jews later returning to Palestine. These Jews were under the leadership
of two men. Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, and Joshua, the High Priest. The
reason for the Jews' return was to rebuild the Temple, which had been destroyed
by the Babylonians, and to again establish the true worship of God. The books
of Haggai and Zechariah were written during the period when these Jews were
returning to Palestine and during the building of the Temple. These books
describe the condition of the Jews at this time.
It must be
remembered, however, that the majority of the Jews did NOT return to Palestine.
Most of them elected to remain in the Babylonian area. Under the benevolent
rulership of Cyrus, many of the Jews had their own homes, substantial
properties and not a few were wealthy and influential. They did not want to
give all of this up in order to go back to the wasted land of their
forefathers. Even Cyrus did not want all of them to leave the Babylonian area
since the bulk of the population in some provinces was principally Jewish.
Depopulation would have been a serious setback to the ECONOMY of the area
(Edersheim, "Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah," vol. i, p. 8). The
majority of the Jews were content with the situation in Babylon. They had no
desire to return, and in consequence, they built permanent schools, colleges,
and synagogues. They were settling down to stay. And, even though there were
several migrations from Babylon back to Palestine, the bulk of the Jews
remained in the Mesopotamian area. Even as late as the New Testament times,
there were still more Jews in Babylon than there were in Palestine (ibid., vol.
i, pp. 7-9). THIS EXPLAINS WHY THE APOSTLE PETER WAS IN BABYLON IN THE LATER
YEARS OF HIS LIFE. He wrote his two epistles from near Babylon on the Euphrates
(I Pet. 5:13). Since the Apostle Peter was the apostle to the Circumcision
scattered abroad -- the Jews in the Diaspora (Gal. 2:7), it is not difficult to
see why he went to Babylon, where many of the Jews lived.
After the deaths
of Zerubbabel and Joshua, who led the first wave of returning Jews to
Palestine, the people began to take a lackadaisical attitude concerning the
services in the Temple and religion in general. Even though the Temple had been
completed in the early months of 515 B.C., the people of Palestine took no
interest in rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. It still remained in ruins! The
people had also begun to intermarry freely with the idolatrous Gentile people
round about. The religious life of the people in general was becoming corrupt.
This condition was prompted because the people in general did not have any real
spiritual leaders after the death of Zerubbabel and Joshua. As the years rolled
by, the condition became worse and worse. Finally, in the summer of the year
457 B.C., the seventh year of Artaxerxes, Jewish reckoning, Ezra came to
Palestine to rectify the situation that was beginning to get out of hand (Ezra
7:7-8). Ezra was a priest of no mean standing. He was a direct descendant of
Aaron and some of his forefathers had been former High Priests in Israel. His
grandfather was the High Priest who returned with Zerubbabel and Joshua to
Jerusalem in the first migration back to Palestine ("Cyclopaedia of
Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature," vol. iii, p.435).
Ezra, himself, was a "scribe," a "ready scribe of the law of
Moses," "a scribe of the words of the commandments of the Lord and of
His statutes to Israel," "a scribe of the law of the God of heaven"
(Ezra 7:11, 12). He was considered by Josephus, the Jewish historian of the
apostles' days, to have been, in a sense, the "High Priest" of the
Jews who were still living in Babylon ("Antiquities of the Jews," xi,
5,1). The Scriptures say that Ezra "had prepared his heart to seek the law
of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments"
(Ezra 7:10). From these Scripture references alone, we can say confidently that
Ezra was determined to live by the laws of God and to teach them to the people.
So profound an influence had Ezra over the Jews, and so righteous was his
character, that a later Jewish writer said he would have been the lawgiver to
Israel had not Moses preceded him ("The Talmud, Sanhedrin," c.ii).
Ezra knew the laws of God -- he was well trained in them. And God directed that
he go to Jerusalem to beautify the Temple, establish its services in proper
order, to teach the people the laws of God, and to rebuild the city of
Jerusalem. He went to Palestine, in the year 457 B.C., with authority from the
Persian government to carry out these reforms. About 2,000 people went with
Ezra to Palestine. These were notably priests, Levites and servants of the
Temple. The object of Ezra and these other important dignitaries in going to
Jerusalem, was to restore the worship of God that was fast becoming defiled.
When Ezra and
his retinue went to Jerusalem from Babylon, they went with a royal decree from
the king of Persia -- Ezra had the power he needed to carry out the reform. The
decree gave him authority not only to establish the true religion in its
purity, but also he had governmental orders to "appoint magistrates and
judges which may judge all the people that are beyond the river (in Palestine),
all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye him that knoweth them not.
And whosoever will not do the law of thy God and the LAW OF THE KING, let
judgment be executed upon him with all diligence, whether it be unto death, or
to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment" (Ezra
7:25, 26). In other words Ezra was going to Jerusalem not only as a priest of
God to reestablish the religious worship, but also to establish law and order
by rebuilding Jerusalem as a Jewish capital city. Why was the king of Persia so
interested in the Jews' religion and why did he want Jerusalem to be rebuilt
and inhabited? The answer is plain. The Bible records how Esther, a Jewish girl
from the tribe of Benjamin, became Queen of Persia, and Mordecai, her uncle,
became Prime Minister of the kingdom (Esther 2:17; 10:3).Esther was married to
King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) who ruled according to Persian reckoning, from 485 to
465 B.C. The king under whom Ezra was appointed to rebuild Jerusalem was
Artaxerxes I -- the son of Xerxes. Esther was still, undoubtedly, the Queen Mother,
when Ezra left for Jerusalem in 457 B.C. Thus we see that there was
considerable Jewish influence in the king's palace at this time. No wonder Ezra
was given such responsibility by the Persian king. He had power from the king
to perform the needed restoration. Ezra's personality and authority had a
tremendous effect on the people. The real intent of Ezra was to establish the
Law of Moses as the constitutional law throughout Judea (Herford, "Talmud
and Apocrypha," p. 33) -- to make Judea a model state within the Persian
Empire -- one adhering to the law of Moses. The laws of the king were to be
few, dealing mainly with taxation. Herford, the Jewish scholar, continues,
"The Persian rulers, living far from Judea, seldom interfered with the
internal affairs of their Jewish subjects, and were content to leave their
public business in the hands of the governor of the province. If the royal
taxes were paid, and order maintained, the Jews might organize their own life
as a community in the way that seemed best to them" (ibid. p. 45). This
was the policy of the Persian rulers for the two centuries they governed
Palestine. This gave the Jews ample opportunity to settle down firmly in
Palestine and to practice their religion without undue molestation.
The first thing
Ezra found upon his arrival in Palestine was that most of the people possessed
only a nominal religion. The Temple services were not being conducted properly
and a great number of the people had intermarried with foreign women. Ezra, in
no uncertain terms, warned the people that these very acts were violations of
the Law that caused their forefathers to be carried into captivity (Ezra
9:5-7). Upon hearing this, many of the people covenanted before God to
disentangle themselves from their foreign wives (Ezra 10:2-5). However, we find
that not all of the people were so willing to do this. Some became quite
obstinate. It took about 13 years to get all the people to forsake their own
ways and be obedient to the Laws of God. The reason that the Law had commanded
the Jews not to marry with the heathen is that the natural tendency of a person
is to lean towards the religion of the wife or husband. Solomon even set up
heathen idols in Jerusalem and throughout Israel to please his pagan wives (I
Kings 11:4). And because the Law specifically commanded the Israelites not to
marry heathen women or men (Exodus 34:15, 16), Ezra commanded the Jews to
repent of their erroneous ways and to begin keeping the Law. (See also Deut.
7:3.) A paramount issue in the mind of Ezra was the establishment in Palestine
of the civil Law as given by Moses. In other words, he was determined to see
that the Jews obeyed the commandments of God as revealed in Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy. Within these four books are found the basic spiritual
commandments of God, plus many basic laws and statutes of a civil nature for
the governing of the physical nation of Israel. Also within these books are the
ritualistic and ceremonial laws of purity and the sacrificial ordinances that
formed such a distinctive part of the Law of Moses that by New Testament times
the term "Law of Moses" often became a special and exclusive term for
the sacrificial ceremonies and physical rituals (Acts 13:39; 15:5). Ezra was
commissioned by God to teach the people ALL these laws -- from obedience to the
spiritual laws to the observance of physical rituals. Ezra was fully qualified
in education, political power and divine favor to accomplish the job of
establishing the Law of Moses as the law of the land. "To place the Torah
(the Scriptures) in the position of supreme authority in Judaism, and to win
the people to that recognition and acceptance of that supreme authority was
what Ezra set out to do" (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 37).
And, we find that Ezra succeeded in transforming the Jews from a nominal Mosaic
religion to the real thing. It took, however, the help of Nehemiah to finally
and fully implant the Law of Moses as the law of the land.
Nehemiah was a
Jew who was a high government official in the Persian kingdom (Neh. 2:1-8).
After learning of the plight of the Jews in Palestine and the difficult time
Ezra was having getting the Jews to obey the laws of Moses, he resolved to do
something about the situation. Being in close communication with the king of
Persia and in good favor with him, he petitioned for the right to become
governor of the province of Judea, directly under the king himself. The
petition was granted! Ezra, who had also gone to Palestine in an official
capacity, was not the governor of the province. He acted more as a civil
servant of the king. But Nehemiah came with much more power. He went to
Jerusalem as governor of the whole province of Judea. Upon the arrival of Nehemiah
in Artaxerxes' twentieth year, Ezra's position was greatly strengthened.
Nehemiah was as much inclined toward getting the people back to God as was
Ezra. Nehemiah and Ezra both worked together in harmony towards accomplishing
their goal. And accomplish it they did! They established the Law of Moses as
the law of the land, they set up the Temple service in proper order and they
made the people put away their foreign wives. They established meeting places
where the law was preached and expounded. The ordained priests were judges,
teachers, and administers of the government. This was a phenomenal task to
accomplish among thousands of Jews who were not always in favor of the law. But
it was done.
Ezra and
Nehemiah brought all of the leaders of the people, the priests, Levites, and
all the principal men, and had them sign a covenant that they would henceforth
obey the laws of God. In the covenant they signed, they all agreed to perform
seven things. These articles of the covenant were mandatory: 1) They were to
keep all the laws, statutes, judgments and commandments of God; 2) not to
intermarry with the heathen; 3) to keep the Sabbath holy; 4) to observe the
Sabbatical year; 5) to pay the annual third of a shekel for the upkeep of the
Temple; 6) to supply wood for the altar in the Temple; 7) to pay all the tithes
that were commanded in the Law (Nehemiah 10:28-39). The leaders signed the
covenant on behalf of all the people. Consequently, all the Jews who lived in
Palestine, solemnly entered into this covenant. They all pledged to carry out
its requirements. Before this time, the people were content with a nominal form
of religion, but after the surge of spiritual zeal and determination of Ezra
and Nehemiah, with the Persian monarch backing them up, the people took on a
new outlook towards the truth of God. There arose a new kind of constitutional
government -- a government which had as its laws the Law of Moses. It was a
kind of Church and State government, under the authority of the Persian
kingdom, but with its own schools, colleges, synagogues, court houses and
Supreme Court. With this kind of central government established in Judea, the
result was a religious unity not known since the days of Joshua. No wonder that
Ezra, the principal figure of the time, was called the "second
Moses." This was a new beginning in the history of the Jews.
The convening of
these Jewish elders was of great importance. This assemblage was actually a
religious and political body of priests which was, under the leadership of Ezra
and Nehemiah, empowered by God to maintain the obedience of the people to the
Law of Moses for that and future generations. This organization was known as
"The Great Assembly." It was an assembly comprised of Ezra and
Nehemiah, two of God's chosen ministers, along with all the principal priests
of the Jews. This assembly was the ruling institution to guide the religious
life of the Jews. It was the religious supreme court. It was the center of
authority in regard to education and regulating the priests and Levites in
teaching the people the Law of Moses. In effect, the Great Assembly was the
governing body of the Jewish people in Palestine. This assembly initiated by
Ezra and Nehemiah has often been called by the Greek name "The Great
Synagogue." The word "synagogue" in Greek means ASSEMBLY. This
is the name most modern writers use when referring to this authoritative body
of priests. But whether the name Great Synagogue or Great Assembly is used, it
represents the same institution. "According to the most ancient tradition,
this assembly or synagogue was styled GREAT because of the great work it
effected in restoring the divine law to its former greatness, and because of
the GREAT AUTHORITY AND REPUTATION WHICH IT ENJOYED" (Cycle. of Bib.,
Thee., and Ecc. Lit., vol. x, p. 82).This assembly actually represented the
executive, judicial and legislative congress of the Jews. It was convened to
insure the observance of the Law of Moses. From history we know that it accomplished
its task. It brought the people back to the Law of Moses, and established that
Law as the constitutional law of the land. Some of the decisions of this Great
Assembly have had far-reaching effects -- even unto our present age. It is
necessary that we learn about this organization established by God under the
supervision of Ezra and Nehemiah.
The Jewish
historians are united in telling us that there were 120 members in the original
Great Assembly ("Berakoth," ii, 4; "Megillah," 17b). All of
these members WERE PRIESTS (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 59).
There were no laymen in this authoritative assembly. The president or ruler was
the High Priest. According to rank, this should always be the case. However,
when the Great Assembly was organized by Ezra and Nehemiah, the High Priest,
Eliashib, did not meet with the Assembly. He did not entirely agree with the
covenant that the Great Assembly made binding. See Nehemiah 13:4-7. He did not
agree with the specific part of the covenant which commanded all Jews to give
up their Gentile wives. His grandson, Manasseh, was married to a very important
Gentile woman, of which more will be said later, and Eliashib did not
necessarily want this particular union to be broken. Because of this attitude,
he was rejected from having a part in the Great Assembly. Later on, however,
the High Priests did assume their proper place as head of the Assembly. The
rest of the Great Assembly were priests of varying rank occupying different
positions within the institution. Their jobs were to carry out the actual work
of the Assembly while the High Priest would supervise and oversee. These
priests were the leaders of the Jewish nation at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah,
about 440 years before Christ. They and their immediate successors were
responsible for many weighty and authoritative decisions that affected the
whole mode of Jewish life, and, in reality, settled a very important question,
the effects of which reach unto our own day. We shall see in the next
installment, how this Great Assembly, with the Spirit of God guiding them, put
together the Scriptures of the Old Testament. Our Old Testament comes to us
because of the work of this Great Assembly!
March 1961
Vol. X, Number 3
The firm
reestablishment of the religious and political government in Palestine was
accomplished by Ezra and Nehemiah. They convened the Jewish elders for the
purpose of signing and officially sealing a covenant to keep God's
commandments. It brought about the inauguration of a constitutional government
in Palestine. THE CONSTITUTION WAS THE LAW OF MOSES! Both Ezra and Nehemiah
were at this covenant -- signing, with the leaders of the Jews, to acknowledge
THE WRITTEN LAW OF MOSES as the law of the land -- as their constitution. All
the Jewish leaders, except a very small minority, happily covenanted to perform
the requirements of the Law. In consequence of this, the people put away their
foreign wives, started tithing, established proper Temple services and began to
keep God's Sabbath! This is the real beginning of the religion of Moses after
the Babylonian captivity. And it was the true religion of Moses, no additions
or subtractions!
In the previous
installment we found that Eliashib, the High Priest at the time of Ezra and
Nehemiah, did not countenance the decision of the Great Assembly in regard to
the putting away of foreign wives. One of his older grandsons was involved in
such an illegal marriage. This grandson, Manasseh, was married to one of the daughters
of Sanballat the Horonite -- a Gentile. Had Manasseh been married to an
ordinary woman of no repute, it probably would not have made a great deal of
difference. But he was married to the daughter of Sanballat who was governor of
the northern province of Samaria. Sanballat was an influential government
official of the Kingdom of Persia. The grandson of the High Priest of the Jews
being married to the daughter of the governor of Samaria offered a type of
alliance between the two peoples. This presented a delicate political
situation. If Manasseh repudiated his wife, in order to keep the Law, this
friendly relationship would undoubtedly have ceased. There were a few other
Jews along with Eliashib and Manasseh who felt that this marriage should not be
terminated even if the Law of Moses and the decision of the Great Assembly
commanded it. So, Manasseh openly rebelled against God's Government -- the
constitutional law -- defying Ezra and Nehemiah and the Great Assembly. When
Manasseh refused to adhere to the Law, Nehemiah, who was governor of Judea,
excommunicated him from the Jewish society and banished him from the country
(Neh. 13:23-31). Manasseh was exceedingly indignant over the excommunication.
He especially was angered because he would have become High Priest of the Jews
upon his father's death, had he remained faithful to the Law and had not been
excommunicated. In lieu of this, he, and some of his Jewish sympathizers, even
some of the priests, left Judaea and went northward to Samaria.
The Samaritans,
who nominally adhered to some points of the Law of Moses, only as it suited
their fancy, readily accepted these renegade Jews. The Samaritans had no
scruples over marrying Gentile wives, for they themselves were Gentiles who had
been placed in central Palestine about 250 years before by the Assyrians. With
the arrival of Manasseh in Samaria, Sanballat, his father-in-law, sympathized
with him because he had been deprived of the opportunity to be High Priest
among the Jews. But Sanballat had cunningly devised plans to honor his
son-in-law for his rebellion against Nehemiah and the Great Assembly. Since the
Samaritans had no temple in which to worship, SANBALLAT PETITIONED THE PERSIAN
GOVERNMENT DO GRANT HIM PERMISSION TO BUILD A TEMPLE FOR THE SAMARITAN PEOPLE.
Because it was the general policy of the Persians to allow their captive
nations to worship their own gods, this permission was granted. It was the
design of Sanballat to build this temple and install Manasseh, the son of the
Jewish High Priest, as the High Priest of the Samaritans. This plan was carried
out. The Samaritan temple was built on Mount Gerizim in Samaria and Manasseh
received his schismatic priesthood. This is the beginning of the Samaritan
religion.
The first act of
Manasseh after being installed as the Samaritan High Priest was to repudiate
the true Temple of God located on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. He did this by
maintaining that the Temple should be located on Mount Gerizim and not in
Jerusalem. Manasseh's rebellious motive was to strengthen his own position
among the Samaritans and perhaps to gain some of the Jews in Judaea to his
side. In maintaining that the Temple should be situated on Mount Gerizim, he
encountered, however, an embarrassing situation. Throughout the writings of the
Old Testament prophets were the clear prophecies that the Temple of God should
be located only on Mount Zion in Jerusalem (Isaiah 2 and Micah 4). The
prophecies concerning this fact were so conclusive, so decisive, that it was
impossible for Manasseh to reconcile his temple being located on Mount Gerizim
with the statements of the prophets. Realizing that the writings of the
prophets and many of the Psalms specifically taught just the opposite from what
he was endeavoring to maintain, he seized upon the only alternative to
seemingly justify his temple being on Mount Gerizim. His way out of the dilemma
was to formally REJECT THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS. To do this, he had to
represent them as the uninspired opinions of men. As a result of this, Manasseh
acknowledged that the only books which were really the inspired words of God
were the books of Moses -- the first five books of the Old Testament. The
reason he accepted this portion of the Old Testament was that in this section
there was no direct mention of the necessity of having the Temple of God on
Mount Zion in Jerusalem. By accepting only the first five books of the Bible
and none other, he put his own authority ahead of the Word of God. With Manasseh
ruling as the Samaritan High Priest and finally claiming that only the books of
Moses were the inspired word of God, the situation called for drastic action by
Ezra, Nehemiah and the Great Assembly. Here was a new temple built in Samaria,
and Manasseh loudly proclaiming that all the Jews in Judaea were in error.
Something had to be done about this situation. Ezra and Nehemiah knew it was
possible that there might be an internal disruption of the Jewish society that
they were developing in Judaea, unless a determinate and authoritative
counter-action could be launched against the falsehoods of Manasseh and his
heretical followers, especially since many of his ideas were being subversively
planted in the minds of many Jews in Judaea. The people had to know who was
right, Manasseh -- or Ezra and Nehemiah!
