Teachers of the Law
I've been trying to understand more about the teachers of the law, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes, the High Priest, the Sanhedrin, and I wanted to share my findings here.
DIFFERENT TEACHERS OF THE LAW
Pharisees: PHARISEES (Φαρισαῖος, Pharisaios). Members of a Jewish party that exercised strict piety according to Mosaic law. The Pharisees were a sect within early Judaism…
- Pharisees entry from The Lexham Bible Dictionary (1)
Sadducees: SADDUCEES (Σαδδουκαῖος, Saddoukaios). One of the three main Jewish schools of thought during the Hellenistic (Hasmonean) and Roman eras. The Scriptures possessed supreme authority for the Sadducees, to the exclusion of oral traditions from former generations. The Sadducees denied the resurrection and the existence of fate. Recent scholarship has questioned earlier assumptions that the Sadducees were of aristocratic or priestly status (Goodman, “Place of the Sadducees”).
-Sadducees entry from The Lexham Bible Dictionary (2)
Scribes: SCRIBE (סוֹפֵר, sopher; γραμματεύς, grammateus). Someone employed for his ability to read and write. Existed throughout the ancient Near East and Mediterranean over several millennia. Unlike the Pharisees or the Sadducees, scribes were not confined to Israel. The scribal tradition in Israel has its roots in the ancient Near Eastern civilization. Scribes worked in a variety of realms, including religious, political, judicial, economic, and social. Jewish scribes may have been employed in additional occupations, including:
- copying manuscripts;
- teaching and interpreting the Torah and other Jewish literature;
- working in the temple, royal court, or administration;
- being a political advisor or diplomat;
- working with ancient sciences;
- functioning as wise sages, elders, judges, or as members of the Sanhedrin;
- writing letters and documents for the kingdom, businesses, and private households.
Some scribes were part of the sect of the Pharisees or Sadducees, and some were also priests and Levites. The New Testament portrays the scribes as an organized group, but recent studies have been more tentative on such a conclusion.
-Scribes entry from the Lexham Bible Dictionary (3)
Elders: Leaders in the synagogue who helped guide people in the traditions of the religion.
- Elders entry from Logos Bible Software's Factbook (4)
Priests: In Judges 17:13, Micah celebrates that his priest is specifically a Levite. If having a Levite was a special blessing, then non-Levitical priests must have been active. When Jeroboam established the northern religious group after the division of the kingdom, he established a non-Levitical priesthood (1 Kgs 12:31). In Judah, both Asa and Jehoshaphat were described as righteous, yet they allowed non-Levitical activity at the high places (1 Kgs 15:14; 22:43).
-Priests entry from Lexham Bible Dictionary (5)
Chief Priests: A group of individuals in charge of temple worship in Jerusalem, and regarded as leading representatives of the Jewish people, who came into conflict with Jesus Christ and plotted his death.
- Chief Priests entry from Logos Bible Software's Factbook (6)
High Priest: High Priest The chief or head priest at a location of worship. In the Bible, this most commonly refers to the high priest of Yahweh in ancient Israelite worship.
The role of the high priest is perhaps explained more thoroughly in the book of Hebrews than in any other New Testament book. In Hebrews 5, Jesus is described as the incomparable high priest who can fulfill the duties that no other priest in Israel’s past was able to. As the Son of God who is both human and divine, He is able to sufficiently fulfill the duties of representing the people and also serving as the mediator between God and humanity. In contrast with the high priests of the past, He does not need to offer sacrifices repeatedly because His one sacrifice of Himself is sufficient for the atonement of sin (Heb 9). It is in Jesus that we see all of the duties, responsibilities and symbolic foreshadowing of the office of Old Testament high priest come to full view.
- High Priest entry from Lexham Bible Dictionary (7)
Sanhedrin: SANHEDRIN (Greek συνέδριον, synedrion; Hebrew סַנְהֶדְרִין, sanhedrin). The supreme council in charge of Jewish affairs in Roman Palestine.
While the exact makeup and nature of the Jewish governing body in first-century Palestine is uncertain, the varying depictions of the Sanhedrin reveal a group consisting of priests and religious teachers who meet to decide on legal matters with religious, political, and social ramifications.
- Sanhedrin entry from Lexham Bible Dictionary (8)
Also found online at this link:
How did the Pharisees earn a living?
The Pharisees were a political party, so this is a bit like asking how Republicans earn a living.
Pharisees had a range of trades and professions. The apostle Paul was a Pharisee (and still called himself one long after his conversion — Acts 23:6), and he made tents (Acts 18:3). Other Pharisees were professional scribes (i.e., they wrote documents for people). Presumably they did most other jobs as well.
The Pharisees developed and controlled the synagogues while their chief rivals, the Sadducees, controlled the Temple. So Temple trade was probably operated and controlled by the Sadducees, as was the Sanhedrin (the Jewish parliament). However, there were plenty of Pharisees in Jerusalem and some were members of the Sanhedrin including Gamaliel (5:34) and Nicodemus (John 3:1; 7:50).
- Bibleq.net (9)
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