Will Varnera <\/b><\/p>\n
A third-century rabbi, reflecting on the past history of his people, remarked, \u201cIsrael went into exile only after it became divided into twenty-four sects.\u201d1 <\/p>\n
Although we cannot be sure of the exact number, there can be no doubt that at the time of the destruction of the Temple (70 AD) Judaism was divided into many sects. Modern historians also uphold his view that the downfall of the Jewish state was the direct consequence of its internal disunity.<\/p>\n
Jesus encountered a number of different religious groups within the body of Jewish people to whom He came as Messiah. There were Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, and Herodians, plus the vast majority of common people who belonged to no religious sect at all.2 The most famous group he encounted, however, was the Pharisees. While the membership of the Pharisees only totaled a few thousand their influence was felt far beyond their numbers. Often associated with the scribes, who were professional scholars in the Jewish law, the Pharisees received the most stinging rebukes Jesus ever issued. At least seven times in Matthew 23 Jesus pronounced the following condemnation: \u201cWoe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!\u201d He condemned their rapaciousness, their selfishness, their inward spiritual emptiness, and their emphasis on scruples while neglecting the big<\/i> matters of justice, mercy, and faith.<\/p>\n
These excoriating denunciations have resulted in the word Pharisee<\/i> entering the English language as a synonym for hypocrite.<\/i> For example, consider the following definition of pharisaic<\/i> in Webster\u2019s Unabridged Dictionary,<\/i> p. 1344: pretending to be highly moral or virtuous without actually being so; hypocritical.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, these denuncia-<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 3:1 (Winter 1990) p. 25<\/p>\n
tions of the Pharisees by Jesus have not been unnoticed by Jewish scholars. They have charged that Jesus and the early church writers have presented a false caricature of the Pharisees that is not consistent with what we now know to be true of them.3 One of the reasons why there is such sensitivity in this area is that the Pharisees were the only Jewish sect that survived the devastation of 70 AD. Therefore, the reconstructed Judaism of the second and third centuries which became the basis for subsequent Jewish belief and practice was, in essence, based on the pharisaic beliefs and practices of pre-70 AD! Without apology, modem Jewish scholars will affirm that Orthodox Judaism is essentially pharisaism.<\/p>\n
Did Jesus unjustly criticize the Pharisees for sins of which they were not guilty? It is the purpose of this article to examine this sect a little more closely by looking at what the Pharisees said about themselves<\/i>.<\/p>\n
In addition to the New Testament, there are descriptions of the Pharisees in Josephus and in the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. Flavius Josephus, who was himself a Pharisee, described the group as 1) being meticulous about observing the law, both in its written and oral (sayings of the rabbis) forms; 2) affirming the immortality of the soul and the resurrection of the body; and 3) having greater influence on the common people than the other sects.4 It is the pharisaic emphasis on the oral law, called the \u201ctradition\u201d in the Gospels, with which Jesus had the greatest conflict (Mt 15:1\u20139).<\/p>\n
Talmudic sources state that there were different kinds of Pharisees\u2014seven to be exact.5 1) The \u201cshoulder\u201d Pharisee wore his good deeds on his shoulder so everyone could see them. 2) The \u201cwait a little\u201d Pharisee always found an excuse for putting off a good deed. 3) The \u201cbruised\u201d Pharisee shut his eyes to avoid seeing a woman and knocked into walls, bruising himself. 4) The \u201chump-backed\u201d Pharisee always walked bent double, in false humility. 5) The \u201cever-reckoning\u201d Pharisee was always counting up the number of his good deeds. 6) The \u201cfearful\u201d Pharisee always quaked in<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 3:1 (Winter 1990) p. 26<\/p>\n
THE ORAL TORAH<\/p>\n
Most Christians do not realize that, to an orthodox Jew, the \u201cLaw\u201d includes not only<\/i> the Old Testament, but also a large body of rabbinic writings which basically began with the Mishnah<\/i> in the second century. Rabbis who survived the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple feared the complete loss of oral tradition (mentioned frequently by Jesus). Thus they decided to write down all the sayings of the fathers in the form of the Mishnah,<\/i> or \u201cOral Torah.\u201d As has been the case with some forms of Christianity, recorded human wisdom superseded the divinely inspired Bible and became the \u201crule\u201d for normative Judaism. It may be safe to say that, although orthodox Jews greatly respect Scripture, they give fully as much credence to the \u201csayings of the fathers\u201d because they feel the latter cover more life situations. Thus, orthodox Judaism today is directly in the line of pharisaism of the New Testament. Knowledge of the Mishnah<\/i> for Christians is one of the best possible background studies for the New Testament as well as providing a better understanding of modern Judaism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Mishnah\u2019s<\/i> value to the Bible student lies in its expression of rabbinic thought during the time of Christ and the early church, a knowledge of which helps one to understand the teaching and events of the New Testament\u201d [Charles Gianotti, The New Testament and the Mishnah: A Cross-Reference Index.<\/i> Baker: Grand Rapids, MI, 1983, p. 9.].<\/p>\n