Under the divine
inspiration of Almighty God, Ezra and Nehemiah with the Great Assembly convened
to settle the matter. These two authoritative servants of God, along with the
ordained priests of God, were given the responsibility of assembling the
inspired books of the prophets and holy men of God. Their task was not to write
the books, for they were already written. They had to assemble the already
acknowledged inspired books into one book in a final order. Thus, we read:
"To erect a wall of partition between the Jews and these apostates
(Manasseh and his followers), and to show the people which of the ancient
prophetical books were sacred ... the men of the Great Synagogue (Assembly)
compiled the canon of the prophets" (Cycle. of Bib., Thee. And Ecc. Lit.,
vol. x, p. 83). The Canon of the Old Testament That Ezra, Nehemiah and the
Great Assembly, under the divine inspiration of the Spirit of God, compiled the
books of the Old Testament is the universal acknowledgment of all early Jews
and Christians (ibid., vol. ii, p. 75). All of the Old Testament books,
remember, WERE ALREADY WRITTEN. The task of the Great Assembly was merely to
put them together into one book in proper order! And this they did! It has been
thought by some modern critics that Ezra and the Great Assembly may have
sanctioned only the Law of Moses, the first five books. This is decidedly not
the case! The very reason the canon of the Old Testament had to be defined at
this time was that the renegade Jew, Manasseh, erroneously maintained that the
first five books of Moses were the only inspired books. He, out of his own
vanity, rejected the inspired books of the Prophets and Psalms. These books
were already as much a part of God's Word as the Law of Moses. It was not
necessary to OFFICIALLY proclaim the Law of Moses AS BEING INSPIRED FOR IT HAD
ALREADY LONG BEEN RECOGNIZED AS GOD'S WORD. See II Kings 22:8. It was, of
course, God's purpose that all the writings of the Prophets be transmitted to
those of future eras in final and unchangeable form. The books of the Prophets,
the Psalms and the other books were now officially established, properly placed
in the canon and PROCLAIMED as the authoritative Word of God.
We have the
testimony of Josephus, the Jewish historian, that the complete Old Testament
was finally settled and established in the days of Artaxerxes, king of Persia
("Against Apion," I, 8). By this, Josephus meant that the Old
Testament canon was completed in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, for these two
men of God lived in Artaxerxes' time. Josephus also mentions that there had not
been any prophet who had left any writings from the time of Artaxerxes until
the New Testament Period (ibid.). Even the writer of Maccabees recognized that
up to his time the inspired prophets had ceased with Malachi. "And there
was great stress in Israel [in 168 B.C.], such as there had not been SINCE THE TIME
WHEN THE PROPHETS CEASED TO APPEAR TO THEM" (I Macc. 9:27). Without men of
God in a prophetical office, it was impossible to have inspired writings. It is
therefore plain that Josephus, who was one of the leading Pharisees of his day,
and other prominent Jews, believed the canon of the Old Testament was completed
under Ezra and Nehemiah.
When Ezra and
Nehemiah compiled the Old Testament books they placed them in three general divisions.
These are known as the Triparte Divisions. The first division was called THE
LAW, and consisted of the first five books. The second was called THE PROPHETS.
The third division was called, in Christ's day, THE PSALMS, because this
division commenced with the book of Psalms. Thus, the inspired Old Testament,
from Genesis to II Chronicles (the Hebrew order), was divided into three
divisions -- THE LAW, THE PROPHETS, and THE PSALMS. This arrangement of the
books has always been reckoned by the Jews as having had its origin in the time
of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ryle, "Canon of the Old Testament," p. 252;
Angus, "Bible Handbook," p. 568). There is no question about this
fact.
There are several
early references which show that the Old Testament was divided into the
Triparte Divisions. One notable mention is that of Sirach's grandson -- a
Jewish religious leader who lived in the second century BEFORE Christ. He says
in his prologue to the apocryphal book, Ecclesiasticus, that the recognized
Scriptures of official Judaism were those books found in "The Law,"
"The Prophecies," and "The Rest of the Books." This is a
clear reference to the authoritative Triparte Divisions established by Ezra and
Nehemiah. You will perhaps notice that the grandson of Sirach did not use the
name "The Psalms" for the third division. This is easily explained.
This third section did not have a proper name in the time of Sirach. It became
popularly called "The Psalms" by the Jews of Christ's time because
that particular book introduced the division. This is clearly indicated by
Philo, a Jew who lived a few years before Christ. He said that the Triparte
Divisions were then being called "The Law," "The Prophets,"
and "The Psalms" ("On the Contemplative Life," 3). Later,
in the third century A.D., however, the Jews began to refer to the third
division as "The Writings." This designation has been used by the
Jews up to our own times.
It is important
to realize that the Jews accepted only the books within the Triparte Divisions
as inspired. No other books were ever recognized as being canonical. The
Apocrypha were never accepted. But regardless of the beliefs of official
Judaism, we have the testimony of much greater authority, telling us of what
books the inspired Old Testament consisted. That witness is Christ Himself --
the very One who inspired the prophets of the Old Testament (See Colossians
1:15-17). After the resurrection of Christ, we are told in the Gospels, He
began to teach His disciples many important truths from the Scriptures. On one
occasion, mentioned in Luke 24:45, Christ referred to "THE
SCRIPTURES" of the Old Testament and about the prophecies concerning Him.
What books did Christ mean by the expression, "the Scriptures"? What
was the Old Testament to Him? Notice what Christ Himself related: "And He
said unto them, these are the words I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in THE LAW OF MOSES, and
IN THE PROPHETS, and IN THE PSALMS, concerning me. "Then opened He their
understanding, that they might understand THE SCRIPTURES" (Luke 24:44,
45). Yes, the inspired Old Testament Scriptures for Christ comprised those
books found in "The Law, The Prophets, and The Psalms" -- the
Triparte Divisions. These were the very books compiled by Ezra and Nehemiah,
and the very books which have come down to us today in the King James Version.
We can assuredly know that OUR OLD TESTAMENT is the complete Old Testament of
God. Christ has told us this in the plainest of words.
You will notice
that the Old Testament in the King James Bible begins with the book of Genesis
and ends with the book of Malachi. However, in the original authoritative
arrangement of the Old Testament books by Ezra and Nehemiah, this was not so.
The Jews have never approved the King James arrangement because ITS ORIGIN WAS
IN EGYPT. About 250 years before Christ there was a Greek translation made of
the Hebrew Old Testament. This has become known as the Septuagint Version. The
translators of this version decided to CHANGE THE ORDER of the books. Our King
James Version follows the Latin which had this erroneous Egyptian arrangement
of the books in it. The Latin translations followed the Septuagint Greek
translation made in Egypt. The Septuagint does not follow the original Hebrew
order established by Ezra and Nehemiah. When the Jews of official Judaism
recognized the corruptions in the Septuagint Version, they completely
repudiated it. Notice how the early Jews looked on this translation: "The
day on which the translation of the Bible into Greek was made was regarded as a
great calamity, equal to that of the golden calf" ("Sopherim,"
i, 7). "The day on which it was accomplished ... was commemorated as a day
of fasting and humiliation (ibid.). The Septuagint Version translators did not
take away or add to the books of the Old Testament, but they did disrupt the
Divine order of the books and faultily translated much of the original Hebrew
into Greek ("Prologue to Sirach"). It will be profitable for you to
know what the authoritative order of the Old Testament books really is. And
notice that originally, before printing, the number of scrolls were 22 -- now
subdivided in the King James Version into 39.
The
LAW: 1) Genesis 2) Exodus 3)Leviticus 4) Numbers 5) Deuteronomy
The
PROPHETS: 1) Joshua & Judges 2) I & II Samuel & I & II Kings 3)
Isaiah 4) Jeremiah 5) Ezekiel 6) The Twelve: Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah
Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi
The
WRITINGS: 1) Psalms 2) Proverbs 3) Job 4) Song of Songs 5) Ruth 6) Lamentations
7) Ecclesiastes 8) Esther 9) Daniel 10) Ezra & Nehemiah 11) I & II
Chronicles
Notice that the
first seven books are the same as in our King James version, but afterward
there are considerable changes. You will notice that the so-called "Minor
Prophets" -- from Hosea to Malachi -- are not really the last books of the
Old Testament. These Minor Prophets really belong in the center. The last books
are actually I and II Chronicles. This authoritative arrangement of the Old
Testament books is the one which the official Jewish community has always
recognized as authoritative. Other Books Rejected Let us clearly understand
that the books of the Apocrypha and all other spurious books NEVER found a
place in the official Triparte Divisions of the Jewish Old Testament. All these
"outside" books were totally rejected by the Jews. You will recall that
Josephus, the Jewish priest and historian, who represented the beliefs of
official Judaism in the days of the Apostle Paul, said that the Jews NEVER
accepted any other books as inspired other than those compiled in the days of
Ezra and Nehemiah. "It is true," says Josephus, "our history has
been written since the time of Artaxerxes [the time of Ezra and Nehemiah] very
particularly, BUT HAS NOT BEEN ESTEEMED OF THE LIKE AUTHORITY WITH THE FORMER
[writings] OF OUR FOREFATHERS, since that time" ("Against Apion,"
I, 8). Yes, the last prophet to write an inspired book was Malachi -- a
contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Another proof
that Christ used only the Scriptures recognized by official Judaism is the fact
that He never once quoted from or alluded to any of the Apocrypha or other
spurious books. Had He made even the slightest indication that the sources of
His doctrines were from these unrecognized books, the Jews would have
vehemently countered Him with all their intellectual might. They would have
loudly and persistently pointed out to the people that Jesus could not possibly
be the Messiah, for He was making use of uninspired books. But the Jews NEVER
had an opportunity of accusing Christ of such things. They railed Him for going
contrary to the doctrines of the Jewish denominations of His day, but they
never criticized Him for using uncanonical books. The silence of any Jewish
censure on this point IS DEFINITE PROOF that Christ utilized only the inspired
books in the official Jewish Old Testament as the Scriptures.
We have further
evidence throughout the New Testament that Christ and the Apostles recognized
only the books of the Jewish Version as the complete Old Testament. Notice how
it is taken for granted, in so many parts of the New Testament, that the Jews
had the "Scripture" (John 10:35; 19:36; II Pet. 1:20), "the
Scriptures" (Matt. 22:29; Acts 18:24), "Holy Scriptures" (Rom.
1:2, II Tim. 3:15), "the Law" (John 10:34), "the Law and
Prophets" (Matt. 5:17; 22:40), and the Law, Prophets and Psalms (Luke
24:44). All the New Testament writers recognized the Jews to have had the
complete Old Testament. Paul was also careful to let the Romans know that unto
the Jews, "WERE COMMITTED THE ORACLES OF GOD" -- the Old Testament
(Rom. 3:3; 9:4). Paul was fully aware that the oracles of the Jews were the
inspired books of the Jewish canon -- the same books that are in our King James
Version today. It is very clear, from secular history, and especially from the
Word of God, that we have the complete Old Testament. ALL OTHER BOOKS NOT FOUND
WITHIN THE BIBLE as we have it are entirely worthless for teaching true
doctrines, and are to be completely rejected in this respect. The Apocrypha,
and all other books, are the writings of men, not of God. With the canonization
of the Old Testament Scriptures, the Jews of this time entered into a period of
prosperity and happiness. They were keeping the Law and being taught by the
Great Assembly. This period from about 430 B.C. to 331 B.C., until the
overthrow of the Persian Empire by the Greeks, can be called a time when the
Law of Moses was adhered to by the people. We are now compelled to look to a
period later than the time of Persian control for the origin of the confused
and mixed-up condition of Judaism. The next installment will plainly reveal the
source from whence Jewish denominationalism arose.
April 1961
Vol. X, Number 4
Even though
Judea was properly a province of the Persian Empire, the Jews maintained a
semi-independent community. Since the days of Ezra, the Persians had shown
extraordinary consideration to the Jews. "God ... hath extended mercy unto
us in the sight of the kings of Persia" (Ezra 9:9). "The Persian
rulers," says Herford, "living far from Judea, seldom interfered with
the internal affairs of their Jewish subjects, and were content to leave their
public business in the hands of the governor of the province. If the royal
taxes were paid, the order maintained, the Jews might organize their life as a
community in the way that seemed best to them" ("Talmud and
Apocrypha," p. 45). The Persians had rule over Palestine until 331 B.C. --
for about one hundred years after Ezra and Nehemiah. During this entire period,
the Jews were allowed full freedom to practice their own customs and
traditions. This Persian period was especially propitious to them because they
were allowed to observe the Scriptures as ordained of God (Kent, "History
of the Jewish People," p. 224). And during this period the Law of Moses
was kept! At this time, the Jews were under the direction of the High Priest,
the president of the Great Assembly, and the other authoritative priests who
comprised its membership. No religious splits or schisms were tolerated and all
the people were kept in obedience to the laws of the Old Covenant. This
peaceful condition in Palestine led to many advances in the social and
religious life of the Jews.
The canonization
of the Old Testament, and the establishment of the Law of Moses as the constitutional
law brought about the necessity of teaching the law to the people on a grand
scale. Ezra had brought back with him from Babylon a good number of priests to
add to the 4,000 who had come back from the Babylonian captivity at an earlier
time (Ezra 8:17-20). These priests were brought back to Palestine in order to
assume their position as religious teachers of the people, for the Bible had
ordained that priests were to teach the people the laws of God (Lev. 10:11;
Deut. 24:8; 27:14, etc.). The book of Malachi, written immediately after the
return of Ezra and Nehemiah, records what these priests were ordained to do.
"For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law
at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 2:7).
Because the Law of Moses had become the law of the land, it became the priests'
job to teach the law. These commands required meetings every Sabbath in all the
villages and towns around Judea. It was these Sabbath services that finally
merged into regular synagogue services. In time, all the areas within Judea
began to build their own synagogues. In some of the larger areas, a body of
priests would take up residence and have charge of the synagogue. Before the
Babylonian captivity, synagogues had existed throughout Israel and Judah (Psa.
74:8), but because all these previous synagogues had been completely destroyed
by the invading armies of the Assyrians and Babylonians, the Jews had to start
afresh after their return from Babylon to build completely new synagogues. This
fact has led some commentators to erroneously assume that synagogues had their
first development ONLY AFTER the Babylonian captivity, and that they were not
in existence before. This, however, is not true! These new synagogues which
were built in Palestine, were certainly built from scratch. But there had been
synagogues before. Buildings for religious assemblies are essential in every
age and dispensation. It was impossible for all the Jews throughout Judea to
journey each Sabbath to Jerusalem and to the Temple in order to learn of the
law and to worship God in holy convocation. The people had to have instruction
by the priests every Sabbath in their own communities. The proper instruction
of the Law of Moses could only be accomplished by the establishment of
synagogues throughout the land. And, under the benevolent rule of the Persians,
with peace and safety everywhere, there is no reason to doubt that synagogues
dotted the land from one end to the other (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha,"
p. 58). Not only did the synagogues offer opportunity for worship of God on the
Sabbaths, but we are informed in a Talmudical reference that Ezra ordained the
priests to hold periods of religious instruction on the regular market days of
the week -- Mondays and Thursdays ("B. Kamma," 82a, b). From this
evolved the custom of having instruction in the Law on those two days of the
week. This custom was even carried down until the time of Christ.
It is plain that
the people during this one hundred year period under the Persians had adequate
instruction in the Laws of God -- not only on the Sabbaths and Holy Days, but
even on two market days during the week. The priests were kept busy in the
occupation of teaching the people the Law. For their helpers the priests had
the regular Levites who gave them proper assistance in teaching the people.
These Levites really did much of the actual teaching, and the priests were the
supervisors. It was impossible for the limited number of priests to do all the
necessary duties. For that reason, a good deal of the help in teaching,
judging, being dieticians and, in a limited way, being policemen, fell to the
Levites. In effect, the Levites represented the professional class among the people.
They were under the authority of the priests, however, who were the responsible
organization for the over-all well-being of the nation (ibid., p. 59). The real
leader of the whole nation was the High Priest, who was actually the head of
state being the leader of the Great Assembly. The Great Assembly was the one
organization that was the governing authority. This religious assembly, as
previously pointed out, was composed of the chief priests of the land with the
High Priest as official president and over-all ruler. All members of this
authoritative assembly in the Persian period were priests AND PRIESTS ALONE
(Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p. 28). "For the priests were
the actual leaders of the community, since they alone were recognized by the
Law (Deut. 17) as its official teachers and competent interpreters"
(ibid., p. 28). These priests were not elected by the people to hold a high
office in the Great Assembly. They assumed this position by heredity, as
ordained by God (Deut. 17). Actually, no one but the priests, according to the
Law of God, could teach or direct the people in their religious life. This is
the reason why the Great Assembly was composed exclusively of the priests, with
the High Priest being the recognized leader. With the canonization of the
Scripture and the establishment of synagogues throughout the land, a problem
confronted the Great Assembly. In order to teach the Law of God, it was
necessary that the priests and Levites have copies of the Scriptures. Up to the
time of the canonization, books were not made with ALL twenty-two scrolls of
the Old Testament combined together.
Now that the
Scripture had been authoritatively assembled, it became necessary to distribute
the complete word of God. The synagogues needed the Holy Scriptures as did many
individual priests. So, it fell the lot of the Great Assembly to remedy this
situation. They had the responsibility of seeing that many scrolls of Scripture
were made and distributed to those who were in authority to teach the Word of
God. And, too, they had to be extremely careful and make sure that only
individuals who were thoroughly qualified would undertake such a sacred task of
copying the Scriptures. Such a job could not be entrusted to just anyone, lest
from inexperience or carelessness the transcription was not an exact
reproduction. It became obvious that the only body or men who were qualified to
do such a work were the members of the Great Assembly THEMSELVES. It was
necessary that the new scrolls be perfect and that each scroll be sanctioned by
these authoritative priests. This led the Great Assembly to assume the task of
copying the Scriptures. They assumed this occupation sometime not long after
the deaths of Ezra and Nehemiah. From this time forward, the members of the
Great Assembly became known as "Sopherim." The word
"Sopherim" in Hebrew signifies "counters." "They were
called 'Sopherim' because they COUNTED all the letters in the Torah [the
Scriptures] and interpreted it" (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha,"
p. 44). In order to have an accurate transcription of the Scriptures, the
Sopherim, the members of the Great Assembly, counted each letter on each
section of a scroll. They made sure that when they copied the letters onto a
new scroll, that there would be EXACTLY the same number of letters on the new
section as had existed on the old. To do this, they had to COUNT each of the
letters on the new scroll several times to make certain that the exact number
was transcribed. This method of copying the Scriptures was followed by later
Jews until the invention of the printing press. In fact, about eight hundred
years AFTER Christ, this method was so highly developed among the Jews that
they knew the middle letter of each book in the Bible, and, even the middle
letter of the whole Bible. There were many nonessential features developed from
this method of counting the letters of the Scriptures. For those who may be
interested in some of these features, see Ginsburg's "Introduction to the
Hebrew Bible" (this book is now out of print and would be found only in
some of the larger libraries).
Once the members
of the Great Assembly became the copiers of the Law (the Sopherim), we find the
two names synonymously referring to the ONE group of priests. To speak of the
Sopherim was to speak of the Great Assembly, and vice versa (Herford,
"Talmud and Apocrypha," pp. 44, 45). For convenience's sake, we will
refer to these men by the name most used in history -- we will call them the
Sopherim. The term "Sopherim" denotes that the one major job of the
Great Assembly was to copy faithfully the Scriptures, and teach these
Scriptures to the priests of lower rank who in turn would teach the people.
Their lives were centered in the study of the Scriptures and in teaching the
Law of God. This was, after all, the occupation that God had ordained for the
priests. They were also to regulate the religious life of the people. And,
history shows that the members of the Great Assembly, the Sopherim of Persian times,
following the examples of Ezra and Nehemiah, carried out their commission with
fidelity.
