10 - Early Rabbinic Judaism

Summary

THE PHARISEES

Josephus presents the Pharisees as a school of thought among the Jews; this rendered them intelligible to his hellenistic readers at the cost of some distortion. But it is hard to know how to describe them, for their activities before ad 70, as met in the pages of Josephus, suggest a party in the political sense, though distinguished by their religious enthusiasm. Yet apparently in the gospels and in much of the Mishnah they are a quietist sect, in whom it is difficult to imagine anything like political activity. Nevertheless many Pharisees clearly played as active a part in politics as the subject position of Judaea allowed. The Mishnah is a law-book with no occasion to report such activity, but some rabbis who appear in its pages are known from Talmud and midrash to have been involved in politics through their profound religious convictions. Such were Akiba (p. 194), Meir and Simeon b. Yochai (c. 140-65). It must also be acknowledged that desire to defend Jesus as the founder of Christianity against ill-informed Roman prejudice has strongly influenced the attitude of the gospels. They appear to be occupied only with religious matters, but cannot altogether conceal strong political undercurrents in such passages as that concerning the tribute money (Mark 12:13-17, etc.) and the accounts of the arrest and execution of Jesus.

Josephus makes it clear that the Pharisees were very influential with the majority of the people, who admired their strict loyalty to the Law, while the Sadducees were followed by the rich.