06.09. Sects and Groups
Sects and Groups
Hebrew Jews
Hebrew, or Aramaic speaking Jews generally considered themselves superior to Hellenistic Jews. The Pharisees would generally have been a part of this group.
Hellenistic Jews
Hellenistic Jews had adopted the language and possibly some of the culture of the Greeks. In Acts 6:1, the Hellenistic Jews complained that their widows were being overlooked in the distribution of food. These may have been captives or slaves in other regions, gained their freedom and returned to Palestine. They may also have gone to other places voluntarily.
Pharisees The Pharisees appear as a party during the time of the Maccabees. The Pharisees constituted the largest and most important group, Josephus stating that they numbered about 6,000.xxxii they were a lay (not priestly) association who were thought to be expert in the laws; they were, in a sociological sense, “retainers” who brokered power between the aristocracy and the masses; they promoted a special living tradition in addition to the laws; they were very interested in issues of ritual purity and tithing; and they believed in afterlife, judgment, and a densely populated, organized spirit world. xxxiii
Sadducees The Sadducees also appear around the time of the Maccabees. The Sadducees were aristocrats. They were the party of the wealthy and of the high priestly families. They were in charge of the temple, its services, and concessions. They claimed to be descendants of Zadok, high priest of Solomon. True derivation of the term is unknown. In all our literature they stand in opposition to the Pharisees. They were social conservatives, seeking to preserve the practices of the past. They opposed the oral law, accepting the Pentateuch as the ultimate authority. The Sadducees were materialistic in their outlook. They did not believe in life after death or rewards or punishment beyond this life. They denied the existence of angels and demons. They did not believe that God was concerned with what people did. Rather, people were totally free. They were politically oriented, supporters of ruling powers, whether Seleucids or Romans. They tolerated no threats to their position and wealth, so they strongly opposed Jesus.xxxiv
Essenes A movement within Judaism, known primarily in the late Second Temple period, especially from ca. 146 B.C.E. to ca. 70 C.E. They were a communal association, entered by initiation, and considered themselves the predestined remnant of those who truly observed God’s will. They pursued their own interpretation of Torah and prophecy.xxxv
They are not mentioned in the NT. They were ascetics who practiced community of goods, generally shunned marriage, refrained from attending worship in the temple, and attached great importance to the study of the Scriptures. Many scholars associate the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 with an Essene community.xxxvi
Herodians
Josephus mentions the party of the king (Life 402, Wars 2:52 etc.) In the New Testament we also read of the Herodians. (Mark 12:13) It would appear that they were politically and militarily aligned with Herod the Great and his sons.
Scribes The scribes were those who studied and copied the law. They were the ultimate authority of spiritual and practical matters. They were the lawyers. They commanded respect and were very respected. This likely goes back to at least the time of Ezra after the exile.xxxvii
Samaritans The people living in Samaria were a mixture of Israelites and settlers that the Assyrians brought into the Northern Kingdom of Israel after they had conquered and exiled the Israelites. An Israelite priest was brought in to teach these newcomers the requirements of God after they were being killed by lions. (2Ki 17:1-41) These people were hostile towards the returning exiles.
Then the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to Yahweh, the God of Israel, so they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here.” (Ezr 4:1-2 LSB)
It is impossible to write an accurate history of the Samaritans because their records are so scanty; the references to them are also highly contradictory. Their history began after the Assyrian capture of the city of Samaria in 721 B.C., and the deportation of 27,290 of Israel’s population (these figures are taken from Sargon’s record of the conquest).xxxviii
There must have been a number of Israelites left since Hezekiah, whose reign began in about 715 BC, sent messengers throughout the Northern Kingdom to invite them to the Passover celebration. (2Ch 30:1) The Samaritans have their own version of the Pentateuch and do not accept the other Old Testament writings. From the time of the return of the Southern Kingdom from their exile, there is fairly constant friction between the Samaritans and the Israelites.
