Question: I get the sense that there were several groups of Jewish believers in Jesus’ time, each believing in the fundamentals of Judaism with unique added perspectives belonging to each individual group. Who were they, and what did they believe?
It is interesting that we know so little about the persons who were the people of Jesus in his time. Like modern day Christianity, there were many different groups of believers who all contributed to the mosaic of the society of the day. Their differences were based on their view of religion or their birthright. Generally, the majority population were too engaged in the struggle to feed themselves and their families that they didn’t have a specific religious group; this is much like it is today, where many people do not necessarily support a particular Christian denomination. 2000 years ago, all the groups below were made up of men. Pharisees: I put Pharisees first because when the diaspora occurred - when Rome expelled most of the Jewish population from the Holy Land in the year 70 CE - the Pharisees took over the religious leadership of the displaced Jewish population. In Jesus day they were the rabbis, the teachers in the synagogues. Jesus was also referred to as a rabbi, so he quite possibly was himself a Pharisee. They believed in the resurrection of the body after death. They were also known as legal experts. Jesus criticized the Pharisees when they were too legalistic and put fancy arguments in place of human needs. Some Pharisees were also part of the Sanhedrin, the ruling religious group in the Temple. Sadducees: They tended to be wealthy and of the elite class. They did not accept any interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) that was not written down in the verses themselves. They rarely went out and were closely tied to the Temple. They made animal and plant sacrifices in the Temple and were concerned about Temple purity (I wounder what they said about Jesus’ rant against the money changers in the courtyard of the Gentiles). The Sadducees were also influenced by Greek culture and education. Zealots: They were not so much tied to a religious doctrine but rather promoted the concept of a free Israel and Judea, especially free from Roman occupation. Many were caught and crucified as being enemies of Rome. Consequently, many Zealots walked around armed. It is believed that Simon, one of Jesus’ disciples, was a Zealot and belonged to this group. In 66 CE the Zealots rose up and took the city of Jerusalem. Four years later the city was recaptured and destroyed, along with the Temple. Essenes: In the 1940s and 1950s – in my lifetime - an incredible discovery was made in caves near the Dead Sea. The discovery was the Dead Sea Scrolls. Found by a shepherd, the clay containers held Old Testament scrolls, the oldest in present day history. They were the library of a community called the Essenes who lived an austere life in the desert. John the Baptist seems to have been a member of this group. Priests: They were usually wealthy and occupied an upper-class positions in the country. They believed only in the written Torah, aka the five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy). They rejected any oral tradition. Many priests were also members of the ruling body called the Sanhedrin. Levites: They were part of the tribe of Levi and inherited their status as a birth rite. Levi was the third son of Jacob and Leah. The Levites worked in the Temple when Jesus was alive. Jesus used a Levite in his parable of the Good Samaritan as someone who should have known better. Scribes: Men who were able to write in Hebrew. At the time of Jesus, the language of the day was Aramaic. It was the Scribes who could write in Hebrew. They were passionate about their craft and their exclusive knowledge. A lot of their time they spent as copyists, creating new scrolls as the old ones wore out.
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AuthorI'm Rev. Dr. Pirie Mitchell and I live in Ontario, Canada. Archives
May 2023
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