We read in the
Scripture that Ezra "read in the book in the law of God DISTINCTLY, and
GAVE THE SENSE, and caused them [the lay people] to understand the
reading" (Neh. 8:8). When Ezra taught the people, he would read from the
Law of God and then GIVE THE SENSE OF IT, that is, he would give the true
explanation of it so the common people could understand what God meant from the
Law. This is what any true minister of God will do. All that is necessary to
understand God's Word is to have it properly explained by dedicated teachers
who know the Scriptures thoroughly. A true minister of God will allow the
Scripture to interpret Scripture. This is the only way of arriving at the truth
of God's Word. This is the reason the World Tomorrow program and the Plain
Truth magazine interpret Scripture with Scripture. This is exactly what Ezra
and his successors, the Sopherim, did! They simply expounded the Law of God,
the Scriptures. They did not make up their own ideas about Scripture teaching.
They taught the Word of God, AND IT ONLY! This manner of teaching the
Scriptures, and which is the only proper way, is known among the Jews as the
MIDRASH-FORM! The word Midrash means "to comment." And the term
"Midrash-form" designates that manner of teaching which depends ONLY
on the written Word of God for doctrines -- letting the Bible explain itself.
The reason this type of teaching has a special designation among the Jews is
because they later had DIFFERENT METHODS OF TEACHING which did not rely upon
the Word of God. And, it became a later custom to refer to the true type of
teaching, which expounded or commented on the Scriptures, AND THE SCRIPTURES
ONLY, as teaching in the MIDRASH-FORM. This Midrash-form is the type of
teaching that the Sopherim used, for they were following Ezra's example of
reading in the Scriptures and then giving the sense or the meaning so the
common people could understand. This is the method of teaching that began with
Moses and was exclusively used from his day and throughout the period of the
Sopherim. For it was, and still is, the only proper way to teach the Word of
God (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 47). "The Midrash-form
was supposed to be that in which Moses had originally taught the Torah, and to
use that form was called 'TEACHING AFTER THE MANNER OF MOSES'" (Ibid., p.
47). The later Jews, as previously mentioned, came to the place of teaching
religion in an entirely different method than "after the manner of
Moses" and the Sopherim. We will see that they did not utilize the
Midrash-form as the ONLY METHOD OF TEACHING. However, Ezra and the Sopherim,
following the example of Moses, taught exclusively in this correct form. They
never departed from teaching directly from the Word of God. No other form of
interpretation was used or allowed!
The Sopherim,
being the successors of Ezra and Nehemiah as well as being the custodians of
the Scriptures, were responsible for adding the final portions to the Old
Testament. While they were in authority among the Jews, they added a few names
to certain genealogical tables in order to bring them up to date. In I Chronicles
3:17-24 and Nehemiah 12:10,11, there are recorded lists of certain men. The
last mentioned of these men lived just before the coming of Alexander the Great
in 331 B.C. Notice I Chronicles 3:17-24. There is mentioned a sixth generation
after Zerubbabel. This last generation would have lived about the time of
Alexander the Great. Nehemiah 12:10,11 refers to Jaddua the High Priest who was
alive when Alexander the Great came to Palestine (Josephus, "Antiquities
of the Jews," xi, 8, 4). Thus, the names were added to the genealogical
tables by the Sopherim just before the coming of the Greeks in 331 B.C. This
shows plainly that the Sopherim, who were established about 440 B.C., were in
authority for a period just over one hundred years -- until 331 B.C. And also
that the Old Testament, as we have it today, was made into its final form by
the Sopherim with the addition of a few names to the genealogical tables, about
330 years BEFORE the birth of Christ! The Sopherim had complete authority for
doing this. They were the proper custodians of the Law and ordained of God for
this purpose.
It must be
emphasized that the Sopherim were all priests -- there were no laymen among
them. "In the days of the Sopherim, when the High Priest was the head of
the community, and when the teachers under his leadership formed an official
body vested with authority to arrange all religious matters in accordance with
the Law as they understood it, the knowledge of the Law was limited to the
priests who were the ONLY OFFICIAL TEACHERS. On the one hand, the priests who
were in possession of the Law and tradition of the fathers considered the
teaching and interpreting of the religious law as their priestly
prerogative" (Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p. 197). This
priestly authority was in accord with the Word of God. The priests had been
ordained to be the teachers of the people in religious matters. No layman was
permitted to assume this authority. As long as the Sopherim remained as the
official body among the Jews, this direction of God was adhered to. And during
the entire period of the Sopherim -- from the days of Ezra until the coming of
Alexander the Great -- the Jews were keeping the Law of Moses. However, in 331
B.C., when Alexander came to Palestine and defeated the Persians, the whole
complexion of Palestine government changed. The Greeks, unlike the Persians,
did not allow the Sopherim to hold their authoritative position among the Jews.
In fact, after 331 B.C. the Sopherim disappear from history as a body of
priests directing the religious life of the people. The whole organization was
dismantled by the Greek conquerors. The coming of the Greeks brought a complete
change in practically every mode of life in Palestine. With the Sopherim taken
away from their position of authority, the Scripture teachings ceased being
enforced. A whole new way of life was forced upon the Jews. The next chapter
will elucidate what happened in this very important period in Jewish history!
May 1961
Vol. X, Number 5
With the coming
of the Greeks, a whole new manner of life was brought into Palestine and among
the Jews. Under the Persians, the Jews had been allowed to observe the Law of
Moses with the Great Assembly (the Sopherim) as their religious leaders. But
this was all changed with the advent of the Greeks. Alexander the Great was
steeped in the belief that the Greek way of life was the only suitable one for
mankind to follow. He was imbued with the enthusiasm of infusing the culture
and society of the Greeks among all the nations he had conquered. And Palestine
was no exception. "Hellenism" is the term to describe the belief in
practicing the manner of life of the Greeks -- to imitate every phase of Greek
society, its politics, domestic life, philosophies, religions, etc. The basic
philosophy behind Hellenism was this: EVERY MAN HAD THE RIGHT TO THINK FOR
HIMSELF ON ANY MATTER AS LONG AS THERE WAS NOT A REAL DEPARTURE FROM THE
CUSTOMS THAT WERE ESSENTIALLY GREEK. This philosophy -- freedom of thought or
individualism -- which is seemingly altruistic in principle, resulted in
myriads of confusing and contradictory beliefs among the Greeks in every phase
of life. Every man was allowed his own ideas about the sciences, the arts, laws
AND ABOUT RELIGION. So varied were the opinions among the Greek scholars in the
various fields of study that individuals took pride in contending with one
another over who could present the greatest "wisdom" and "knowledge"
on any particular subject. The Greeks sought wisdom in order to understand the
world they lived in and the reasons for life. And their confusion of beliefs
resulted from the fact that their ideas came from their own rationalizing --
their philosophies represented almost EVERY HUMAN IDEA. Here was the beginning
of the philosophy of individualism -- a product of Hellenism. When the Greeks
came to Palestine they brought all their conflicting secular teachings as well
as their many religious doctrines, all of which were prompted by the individual
philosophies of men. It would be unfeasible to even attempt an adequate
description of the manifold religious cults among the Greeks, or of their
heathenistic doctrines. Their various religions and religious beliefs were the
man-made products of the philosophy of individualism. Practically every
religious belief capable of being devised by the human mind was found in pagan
Greece. In their religious beliefs "we find ghosts and spirits and nature
gods, tribal religions, anthropomorphisms [gods in human form], the formation
of a pantheon [a temple for the worship of many pagan gods], individual
religion, magical rites, purifications, prayers, sacrifices [animal, vegetable
and human] -- ALL ARISING FROM THE COMMON STOCK AND THE SUCCESSIVE PHASES OF
RELIGIOUS HUMANITY" (Harrison, "Religion of Ancient Greece," pp.
12, 13). Many of their doctrines and customs will be relevantly discussed in
future pages of this thesis.
Wherever
Alexander or his successors went, they carried with them an intense desire to
Hellenize all nations. They took with them Greek society and imposed it upon
all their captive peoples. They spread Hellenism from one end of the new Empire
to the other. Palestine was as much infused with the New Greek culture as any
other nation. The Greeks considered it their right to govern in the way they
deemed most suitable. In consequence of this, the Greeks disbanded the official
Sopherim, the religious guardians of the Law of Moses. They would not tolerate
the Jews being taught a different way of life from their own. Hellenism was
established throughout the whole of Palestine.
It is not known
how the Greeks dismissed the Sopherim from their official capacity as teachers
of the Law. But within a score of years
after the coming of the Greeks, the Sopherim disappear from history as an
organized body having religious control over the Jews. It is obvious that the
Greeks took away the authority of the Sopherim and forbade them to teach.
Whether this was done forcibly or by peaceful methods remains a mystery. But it
is definitely known that their authority was very soon taken away. Without the
religious guidance of the Sopherim, many of the Jews began to imbibe the
customs and ideas of the Greeks which were inundating the land. The Greeks were
establishing their whole society firmly in Palestine and all the Empire.
"With the change from Persian to Greek rule, Hellenism made its influence
felt, AND CAME POURING LIKE A FLOOD into a country which had known nothing of
it. THERE WAS NO ESCAPE FROM ITS INFLUENCE. IT WAS PRESENT EVERYWHERE, in the
street and the market, in the everyday life and ALL THE PHASES OF SOCIAL
INTERCOURSE" (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 77). When the
Sopherim were removed from the scene, along with the teaching of the Law of
Moses, and this new culture substituted for the Law, we can comprehend why the
Jews began to absorb many elements of Hellenism. The Jews had no one to guide
them in understanding the Law of Moses, except a few isolated teachers here and
there who had no authority as the Sopherim. It will soon be shown that after a
few years of this influence, the people literally came to a state of religious
confusion. Some were endeavoring to keep a form of the Scripture teachings, but
with Hellenism everywhere, it became almost impossible to keep the true form of
the Law of Moses. The Greek way of life was entirely different from that
promulgated by the Scriptures, and the two were not compatible. The human
opinions of the Greek poets and philosophers, as well as the doctrines of the
various heathen sects of the Greeks, were propagated among the Jews. Almost
everything the Greeks brought to the Jews was antagonistic to the Laws of God
and, without the religious guidance of the Sopherim, many of them began to
tolerate these innovations and even, as time progressed, to take up many of the
Greek ideas and customs themselves.
Josephus, the Jewish
historian, records an interesting incident concerning Alexander the Great when
he had conquered the Palestine area and was about to enter the city of
Jerusalem. He was met on the outskirts of the city by Jaddua, the High Priest,
with many inhabitants of Jerusalem. The High Priest was bedecked in his
priestly robes and leading the procession of people who met Alexander. Upon
seeing the High Priest and the procession following him, Josephus says that
Alexander recalled a dream he had had previously in which such a procession was
seen with a person dressed in exactly the same attire of the High Priest
leading it. Alexander reckoned that his dream was a sign to leave the
inhabitants of Jerusalem alone. He entered the city peaceably with the High
Priest and offered a sacrifice to God. Afterward, he was shown the prophecy of
Daniel 11:2-3, which revealed that a mighty king from Greece would conquer the
Persian Empire. Josephus says that Alexander recognized that Daniel was writing
of him. After reading this prophecy, Alexander became very glad and gave favors
and gifts to many of the Jews. See "Antiquities of the Jews," xi, 8,
5 & 6. The prophecy of Daniel had more to say of Alexander and his Empire.
In Daniel 11:4 we read: "And when he [Alexander] shall stand up [be in his
power], his kingdom SHALL BE BROKEN, AND SHALL BE DIVIDED TOWARDS THE FOUR WIND
of heaven ..." This is exactly what happened! Upon the death of Alexander,
his Empire was divided into FOUR SECTIONS. Each section was headed by one of Alexander's
former generals: Cassander, Lysimachus, Seleucus and Ptolemy. The Palestine
area fell to the Grecian Ptolemy of Egypt. However, the Seleucid kingdom on the
north also laid claim to Palestine and had loyal troops stationed within the
area. Neither kingdom was willing to concede that the other was the sole ruler
of this territory. In order to firmly secure Palestine to himself, Ptolemy of
Egypt in 320 B.C. attacked the Seleucid garrisons stationed in it and conquered
the country. However, the Seleucids took it back in 315 B.C. But again, the
Battle of Gaza in 312 B.C. gave Palestine back to Ptolemy. There were many more
skirmishes between these two kingdoms until the year 301 B.C. At that time, the
Greek government of Egypt took final control of Palestine and maintained that
control for a little over one hundred years -- until 198 B.C.
This one hundred
year period of Greek-Egyptian domination is very important as a period in the religious
history of the Jews. This is the period that great and significant changes took
place in the religious life of the Jews. While in this period of Egyptian
control, the effects of Hellenism upon the Jews were extremely great. What had
been started by Alexander the Great was brought to its greatest degree of
perfection among the Jews during this one-hundred-year period.The customs and
traditions that had been handed down by the Sopherim were completely
overshadowed by the Hellenistic culture of the Greeks as promulgated by the
Egyptians. In plain language, the Jews during this period of Egyptian control,
by the sheer force of environment and circumstance, surrendered themselves to
Hellenistic ideas and ways of life. "During the comparatively quiet rule
of the Ptolemies [the Egyptians], Greek ideas, customs, and morality HAD BEEN
MAKING PEACEFUL CONQUESTS IN PALESTINE. Their own inherent attractiveness, and
the fact that they were supported by the authority of the dominant race, cast a
glamour about them [the Jews] which made the severe religion of Jehovah [to
Hellenistic minds], the simple customs and the strict morality of the Jews,
seem barren and provincial.
Hellenistic
Greek was the language of commerce and polite society. Greek literature was
widely studied. Greek manners were the standard throughout southeastern
Palestine" (Kent, "History of the Jewish People," pp. 320, 321).
Everyone in Palestine was affected by the new Hellenistic culture. The
Ptolemies of Egypt were anxious, following the example of Alexander the Great,
to see that manners of the Greeks were implanted throughout their Empire. All
phases of life connected with Hellenism were being practiced in Palestine
during this period. "It is safe to say that NO ONE, HIGH OR LOW, who was
living in Judea in the period which includes the whole of the third and the
beginning of the second century B.C., WHOLLY ESCAPED THE INFLUENCE OF HELLENISM
..." (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 77).
In 198 B.C., the
Seleucid Kingdom on the north again came into Palestine and drove out the
Egyptians. The rulers of THIS kingdom were equally Hellenistic in their beliefs
as were the Egyptians. However, the new ruler expected the Jews to follow their
ways -- and only their ways -- of interpreting Hellenism. Only the Hellenism
that supported the aims and customs of the Seleucids was allowed to exist. Many
of the Jews, after a century of Hellenistic influence, accepted this new
enforcement of Seleucid Hellenism. About the only difference between the
Egyptian Hellenism and that of the Seleucids was in the national aspect. The
Seleucids demanded loyalty to THEIR rule and THEIR customs. The whole
Hellenistic system was as much in effect among the Seleucids as with the
Egyptians. In fact, if anything, the Seleucids were stronger in their
Hellenistic convictions. "A passion for Greek costumes, Greek customs, and
Greek names SEIZED THE PEOPLE. Large numbers were enrolled as citizens of
Antioch [the capital of the Seleucid Kingdom]. Many even endeavored to conceal
the fact that they had been circumcised. To the horror of the faithful,
HELLENISM SEEMED TO BE CARRYING ALL BEFORE IT ... To demonstrate that he had
LEFT ALL THE TRADITIONS OF HIS RACE BEHIND, Jason [the High Priest himself]
sent a rich present for sacrifices in connection with the great festival at
Tyre IN HONOR OF THE GOD HERCULES" (Kent, "History of the Jewish
People," pp. 324-325). It is remarkable the extent of the paganism that
the Jews were observing at this time. So strong did Hellenistic beliefs become,
that the High Priest himself was offering sacrifices to pagan gods. Because of
this a reaction began to take place among some of the Jews. Some of them could
not bring themselves to go as far as the High priest. However, the vast
majority had fallen under the sway of the Hellenism of the Seleucids as they
had under the Egyptians.
The eleventh
chapter of Daniel is the longest single prophecy in the whole Bible. It deals
with events from the time of Daniel right up to the end of this age. The
prophet Daniel in this long prophecy foretold that the Persian Empire was to
fall. It was to be conquered by a mighty king from Greece (v. 3). That king was
Alexander the Great. In the height of his glory he was to die (which Alexander
did in the thirty-third year of his life) and his kingdom was to be divided
into FOUR divisions (verse 4). This happened exactly as foretold. The prophecy
continues the foretelling of Palestinian history by revealing in verse 5 that
two of these four kingdoms would be fighting over Palestine for many years.
Daniel calls the respective kingdoms, "the king of the south" and
"the king of the north." These two kingdoms were specifically the
Egyptian kingdom (Ptolemies) on the south, and the Seleucid kingdom, on the
north. This prophecy shows, over 300 years in advance, the exact political
conditions in Palestine during our period of discussion. History proves that
this prophecy gave the precise state of affairs that did exist. Daniel did not
stop in verse 20, however, concerning the political situations in Palestine. In
verse 21 Daniel speaks about a "vile person" who was to arise in the
kingdom of the north -- the Seleucid kingdom. This person was to be most wicked
and was to cause many terrible indignities to the Jews. Verses 21 through 39
describe the activities of this man. And, the prophecies concerning him were
fulfilled to the letter. This king of the north -- the vile person -- was
Antiochus Epiphanes.
In the year 175
B.C. Antiochus Epiphanes obtained the throne of the Seleucid kingdom, and
thereby assumed control of Palestine. When Antiochus took over the Seleucid
kingdom there was a reaction between several of the priests in Jerusalem who
were contending for the position of High Priest among the Jews. Jason, the
brother of the reigning High Priest, persuaded Antiochus Epiphanes to permit
him to be High Priest in his brother's stead. Because of the large sum of money
he offered for the honor, Antiochus transferred the priesthood to Jason. The
position of High Priest had dwindled to more of an aristocratic political
honor. There was little regard paid to the Law of God by these High Priests.
Most of them were outright Hellenists. See Cyc. Bib. Theo. and Ecc. hit. vol.
i, p. 271. About three years later, however, a Jew, Menelaus, of the tribe of
Benjamin (not from Aaron), offered Antiochus Epiphanes a larger bribe than
Jason, and he was named High Priest instead. Because of this, Jason fled beyond
Jordan to the Ammonites for refuge. Many of the Jews thought that Jason had
been unjustly deprived of his priesthood. A good number of the Jews in
Palestine began to take sides -- between these two men -- some were for Jason
and others for Menelaus. So hot did tempers become between these factions that
a good deal of violence broke out between them. Actually, those on the side of
Jason were fighting in rebellion against the recognized authority that
Antiochus Epiphanes had set up. The High Priest, Menelaus, had been given his
position by the Seleucid government -- even though Menelaus had bribed
Antiochus into giving it to him -- and fighting against this authority
constituted fighting against the dictates of the Seleucid Kingdom. See
"Antiquities of she Jews," xii, 5, 1-5.
The Jewish war
for independence from the Seleucid Kingdom has often been called the Maccabean
Revolt. Some people have hastily assumed that this revolt was begun because the
religious Jews wanted to rid Palestine of the pagan influences that had been in
the land for one hundred fifty years or more. However, such was not the case.
The Jews, on the whole, had accepted Hellenism to a major degree, as had all
the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean region. It was not the desire to
eradicate Hellenism from Palestine that prompted the Maccabean Revolt,
surprising as that may seem. "The one rebellion which had been recorded in
history as directed against Hellenism, that of the Maccabees in Judea WAS NOT,
in its origin, A REACTION AGAINST HELLENISM. From the contemporary or almost
contemporary accounts in I and II Maccabees it is clear that HELLENISM HAD
PROCEEDED FAR INDEED, AND APPARENTLY WITHOUT PROTEST, before the insurrection
began. VIOLENCE STARTED in consequence of rivalry between equally hellenized
contenders for the high priesthood, AND RELIGION WAS NOT AN ISSUE" (Hadas,
"Hellenistic Culture," p. 43). The revolt began when fighting broke
out between the Jews on the side of Jason, the deposed High Priest, and those
on the side of Menelaus, the High Priest appointed by Antiochus Epiphanes. It
infuriated Antiochus that many of the Jews began to take sides against his
appointed official -- in fact, against the government! When a good number of
the Jews gathered to the side of Jason, the real reason for the revolt, the
desire for independence from the Seleucid yoke, began to be voiced. Religion
did not enter in the controversy at first, for Jason was as Hellenistic in his beliefs
as Menelaus. The insurrection began as a POLITICAL REVOLT for independence from
the Seleucid Kingdom. "The Maccabean uprising, at least in its initial
stages, WAS NOT AGAINST HELLENISM BUT FOR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE"
(Goodspeed, "The Apocrypha," p. xiv).
