Although the Sadducees, as a sect, existed before he Pharisees, they never flourished till the latter became popular. They claimed descent from Zadok (Ezek.xl. 46). They were a caste rather than a sect. They discouraged dogmatic teaching as to a future life (Luke xx. 27), and were sceptical towards current belief as to spirits and […]
Pharisees (Perushirn — Separatists — originally a nickname, like Puritan — from all impurity in persons or things). They were, in Christ’s day, what the Clergy of the Established Church are today. Of course, there were some worthy exceptions, such as Paul (Phil. iii. 5; Acts xxiii. 6; xxvi. 5); and Gamaliel (Acts v. 34; […]
The Scribes were not a religious sect, such as the Pharisees or Sadducees; they were “scholars”, or “men of letters” (John vii. 15). Their business was to make copies of the Law, and expound it. Therefore, they were called lawyers (Matt. xxii. 35, compare with Mark xii. 28); and doctors of the law (Luke v. […]
The Maccabees were a Jewish family, descendants of Mattathias, though the more accurate term is Asmoneans, derived from Hashmon, the name of the great-grandfather of Mattathias. The latter came to the front during the persecution of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes, 167 B.C. The other prominent members of the family were his sons, Judas and […]
The Samaritans were a mixed race, the outcome of marriages between Israelites and colonists imported into Samaria by the King of Assyria, when he invaded the latter’s land and took the ten tribes into captivity. As a result of plagues sent by God, the King of Assyria, out of fear, employed an Israelitish priest to […]
