BibleDig 360: Pharisees & Essenes

This BibleDig 360 shows you the panorama of resources available on BibleDig to help you explore two important Jewish sects that were active during the time of Christ -- the Pharisees and the Essenes.

Who are these groups? What did they believe? How did they impact the content of Jesus' teaching on taxes -- and the content of the New Testament? Does how Christians respond to culture today reflect Jesus' view or the view of one of these sects?

The bottom line in this study, or any other study for that matter, is application. In the final post, we look at how He responds to the question of paying taxes to Caesar in Matthew 22:15-22. What can we learn from the worldviews of these two Jewish religious groups and Jesus' response to them?

Each post is a stand alone strand of information on the topic. But, each post also integrates with the others and are designed to be read from first to last. Have fun...and happy digging!

Intro

Making Cents of Jesus: The tax question and two groups you need to meet

The Rise of the Pharisees and Essenes

Two H's You Need to Know

How to Handle a Hostile Culture

In or out? The question that splits the Hasidaeans

The Essenes' Answer: Isolation

The Essenes & the Teacher of Righteousness

The Pharisees' Answer: Separation

Application

Making Cents of Jesus: The Things That Are God's

Resources for Digging Deeper

These are the resources referenced in the posts:

Barnett, P., Jesus & the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times. 1999, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity. (This one is an especially good introduction to NT history that is very readable)

Conzelmann, H. and A. Lindemann, Interpreting the New Testament : An Introduction to the Principles and Methods of N.T. Exegesis. 1988, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers.

Coogan, M.D., The New Oxford annotated apocrypha. Augmented 3rd ed. 2007, Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.

Guthrie, D., New Testament Introduction. 3rd ed. 1970, Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press.

Schäfer, P., The History of the Jews in the Greco-Roman world. Rev. ed with corr. ed. 2003, London ; New York: Routledge.

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Making Cents of Jesus Part 2: The Rise of the Pharisees and Essenes

Dig in: Matthew 22:15-22

We've been looking at important Jewish political parties active during Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees and the Essenes. These two groups influenced Jesus' teaching because of their influence on the thinking of the average Jew at the time of Christ and because of their vocal opposition to Jesus in the gospels. Read more in part 1 - Making Cents of Jesus.

Two Groups, One Cause

What were to later become the separate parties known in Jesus’ day as the Pharisees and the Essenes began as factions within Jewish society that were reacting to increasing pressure on the chosen people to leave their traditional ways and adopt a Greek way of life. These pressures started with the exile of the Jews by the Babylonians, and continued to build throughout the time of the Old Testament and the years between the Old Testament and the New Testament. These conservative factions, which vigorously believed in maintaining obedience to the laws of God without compromise, were identified by the name Hasidaeans meaning “pious ones.”

The Hasidaeans emerged as a somewhat organized political entity as a response to this pressure to shed the traditions that made them uniquely Jewish in order to blend in with the nations that conquered them. The encroachment of Greek culture on the Jewish world was forcefully started by the conquests of Alexander the Great. His dream was to unite the peoples of east and west under one government and one culture. Greek language, religion, and ideals were introduced into the east for the first time.

Alexander’s untimely death led to centuries of social and political instability as Alexander’s four generals and their descendants jockeyed for control of the vast empire. Often the Jews were caught in the middle. Between 323 BC and 301 BC alone, Palestine changed hands six times. The opening verses of First Maccabees (which is a very useful historical document for understanding this period of Jewish history) describe these tumultuous years after Alexander:

And after Alexander had reigned twelve years, he died. Then his officers began to rule, each in his own place. They all put on crowns after his death, and so did their sons after them for many years; and they caused many evils on the earth. (1 Macc 1:7-9)

As troubling as this protracted era of war and unrest was to the Jews, especially to those who wished to maintain the practice of the laws and religion, their situation would grow much worse under the rule of an angry king who called himself Epiphanes meaning, “god manifest” – Antiochus IV.

Next time...What Antiochus did to spark a war for independence, and cause a split in the Hasidaeans that would result in the Pharisees and Essenes...

This is part of a series looking at the origins and nature of two important Jewish political parties active during Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees and the Essenes. To see the panorama of BibleDig info on this topic, check out the BibleDig 360: Pharisees & Essenes.

Making Cents of Jesus: The tax question and two groups you need to meet.

Dig in: Matthew 22:15-22

There are some dates on the calendar that bring a feeling of anticipation. Christmas. A birthday. An anniversary. Tax Day is not one of them. This year, on April 15^th, a number of Americans voiced their displeasure in paying their taxes at a series of “Tea Parties” held across the country. Many lawmakers (especially Republican lawmakers) faced tense interviews on television and radio as reporters asked them if they believed in paying taxes or not. These lawmakers were not the first public figures to face such a deceptively simple question about the legality of taxation.

Jesus once faced a tricky riddle on the matter of whether it was lawful to pay taxes to the oppressive Roman government of his day. And like our day, various parties were looking closely to Jesus’ answer to the question. For us to understand the nature of Jesus’ reply - and to have a balanced perspective on Jesus' teaching in the gospels overall - we must understand the nature of the various political / religious parties who prompted so much of Jesus' teaching.

These first century parties can be roughly placed into two groups, those that sought to work toward the protection of Jewish interests in the midst of society by maintaining the status quo between the Jewish masses and the Roman government, such as the Sadducees and the Herodians, and those who sought ways to maintain Jewish identity by separating themselves to keep themselves pure from society, among them the Pharisees and Essenes. Though particular parties may have found commonality in their response to the culture of Palestine with others parties, they did not always work cooperatively. Those parties which differed in their level of willingness to engage or “taint” themselves with society fostered deep, long-lasting animosity toward one another.

In the next few posts, we'll be digging into some background information on two of these Jewish socio-religious parties, the Pharisees and the Essenes. While the precise origins of the Pharisees and Essenes are unclear, it appears that they share common roots that provide insight into their belief in the necessity of maintaining a pious distance from the evils of what they viewed as a corrupt world ripe for the judgment of God. In order to understand their reaction to the culture in Jesus’ time, we must examine their roots in the years of political and social upheaval leading up to the time of Christ.

Next time...we'll explore the rise of the Pharisees and Essenes during the time between the Old and New Testaments...

This is part of a series looking at the origins and nature of two important Jewish political parties active during Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees and the Essenes. To see the panorama of BibleDig info on this topic, check out the BibleDig 360: Pharisees & Essenes.