However,
religion was later brought into the matter. In order to get the whole of the
Jews in a revolt against the Seleucids, the dissenters began to point to the
heathenistic beliefs of the Seleucids and of Menelaus the High Priest, claiming
that such things were anti-Jewish. Thus, the rebels brought religion into the
issue, which they reasoned would serve as a mark of distinction between the
Jews and the Seleucids. So, in various quarters the cries went up that the
government was proclaiming policies that were fundamentally anti-Jewish --
especially to the religious customs of their forefathers. In 168 B.C.,
Antiochus Epiphanes, while endeavoring by war to take over the Egyptian
government, was forced by the Romans, after a humiliating experience, to
withdraw from Egypt and to forget his plans of conquering that country. On his
way back to Antioch, his capital to the north of Palestine, he determined to
put an end to the rebellion that was beginning in Judaea. Because the issue of
religion had been brought up in the insurrection, and because many of the
rebels were proclaiming that their struggle was for religious freedom,
Antiochus Epiphanes in a maddened frenzy, determined to obliterate any vestiges
of the religious customs of the Jews! He boldly repudiated God and entered the
Temple in Jerusalem and dedicated it to the pagan god Jupiter. He set up an
idol which he called the "lord of heaven" but which is referred to in
the Bible as the "abomination of desolation" (Dan 11:31). He also
offered swine's flesh on the Holy Altar and polluted the Temple with all the
indecencies he could perpetrate. He even turned the Temple into a center of
prostitution. Notice some of the things commanded by Antiochus Epiphanes in his
desire to exterminate any semblance of the commands of God. We find that many
innocent Jews who had no thoughts of rebellion suffered many indignities as
well as the guilty. "By royal decree, the observance of the SABBATH or of
the SACRED FEASTS, and practicing the rite of circumcision, WERE ABSOLUTELY
FORBIDDEN UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH. ALL COPIES OF THE LAW WERE DESTROYED. Heathen
altars and temples were erected throughout Judaea, and every Jew was compelled
in public to sacrifice to idols, swine's flesh or that of some other unclean
beast, AND TO PRESENT CONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE THAT HE HAD CEASED TO OBSERVE THE
LAWS OF HIS FATHERS" (Kent, "History of the Jewish People," pp.
328, 329). All women who had their sons circumcised were publicly marched
around the city of Jerusalem and then thrown from the high walls to their
death. One group of people who fled to a cave near Jerusalem in order to keep
the Sabbath service were surprised and committed to the flames. Such things
were everyday occurrences against the Jews who failed to abide by the decrees
of Antiochus Epiphanes. (Margolis, "History of the Jewish People,"
pp. 137, 138).
Because of the
outrages of Antiochus Epiphanes, many of the Jews became more than ever
desirous of independence from the rule of the tyrant. Among them was Judas
Maccabeus and his four brothers. They abhorred the actions of this crazed ruler
from the north, and not desiring to put up with the abuses that were being done
to the Jews, they fled for refuge to the mountains of Judaea. While there, they
gathered together many more of the dissenting Jews and formed an army. Their
vow was to exterminate the foreigners from Judaea. After a series of successful
skirmishes, these men gathered more and more Jews to their cause. Surprisingly,
in three short years (by 165 B.C.) they had defeated the Seleucids to such an
extent that, for all practical purposes, their desire for an independent
autonomous Jewish state was realized. The Maccabees became the leaders of this
new state.
It should be
remembered that this revolt of the Jews was not at first a matter of religion.
The main reason for the insurrection was to establish an independent Jewish
state. "The Maccabean uprising, at least in its initial stages, was not
against Hellenism BUT RATHER FOR NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE. And when independence,
real or nominal, was secured, the object of the Maccabean principality was to
hold its head up among other principalities that had arisen out of the ruins of
the Seleucid Empire; there was NOTHING LIKE AN ANTI-GREEK PROGRAM"
(Goodspeed, "The Apocrypha," pp, xiv, xv). The majority of Jews had
not been anxious to depart from their Hellenism. What they wanted primarily was
their freedom from the foreign yoke. The matter of religion was really invoked
to get the people united in one common cause -- to drive the foreigner from
Judaea. There was no real desire among the multitudes to get back to the Law of
God. And religion only became a major issue when Antiochus Epiphanes voiced his
anti-religious decrees. The Jewish historian, Moses Hadas, adequately describes
the situation during the Maccabean Revolt. "The standard of religion was
raised in the countryside, and then served to rally the people to the cause. It
was only after religion had become the battle cry of the rebels that Antiochus
IV [Epiphanes] issued his decrees against the observance of central religious
rites, and it is highly significant that as soon as the anti-religious decrees
were rescinded the pietest group [the religious people] withdrew from the
fighting. The object of the Hasmonaean [Maccabean] rulers WAS NOT TO PROTECT
RELIGION ... but to maintain a sovereignty ... among others which were being
carved out of the weakened Seleucid empire" ("Hellenistic Culture,"
p. 43). After independence was realized, the Hellenistic element still remained
among the Jews. They had been so wedded to its influence for so long that it
was an impossibility to remove that influence from them.
July 1961
Vol. X, Number 7
When the Syrians
assumed control of Palestine, the Jews were fully conscious that something new
was taking place. It was this contrast between the Egyptian Hellenism they had
been used to and the Syrian Hellenism which they were now obliged to follow,
that shocked a few Jews into becoming cognizant that another way of life was
possible -- their old way of life -- living by the Holy Scriptures! The Jews
knew the Scriptures plainly did not recognize either form of Hellenism. New
interest in God and the religion of Moses began to revive.
This new
interest in the religion of their forefathers caused some of the Jews to
reflect on the past in order to ascertain how their forefathers had been governed
in their religious life. They recognized that from the time of Ezra and
Nehemiah to Alexander the Great, the Sopherim had been the religious leaders
and teachers of the people. The Sopherim, remember, had disappeared from the
scene -- Simon the Just was the last of them. Understanding that some
organization like the Sopherim must exist if there was to be religious unity
and the people properly taught the Law, the leaders of this new revival decided
to meet in council with one another. Its avowed purpose was to direct those who
were desiring to live according to the Law of their forefathers. This council
became known by the Greek name, THE SANHEDRIN. It is not clear when the
Sanhedrin first began meeting. It must have been just a short time after the
Syrians came into Palestine, perhaps about 196 B.C. or immediately thereafter
(Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p. 207).
The influence of
the Sanhedrin was not great at first. Not many of the Jews recognized its
authority or adhered to its injunctions. Yet, with its establishment, we can
say that outright religious anarchy came to an end, even though the majority of
the Jews were still greatly affected by Hellenism.
When the Syrians
subdued the Egyptians in Palestine in 198 B.C., they brought to the Jews their
own ideas concerning Hellenism. To the Syrians there must be nothing that
rivaled their way of thinking. Egyptian Hellenists had allowed the Old
Testament to be used. The interpretation of it, however, must be by Greek
methods -- it had to be Grecianized. Thus, we have the Septuagint Version. BUT
THE SYRIAN HELLENISTS WOULD NOT ALLOW THE OLD TESTAMENT EVEN TO BE IN
EXISTENCE. Only Greek ways were allowed. No form of individual or nationalistic
religion was allowed to exist that conflicted in any way with the doctrines of
the Syrians. The outstanding advocate of this philosophy was the Syrian king,
Antiochus Epiphanes, who ruled from 175 to 164 B.C. Antiochus Epiphanes was a
Hellenist enthusiast, proud of his Athenian citizenship and bent on spreading
Hellenic civilization throughout his domains. He built various temples to
Apollo and Jupiter. He observed, and commanded his subjects to observe, all the
pagan Greek festivities to the heathen gods. So fanatical was he in his zeal to
implant his beliefs on all others that some of his contemporaries called him
HALF-CRAZED (Margolis, "History of the Jewish People," p. 135). He
let nothing hinder him from realizing his desires. A large number of the Jews
readily accepted the newly established Syrian doctrine of complete surrender to
the philosophies of Hellenism. Most of the Jews were thoroughly accustomed to
much of the Greek culture anyway, and it was no hard thing to transfer
allegiance from the Egyptians to the Syrians. Yet, by the time of Antiochus
Epiphanes other Jews had also begun to take a new interest in religion -- the
religion of their forefathers. This new concern for religion was beginning to
spread among the Jews of Palestine. When Antiochus Epiphanes heard that some of
the Jews were rejecting his doctrines of total adherence to Hellenism, he began
to persecute many of them. The persecution inevitably caused more Jews to side
with the cause of religion. This stubbornness of the Jews infuriated Antiochus.
He then began -- in a fit of demoniac insanity -- widespread persecution,
committing heinous indignities against all those who would not conform to his
ways. Not all the Jews were in disfavor with Antiochus. Many of the wealthy and
influential families, and specially many of the chief priests, wickedly
supported Antiochus in his wild schemes. As the persecution grew more intense,
a great many of the common people went against Antiochus. The result of this
unparalleled persecution by this madman inevitably brought a further quickening
interest in the Scriptures. Many began to take up arms against the Syrians. The
cry went throughout the land that, in reality, this was a RELIGIOUS WAR and
that the Jews were fighting for their Law and their God. This belief boosted renewed
interest in fighting against Antiochus. See page 15 of the May issue for a
detailed description of the atrocities that made Antiochus so hated by the
Jews.
The Jews, in
order to band themselves together against the Syrians, came to the side of
Judas Maccabee and his four brothers. An army was formed for two purposes: 1)
defeating
Antiochus
Epiphanes and 2) driving out the Syrians from Palestine. This army was quickly
put into action. After many successful battles, in succeeding decades, this
Jewish army managed to accomplish both things! Antiochus' armies were defeated
in 165 B.C. and by 142 B.C. the Syrians were completely driven from the land.
Practical independence for the Jews resulted.
With the defeat
of Antiochus Epiphanes in 165 B.C., the religious history of the Jews enters a
new phase. The Sanhedrin, which had been feebly established some thirty years
before, was now OFFICIALLY DECLARED THE RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY AMONG THE JEWS OF
PALESTINE. Being in virtual control of the land, the Jews were in position to
re-establish the religion that had been in a state of decay for so long. Now,
for the first time since the period of the Sopherim, they had independent
religious authority. The Sanhedrin took the place of the Sopherim in directing
the religious life of the people. But, this governing body of men was to be
greatly different from the priestly Sopherim. During the period of religious
anarchy before Antiochus Epiphanes, a fundamental change took place in the
attitudes of the priests. Many of the priests were outright Hellenists and
steeped in the pagan philosophies of that culture. Not only that, many of them
had sided with Antiochus Epiphanes against the common people during the Maccabean
Revolt. Such activities caused the common people to be wary of the priests and
their teaching. There was a general distrust for anything priestly at this
time. A few priests had not allied themselves with Hellenism and Antiochus
Epiphanes. But the large majority, in one way or another, were not faithful to
the religion of their forefathers. This general lack of trust for the priests
led most of the common people to disapprove of their re-assuming their full
former role of being religious authorities. Only those priests who had not been
openly in favor of Hellenism were sought and allowed to take their former
positions. The common people could not bring themselves to entrust the other
priests with the right to help regulate the religious life of the Jews. Only to
these faithful priests were committed chairs in the new Sanhedrin (Lauterbach,
"Rabbinic Essays," p. 209).
Under Egyptian
control, within the period of the religious anarchy, Palestine had no official
teachers of the Law. A few individuals here and there endeavoured to study the
Scriptures in a personal way. Without official teachers, the study obviously
had to be personal and in private. The fact that a few independent students of
the Law existed is proved by the few learned men who came to the fore with the
establishment of a Sanhedrin. We are further assured of this when we realize
that this new Sanhedrin, organized about 196 B.C., was composed of LAY TEACHERS
as well as some priests. "The study of the Law NOW BECAME a matter of
private piety, and as such WAS NOT LIMITED TO THE PRIESTS" (Lauterbach,
"Rabbinic Essays," p. 198). This private study, without proper
guidance from recognized authority such as the Sopherim were, brought about
some surprising results. (This is the same condition that happened in the
Protestant Reformation. Many lay teachers arose, because the Bible was made
available by the printing press, and many confusing and contradictory divisions
arose amongst those who were coming out of the Catholic Church.) Many of these
Jewish teachers, likewise, because of their independent private study in the
Scripture, were not in unity on many of their teachings. And, too, many of
these teachers were variously affected by Hellenism. "We shall therefore
be not far from the truth if we represent the Sanhedrin, in the years from its
foundation down to the outbreak of the Maccabean Revolt, as an Assembly of
priests and LAYMEN, some of whom inclined to Hellenism while others opposed it
out of loyalty to the Torah" (Herford, "The Pharisees," p. 27).
The differing degrees of Hellenic absorption among the teachers, mixed with
independent study of the Scripture, brought about a new variety of opinions.
And, in the discussions that followed to determine which opinions to use, the
LAY TEACHERS claimed as much right to voice their views as the priests. The lay
teachers were assured of the common people being behind them. "At the
beginning of the second century these non-priestly teachers already exerted a great
influence in the community and began persistently TO CLAIM FOR THEMSELVES, as
teachers of the Law, THE SAME AUTHORITY WHICH, TILL THEN, THE PRIESTS
EXCLUSIVELY HAD ENJOYED" (Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p. 28).
Such privileges that the lay teachers were usurping to themselves would never
have been permitted while the Sopherim, the successors of Ezra and Nehemiah,
were in authority. The Law of Moses, which God had directly commanded him,
clearly enjoined that the priests, with their helpers the Levites, were to
perform the functions of teachers, not just any layman who would presume to do
so. Some of these priests were in the Sanhedrin and were willing to
re-establish the religious life of the people, in accordance with the
directions in the Law. But the new laymen, who had now also become teachers of
the Law because of their independent study, were not willing to give up this
new power they had acquired. Human reason insisted that they were as competent
to teach the people as the priests.
When the
Sanhedrin was re-organized after Antiochus Epiphanes, the lay teachers
exhibited more power than ever before. The priests, who were under a ban of
discredit before the Maccabean Revolt, were even more so afterwards. The lay
teachers repudiated the claim that the priests had an exclusive right to be in
authority. Lauterbach says that these lay teachers "refused to recognize
the authority of the priests as a class, and, inasmuch as many of the priests
had proven unfaithful guardians of the Law, they would not entrust to them the
religious life of the people" ("Rabbinic Essays," p. 209). This
privilege, of assuming the role of the priests, was not a complete usurpation
of every prerogative of the priests. They still were the only ones allowed to
perform the ritualistic Temple services, etc. No lay teacher ever thought of
taking over this exclusive position of the priests. But from the time of the
re-establishment of the Sanhedrin, after the Maccabean Revolt, the lay teachers
became the important RELIGIOUS LEADERS.
The
establishment of the Sanhedrin was recognized as a necessity in order that
there could be a resumption of some form of the religion of Moses. "The
members of this Sanhedrin took up the interrupted activity of the former
teachers, the Sopherim, and, like them, sought to teach and interpret the Law
and to regulate the life of the people in accordance with the laws and
traditions of the fathers. But in their attempt to harmonize the laws of the
fathers with the life of their own times, THEY ENCOUNTERED SOME GREAT
DIFFICULTIES" (Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p. 105). The
people were keeping so many new customs, not observed by their forefathers,
that the members of the Sanhedrin became perplexed over what to do. It was not
easy to find support from the Scriptures which might condone some of the
practices of the Jews at this time. The members of the Sanhedrin began to look
for ways of JUSTIFYING the people, rather than following the Scripture commands
to correct them (Deut. 32:1-47). "Many new customs and practices for which
there were no precedents in the traditions of the fathers, and NOT THE
SLIGHTEST INDICATION IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, were observed by the people and
CONSIDERED BY THEM AS A PART OF THEIR RELIGIOUS LAWS AND PRACTICES"
(ibid., p. 195). The majority of the teachers in the Sanhedrin came to the
conclusion that the proper thing to do was to find some way to authoritatively
justify these new customs. They were well aware that they could not go to the
Scripture for their support. This presented a troublesome situation to the
Jewish teachers. "The DIFFICULTY was to find a sanction in the Torah for
the new customs and practices which had established themselves in the community
..." (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 66). The only commands the Jews had from God in
this matter were clearly negative. "Learn not the way of the heathen"
(Jer. 10:2). "Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following
them [the heathen] ... and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How
did these nations [the heathen] serve their gods? EVEN SO WILL I DO
LIKEWISE" (Deut. 12:30). How to avoid these plain Scripture commands, and
get these new customs sanctioned as proper religious observances? The teachers
thought it would have been misadventurous to tell the people who wanted to
retain these customs the simple commands of the Scriptures. The people were not
about to give up these new customs. The teachers were assured of this. What,
then, did the teachers do to finally get these new religious customs and
practices authorized and as having the sanction of God? They came out with a
most ingenious fiction which shows an amazing and clever display of human
reasoning.
The conclusion
of the Jewish teachers may surprise you. They merely taught that all the
customs and practices which the Jews
were now
observing were actually Jewish in origin! "They reasoned this: It is
hardly possible that FOREIGN CUSTOMS AND NON-JEWISH LAWS SHOULD HAVE MET WITH
SUCH UNIVERSAL ACCEPTANCE. THE TOTAL ABSENCE OF OBJECTION ON THE PART OF THE
PEOPLE TO SUCH CUSTOMS VOUCHED FOR THEIR JEWISH ORIGIN, IN THE OPINION of the
teachers" (Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p. 211). The Jewish
teachers told the people that it was simply not possible for them, being Jews,
to have inherited any heathen custom or practice! Since the Jewish teachers
accepted these customs as actually being Jewish in origin, it became necessary
to carry the theory just a little further. The theory went like this: Since the
customs were supposedly Jewish, then they must have been taught by the prophets
and the teachers of Israel, even by Moses himself! That is how the customs and
practices of the Jews, which in reality they had inherited from the heathen
within the period of religious anarchy, were falsely termed the
"traditions of the fathers" -- handed down from Moses, the prophets
and teachers of old! These traditions Jesus condemned. There was, however, one
difficulty for the Jewish teachers to overcome in this interpretation. There
were no such customs and practices as these mentioned in all of Moses' Law nor
in any other part of the Scripture. This did not dampen the spirit of the
Jewish teachers! They also had an answer for this. They maintained that these
customs were not put down in written form, and because of this, were not found
in the text of Scripture. "These customs were handed down ORALLY from
Moses," was their assertion! "They were passed by word of mouth from
Moses through every generation." By assuming that there was an Oral Law,
called the "traditions of the fathers," this freed the Jewish
teachers from having to appeal to the Written Scripture for evidence to back up
their statements. "Accordingly, the teachers themselves CAME TO BELIEVE
that such generally recognized laws and practices MUST HAVE BEEN old
traditional laws and practices accepted by the fathers and transmitted to
following generations IN ADDITION to the Written Law. Such a belief would
naturally free the teachers from the necessity of finding SCRIPTURAL PROOF FOR
ALL THE NEW PRACTICES" (Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p. 211).
These traditional laws -- the Oral Laws -- were not from Moses nor any of the
prophets. There is not a single reference in the Scripture that Moses gave the
Israelites any Oral or Traditional Laws that were to be handed down along with
the Written Word. The Bible states just the opposite. It plainly says that
Moses WROTE THE WHOLE LAW IN A BOOK. There was no such thing as an Oral Law of
Moses. Notice: "And it came to
pass, when Moses had MADE AN END OF WRITING THE WORDS OF THIS LAW IN A BOOK,
UNTIL THEY WERE FINISHED, that Moses commanded the Levites ... saying, TAKE
THIS BOOK OF THE LAW, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the
Lord your God, that it may be there FOR A WITNESS AGAINST THEE" (Deut.