John Hyrcanus, a Jewish governor and high priest, destroyed Shechem and leveled the Samaritan temple in 128 B.C., establishing the basis for a new bitterness in Jewish-Samaritan relations. Within ten years Shechem was decimated and most of the Samaritans returned to Samaria, leaving behind only a residual community at the foot of Mt. Gerizim in the towns of Sychar and Neapolis xxxix With the various wars, there would have been other groups within this area as well. In the New Testament times, John makes note that Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. (John 4:9)
Sicarii
These came on the scene in the late 50s, after Felix had got rid of a band of robbers that had operated for about twenty years. They continued on in the revolt against Rome and were the group that made the last stand at Masada. When the country was purged of these, there sprang up another sort of robbers in Jerusalem, which were called Sicarii, who slew men in the daytime, and in the midst of the city; this they did chiefly at the festivals, when they mingled themselves among the multitude, and concealed daggers under their garments, with which they stabbed those that were their enemies; and when any fell down dead, the murderers became a part of those that had indignation against them; by which means they appeared persons of such reputation, that they could by no means be discovered. (War 2:254–255 JOSEPH) many were slain every day, while the fear men were in of being so served, was more afflicting than the calamity itself; (2.13.3) and while everybody expected death every hour, as men do in war, so men were obliged to look before them, and to take notice of their enemies at a great distance; nor, if their friends were coming to them, durst they trust them any longer; but, in the midst of their suspicions and guarding of themselves, they were slain. Such was the celebrity of the plotters against them, and so cunning was their contrivance. (War 2:256–257 JOSEPH)
Zealots
While the Zealots are not mentioned by name before A.D. 66, the rise of their party is commonly traced in the events of A.D. 6. After the deposition of Archelaus, when Judaea received the status of a Roman province, a census was held in the province by P. Sulpicius Quirinius, legate of Syria, in order to determine the amount of tribute which it should contribute to the imperial exchequer.xl The Zealots were the extreme wing of the Pharisees.xli Josephus describes their activities during the revolt of the Jews from 66 AD to the fall of Jerusalem.
Epicureans
Epicureans believed that there were gods, but that they were removed and unconcerned about people. Pleasure was the absence of pain. They generally had good morals. They did not believe that the world was created by divine power, but rather that everything can be explained by atoms moving through empty space. They did not believe in life after death.xlii They believed in a free will. The Epicurean quest for personal pleasure led to a retreat from public activities and participation in government, which was contrary to the Greek expectation that one should be active in public life. This philosophy was a system of thought focused on the individual and mostly unconcerned with society.xliii
Stoicism This was another group that Paul debated with in Athens.
Stoicism was one of the major philosophical traditions in NT times (cf. Acts 17:18) and arguably the most influential. Its aim was to teach people to attain happiness by being in control of their lives, emphasizing virtue as the only good to strive for, all other things being indifferent.xliv The general thrust of Stoicism was that one could best obtain happiness by discovering and then living according to the laws of nature. Stoics believed in an impersonal deity, inherent in all matter, which guides the universe with a kindly providence. All that befalls human beings is intended for their education.xlv
Stoic theology may be described as a monistic and materialistic pantheism, in which God permeates all of nature, from the cosmos as a whole down to the most lowly physical objectxlvi
Nothing exists outside the world and its material principles; there is no spiritual world or world of ideas, such as in Platonism—hence the materialism of Stoicismxlvii
Everything is providentially arranged for the good of the world system as a whole. Such a deterministic view of the world does not allow for the existence of evil—even apparently bad events such as illness, pests or natural disasters contribute to the overall well-being of the universexlviii This was basically a pantheistic view. For the Stoic, happiness consists in attaining one’s goal (telos) as a human being, which is “to live in agreement with nature”xlix
One comment may be made regarding people’s perception of gods. They primarily seem to be super humans. The true God is all powerful, all knowing, eternal and cannot be defeated. These gods could be defeated, killed or coerced. An impersonal god that guides the universe is really an oxymoron. If something is impersonal, it cannot guide anything. In order to be concerned about people, a god has to be personal and cannot just be some “force”.