Transcript Session 1 – Ancient Judaism

Session 1 – Ancient Judaism
In this first session we will be looking at
Judaism from the time of Christ, what the
different groups were and what their beliefs
are (many still influencing today)
Much of the information for this class was
taken from the link below:
Information is taken from:
http://www.bible.ca/d-jewish-sectspharisees-sadducees-essenes-zealots.htm
As Christians, we owe a great debt to
the Jewish people
St. Paul recorded in Romans 15:27 "For if
the Gentiles have shared in their (the Jews)
spiritual things, they are indebted to
minister to them also in material things."
Jesus said that "Salvation is of the Jews!"
(John 4:22) And we need to remember that
we serve a Jewish Messiah and Savior and
this is different than dealing with Islam
Consider what the Jewish people have given
to Christianity:
The Sacred Scripture
The Prophets
The Patriarchs
Mary, Joseph, and Jesus Christ of Nazareth
The Twelve Disciples
The Apostles
The lost Jewish people (despite some views)
still has a future prophetically
During the time of Christ there are several
different “movements” or “sects” of Judaism
active in the region
Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots
Aside from the Bible, Josephus is the only
other primary source for the Pharisees
and Sadducees at the time
We will spend a moment looking at each of
these New Testament sects of Judaism
The Sadducees
The Sadducees were evidently a small group
which attained power only occasionally
through a high level official.
They favored the status quo and the
interests of the governing class. Rabbinic
tradition has them arguing with the
Pharisees over purification rituals.
The Sadducees may well have been correct
in questioning these Pharisaical dogmas.
At least three suggestions have been offered
for the origin of the party of the Sadducees:
1) descendants of Davids high priest Zadok
(or Sadok) or some other priest by that name
2) Sadducee is derived from a word that
means righteous, thus righteous ones;
3) F. F. Bruce believes the name derived from
a word meaning members of the council
We have a few scattered
references to them in
the Gospels, including
the fact that they
controlled the high
priesthood in apostolic
times: Acts 5:17
Acts 5:17: “Then the high priest rose up, and
all those who were with him (which is the
sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled
with indignation”
Some beliefs of the Sadducees :
No divine providence
God is not “in control” of the things going on
Free will
Because they play down the divine
providence, that means humans free will is
going to be greatly emphasized, this is not
right or wrong, we are just giving you an idea
of what that group believed
They accepted only written law (OT)
as authoritative
This is one thing they got right, the idea of
Sola Scriptura even at that time
No resurrection or life beyond the grave
Acts 23:8 “For Sadducees say that there is no
resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the
Pharisees confess both.”
Josephus concurs that they denied the
immortal duration of the soul
The Essenes
Unlike the Pharisees and Sadducees, Essenes
are nowhere talked about in New Testament
or the Jewish Talmud, however Philo, and
Pliny the Elder do mention the group, and
Josephus gives a detailed description of
them, along with sources later on.
When we consider the term radical, the
Pharisees nor Sadducees do not fit this
description, but the Essenes Jews do
You may not think you’ve heard of the
Essenes and their communities, but most
Christians have
The texts of the dead sea scrolls were
copied and stored by a community of Essene
Jews at Quram
Because of the wealth of information from
Josephus and the records from Qumran, we
have more knowledge of the Essenes than
Sadducees or Pharisees.
The name Essenes could
mean holy ones or pious
ones. Although others think
it may mean healers
Initiation into the Essene group was quite
the lengthy process, it took three years and
had three stages to it
the first year the initiate lived entirely
outside the Essene community but lived the
Essene life
The second and third years, the initiate
participated in their purification washings
but remained outside the community
After successfully doing those things, he was
“Added” to the fellowship
We know a lot about their beliefs:
Deterministic: They believe in fate, that
everything happened for a reason and is
determined beforehand (this stands in
contrast to the Sadducees
They believed that the soul was “set free” at
the point of death
Their philosophy was very dualistic
“coming forth from the most rarefied ether
they are trapped in the prison-house of the
body…but once freed from the bonds of the
flesh, as if released after years of slavery,
they rejoice and soar aloft” (The Jewish
War, tr. G.A. Williamson, Penguin,
1959, page 374).