31:24-26). Moses wrote the Law in a book. And it was this written Word of God
that was to be a witness against the Israelites for future generations, not any
so-called Oral Law. Notice this confession of Dr. Lauterbach: "These
traditional laws naturally had no indication in the Written Law and no basis in
the teachings of the Sopherim, BECAUSE THEY DEVELOPED AFTER THE PERIOD OF THE
SOPHERIM" (ibid., p. 206). In other words tradition originated in the
period of the religious anarchy, when the Egyptians were in control of
Palestine. "The reorganized Sanhedrin had to reckon with these NEW LAWS
AND CUSTOMS, NOW CONSIDERED AS TRADITIONAL because observed and practiced by
the people FOR A GENERATION OR MORE" (ibid., p. 206). We should not
suppose that this theory of the origin of the Traditional laws was
wholeheartedly accepted by all the teachers and members of the Sanhedrin.
"The theory
of an authoritative traditional law (which might be taught independently of the
Scripture) WAS ALTOGETHER TOO NEW to be unhesitatingly accepted ... THE THEORY
WAS TOO STARTLING AND NOVEL to be unconditionally accepted" (ibid., p.
211). The Jewish teachers who were the most prone to accept the new fictional
interpretation were the lay teachers. Some of the priests were not quite sure
this was the way of handling the situation. They maintained that the Sopherim
of old had always relied upon the Scripture, and that they would never have
countenanced such interpretations which completely side-tracked the Word of
God. "In their [the priests'] opinion, the main thing was to observe the
laws of the fathers as contained in the Book of the Law, because the people had
pledged themselves, by oath, in the time of Ezra, to do so. If changed
conditions required additional laws and new regulations, the PRIESTS and RULERS
were competent to decree them according to the authority given to them in Deut.
17:8-13" (ibid., p. 209). The priests, as a whole, declared that the
Scripture was the only necessary code of laws to obey. "This apparently
simple solution offered by the priestly group in the Sanhedrin DID NOT FIND FAVOR
WITH THE LAY MEMBERS OF THAT BODY" (ibid., p. 209). The lay teachers, who
outnumbered the priestly group, claimed the only way of reconciling these new
customs with the Scripture was to recognize them as Oral laws handed down from
Moses. They began to formulate methods of explaining how these laws were
ordained by Moses and transmitted to the Jews then living. Their explanations
were not true, but they deliberately taught them anyway. Lauterbach says that
these lay teachers of the Sanhedrin devised the "methods for connecting
with the Law all those new decisions and customs which were now universally
observed by the people, THUS MAKING THEM APPEAR as part of the laws of the
fathers" (ibid., p. 210). Notice, THEY MADE THEM APPEAR as if they were
actual traditions of Moses!
The lay teachers
had an answer for almost every question that an opponent might ask them
concerning the validity of these Traditional laws. If one would mention that
Deuteronomy 4:2 forbade the addition to the Law, the lay teachers would readily
admit that fact but staunchly affirm that the recognition of the Traditional
laws was not adding to the Law of Moses. They claimed these laws originated
with Moses and represented the complete revelation
that God gave
him (ibid., p. 44). If some opponent would voice the truth about the recent
origin of these laws, the lay teachers merely declared that the laws were
actually Mosaic but had been long forgotten and had just been recalled and
reintroduced (ibid., p. 45). And when someone would prove beyond question that
these laws were nothing more than pagan practices, Lieberman paints out that in
such cases the JEWS COULD MAINTAIN THAT THE HEATHEN WERE FOLLOWING JEWISH
PRACTICES AND NOT VICE VERSA" ("Hellenism in Jewish Palestine,"
p. 129). Such interpretations were absurdly extreme, completely unjustified and
utterly false! How they managed to palm off such fallacious interpretations as
actual truth can be understood only if we recognize that THE PEOPLE WANTED TO RECEIVE
THIS ERROR. With the people behind them, the lay teachers could teach about
what they wished. "Certain religious practices, considered by the later
teachers as part of the traditional law, or as handed down by Moses, ORIGINATED
IN REALITY FROM OTHER, PERHAPS NON-JEWISH SOURCES, AND HAD NO AUTHORITY OTHER
THAN THE AUTHORITY OF THE PEOPLE WHO ADOPTED THEM" (ibid., p. 241). With
the acceptance of these new customs and practices we can date the true
beginning of Judaism as a religion! The opportunity of returning to the Law of
Moses was rejected. From that time forward, about 150 years before Christ, we
become familiar in history with the real Judaism -- a religion which the
apostle Paul calls the "Jews' religion."
Good News
August 1961
Vol. X, Number 8
The acceptance
of the "traditional laws," supposedly handed down from Moses, placed
the lay leaders in a position of power and authority among the people. It was
the people themselves who had inherited the many new customs, and when the lay
leaders condoned the customs, claiming them to be Jewish in origin, the people
looked upon the lay leaders with honor and respect. The lay leaders were quite
aware that there was no truth in their assertions that these new customs came
from Moses. But in order to please the people they deliberately propagated this
falsehood. In consequence of their newly found authority, the lay leaders set
themselves up as ultimate teachers in matters pertaining to every phase of
religious activity. In the matter of accepting the customs inherited from
Hellenism, they maintained their prerogatives, as religious authorities, to
decide which of the customs to accept and which ones to reject. "No one
except the recognized teachers could say what the tradition contained"
(Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 68). Of course, the customs to
which the People were most wedded were necessarily accepted. Many of the
priests in the Sanhedrin objected to the lay leaders' assumption of power and
especially of their raising to divine law the new customs from Hellenism. The
priests were also obstinate in their belief that the authority to rule should
be accorded to them alone, for they properly maintained that they were the
descendants of Aaron and the only ones recognized by Scripture to be in
authority to rule over the people. But the lay leaders would not concede to the
priests' demands, and they had the majority of the people behind them. Too many
of the priests had deserted to outright Hellenism in the anarchial period and
the people were still wary of their tactics.
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 believing 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 Pharisees 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).
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 religious 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. In assuming the
religious leadership, the Pharisees reasoned that they were taking the place of
the priests whom they considered unfit to govern the people on account of their
rejection of the traditional laws.
Upon
appropriating to themselves the religious authority among the Jews, the
Pharisees thought themselves also competent to be the ultimate judges
concerning all religious questions. This gave them, so they reasoned, the right
to speak in the name of the Eternal even as the prophets of old had done.
"IT IS CERTAIN that they [the Pharisees] regarded themselves as the SUCCESSORS
OF THE PROPHETS, and that not merely in fact BUT BY RIGHT" (Herford,
"Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 71). The Pharisees contended, by their own
statements, that they had been given the spirit of prophecy as had the prophets
of old. They had already accepted the new customs as divine law -- and they
reckoned that only individuals under the influence of the Spirit of God could
do such things! In the Jewish Talmud, a compilation of Jewish writings from the
days after Alexander the Great to about 400 years after Christ, there are
several statements of these early Pharisees in regard to their belief that they
had the same authority as the prophets. In the talmudical tractate called
"Baba Bathra," in section 12a, we read this: "PROPHECY WAS TAKEN
FROM THE PROPHETS AND WAS GIVEN TO THE WISE [the Pharisees]." To this
remark is added: "AND IT HAS NOT BEEN TAKEN FROM THESE." Herford
deduces from this particular reference, among many others in the Talmud:
"The relevance of this passage ... is that the Rabbis [the Pharisees] felt
that they had, NO LESS BUT EVEN MORE THAN THE PROPHETS, DIVINE AUTHORITY FOR
WHAT THEY TAUGHT, and that this was given to them after the time when the
prophets ceased to function. It was the way of expressing the belief that the
REVELATION DID NOT CEASE with the extinction of prophecy" ("Talmud
and Apocrypha," p. 72). The audacious Pharisees considered their laws and
commandments as having more weight than those of the Prophets! That divine
revelation did not cease with the prophets, but was now in action in the
Pharisees as well! They were confident that what they were teaching -- even
though in so many cases it did not agree with the plain and simple commandments
of God as revealed in Scripture -- was divine teaching as prompted by the
Spirit of God. The Pharisees felt that God was "revealing Himself now as
He had revealed Himself to the prophets, AND SPEAKING NOT ALONE IN THE WORDS OF
AN ANCIENT TEXT, but in words which came FROM THE HEART AND CONSCIENCE OF MEN
who felt His hand laid upon them to 'guide them into all truth'" (ibid.,
p. 69). Notice this! The Pharisees came to the place of believing that God did
not reveal Himself in the Scriptures alone -- "speaking not alone in the
words of an ancient text" -- but that He was actively revealing His present
truth to the Pharisees through influencing their hearts and consciences! You
can imagine what unlimited authority this gave the Pharisees among those who
accepted their beliefs. By appropriating the role of modern prophets, they
maintained the right of free prophetic utterance. That is, they claimed the
prerogative to speak the current will of God without the necessity of appealing
to the Scriptures. They did not believe they had to be shackled to the teaching
of the Scriptures! This opinion gave the Pharisees extreme latitude. They
believed, as Herford puts it, "IN THE CONTINUOUS PROGRESSIVE REVELATION OF
GOD, AND THAT HIS AUTHORITY WAS MADE KNOWN IN THE REASON AND CONSCIENCE OF
THOSE WHO SOUGHT TO KNOW HIS WILL, AND NOT ONLY IN THE WRITTEN TEXT OF THE
TORAH [the law of God]" ("Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 73). The
ideas and beliefs of the Pharisees originated in their own minds! The Pharisees
claimed that the Holy Scriptures alone were NOT SUFFICIENT to give the complete
truth of God -- especially since environmental conditions change. To the
Scriptures, they claimed, had to be added the so-called traditional law (which
they determined to be the Word of God). There are Churches today who claim the
same prerogative. The Roman Catholic Church, for example, does not derive its
authority from the Bible. It rejects, in many cases, the plain teaching of
Scripture to proclaim its own church doctrines. "THEY [THE PHARISEES]
UPHELD THE AUTHORITY OF TRADITION AS SUPERIOR TO INDIVIDUAL INTELLIGENCE, and
taught that no Scripture should be of unauthorized, or private,
interpretation" (Conder, "Judas Maccabaeus," p. 203). It is
indeed amazing to what extent the Catholic Church parallels the actions of the
Pharisees in this matter.
With the
"feeling" that they had the spirit of God guiding them, the Pharisees
began to make more laws and commandments of their own, without appealing to the
Scriptures. The first Pharisee we have record of who began to teach new
commandments of his own, without any Scripture basis, was Joseph ben Joezer.
This Pharisee lived at the time the majority of the Pharisees erroneously
accepted the traditional laws as the "Oral Law of Moses." Joseph ben
Joezer made three new laws completely independent of Scripture. In fact, what
he commanded was not only independent of Scripture but WAS NOT EVEN PERMITTED
BY THE LAW OF GOD. His commandments in themselves were not earth-shaking
violations, but they were only the beginning of a new trend. His first law permitted
the Jews to eat an insect related to the locust family which all Jews
previously had considered unclean! Also, he permitted the Jews to eat of the
liquids of the slaughtering place (apparently blood, etc.). This, of course,
was contrary to many Scriptures (Lev. 3:17, etc.). His last commandment
concerned the touching of a dead body. He permitted persons to be
ritualistically clean even if they were in constant contact with individuals
who had become unclean by touching a dead body (Lev. 11:27, 31, etc.). For
making all these new laws, which permitted people to do what had been
previously forbidden in the Law of God, he was named by his contemporaries
"Joseph the Permitter." "Joseph is called 'the Permitter,'
evidently because in all three decisions he permits things that were formerly
considered forbidden" (Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p. 219).
These three new commandments were not the only ones to be enacted by the
Pharisees. The action of Joseph the Permitter was the setting of a precedent!
His commandments were a little reluctantly received at first, but the
reluctance did not last long. From that time forward a FLOOD OF NEW
COMMANDMENTS began to come forth from the Pharisees. These new laws, which
Jesus called the commandments of men (Mark 7:7), the Pharisees called by the
Hebrew name "Halachah." This Hebrew word in English means
"rule" or "decision." It denoted a new rule of decision of
the Pharisees. The term "Halachah" (or sometimes the plural
"Halakot") will be used in succeeding parts of this thesis series to
denote the human commandments of the Pharisees.] Now notice what Herford says
concerning these three new commandments ("Halachah") of Joseph the
Permitter. "The Mishnah [a part of the Talmud] records three halachahs
which were declared by him ... but which evidently met with some objection and
gave occasion to his colleagues to call him 'Joseph the Permitter.' This was
because ... he was able to declare THAT to be allowable WHICH TILL THEN HAD NOT
BEEN ALLOWABLE, SINCE NO INTERPRETATION OF THE WRITTEN TEXT [the word of God]
HAD BEEN FOUND WHICH WOULD JUSTIFY HIS CONCLUSION" ("Talmud and
Apocrypha," p. 67). These new Halachah of Joseph the Permitter were not
customs or habits that had been inherited from the days of the religious
anarchy. Or, to put it another way, these were not laws which the Pharisees
claimed to be part of the traditional laws from Moses. These NEW LAWS were
nothing more than commandments originating in the mind of Joseph himself.
Notice what Lauterbach says: "It is therefore evident that these Halakot
... were not older traditional laws transmitted by Joseph as a mere witness,
BUT JOSEPH'S OWN TEACHINGS. HE WAS THE ONE WHO 'PERMITTED' AND HE DESERVED THE
NAME [the Permitter]" ("Rabbinic Essays," p. 218).
Because Joseph
the Permitter was one of the chief leaders among the Pharisees immediately
following the Maccabean Revolt (168-165 B.C.), other Pharisees immediately
followed his authoritative example and made new commandments or Halachah on
their own. This method of teaching was not whole-heartedly accepted by all
Pharisees immediately. It took about a generation to establish the new method
of teaching firmly among the Pharisees. If the majority of Pharisees agreed
with the new commandments, they would then be accepted as the Word of God --
even if the commandments taught just the opposite from the teaching of the
Scriptures. IT ALL DEPENDED UPON WHETHER THE PHARISEES, AS A WHOLE, THOUGHT THE
NEW COMMANDMENTS WERE NECESSARY FOR THE PEOPLE TO OBSERVE. This practice gave
rise to the theory that new rules -- though contrary to Scripture -- had to be
established to meet the needs of the changing times! Notice Herford's summary
of this whole situation: "The lead which Joseph ben Joezer had given WAS
FOLLOWED, but only gradually; and though the theory of the Unwritten Torah [the
traditional laws] was finally accepted and worked out to its furthest
consequences, as seen in the Talmud, yet those who most firmly maintained it
WERE QUITE AWARE OF THE WEAKNESS OF ITS FOUNDATION. They knew that it cut the
connection between the halachah [the rules of the Pharisees] and the written
Torah [the Scriptures], and THEY KNEW THAT IN APPEARANCE, AT ALL EVENTS, IT
GAVE THE TEACHERS FREE SCOPE TO TEACH WHAT THEY THOUGHT FIT" (Herford,
"Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 68).
Because the
Pharisees considered themselves Prophets and able to give the CURRENT will of
God, they reasoned that in many cases the CURRENT will of God may be completely
different from His will as expressed in past times. They maintained that many
of their new teachings, which were clearly contrary to the written Word of God,
were actually the PRESENT will of God. This is one of the reasons the Pharisees
taught new commandments without Scripture proof! The Pharisees were confident
that as times changed and when the people would be under new environmental
conditions that certain of the Laws of God, as revealed in the Scripture would,
of necessity, become obsolete and have to be changed. And, feeling that they
had the power of prophets, they felt no compunction about teaching new
commandments to meet the needs of the time, regardless of whether those
teachings contradicted the Word of God or not. Herford shows us that this was
the very attitude of the Pharisees: "The written Torah was good for the
age in which it was given, or in which it was first read; BUT THE WRITTEN TORAH
ALONE COULD NOT SUFFICE FOR LATER AGES" ("Talmud and Apocrypha,"
p. 113). With this attitude concerning the Scripture the Pharisees could always
maintain that God's will had changed in the matter -- that He had revealed His
present will to the Pharisees. This is the very same philosophy that is
pervading our modern Christianity! How many times do we meet with statements
from the learned theologians of the various Christians' sects saying the same
thing today? Almost everyone feels that the Bible IS OUT OF DATE -- IS OLD
FASHIONED. Millions assume it is impossible to keep God's laws and commandments
in this "modern" age. Let us clearly understand that the Bible IS NOT
OUT OF DATE. It can be obeyed, and in fact, it had better be obeyed! Let us not
be like the Pharisees who rejected the Scripture. They received the stern rebuke
of Christ. Let us, on the other hand, OBEY -- live by -- every word of God
(Matt. 4:4). From this time forward, we see the development of the Pharisaical
Judaism of New Testament times. All the many arduous and burdensome laws
concerning the Sabbath -- the laws of washing the hands, pots, pans, etc. --
laws regarding fasting -- and myriads of others had their development in the
minds of the Pharisees between the year 165 B.C. and the coming of Christ. Once
we understand the basis upon which popular Judaism in the days of Christ was
founded, we will understand why Christ so severely condemned the practices of
the Pharisees and of the other sects!
October 1961
Vol. X, Number 10
"Because
the Jews represent the major non-Greek element in the eventual fusion it is
important to observe that their reaction to Hellenism was INITIALLY NO
DIFFERENT from that of other non-Greek peoples" (Goodspeed, "The
Apocrypha," p. xiv). The Jews, after the peaceful introduction of Hellenism
by the Egyptians, accepted it almost totally. And not the least affected by
this acceptance of Hellenism were former religious beliefs of the Jews. Changes
were made in the Jewish religious services. The foreign influence was so strong
and the religious inclination so weak that the period had been called, as we
have before mentioned, a time of religious anarchy. The very basis of Hellenism
was the philosophy of "free-thinking"; the right of the individual to
think and reason for himself. This philosophy of individualism was accepted by
the Jews. The Jews, like their Egyptian rulers, began to think on their own in
regard to the arts, sciences, religion, etc. As with Hellenism in Greece, Syria
and Egypt, so in Palestine, the INDIVIDUAL and HIS OPINION became important to
the educated. The study of Scripture, when indulged, became more of a private
matter and of individual interpretation, as it is commonly done today, rather
than of collective interpretation from an authoritative body, like the Sopherim
were. In most cases the Scripture became interpreted according to the
prevailing custom of viewing everything in the light of Hellenistic
"enlightenment." We find that during the period of religious anarchy
there arose a number of individuals endeavoring to teach the Scriptures. These
men were almost wholly laymen -- the priests, on the whole, thought it not
necessary to bother themselves with teaching or studying the Scriptures of
their forefathers. At the end of the anarchy, we find these individual laymen
establishing themselves, with a few of the faithful priests, into a body of
religious authority among the Jews. However, when these men came together they
brought with them many varying opinions of the Scriptures they had learned in
independent study. Some of the laymen and priests had accepted much of the
Hellenistic ways of teaching as well as many Hellenistic customs and practices.
There were some teachers, however, who were less inclined towards Hellenism.
Yet all these teachers in one way or another were influenced with Hellenism.
There is no doubt of this (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 77).
The differences of opinion among these various teachers finally evolved into
the real beginning of the sects of Judaism. All of the sects can be shown to have
had their origins within or immediately after the period of religious anarchy.
And it is also important to indicate that ALL the sects which came out of that
anarchy had some form of Hellenism attached to their beliefs. In fact, the
various sects of Judaism can be categorized according to the amount of apparent
Hellenization
that each sect
absorbed. There were some sects which embodied much of the Hellenistic spirit;
others a moderate amount; It will be profitable to briefly survey the sects of
Judaism which existed in the days of Christ. It will be obvious that none of
them were keeping the true and unblemished Law of Moses.