fear of the wrath of God. 7) The \u201cGod-loving\u201d Pharisee was a copy of Abraham who lived in faith and charity. Therefore, even the Pharisees criticized themselves. At least six of the seven Pharisees were bad,<\/i> according to their own estimation. Therefore, when Jesus castigated the Pharisees for hypocrisy and false peity, He was only pointing out what the Pharisees recognized about their own members.<\/p>\n
Doubtless there were good<\/i> Pharisees, who lived up to their ideals. The seventh group, the \u201cGod-loving\u201d Pharisees, may have been in a minority, but they do appear in the New Testament. In Luke 13:31 we read, \u201cThe same day there came certain of the Pharisees, saying unto him, \u2018Get thee out, and depart from here; for Herod will kill thee.\u201d This passage shows that even among the Pharisees there were those who admired and respected Jesus. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who became believers in the Lord Jesus, were probably Pharisees, as well as Saul, known later as Paul (Jn 3:1; 7:50; 19:38\u201339; Acts 22:3; Phil 3:5). Therefore, Jesus\u2019 condemnation of the Pharisees was not universal but was consistent with the Pharisees\u2019 recognition that they often fell far short of their ideals.<\/p>\n
Another factor should also be kept in mind. In the generation prior to Jesus, there lived two great Pharisees, each of whom led a school of thought in Jerusalem \u2014 Hillel and Shammai. These two schools of Pharisees represent two distinct currents \u2014 the progressive and the conservative. Generally speaking, Shammai followed a more rigid and harsh interpretation of the law, while Hillel propounded a freer, more liberal interpretation of the laws demands.<\/p>\n
The Talmud records the following incident, which is characteristic of the differences between the two.6 A<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 3:1 (Winter 1990) p. 27<\/p>\n
heathen came to Shammai with the request to teach him the Torah while standing on one foot. He was chased away for such a foolish notion. When he approached Hillel with the same request, instead of being chased away, he was told, \u201cWhat is hateful to you, do not unto your fellowman. This is the entire Torah. All the rest is commentary \u2014 now go and study.\u201d Paul, the pupil of Hillel\u2019s grandson, Gamaliel, stated this idea in a more positive way, \u201cFor all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself\u201d (Gal 5:14).<\/p>\n
This conflict between the strict and freer pharisaic interpretations of the law is also reflected in their question to Jesus regarding divorce, \u201cThe Pharisees also came unto him, testing him, and saying unto him, Is is lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?\u201d (Mt 19:3). A hot topic of debate among the disciples of Hillel and Shammai was what constituted grounds for divorce. Shammai taught that only gross indecency could ever justify putting away one\u2019s wife. Hillel had a much broader interpretation of the causes for divorce, involving all kinds of real and imagined offenses, including an improperly cooked meal!<\/p>\n
It is interesting that the Judaism which survived the Temple\u2019s destruction followed the Pharisees\u2019 approach to the law, rather than the Sadducees\u2019. But among the pharisaic schools of thought, the Hillel interpretation dominated Judaism in later days.<\/p>\n
The point of all that has been said is the following: In condemning the Pharisees, Jesus was not condemning the entire group, but only the bad ones, even though they may have constituted a majority of the membership. Furthermore, Jesus\u2019 condemnation of some of the pharisaic practices may reflect the stringent, hyper-strict scruples of some schools within the Pharisees\u2014Shammai\u2019s teachings, for example.<\/p>\n
All of this points out the importance of reading and interpreting the New Testament in the light of its Jewish background. When attention is paid to that background, error can be avoided and a deeper appreciation of its truths emerges to the 20th-century, Western reader<\/p>\n
[Reprinted by permission of Israel My Glory<\/i> magazine, publication of the Friend\u2019s of Israel Gospel Ministry, Deptford, NJ.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Will Varnera A third-century rabbi, reflecting on the past history of his people, remarked, \u201cIsrael went into exile only after it became divided into twenty-four sects.\u201d1 Although we cannot be sure of the exact number, there can be no doubt that at the time of the destruction of the Temple (70 AD) Judaism was divided … Continue reading “ANOTHER
\nLOOK AT THE PHARISEES”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15055\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}