They believers that souls/spirits are eternal,
and that God would judge the wicked souls
One thing we do not have evidence of is
their belief in the resurrection of the body.
In this aspect they do appear more Gnostic
with the idea of needing to be “freed” from
the physical
They did believe in the law of Moses and
held to those traditions, although they did
add their own interpretations
For example, they not only refrained from
cooking on the Sabbath but would not even
move a cooking utensil or even relieve
themselves
Some other views they held:
Obedience to elders was important to the
Essene communities, you were
excommunicated if you disrespected them.
They also took this to the extreme where a
young person couldn’t touch an elder
Communalism: Josephus says A that those
who come to them must let what they have
be common to the whole order
Ritualistic: Their daily ritual involved rising
before sunrise, prayer, work until midday,
purificatory bath and common meal, work
until evening and a second common meal
Common meals were so sacred that the
priest would pray before and after, and no
one would talk during the meal
They refused even to handle a coin with the
image of a man on it, believing it was
idolatry even to look at it
Celibacy is often identified with the Essene
Jews, but we have evidence for groups who
were celibate (like Catholic Monks) and
groups who were not
Hopefully you are starting to understand
why we say they’re the ones who would
classify as radicals among Jews of the day
Apocalyptic: The Essenes were very focused
on the apocalyptic (with a lot of focus
given to Angels)
Paul may have been addressing them in
Colossians 2:18-23.
Colossians 2:18-23: “Let no one cheat you of
your reward, taking delight in false humility
and worship of angels, intruding into those
things which he has not seen, vainly puffed
up by his fleshly mind…
19 and
not holding fast to the Head, from
whom all the body, nourished and knit
together by joints and ligaments, grows with
the increase that is from God. 20 Therefore, if
you died with Christ from the basic
principles of the world, why, as though living
in the world, do you subject yourselves to
regulations—21 “Do not touch, do not taste,
do not handle,” 22 which all concern things
which perish with the using—according to
the commandments and doctrines of men?
23 These
things indeed have an appearance
of wisdom in self-imposed
religion, false humility, and neglect of the
body, but are of no value against the
indulgence of the flesh.”
The thought that the end was coming soon,
and because of that interpreted the
prophets as speaking about their time, they
believed in an Armageddon like ending
Some suggest Jesus was an Essene
The Case Against the Essene Jesus
The idea of Jesus being an Essene (Gnostic
type) Jew has become more popular
Here is the quick Biblical case against it:
1. The elders became unclean if they were
touched by a younger person
Matthew 19:14: “But Jesus said, “Let the
little children come to Me”
2. Touching a coin with a mans image was
idolatry to the Essenes
Jesus spoke on money many times, and
never said this to his followers
Jesus didn’t avoid money, Biblically speaking
it seems that people supported him
financially (Luke 8:1-3)
Jesus talks about the poor women who gave
all the money that she had in a positive way
(Mark 12:41-44)
Matthew 17:24-27 tells us that Peter and
Jesus paid the temple tax of two coins
The most well known example:
Matthew 22:17-22: “Tell us, then, what you
think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or
not?”18 But Jesus, aware of their malice,
said, “Why put me to the test, you
hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the
tax.” And they brought him a
denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them,
“Whose likeness and inscription is
this?”21 They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to
them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things
that are Caesar's, and to God the things that
are God's.” 22 When they heard it, they
marveled. And they left him and went away.”
3. Essene Jews were Vegetarian and couldn’t
touch meat
The first problem is the miracle Jesus
performs to feed the crowed (bread and fish)
Even if you say Jesus didn’t eat the fish when
he did that miracle (still a problem that he
fed everyone else it) there are several other
passages that you can’t get around
Luke 24:42-43: “So they gave Him a piece of a
broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He
took it and ate in their presence.”