The first sect
to be dealt with will be the Essenes. This group is placed first because they represent
the sect which consumed the greatest amount of foreign doctrine. "Greek
culture must have had a POWERFUL INFLUENCE upon Palestine since the time of
Alexander the Great -- it was not repressed until the Maccabean rising -- it is
only natural, if we find ACTUAL PROOF OF THIS INFLUENCE OF HELLENISM IN THE
CIRCLE OF THE ESSENES" (Schurer, "The Jewish People in the Time of
Jesus Christ," sec. ii, vol. ii, p. 218). There were certain religious
customs and beliefs of the Jewish sect of the Essenes which were totally
Hellenistic in origin. For one, Josephus tells us they accepted the doctrine of
the immortality of the soul ("Antiquities of the Jews," xviii, 1, 5).
He mentions this foreign belief of the Essenes in several places. Notice:
"For their doctrine is this: That bodies are corruptible, and that the
matter they are made of is not permanent; but THAT THE SOULS ARE IMMORTAL, AND
CONTINUE FOR EVER ... And IS LIKE THE OPINIONS OF THE GREEKS, that good souls
have their souls beyond the oceans, etc." ("Wars of the Jews,"
II, p. 11). Josephus goes on to say, speaking of the doctrine of the
immortality of the soul: "And indeed the Greeks seem to me TO HAVE
FOLLOWED THE SAME NOTION" (ibid.). Notice that Josephus says that these
Essenes taught their doctrine as did the Greeks. This doctrine is certainly of
foreign origin, for no such doctrine is found in the Scriptures.
"According to him [Josephus], the Essenes had always professed the PUREST
DOCTRINES OF GREEK PHILOSOPHY concerning THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL" (Renan,
"History of the People of Israel," vol. v, p. 56). This particular
teaching IS OF ITSELF PROOF OF THE INFLUENCE OF FOREIGN PHILOSOPHIES (Schurer,
"The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ," sec. ii, vol. ii, p.
214). And further, he says: "If then only one sentence which he (Josephus)
says concerning the anthropology of the Essenes is true, IT IS CERTAIN THAT
THEIR DOCTRINE OF MAN IS DUALISTIC, i.e NON-JEWISH" (ibid.). There is
absolutely no doubt that the Essenes had accepted the doctrine of the
immortality of the soul directly from Hellenism. This doctrine is completely
foreign to Scripture.
The Essenes also
adhered to the doctrine of asceticism -- the doctrine of perennial self-denial of
even the good things of life. This belief as a continuing custom is entirely
alien to the teachings of the Scriptures. However, such practices were common
among certain Greek sects and Egyptian philosophies ("Encyclopaedia
Britannica," 11th ed., vol. ii, pp. 717, 720). Because of this peculiar
belief (which was condemned by the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2:23), the
Essenes developed themselves into monastic orders and repudiated marriage
("Wars of the Jews," II, 8, 2). In no place does the Scripture command
an individual to withdraw into a monastery or nunnery and live a life of
celibatic asceticism. In fact, the New Testament commands a person NOT to
deliberately withdraw himself from society (I Cor. 5:9-10) and it teaches that
marriage is entirely honorable and holy (Heb. 13:4).
While the Temple
was on earth, the worshippers of God prayed facing the Temple in Jerusalem (I
Kings 8:28, 29). Daniel prayed three times a day in this manner (Dan. 6:10).
The Temple in Jerusalem was designed symbolically, from its origin, to be the
residence of God, and the people were to sacrifice at the Temple and pray
toward it. The Essenes, however, omitted two requirements of God which were
obvious violations of Scripture. They refused to sacrifice at the Temple, or
anywhere for that matter; and they did not face the Temple when they prayed.
They worshipped and prayed TOWARDS THE SUN! ("Wars of the Jews," ii,
8, 9.) This act was strictly forbidden in the Scriptures (Ezekiel 8:15, 16),
but nevertheless, the Essenes turned their backs on the Temple and prayed
towards the sun. Relative to this esteem of the sun by the Essenes, Schurer
writes that this clearly "leads to the conclusion, that they were in real
earnest IN THEIR RELIGIOUS ESTIMATION OF THE SUN. However this may be, the very
turning to the sun in prayer WAS CONTRARY to Jewish customs and notions, which
REQUIRED THE TURNING TO THE TEMPLE and expressly repudiated THE DIRECTION
TOWARDS THE SUN AS HEATHENISH" ("The Jewish People in the Time of
Jesus Christ," sec ii, vol. ii, p. 213). To this, Schurer adds: "Thus
are we more and more driven to the view, THAT FOREIGN INFLUENCE COOPERATED IN
THE FORMATION OF ESSENISM" (ibid., p. 214).
It must not be
supposed that Essenism, or any of the sects of Judaism, were completely heathen
in doctrines in all respects. This was not the case! What existed was a
combining or a blending of pagan doctrines with certain teachings of the
Scripture. The Essenes kept the Sabbath, circumcision, and many of the other
customs common to the Jews. They also kept many of the traditional laws of the
Pharisees. We are told expressly by Schurer (ibid., p. 209) that the rigid
religious legalism of the Essenes and their punctilious care for ceremonial
cleanness, were genuinely Pharisaic in origin. The Essenes were, however, not a
part of the popular Pharisee sect. They were entirely separate and on their
own. They may, however, have represented a group that began as a division of
the Pharisaic sect and broke away early after the religious anarchy ended. For
even though there were many doctrinal differences between the two sects, there
were certain similarities. Schurer again tells us: "Essenism then is in
the first place MERELY PHARISAICISM IN THE SUPERLATIVE DEGREE" (ibid.).
The sect of the Essenes were actually more rigorous and exacting (if that were
possible) than the Pharisees as a whole. They even went beyond the Pharisaic
commandments in regard to being ritualistically clean. "The Essene completely
separated himself from the multitude and formed exclusive societies, in which
similarity of disposition and endeavour afforded the possibility of realizing
the ideal of a life of absolute ceremonial cleanness" (ibid., pp. 210,
211). Thus, this extreme Pharisaicism led to asceticism and their other
peculiar customs that most Jews completely disavowed. The Essenes went quite a
bit farther than the Pharisees in accepting, outright, many of the customs of
the heathen they learned while under Hellenistic influences. "The
doctrines of the Essenes were, however, tinged by FOREIGN INFLUENCE. In their
neglect of the Temple sacrifices, and in their condemnation of wedlock, THEY
DEPARTED from the full observance of the Law ... THEY ALSO APPROACHED THE EGYPTIAN
SCHOOL in their allegorical interpretation of many parts of Scripture"
(Conder, "Judas Maccabaeus," p. 210). There is no question that the
Essenes were recipients of many pagan doctrines -- and many of them came from
Egyptian Hellenism. Schurer again tells us that Essenism represents "a
Judaism of quite peculiarly blended ultra-Pharisaic and Alexandrian views [and]
appears in alliance with Pythagoreanism [a pagan philosophy] AND WITH MANY
RITES OF EGYPTIAN PRIESTS" (ibid., p. 208). It is clear that Egyptian
Hellenism, the Greek philosophies inherited by Egypt, was the primary influence
upon the Essene doctrines. Their teachings were certainly far from those of
Moses. "So Essenism can be understood ONLY WHEN REGARDED AS A BLENDING OF
JEWISH AND GREEK IDEAS" (Ency. Biblica, col. 2011).
Like the Essenes, many of the Pharisees had
adopted the pagan belief in the immortality of the soul ("Wars of the
Jews," II, 8, 14). This doctrine is plainly recognized by scholars, as has
been shown above, to have come from heathenism, not from Scripture. However, it
seems as if the Pharisees were not willing to go as far as the Essenes in its
complete pagan interpretation. Some of the Pharisees seem to have had certain
reservations concerning the new doctrine. Josephus, himself a Pharisee and
thoroughly acquainted with their doctrines, makes a vague distinction between
the Pharisee belief and that of the Essenes. He says the Pharisees believed in
an "immortal vigour" to be in the body; while the Essenes believed
outright in the "immortality of the soul" ("Antiquities of the
Jews," xviii, 1, 3 & 4). There seems to have been doubts in the minds
of some Pharisees in regard to this doctrine. However, it appears certain that
most of them believed in it, but with varying degrees of interpretation. Of
course, the doctrine of the immortality of the soul is not taught in the
Scripture. In fact, the Scripture teaches just the opposite. For example, we
read in Ezekiel 18:4, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." See also
verse 21. Clearly, a soul can die! And also, the New Testament teaches that
only Christ has now immortality -- no other man has (I Tim. 6:15, 16).
In the second
installment of this series mention was made of other minor religious sects
which have been called by our modern historians by the name Apocalyptists. The
name denotes those who supposedly reveal "hidden truths" or
"secret doctrines." There are extant several books written by these
minor sects, or perhaps only by individuals, which show their peculiar beliefs
or their prophetical expectations. These sects certainly differed from the
major groups of Judaism. And they assuredly do not represent any large
religious movements among the Jews. "The Apocalyptic literature certainly
represents an element in the Judaism of its time, BUT IT WAS AN ELEMENT OF VERY
MINOR IMPORTANCE compared with those [the Pharisees, etc.] in which lay the
real vitality and strength of Judaism. It is a fundamental mistake to suppose
that the Apocalyptic literature can explain what Judaism really stood for, in
that or any other age" (Herford, "Judaism in the New Testament
Period," p. 11). The writings of these few individuals or religious sects
were completely rejected by the Jews. Some of the reasons for their rejection
by the other sects is because they were obviously contradictory with one
another in many ways; they were at variance with the popular teaching of the
Scriptures. All of the writings of these Apocalyptists were written DURING or
sometime after the period of the religious anarchy. Some were written even as
late as the First Century A.D. Their teachings on the whole, while having a
Jewish basis, reflect men's opinions and ideas which were absorbed from
Hellenism. The teachings of the various books are extremely diverse. Strong
elements of Hellenism are found in some, and in others to a lesser degree
(Ency. Biblica, col. 2010, 2011). There is no question that some of their
teachings, even the manner in which some of them wrote, were directly
influenced by Egyptian and Syrian Hellenism. Their teachings represent those of
some individual teachers who, after the religious anarchy, began to teach their
own religious beliefs independent of the Pharisees, but nonetheless, equally as
erroneous. "Traces of Syrian Hellenism, which had been implanted among the
less educated masses, endured, and the victorious Judean people [after the
successful Maccabean Revolt] harbored a growing semi-Hellenized crowd who had
NEITHER GRASPED THE PURE HEBRAIC FAITH nor received the pure Hellenic spirit.
This populace [certain leaders among them] FOSTERED THE APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE
WITH ITS FANTASTIC AND YET SOMEWHAT MATERIALISTIC SPIRITUALITY, which, while it
was largely an expression of the Hebraic mind and a development of the
prophetic vision, SHOWS A MARKED IMPRESS OF FOREIGN DOCTRINE" (Bentwich,
"Hellenism," p. 335). The principles behind the apocalyptic
literature are an infusion of certain Jewish beliefs with Hellenism. All of the
writings of these minor sects, or perhaps only individual writers, were quite
varied and contradictory. "The aspect that that literaure presents is of
so diversified a character that it is difficult to combine all the DIFFERENT
ELEMENTS into one connected whole" (Schurer, "The Jewish People in
the Time of Jesus Christ," sec. ii, vol. iii, p. 1).
Because so many of the doctrines of the
writers of these various books seem to show a near kinship to certain
Essenistic beliefs, some scholars have endeavored to show that the authors were
undoubtedly part of that group ("International Standard Bible
Encyclopedia," vol. i, p. 164). This may well be the case. Josephus
mentions that the Essenes were fond of keeping "secret" books that
related doctrines only the initiated could know ("Wars of the Jews,"
ii, 8, 7). At least we are assured that these sects who wrote the various
apocalyptic books were closer in doctrine to the Essenes than any other
religious group among the Jews. They were not Pharisees; this much is certain!
"Those who really do know the Pharisaic literature, INCLUDING ALL THE
GREAT JEWISH SCHOLARS, agree in the view that the Apocryphal and Apocalyptic
writings represent a type (or types) of Judaism DIFFERENT from the Pharisaic
type" (Herford, "Judaism in the New Testament Period," p. 123).
The Sadducees
completely rejected the traditions of the elders. They maintained that the
Scripture alone was sufficient for religious truth (Lauterbach, "Rabbinic
Essays," p. 209). In this connection, the Sadducees were certainly right.
The actions of the Sadducees against the erroneous opinions of the Pharisees
seemingly puts them in a good light -- as though they were zealously upholding
the Law of God and His divine truth. However, the Sadducean position was not as
roseate as it may appear on the surface. There were real reasons behind the
Sadducees' apparent stand for the acceptance of only the Scripture, and those
reasons were not always out of honor for the Scripture or even God. Can we say
the Sadducees respected the Scripture when many of the plain teachings of the
Word of God they openly renounced? They clearly rejected the Scripture teaching
of the resurrection; they did not believe in angels nor spirits. Yet the Scriptures
taught these truths! (See Job 14:4; Eze. 37:1-14; Dan. 12:1-3; Exo. 14:19; Dan.
6:22; I Sam. 18:10, etc.) To reject such fundamental doctrines as the
resurrection and the existence of the spirit world, shows that the Sadducees
did not hold the Scripture teaching in very high esteem.
It will come as
a surprise to many people to realize that the reason the majority of Sadducees
rejected the Pharisaic traditions of the elders, so-called, was NOT because of
a reverence for the Scripture and an abhorrence for heathen customs. Their
motive for rejecting these new religious laws, in reality, was on account OF
THEIR LACK OF INTEREST IN RELIGION. They did not care for ANY MORE religious
laws than were necessary. It is clearly known that the majority of Sadducees
were not zealous for religion. Their main interest lay in securing for
themselves political positions of power among the influential people in
Palestine -- they reverenced the gaining of wealth and power more than anything
else. They did not want to subject themselves to any of the religious laws of
the Pharisees, nor [even] of the Scripture, as we will soon see. The Sadducees
represented the "worldly-minded" sect of the Jews -- not especially interested
in religion. (Almost every society has had or presently has such religious
sects, and the Jews were no exception -- they had their "Unitarian"
sect.) "They [the Sadducees] saw in the traditions of the elders an excess
of legal strictness which they refused to have imposed upon them, while the
advanced religious views [of the Pharisees] were, on the one hand SUPERFLUOUS
TO THEIR WORLDLY-MINDEDNESS, and on the other, inadmissible by their higher
culture and enlightenment" (Schurer, "The Jewish People in the Time
of Jesus Christ," sec. ii, vol. ii, p. 41). The Sadducees simply did not
want to be burdened with more religious laws. They thought the Laws of
Scripture were certainly enough, without adding more! And, in fact, sometimes,
if the Scripture did not teach what they wanted, they would even disallow it.
"The Sadducees, with the easy indifference of men of the world, finding
that THERE WAS QUITE ENOUGH IN THE LAW FOR THEM TO OBEY, denied that there was
anything obligatory outside the Books of Moses (Renan, "History of the
People of Israel," vol. 5, pp. 41, 42). With their rejection of the
traditions of the elders and their acceptance of only the Scripture, it is not
to be supposed that they were interested in getting the people back to the
religion of Moses or in bringing the people to a proper reverence for the
Scripture. They were willing to accept just what they had to, in order to
retain THEIR political positions among the rich and wealthy of Jerusalem
("Antiquities of the Jews," xviii, 10, 6). "Their whole
doctrinal position GAVE THEM LIBERTY TO FOLLOW THEIR DESIRES FOR POLITICAL
POWER AND WORLDLY SATISFACTION. Hence they had a DEEPER INTEREST IN SUSTAINING
THE POWER OF THE REIGNING PRINCE [whether Jewish or Roman] THAN IN MAINTAINING
THE OBSERVANCES OF MOSES" (Riggs, "A History of the Jewish
People," p. 111). While on the surface it may have seemed like the
Sadducees were a little closer to the truth, because they maintained that the
Scripture was sufficient Law to have, yet the fact is, they were just as far
away from the truth -- even farther! While the Sadducees blamed the Pharisees
for not adhering to Scripture for their doctrines, they themselves were
rejecting doctrine after doctrine of plain Scripture. They were no more
following the complete directions of the Scriptures than were the Pharisees.
Throughout the
Scriptures we are distinctly shown by prophecies and by examples that God at
certain times intervenes in the affairs of individuals and of nations. There
are multitudes of prophecies which show that God is very soon going to
personally intervene in the affairs of mankind. See, for example, the Books of
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. But the Sadducees believed not a word of this!
They believed that God did not direct the mind of man in any form or manner --
all things that happened were he result of man's own doing, God never
intervened! "And for the Sadducees, they take away fate [the determination
of God], and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs
are not at its [God's] disposal; but they suppose that ALL our actions are in
our power, so that we are ourselves the cause of what is good, and receive what
is evil from our own folly" ("Antiquities of the Jews," xiii, 5,
9; "Wars of the Jews," ii, 14). The Sadducees were wrong in this! In
the Scripture it shows that God at times directs individuals and nations to do
certain duties (Isa. 10:13-15, etc.). Of course, not every single action an
individual does is being determined by God (Eccl. 9:11). The Pharisees, in this
case, understood correctly that God intervenes in the affairs of mankind when
He considers it necessary for the carrying out of His plan, but on the whole,
mankind's actions are his own ("Antiquities of the Jews," xiii, 5,
9). The Sadducees certainly did not have belief in many truths of the
Scripture. By disbelieving in the resurrection, disbelieving in the spirit
world and also rejecting the fact that God ever intervenes in the affairs of
man, they show clearly that they had little regard for the Word of God.
"They [the Sadducees] were very nearly free-thinkers, and in all cases
were men of little religion, mere worldlings. Their wisdom was all worldly. The
doctrines attributed to them by Josephus, concerning liberty and divine
Providence [that is, the lack of divine Providence], are interpretations or
compromises after the Greek fashion. For them all [the Sadducees] this was only
an attempt to reduce the supernatural to its minimum, a process for eliminating
God" (Renan, "History of the People of Israel," vol. v, p. 40).
As pointed out by Schurer: '"THEIR INTERESTS WERE ENTIRELY IN THIS WORLD,
AND THEY HAD NO SUCH INTENSIVELY RELIGIOUS INTEREST AS THE PHARISEES"
("The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ," sec. ii, vol. ii,
p. 39).
When religious
authority was again established among the Jews after the period of religious
anarchy, the Pharisees were anxious for the people to start living a religious
life, even though they brought into their religion many of the new customs from
Hellenism. However, the majority of Sadducees made no real attempt to return to
religion. They certainly saw no reason for accepting the many new customs as
extra religious duties to perform. The majority of Sadducees were priests
(Cycl. of Bib. Thee. and Ecc. Lit., vol. ix, p. 238) who had been ordained of
God to teach the people the Scriptures. The forefathers of the priests, the
Sopherim, were entirely faithful in their appointed task. But the majority of priests
after the period of religious anarchy MADE NO ATTEMPT to teach the people the
Scriptures. One of the main reasons for their attitude was because most of them
had been out-and-out Hellenists! (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha,"
pp. 77, 78). Among all the Jews in Palestine, the priests had become the most
Hellenistic. After the religious anarchy, when the lay leaders, the Pharisees,
began to exert an influence over the people, they "refused to recognize
the authority of the priests as a class, and inasmuch as many of THE PRIESTS
HAD PROVEN UNFAITHFUL GUARDIANS OF THE LAW, they would not entrust to them the
religious life of the people" (Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p.
209). Thus, many of the priests joined with, or rather comprised the sect of
the Sadducees, which, in all principles, rivaled the Pharisees. The origin of
the priestly sect of the Sadducees was actually prompted as a reaction to the
Pharisees' taking over much of the religious control of the Jewish people. The
Sadducean sect was not formed because of any endeavor on the part of the
priests to return to the original Law of Moses; nor did the priests attempt to
gain the people to accept only the Scriptures as Law. This sect evolved as
merely a reaction to the assumption of power by the lay Pharisees.
