1 Century Judaism

st 1. Sadducees 3. Essenes
2. Pharisees 4. Zealots
Sadducees
Priests and influential Israelite families
 Political group centralized in Jerusalem
 Held dominance over the Sanhedrin, the central judiciary
of the Jewish people

Their focus was on the upkeep and use of the Temple

 Primacy was placed on the written text, and they excluded
oral tradition

Generally, they did not expect the Messiah to return. If he did,

they thought he would emphasis the centrality of the temple for
the people of God.
Pharisees
Party of religious laity noted for their precise adherence to Torah
 Their name means the “separated ones”
 The oral tradition of teachers that came before were
necessary to interpret the Law

Distanced themselves from the aristocracy in Jerusalem

 They drew their power from rural areas
 Since Jesus also taught primarily in this area, Pharisees are
the most common group Jesus engages with

Looked for the Messiah to reinstitute Torah observance

Essenes
Sect of separatists who viewed themselves as the only true remnant of
faithful Judaism
 In response to the religious oppression of the Seleucid Antiochus
Epiphanes, this group withdrew to live in the desert
 The Essenes viewed all others who stayed in the Greco-Roman world
as compromised and apostate

They founded their community at Qumran, near the Dead Sea

 The Dead Sea Scrolls, an important archaeological find of the 20th
century, come from their community.

They eagerly awaited the cataclysmic return of the Teacher of Righteousness

(Messiah), and the destruction of all others
 The Messiah’s arrival would usher in the end of the age
Zealots
Freedom fighters who sought to remove all foreign
influence from the Promised Land
 Religion and national identity were one and
the same
 To be faithful to God, one must fight off the
outsiders

Judas Maccabeus (191-160 BC) was their

prototypical view of the Messiah
 The Messiah would be a national hero who
would free his people