Jesus eats lamb with his disciples for the
Passover dinner (Luke 22:8-15)
4. Couldn’t touch wine
While there is some debate on this issue,
there is a good chance Jesus did
Matthew 11:19: “The Son of Man came
eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a
glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax
collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is
justified by her children.”
A popular miracle we all know about is Jesus
turning water in to wine
5. They couldn’t touch oil
Matthew 26:12: “For in pouring this fragrant
oil on My body, she did it for My burial.”
6. Essenes had strict Sabbath rules
The Sabbath comes up during the ministry of
Jesus quite a few times
Jesus does many things on the Sabbath that
an Essene Jew could NEVER do
Matthew chapter 12 talks about the disciples
picking grain on the Sabbath, and the
Pharisees get on Jesus’ case and he tell them
it’s okay (and that he is Lord of the Sabbath)
In the same chapter Jesus does something
that he does several other times too, he
performs a miracle on the Sabbath
Mark 2:27: “And He said to them, “The
Sabbath was made for man, and not man
for the Sabbath.”
7. The apparent belief that there is no
resurrection of the body
Jesus had something to say about that:
John 2:19-21: “Jesus answered and said to
them, “Destroy this temple, and in three
days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It
has taken forty-six years to build this temple,
and will You raise it up in three days?” But
He was speaking of the temple of His body.”
Jesus was not an Essene Jew
The Pharisees
We have three sources for this group of
religious leaders during Jesus’ time
The New Testament
Josephus
Rabbinic Writings
We don’t know exactly who they are and
where the group came from, but we do
know so about the group from these sources
Paul tells us that the Pharisees
were very religious, firm
believers in revelation and the
law, morally pure and zealous
for their beliefs, etc.
The two people we have the writings of who
claim to be Pharisees is Paul and Josephus
Josephus was more of a nominal Pharisee
and doesn’t seem to take it very seriously,
while Paul was the opposite
Paul talks about it in Philippians 3:5:
“circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of
Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of
the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee”
Josephus’ purpose was to impress the
Romans with the Jews and to praise those
who keep stability in society (Pharisees)
While the Pharisees and Sadducees are
religious groups, they are also very
political in nature
The Pharisees influence on history and the
Jewish people was extremely limited, but
the time when they were powerful was
important (around the time of Christ)
Also keep in mind that the writings of
“Pharisees” (in rabbinical tradition from
hundreds of years later) may not accurately
represent what the Pharisees believed that
Jesus was dealing with
Th word Pharisee could mean either
separate ones (separate from ordinary
citizens in their dedication) or it could mean
interpreters (which also makes sense)
The Pharisees reached the height of their
power in the first century B.C. and still
wielded considerable power in Jesus’ day
Beliefs: when it came to the topic of free
will, they were in the middle of Essenes and
Sadducees (providence and free will)
They believed in the authority of not just the
OT but also the oral traditions
In this respect, we would call the Pharisees
liberals and the Sadducees conservatives..
They believed in resurrection: Acts 23:8.
Though they were not interested in seeing
Jesus’ claims for resurrection come true
They believed that souls were either
punished or rewarded after this life
They believed bad souls go to eternal prison
(Hell) but the good souls have a chance to
live again
We know they have many non-biblical views
about the Sabbath because of the amount of
times Jesus clashed with them on the topic
(we gave examples earlier)
They were comprised of upper class citizens,
Josephus says there were about six thousand
of them (which is a huge number)
They were well respected, according to
Josephus people considered them to be the
most accurate interpreters of the Law
Paul's appeal in Philippians 3:5 tell us that
the way of life for a Pharisees was wellknown and respected among the Jews
The evidence indicates that it was an
achieved position (Pharisee) not something
that was hereditary and passed down
Zealots
Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13 mentions this
name/title
Luke 6:15 “Matthew and Thomas; James the
son of Alphaeus, and Simon called the Zealot;”
Josephus lists them as a fourth sect, but they
were not a religious group as much as they
were a political group who fought against
and spoke against the Roman rule. Because
of this we won’t spend time on them
Memory Verse
Mark 2:27: “And He said to
them, “The Sabbath was made for
man, and not man for the Sabbath.”