After
assimilating much of the "higher culture and enlightenment" of
Hellenism, the priests were not altogether ready to disengage themselves from
it. Even after the religious anarchy, many of the priests retained their love
for the culture. The Sadducees actually represented the division of the Jews
which continued a reverence for the ETHICAL VIEWS of Hellenism. It is true that
they did NOT hold to the many RELIGIOUS DOCTRINES of the pagan cults of
Hellenism, but they did retain many of the social aspects of the culture. It
was almost imperative that they did, so the Sadducees thought, for they were in
constant contact with the political powers in Jerusalem who found it necessary
to adhere to much of the Hellenistic beliefs in order to carry on matters of
state with the other countries around. Thus, many of the priests did not
completely repent of their secular Hellenism, even though on the religious side
they acknowledged the Scriptures as the only Law. "They [the Sadducees]
made, however, THE OPEN DOOR THROUGH WHICH GREEK INFLUENCES CAME BACK INTO THE
LAND, and, as another has tersely said, 'the antagonism between them and the
Pharisees was really A SECONDARY VERSION of the old feud BETWEEN THE HELLENISTS
AND THE HASIDEANS'" (Riggs, "A History of the Jewish People," p.
111). The Hasideans were those Jews of the Maccabean Revolt who maintained a
zeal for religion, and, of course, the Hellenists were the Jews, many of them
priests, who had no interest in religion. It is clear that this comparison is
correct. The Sadducees were simply the remnants of the Hellenists who cared
nothing for religion, while the Pharisees were descendants of the religionists
-- the Hasideans. "Politically, the Sadducees were, as a party, OPEN TO
FOREIGN INFLUENCES, and it was through them THAT HELLENIC CULTURE SPREAD IN
ISRAEL" ("The Cambridge Companion to the Bible," p. 134). In
other words, the Sadducees were really secular Hellenists. Their acceptance of
the Scripture as the only code of Law, even though they rejected much of its
teachings, was really out of spite to the Pharisees who accepted the so-called
traditions of the elders. The Sadducees saw no need of being overly religious
by the acceptance of burdensome customs and rites. "THEIR INTERESTS WERE
ENTIRELY IN THIS WORLD, AND THEY HAD NO SUCH INTENSIVELY RELIGIOUS INTEREST AS
THE PHARISEES" (Schurer, "The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus
Christ," sec. ii, vol. ii, p. 39). They had no desire to practice real
religion, neither did they think it necessary to teach the people the Laws of
God. Even though the majority of Sadducees were priests, and were ordained of
God to instruct the people in righteousness, they totally renounced their
responsibility. "Such as they were, the Sadducees had little or no direct
influence upon the mass of the people, nor did they seek to have. They made no
effort to teach the people, presumably because THE THOUGHT OF DOING SO NEVER
ENTERED THEIR MINDS" (Herford, "Judaism in the New Testament Period,"
p. 122). "We shall perhaps be not far wrong if we represent the Sadducees
as holding the ancestral religion MAINLY AS AN INHERITANCE and NOT AS A LIVING
REALITY ... It is in accordance with this view that THEY DID NOTHING TO ENLARGE
THE MEANING OR INCREASE THE INFLUENCE OF THE TORAH as the Pharisees did"
(ibid., p. 121). The Sadducees made no attempt whatever, that we have record
of, to make the Scriptures known to the people or to carry out their God-given
function of instructing the people in the Law. They did not see the importance
of it! In fact, they were even willing to sacrifice the Laws of Scripture if
they could gain politically from it. "They were the LESS RESTRAINED BY ANY
RELIGIOUS SCRUPLES from engaging in public affairs WHICH INVOLVED SOME AMOUNT
OF COMPROMISE WITH GENTILES" (ibid., p. 122). Thus, Schurer adequately
describes the Sadducees as pre-eminently having "A RECESSION OF THE
RELIGIOUS MOTIVE" rather than a zealousness for the Scriptures ("The
Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ," sec. ii, vol. ii, p. 39).
It becomes quite
obvious, when the truth is known, that the sects of Judaism were not really
teaching the Law of Moses. What all of them had done, in one degree or another,
was to blend many pagan customs and beliefs, along with various man-made
opinions, with the Law of Moses and then endeavored to teach their
contradictory doctrines as the truth of God. The Pharisees had accepted many
customs of the heathen as so-called traditional laws from Moses. They had also
enacted many of their own commandments which by-passed the commands of the
Scripture and in fact, the Pharisaic commands even annulled, in many cases, the
plain commandments of God. The Sadducees were disinterested in religion! The
only reason, in reality, that they had any connection with religion at all was
because most of them were priests who had the hereditary right to minister in
the Temple and to have an association with the religious life of the people.
They maintained their hereditary religious right mainly for political purposes
in order for them to more easily pursue their worldly-minded aspirations, not
out of any desire to teach the people the truth of God. The Essenes had
accepted many heathen customs and beliefs without reservation. Almost all their
doctrines were antagonistic to the Law of Moses. The writers of the Apocalyptic
books also show, in varying degrees, an impress of foreign doctrines and
philosophies. All of the books are different from one another and represent the
contradicting opinions of certain individuals or minor sects. The writers of
the Apocalyptic books were probably, in one way or another, connected with the
Essenes. Thus, all the religious sects of the Jews can be adequately shown to
be schismatic deviations from the pure and simple Law of Moses. They were all
affected by the beliefs that were encountered by the Jews during the period of
religious anarchy when Egyptian and Syrian Hellenism were rampant throughout
Palestine. The combined numbers of the Jews who belonged to the religious sects
of Judaism, however, numbered less than 5% of the total Jewish population of
Palestine in the days of Christ. The great majority, the Common People, were
not overly interested in religion. From the time of the religious anarchy,
there was never any real collective religious authority among the Jews like the
Sopherim. All the people went their own ways. The majority never got back to
religion as during the days of the Sopherim. Outside of a nominal adherence to
some basic forms of religion, the masses were not zealously concerned. And,
there can be no doubt that the confusing and contradictory examples of the
various sects were discouraging to the populace. Truly, Christ came to a people
who had no shepherd to guide them into the truth of God (Matt. 9:36).
November 1961
Vol. X, Number
11
The word
"Mishnah," in Hebrew, means literally "second!" The
Mishnah-form of interpretation means "the second-form." The true
Scriptural form
was to the Jews the "first-form" or the one used by Moses and the
prophets. But all of the traditional laws of the Pharisees were accepted by
appealing to the new Mishnah-form. When the Mishnah-form was used, it was not
necessary to appeal to Scripture for proof; the authority of the teacher or
teachers who issued new commandments independent of Scripture was assumed
sufficient to consider them to be the Word of God.
The first use of
the Mishnah-form by the Pharisees was in their acceptance of the so-called
traditional laws the customs inherited from Hellenism. The Pharisaic leaders
were forced to recognize these new customs as proper religious practices, for
they knew the people would not give them up. The Pharisees did not first invent
the Mishnah-form and then use it to teach the traditional laws. Just the
opposite occurred. The acceptance of the new customs from Hellenism, without
any Scripture proof, brought the Pharisees to realize they were teaching IN A
NEW FORM NOT PREVIOUSLY USED. The Pharisees recognized that they had begun to
use a new method of teaching by accepting the traditional laws without
Scripture proof. "FINDING NO CONVINCING PROOFS FOR SUCH LAWS IN THE BIBLE,
THEY TAUGHT THEM INDEPENDENTLY OF SCRIPTURAL PROOF i.e. IN THE
MISHNAH-FORM" (Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p. 229). Though
all the Pharisees agreed that the traditional laws had to be accepted, many of
them were reluctant about perpetuating the new form of teaching. Many of the
early Pharisees thought that the use of the Mishnah-form was proper in
admitting the traditional laws into the religious requirements of the Jews, but
they did not want to see its indiscriminate use in the future. It was obvious
that the use of this new form could bring about multitudes of new traditions --
all of them without Scripture proof. The inevitable happened! Instead of the
Mishnah-form being discarded after the traditional laws had been brought to the
place of divine law, its use was increased. You will remember that Joseph ben
Joezer, called "the Permitter," issued three new laws which were
completely devoid of Scripture proof. These three laws were enacted by using
the Mishnah-form! His laws were the first ones to be enacted after the traditional
law became a part of Pharisaic belief. Lauterbach tells us that many of the
Pharisees did not appear overly enthusiastic when Joseph ben Joezer introduced
his teaching in the new Mishnah-form. "When he [Joseph ben Joezer] used
new methods of interpretation for the first time, his colleagues hesitated to
follow him ..." ("Rabbinic Essays," p. 228). The Pharisees knew
full well that it was wrong to use the so-called Mishnah-form for making laws.
Even though they had all accepted the customs of the heathen, by using this
form, some of them balked at making further laws without any Scripture backing
at all. However, this reluctance did not last long! The very fact that the
Pharisees considered themselves as having the spirit of prophecy -- having the
power to teach the current will of God, gave them incentive to further utilize
this new teaching occasionally, especially since they had the precedent of
Joseph ben Joezer. Thus, after the time of Joseph ben Joezer, we find the
Mishnah-form being used more and more as time progressed. These subsequent
teachings of the Pharisees were termed "traditions of the elders." By
the time of Christ, the Pharisees had developed the Mishnah-form so extensively
that they were teaching for doctrines hundreds of commandments of men without
the slightest backing of Scripture (Mark 7:7). "THEY INSISTED THAT THEIR
DECISIONS MUST BE ACCEPTED AS AUTHORITATIVE ...'' ("Rabbinic Essays",
p. 235). If anyone would oppose them, such as the Sadducees or other groups,
when the Pharisees taught their laws independently of Scripture proof, the
Pharisees would haughtily maintain that they did not need the Scripture to back
them up. They felt they could teach in the Mishnah-form any time they pleased
and needed no Scripture proofs for their teachings. It is difficult to believe
that men who claimed to be the servants of God would resort to such deductions.
But the Pharisees did! AND TODAY THERE ARE MANY CHURCH DENOMINATIONS CLAIMING
TO BE CHRISTIAN WHICH DO THE VERY SAME THING. There are millions of people,
calling themselves Christian, who feel they do not have to keep the Words of
the Bible, but rather must obey the words of their religious leaders who teach
many doctrines completely contrary to the Bible. There are millions of people
in the world today who are no better than the Pharisees. Many church
denominations today use the same Mishnah-form of interpretation (not using the
Scripture for their doctrines), just like the Pharisees did before and during
the days of Christ. Christ condemned the Pharisees for teaching as true
doctrines the commandments of men (Mark 7:7). The Jews THEN -- as many NOW --
knowingly taught their new laws and commandments "ON THE AUTHORITY OF
THEIR OWN REASON AND CONSCIENCE, AND NOT BY SEEKING THEIR AUTHORITY IN THE WRITTEN
TEXT [the Bible]" (ibid., p. 70). If we are the children of God, we had
better be obeying EVERY word of God as Christ commanded (Matt. 4:4). The
Pharisees had their chance to follow the Scriptures before they accepted the
customs of the people that had been inherited from Hellenism. But to please the
populace as a whole, they adopted the new customs and rejected the Word of God
which commanded them not to do such things (Jer. 10:1-4). The Word of God was
rejected, and in its place was instituted the religion of Judaism. Lauterbach
tells us why the Pharisees had to practically abandon the older method of
teaching that was used by Ezra, Nehemiah and the Sopherim -- termed the
Midrash-form. Notice what he says: "The exclusive use of the Midrash-form
threatened to endanger the authority and teachings of the Pharisees. These
apprehensions caused the Pharisaic teachers to make more extensive use of the
Mishnah-form and in some cases even to prefer the same to the Midrash-form. For
to give all the halakic teachings [new laws] of the Pharisees in the
Midrash-form as based on Scripture WOULD HAVE EXPOSED THESE TEACHINGS to the
attack of the Sadducees" (ibid., p. 231). In other words, the Sadducees,
who were mainly priests and maintained that all teaching should be dependent
upon Scripture, could easily counter the Pharisees as long as they taught in
the Midrash-form of trying to appeal to Scripture. So, the Pharisees taught in
the Mishnah-form which did not have to rely upon the Scripture for support.
The Pharisees
would, at times, it is true, make reference to certain scriptures that might
seemingly give support to their independent teachings. In doing so, the
Pharisees became notorious for their methods of forcing the Scripture to teach
what they wanted it to teach. When they endeavored to use the Scripture, the
Pharisees would, in almost every case, have to stretch the plain meaning in
order to make it mean something entirely different from the actual meaning.
Using this forced method of appealing to Scripture opened them up to further
attacks by their opponents, and it is not surprising that appealing to the
Scripture became unpopular with the Pharisees. "If the Pharisees arrived
at a certain decision by means of a new interpretation, the Sadducees COULD
ALWAYS dispute that decision by refuting the scriptural proof offered for it.
IT WAS POSSIBLE for them to argue that the Pharisaic interpretation was
unwarranted and that the scriptural passage DID NOT MEAN WHAT THE PHARISEES TRIED
TO READ INTO IT ... THE PHARISEES WERE WELL AWARE THAT SOME OF THEIR
INTERPRETATIONS WERE RATHER FORCED, AND THAT THEIR OPPONENT'S ARGUMENTS AGAINST
THESE INTERPRETATIONS WERE SOUND" (ibid., p. 232). This method of reading
into the Scripture what it clearly did not teach was a method of interpretation
inherited from Hellenism during the period of the religious anarchy. In a book
published by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, entitled
"Hellenism in Jewish Palestine," by Dr. Saul Lieberman, new,
startling information confirms this. Dr. Lieberman states that the Greek Law
Colleges taught their students the art of twisting the law according to the
required aim and purpose (ibid., p. 63). During the religious anarchy, many
Jews attended these schools. The Greeks took great pride in being able to make
a law teach what in reality it did not teach. The Pharisees used this same
method! "THEY [the Jews] WOULD CERTAINLY NOT HESITATE TO BORROW FROM THEM
[the Greeks] METHODS AND SYSTEMS WHICH THEY COULD CONVERT INTO A MECHANISM FOR
THE CLARIFICATION AND DEFINITION OF THEIR OWN TEACHINGS" (ibid., p. 64).
Lieberman informs us that "RABBINIC LITERATURE ABOUNDS IN SUCH ARTIFICIAL
AND FORCED INTERPRETATIONS" (ibid., p. 63). He cites an example from the
Talmud that illustrates how forced interpretations of the Scriptures were used.
An example is recorded in "Sanhedrin 17a." It states that one
prominent Rabbi insisted that no individual could be admitted to the Sanhedrin
UNLESS HE WAS ABLE TO PROVE FROM THE SCRIPTURE THAT REPTILES WERE CLEAN. Of
course, the Scripture plainly states that all reptiles are unclean (Lev.
11:41-42). The reason that such fallacious interpretations were required of the
Rabbis was to see if members of the Sanhedrin were skilled enough in the Law,
so they could, if necessary, twist the plain meaning of the Law to meet any
requirement of a particular case. Another Rabbi, using the same illustration,
thought that a man was not qualified to sit in the Sanhedrin unless he could
give a hundred arguments for declaring a reptile clean or unclean. The Rabbis
reasoned that a person who could accomplish such a task was qualified to sit in
judgment over others, because, if necessary, adequate grounds for acquittal
could be given in any case (ibid., p. 63). This deceptive skill enabled them
also to EFFECTIVELY give false grounds for CONDEMNING THE INNOCENT, as they did
in the case of Jesus Christ!
The Pharisees
were well aware that they were leaving the religious teachings delivered by
Moses and the Prophets. Records are found in the Jewish Talmud which register
many statements of the early pre-Christian Pharisees. Notice that their own
words are a witness to the fact that they were well aware that they were leaving
the ways of Moses. In a book of the Talmud called "Temurah," in
section 15b, we have the statement of one eminent Pharisee. It reads as
follows: "All the teachers who arose in Israel from the days of Moses
until the death of [last days of] Joseph ben Joezer STUDIED THE TORAH AS MOSES
DID, BUT AFTERWARDS THEY DID NOT STUDY THE TORAH AS MOSES DID." The
statement could hardly be plainer. This is a clear admission that the
Pharisees, beginning with the days of Joseph ben Joezer DID NOT STUDY AND TEACH
AFTER THE MANNER OF MOSES. The Pharisees, from this time (160 B.C.) stopped
teaching the Word of God as had Moses! The Pharisees KNEW they were departing
from the truth. They KNEW that they were enacting new commandments which had
not the slightest hint of authority in the Law of Moses! Pharisaic Judaism,
with its innumerable man-made commandments, was never the religion of Moses!
Judaism represents a departure from the religion of Moses, and the Pharisees
themselves candidly admit it. Let us notice another example from the Talmud.
Another statement, in Yebamoth 72b, concerns one Eleazar, the son of Pedat, who
happened to use a Scripture text to refute the personal opinion of his
opponent, another Pharisee, on a particular question. The opponent, endeavoring
to repudiate the son of Pedat in front of the other Pharisees, answered with
these words: "I see that the son of Pedat STUDIES IN THE MANNER OF
MOSES." Notice the plain implication here! If a person used the Scripture
to prove or to disprove a particular point of doctrine, he was contemptuously
accused of teaching IN THE MANNER OF MOSES -- as Moses did! The Pharisees were
fully conscious of the seriousness of the actions they were taking. They
actually knew better! But they went ahead with their designs to teach without
any Scriptural support. "The teachers who introduced the conception of the
Unwritten Torah [the traditional laws] ... WERE QUITE AWARE OF THE EXTREME
GRAVITY OF THE STEP THEY WERE TAKING" (Herford, "Talmud and
Apocrypha," p. 113). No wonder Christ rebuked the Pharisees so strongly.
"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." (Matt. 23:13) "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." (Matt. 23:15)
By the time of
Christ, the Pharisees had made new commandments numbering into the thousands.
They dealt with every phase of religious life among the Jews. Christ said that
these COMMANDMENTS OF MEN were so burdensome that they were extremely difficult
to bear, and in fact, many of them were impossible of fulfillment (Matt. 23:4).
(We will see what some of these man-made commandments were, in later
installments.) To show you how multitudinous they were, we need only turn to
the Jewish Talmud. The English translation of the Talmud, which contains the
major part of the independent teachings of the Pharisees, is a huge work
numbering 34 volumes. Some of the laws recorded in the Talmud were enacted
after the time of Christ, but the majority were in existence during New
Testament times. Even the Judaism of modern times is based upon these Pharisaic
laws. The modern orthodox section of Judaism adheres almost completely to these
laws recorded in the Talmud.
The Rabbis, one-
to four-hundred years after Christ, did not dare discuss the origin of the
traditional laws nor how the Pharisees came to teach without using the
Scripture. These later Rabbis knew quite well where the traditional laws had
come from, but they did not want the lay people to know that these laws, which
had been falsely taught to the lay people as coming from Moses, were not
originally from Moses at all. It would have been disastrous to Judaism to teach
that the traditional laws were really not from Moses and that the commandments
of the Pharisees were nothing more than the commandments of men, because THE
WHOLE FOUNDATION OF JUDAISM rested on these fallacious laws. Thus, among the 34
volumes of the English translation of the Talmud wherein are recorded these
traditional laws, there is no mention whatever of how these traditional laws
came to be accepted. "The history of the development of the Mishnah-form
REFLECTS UNFAVORABLY upon the TRADITIONAL CHARACTER of the Pharisaic teachings.
THIS IS THE REASON FOR THE TALMUDIC SILENCE ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF THE
MISHNAH-FORM" (Lauterbach, "Rabbinic Essays," p. 248). From
this, we should have no difficulty in understanding why thousands of Jews were
brought to the truth of Christianity in the First Century. They were told the
truth about the laws of the Pharisees by the true ministers of Christ. Once the
Jews came to a knowledge of the truth in this matter, many of them abandoned
the commandments of men for the truth of God. This is one of the main reasons
the Pharisees, and the later Jews, had such an abhorrence for Christianity. The
acceptance of Christianity meant the rejection of the teachings of the
Pharisees in Judaism, and a return to God and His commandments. In the next
installment we will see how the Pharisees thought to ANNUL some of the laws of
God, when it suited their purpose.
