Topics from Sanders, Judaism,

Chapter Eighteen: The Pharisees

Political Activity

• Active opposition to Hyrcanus I, Jannaeus; many were executed. Apparently opposed to combining monarchy and high priesthood. ("Seekers after Smoothe things" mentioned in Nahum Pesher.)
• In power under Salome Alexandra. Actively attacked their opponents.
• Social class base: Non-"aristocrats" who sought political power.
• Religious ideology: Based on scholarly interpretation of Torah.
• Initial sympathy toward Herod.
• Role in uprisings at the expected end of Herod's life, and in final revolt against Rome (66-70 C.E.).
• Relationship to Zealots.
• Question of their disappearance from political life during Roman period (after 63 C.E.).
  • Neusner: Withdrew from politics to become "pure food club."
  • View that Pharisees exerted indirect control over institutions: Temple, Sanhedrin, schools, courts, diaspora communities.
  • Pragmatic, involuntary withdrawal. No opportunity to act effectively under Herod or Romans.

Question of Control of Policies and Institutions

• Lack of direct institutional authority under Herod.
• Greater indirect influence (or control?) over people.

• Question of control of synagogues. What was a synagogue at that time, and what did it mean to control it?

  

  History of Dispute: Apologetic Issues

  • Jewish apologists: Pharisees as enlightened liberals, sympathetic to Jesus, etc. Popular but powerless.
  • Christian apologists: Pharisees were hypocritical, narrowly legalistic, and "in control" of institutions.
  Additional evidence: Widespread distribution of Pharisaic ideas: Septuagint, Maccabees, Jesus, Paul, etc.

  Were the Sadducee forced to act according to Pharisaic interpretations?

  No apparent power in trial of Jesus.

Did the Pharisees Represent a Social Class?

Neusner: Rabbinic texts presuppose small independent land-owners. Does this reflect situation in Second Commonwealth times?

Martyrdom:

Note Talmudic discussion that defines conditions under which martyrdom is required (three cardinal transgressions).

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