December 1961
Vol. X, Number
12
The Pharisees
were confronted time and time again with many Mosaic commandments which they
considered impractical in the society in which they were living. This led them
to a dangerous conclusion. Since they were living in a later age than Moses and
because times had changed considerably, they felt that many of the Laws of the
Scripture had to be drastically altered or, in some cases, completely annulled.
The Pharisees saw no reason why such alteration or rescission should not be
done, especially since they convinced themselves they were in authority to
reveal the CURRENT will of God. Herford says that these Pharisaic teachers came
to the place many times of "ACTUALLY ANNULLING AN EXPRESS COMMAND IN THE
WRITTEN TORAH [the Scripture] AND REPLACING IT BY A HALACHAH [their own law] IN
ACCORDANCE WITH A [supposed] HIGHER MORAL STANDARD" ("Talmud and
Apocrypha," p. 73). Jesus refers to one Law of God, among many, that they
completely set aside or annulled. Notice Mark 7:10-13: "For Moses said,
'Honour your father and your mother'; and, 'He who speaks evil of father or
mother, let him surely die'; but you say, 'If a man tells his father or his
mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban' (that is, "given to
God") -- then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or
mother, THUS MAKING VOID THE WORD OF GOD through your tradition which you hand
on. AND MANY SUCH THINGS YOU DO" (RSV). In this case, they had actually
annulled a specific one of the Ten Commandments of God that had been given
through Moses. They claimed to have given to God offerings that should have
been used to help Father and Mother. We are left in no doubt about the attitude
of the Pharisees in regard to Moses and his teaching. If they did not approve
of what Moses taught, they rejected him! It was just that simple! Jesus said:
"Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me ... BUT YE BELIEVE NOT
HIS WRITINGS" (John 5:46, 47). Actually, the Pharisees had come to the
place of believing it impossible to keep the civil Law of Moses. The only thing
they could do, they reasoned, was either to alter, or disregard, many of its
"impractical" instructions. They had no hesitation in carrying out
their intentions. "The teachers ... were quite aware of the extreme
gravity of the step they were taking. THEY INTENDED TO MODIFY THE WRITTEN
COMMANDMENT IN VARIOUS WAYS, and in the course of time ACTUALLY DID SO IN
NUMBERLESS CASES. YET THEY HAD BEFORE THEM THE PLAIN INJUNCTION (Deut. 4:2):
'Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish
from it; that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command
you'" (Herford, "Talmud and Apocrypha," p. 113). It is almost
impossible to believe that religious leaders claiming to serve God would be so
bold as to do such things, but the Pharisees intentionally did so. "This
conclusion that the written word of the Torah MIGHT BE MODIFIED OR SET ASIDE,
OR EVEN ANNULLED (AS WAS SOMETIMES DONE), WAS DELIBERATELY DRAWN AND
CONSISTENTLY ACTED UPON by the teachers who developed the 'halachah' [the new
Pharisaic laws]" (ibid., p. 112).
Is it any wonder
that Christ was so indignant at the doctrines of the Pharisees? Should we be
amazed that He so sharply rebuked them? "Well has Isaiah prophesied of you
hypocrites, as it is written, this people honoureth me with their lips, but
their heart is far from me. Howbeit IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING FOR
DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN. FOR LAYING ASIDE THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD YE
HOLD THE TRADITION OF MEN ... FULL WELL YE REJECT THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD, THAT
YE MAY KEEP YOUR OWN TRADITION" (Mark 7:6-9). Now that we have the background
to the beliefs of the Pharisees and their attitudes regarding the Word of God
-- as has been presented thus far in this series -- this Scripture should take
on much more meaning. Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees as they had never been
rebuked before. And they needed every bit of it! Notice what Christ said
elsewhere! "Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your own
tradition?" (Matt. 15:3.) "THUS HAVE YE MADE THE COMMANDMENT OF GOD
OF NONE EFFECT BY YOUR TRADITION" (Matt. 15:6). "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" (Matt. 23:13). "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" (Matt. 23:27,28).
In contemporary
secular Christianity we find millions of individuals like the Pharisees of New
Testament times. Numerous professing Christian denominations have MODIFIED the
commandments of Christ; many have SET ASIDE or DISREGARDED His commandments;
and many of them have intentionally ANNULLED the commandments of Christ! Yes,
our modern Christian civilization of this Western World is in the same or worse
spiritual condition as were the Pharisees. The past and present leaders of Christian
churches have certainly resorted to the same tactics as did the Pharisaic
leaders. It is time we realize that modern Christianity has paralleled the
Jewish leaders of New Testament times in assuming the prerogative of altering,
overlooking and rescinding the plain commandments of the Scripture. Christ, who
is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8), condemns it!
"Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God ye hold the
tradition of men ... Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may
keep your own tradition" (Mark 7:7-9).
There are
millions of individuals today who, like the Pharisees, claim to follow Christ,
and yet have modified the plain and simple commandments of Christ. Here is one
example among many, to illustrate this fact. In Matthew 5:38,39, we read:
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for
a tooth: But I say unto you, THAT YE RESIST NOT EVIL: but whosoever shall smite
thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." This is a classic
statement of Christ which has been modified by different groups in numerous
ways. Most of the Christ-professing ministers today assume Christ meant just
the opposite from what He said in the above passage. Most reason that Christ
surely could not mean that you are not to resist evil people and kill them if
need be! Is this what Christ said? No! Christ said just the opposite -- "love
your enemies" -- A PLAIN AND SIMPLE STATEMENT that any ten-year-old can
read and understand. But today, this command of Christ in particular is
MODIFIED by interpretations so that it says just the opposite from what Christ
taught. The Pharisees were doing the same thing with the Law of Moses! Let us
notice another commandment of Christ that has been completely disregarded by
the overwhelming majority of modern denominations. It is Jesus' command found
in John 13:14,15. "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet;
ye also ought to wash one another's feet. FOR I HAVE GIVEN YOU AN EXAMPLE, that
ye should do as I have done to you." How many Christ-professing churches
do you know which follow this command -- an example that Christ gave to His disciples?
Very few! Most people have completely disregarded this command and example as
though it were not even in the Scriptures. Some ministers, endeavoring to
explain away the illustration, say that this was an example for the original
twelve disciples and not for us today. But notice Matthew 28:19, 20: "Go
YE [the original twelve disciples] therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:
Teaching them [all nations] to observe ALL THINGS WHATSOEVER I HAVE COMMANDED
YOU ..." The example of foot washing was commanded to the disciples, and
Christ ordered them to teach all NATIONS the very things He had taught them.
But again, the majority of ministers today are using the same reasons for disregarding
the Scriptures (i.e., times have changed) as did the Pharisees in Christ's day.
Take another example. All readers of the Bible, scholars and laymen alike, are
quite aware that the Sabbath is the day set aside by God for divine worship
(Gen. 2:1-4; Lev. 23:1-3; Isa. 58:13, 14). The Sabbath day is from Friday
sunset to Saturday sunset. All true followers of God have kept this day as the
day of rest and worship. The Jews of Christ's day as well were observing this
day. Christ, Himself, kept the true Sabbath, having ordained it at re-creation
as a day for the benefit of all mankind (Mark 2:27, 28). The early New
Testament Church observed the Sabbath, and that day only, as the weekly day of
rest AND worship. This was the only day which the early Church observed: this
all competent Church Histories affirm. There is no indication, or even the
slightest hint, in the Scripture that the Sabbath was to be abrogated and
another day substituted for it. In fact, you might ask yourself the questions:
Just why should the Sabbath have to be changed? Wasn't it good enough? Was
there something inherently WRONG with that particular day -- so that a BETTER
had to be found as a substitute? Just WHAT could make one day BETTER than
another? And if one day is not inherently better than another, why should it be
set apart -- sanctified -- by any other authority than God's express commands?
But there are millions of people today who claim to be following Christ and the
Bible who repudiate the plain command of God in regard to His holy day, the
Sabbath, by observing another day. These people are not following the Bible
command but are rather following the command of the Roman Catholic Church which
admits that it, not the Bible, is the author of Sunday keeping. (See "Who
Changed the Sabbath?" pp. 1-5, Published by Knights of Columbus, St.
Louis, Mo.) The majority of professing Christians today assume the Sabbath
command has been ANNULLED. But it certainly has not been done away with IN THE
BIBLE. It has only been supposedly annulled by the Roman Catholic Church and
all the Protestant denominations which follow her decision in this matter. Our
Western World is doing today exactly the same thing the Pharisees did in New
Testament times. It is about time we wake up and get back to the true faith
which was ONCE delivered to the saints of God (Jude 3). God's Church today does
not add to His words, neither does it subtract from them. It is in obedience to
His commandments. "And hereby we do know that we know Him, IF WE KEEP HIS
COMMANDMENTS. He that saith, I know Him, AND KEEPETH NOT HIS COMMANDMENTS, IS A
LIAR, and the truth is not in him" (I John 2:3,4).
The Pharisees
did not stop with merely modifying, disregarding or even annulling Scripture.
They maintained that the commandments they enacted in the place of Scripture
were of MORE IMPORTANCE than the Scripture itself! "The law of custom was
quite as binding as the written Torah; nay IT WAS EVEN DECIDED THAT OPPOSITION
TO THE DECREES OF THE SCRIBES WAS A HEAVIER TRANSGRESSION THAN OPPOSITION TO
THE DECREES OF THE TORAH" ("The Jewish People in the Time of
Christ," sec. ii, vol. i, pp. 333, 334). Now let us go to the Talmud
itself and notice some of the statements of some of the early Pharisees
themselves. Their situation in regard to their own teachings will be obvious.
From the Jerusalem Talmud, Berakoth i, 7, we read: "The sayings of the
elders HAVE MORE WEIGHT THAN THOSE OF THE PROPHETS." The elders, in this
case, are the Pharisees. In Sanhedrin xi, 3, it says: "An offense against
the sayings of the Scribes IS WORSE THAN ONE AGAINST THOSE OF SCRIPTURE."
They demanded the people refer to them as spiritual "Father,"
"Rabbi," or "Master" (Makkoth 24a and Matthew 23:7-10). The
Pharisee teachers even required the people to reverence them almost as God
Himself. "Let thine esteem for thy friend border upon thy respect for thy
teacher, and respect for thy teacher ON REVERENCE FOR GOD" (Aboth, iv,
12). "Each Scribe [learned Pharisee] out-weighted all the common people,
who must accordingly pay him every honour. Nay, THEY WERE HONOURED OF GOD
HIMSELF, and THEIR PRAISES PROCLAIMED BY THE ANGELS; and in heaven also, each
of them would hold the same rank and distinction as on earth. Such was to be
the respect paid TO THEIR SAYINGS, THAT THEY WERE TO BE ABSOLUTELY BELIEVED,
even if they were to declare that to be at the right hand which was at the
left, or vice versa (i.e. even if they proclaimed doctrines contradictory to
Scripture)" (Edersheim, "Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah,"
vol. i, p. 90). Because of the religious authority that the Pharisees claimed
they had, they in general demanded the first rank in all circumstances.
"They loved 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" (Matt. 23:6,7). The term "Rabbi" means, literally,
"MY MASTER." It denotes the personal ruler or leader of the people.
Edersheim records an incident of two great Rabbis who were complaining because
they had been greeted in the market place by the common greeting "May your
peace be great" without the added "My Masters" ("Life and
Times of Jesus the Messiah," vol. ii, p. 409). "So weighty was the
duty of respectful salutation by [use of] the title Rabbi, that to neglect it
would involve the heaviest punishment" (ibid., vol. ii, p. 409). The
unusual esteem accorded to the Pharisaic teachers is purely a product of
Hellenistic influence. The Greeks maintained a high reverence for the scholars,
teachers and men of wisdom. Titles of respect and reverential honor were used
in the Greek schools for their teachers. The use of "Rabbi,"
"Master," "Father" and various other exalted titles of the
Pharisees was certainly borrowed from the examples of the Greeks. A learned
Jewish historian, Moses Hadas, admits that these various customs of the Rabbis
"were parallel to Greek usages, and shall suggest that since they were
introduced after the spread of Hellenism they might have been inspired by Greek
practice. The extraordinary reverence paid to learning may be part and parcel
of this same influence" ("Hellenistic Culture," p. 71). True
Christian disciples are warned not to assume these exalted titles of
"Rabbi," "Father" or "Master." Such high, eminent
titles of respect are deserved only by God. He is MASTER AND LORD. He is the
spiritual Father of the faithful. The Pharisees had no right to arrogate to
themselves such titles, and neither does any minister. Today, however, the
majority of Christian ministers are appropriating as a designation the very
names that God says not to use. How many priests today are called
"Father"? How many ministers use the title of "Reverend"
which, in the Scripture, is used only as a designation of God? (Psa. 111:9.)
Just before the
birth of Christ, many of the Pharisees had formed themselves into institutions,
or what became known as Schools, for the purpose of study and for counsel
concerning the legislation of new laws. Those who felt one particular way in
regard to new legislation would assemble with other Pharisees who believed in a
similar vein. The two major Schools of the Pharisees were the School of Hillel
and the School of Shammai. The two founders of these Schools, Hillel and Shammai,
gathered together other Pharisees who believed in many ways similar to
themselves. Both these Schools issued new commandments in regard to religious
worship. These two major Schools of the Pharisees were the rivals of one
another. The points in which they disagreed were virtually INNUMERABLE (Cyc. of
Bib., Thee. and Ecc. Lit., vol. ix, p. 472). It has been supposed that the
tendency of the Hillel School was to make the new commandments they enacted
less burdensome, and that the Shammai School made commandments which were
heavier and more burdensome. However, both Schools legislated many strict and
burdensome commandments, over and above the requirements of Scripture, and
Edersheim shows that the Hillel School was even more strict than the Shammai in
some cases ("Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah," vol. ii, p. 407).
The commandments of these two Schools covered practically every religious
practice of the Jews. They made many ridiculous and overly burdensome
commandments concerning the observance of the Sabbath. They enacted strict
ritualistic laws regarding the washing of the hands, pots, pans, jars, etc.
They also made numerous ritualistic regulations regarding the preparing and
eating of foods. Their teachings extended to all phases of physical worship. It
is rather ironic that these two Schools were both composed of Pharisees and yet
their teachings, in so many cases, were totally at variance with one another.
One School would bring out a new commandment regarding a particular religious
rite or custom, and proclaim that the new commandment was mandatory for all
pious Jews to perform. In consequence of this, the other School would issue a
similar commandment, usually as a rebuttal and in most cases diametrically
opposite from the other. "Controversy between these two groups extended
over many topics and excited considerable warmth of feeling" (Herford,
"Judaism in the New Testament Period," p. 160). As mentioned before:
"THE POINTS ON WHICH THEY DIFFERED WERE ALMOST INNUMERABLE" (Cyc. of
Bib., Thee. and Ecc. Lit., vol. ix, p. 472).
The
controversies between these two major Pharisaic Schools were undoubtedly
sparked by the desire of both of them to be the ultimate authority among the
Pharisees. Edersheim says: "IN TRUTH, their differences seem too often
PROMPTED BY A SPIRIT OF OPPOSITION, so that the serious business of religion
became in their hands one of RIVAL AUTHORITY and mere wrangling"
("Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah," vol. ii, p. 407). This was the
condition of the Pharisees just before and during the days of Christ! Like
professing Christianity today, the Pharisees were in confusion over their own
doctrines. Their continual arguing among themselves placed them in embarrassing
positions among the People and the other religious sects. Yet, they continued
their squabbles and controversies! Little wonder many sought to hear Christ.
"MANY, VERY MANY OF THEM [their controversies] are so utterly trivial and
absurd that only the hairsplitting ingenuity of theologians can account for
them: OTHERS SO PROFANE that it is difficult to understand how any religion
could co-exist with them. Conceive, for example, two schools in controversy
whether it was lawful to kill a louse on the Sabbath" (ibid., vol. ii, p.
407, note 4). The controversies between these two Schools were so numerous and
some so vulgar -- that it is impractical to list them all. For any who may be
interested in them, a list has been prepared by Schurer. See his "The
Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ," sec. ii, vol. i; p. 361. You
can imagine what the controversies between these two prominent Pharisaical
Schools did to the faith of the people who were endeavoring to observe the
teachings of the Schools. Who were the people to believe? Both schools claimed
to be speaking the words of God, and yet they violently disagreed with one
another in almost every point. These two Pharisaic Schools were not the only
dissentious bodies among the Pharisees. "The Pharisees at this time were
SHARPLY DIVIDED INTO VARIOUS SECTIONS which were NOT exhausted by the rival
schools of Hillel and Shammai" (ABC., p. 841). "THE PHARISEES WERE
DIVIDED INTO MANY SECTS, and the doctrines of individual teachers were often
contradictory ..." (Conder, "Judas Maccabaeus," p. 205). It is
important we realize that no real creed existed among the Pharisees. "The
Pharisees WERE NEVER a homogeneous body possessed of a definite policy or body
of doctrines" ("Encyclopaedia Britannica," 11th ed., vol. xxi,
p. 347). The differences of opinion among all the Pharisees, remember, arose
with the making of new commandments, in the Second Century B. C., by Joseph ben
Joezer, called "The Permitter." This reminds a person of modern
Christianity with all its differing doctrines and conflicting beliefs. And yet,
each church, today, claims that it is preaching the truth of Christ.
We have the
records of some Pharisees who attempted to conciliate the differences between
the two main antagonistic divisions of the Pharisaic group. But, in their
undertaking to reconcile the groups, they still had to maintain that both
divisions were truly teaching the Word of God. Lauterbach records an attempt to
reconcile the teachings of the Hillel and Shammai Schools and still show that
both their teachings were the Words of God. He refers to a statement in the
Talmud found in Erubin 13b. Lauterbach records: "A heavenly voice was
heard declaring that BOTH the words of the School of Hillel and the words of
the School of Shammai [despite their disagreements] ARE THE WORDS OF THE LIVING
GOD, but the practical decision should be according to the words of the School
of Hillel" ("Rabbinic Essays," p. 243, note 78). (The bracketed
portion of the above quote is Lauterbach's.) The majority of Pharisees favored
the Hillel School more than any other, and this led to the conciliating parties
leaning toward that particular School's teachings. In the Talmud, Gittin 6b,
there is another reference, this time to a Jew named Elijah [not the prophet]
who endeavored to reconcile the differences between two Pharisaic teachers.
Elijah is reported "to have said that GOD DECLARED BOTH THE OPPOSING VIEWS
of Rabbi Abiathar and Rabbi Jonathan TO BE THE WORDS OF THE LIVING GOD"
(ibid., p. 243, note 78). What nonsense! "All these utterances were
intended to serve as a refutation of the attacks made against the teachings of
the Rabbis [Pharisees] ON ACCOUNT OF THEIR DISAGREEMENTS" (ibid., p. 243,
note 78). It was impossible for the Pharisees to directly admit that one or the
other School was wrong (or as actually was the case, that both were wrong).
They were forced to concede that both Schools' conflicting teachings WERE FROM
GOD.
The proneness of
the majority of Pharisees to follow the decisions of the Hillel School
(Edersheim, "Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah," vol. i, p. 239),
finally led to the complete ascendancy of that School. It was not until the
destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and the subsequent dispersal of the Jews
from Palestine, that the Hillel School became the paramount teaching body.
During the lifetime of Christ and the Apostle Paul, the Pharisees were still
divided into the various Schools. But with the destruction of Jerusalem, the
Jews tended to solidify their schismatic groups. Even many of the Jewish sects
became extinct after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and most of the Jews
gravitated towards adhering to the Hillel School of interpretation. Orthodox
Judaism today has for its basis the teachings of Pharisees who maintained the
commandments and principles of the Hillel School. However, in the days just
before and during the life of Christ, the Pharisees were still having their
rivalries among themselves. They were teaching their manifold contradictory
commandments from the various Schools. It should not be difficult to understand
why Christ condemned the Pharisees for rejecting the commandments of God and
for "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." They had left
the simple and plain Law which God had given them through Moses and had
replaced it with their own set of commandments.