How was the religious, social and cultural life of Israel being shaped during these silent years?
A number of these sects were very humanistic in their spiritual approach, probably a legacy from Alexander the Great’s occupation of the region. Greek philosophy and thinking had crept into the culture during the Greek and subsequent Egyptian rule.
It was during this time that the Talmud emerged, the laws of Judaism written by the Jewish religious leaders of the time. Talmud from the Hebrew translation literally means ‘instruction’ that is, man’s instruction – the myriad regulations that the religious leaders of the time (the Pharisees and Sadducees) placed on the people and that are still in practice today. These are the list of sects and institutions that had come to be during this time:
- Pharisees
- Sadducees
- Herodians
- Synagogue
- Scribes
- Sanhedrin
This in itself shows the importance attached to the inter-Testament period. We can now have a quick peek at all these changes and developments that had taken place. It’s important for us to know the exact political and religious climate which our Lord and Saviour was born into.
To begin with, if we are to understand in general the spirit and trend of the Jewish community during this stretch of centuries, we must appreciate the profound impact that the Babylonian exile had made upon the Jewish nation. God sent the Jews into that exile because of their idolatry and complete disregard for His laws. The Jewish nation’s malaise and penchant for turning away from God was something that had plagued their existence way back to Moses and their time of slavery in Egypt.
But after the Babylonian exile, Israel has remained, right up to this day, one of the most monotheistic nations in the world with their belief in the one true God. This is quite extraordinary, isn’t it? The real tragedy of this though, was that although they believed in God, they didn’t believe that Jesus was the son of God and thus the Messiah that they were longing for, and they were also so wrapped up in the man-made Talmudic Law, that watered down and corrupted the original Law of Moses, that that they were deceived by their own intellect. The deception of the evil one is so subtle and so great!
What happened to bring about this change?
The Babylonian exile finally startled the Jews into the realization that the gods of the pagan world were lying vanities and were manufactured by man out of wood and stone and other materials and were thus powerless to do anything, and that Jehovah was the one true God, the Creator of all things, the sovereign ruler of the universe, whose will alone, is sovereign over all creation both in heaven and on earth.
With this realization they were once and forever cured of idolatry and thus they became confirmed worshippers of their covenant God Jehovah. But like us all they remained sinners and needed a saviour – they believed in the prophetic Messiah but just weren’t expecting him to come in the meekness of Jesus. But, even more tragic, many Jews have come to worship the things of the world just like we once did before we became born-again.
Right, I think we are now ready to have a quick look at the other new changes, developments and institutions that also emerged during this time:
The Synagogue
The word Synagogue comes from the Greek Language, as Hebrew has no word meaning synagogue. The Greek word 'synagein' is translated to mean 'to bring together'. It is called this because this is where the Jewish community came together to worship. However, the Hebrew language refers to the synagogue as the 'Beit Haknesset', which again similarly means 'house of assembly'.
The Law, and the Talmudic Law in particular, now became the standard of holiness and the symbol of nationality. Although at the time the Temple at Jerusalem remained the centre for Jewish worship of God, it was also the time that the Synagogue arose as a local place of worship. It was here that the Scriptures were read and expounded by the scribes in the towns and villages across Israel and in other places where the Jews had settled and put down roots.
The basic idea of the synagogue was instruction in the Scriptures, not worship, even though an elaborate liturgical service developed later which was very ritualistic, with public prayers read by appointed persons, and responses made by the congregation. Much the same as it is in many mainline churches today.
Another interesting fact that we learn about the Babylonian exile was that many of the Jews spoke Aramaic rather than Hebrew, which they had learned in Babylon, and had very little or no knowledge of the Hebrew language that the law was written in. Thus, a translation into Aramaic had to be made.
This is implied in Nehemiah 8:8 when Ezra started reading the Book of the Law to the exiles in Aramaic. Aramaic was also one of the three most common languages spoken by the Jews at the time of our Lord, the others being Hebrew and Greek.
Nehemiah 8:8 (NIV)
They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
The Scribes
The scribes are mentioned on a number of occasions in the gospels, but just who were they? Well, the scribes mentioned in the gospels were different in function and purpose to the scribes that we know in the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament the scribes were the men that recorded things of significance, things of great historical value, prophecies, laws and decrees and so on. But in the inter-Testament period and in the New Testament gospels they had evolved into a ‘sect’ that had acquired a far more important and somewhat sinister religious status within the community than they had in the books of the Old Testament.
The ‘scribe’ institution appeared to originate when the exiles were about to return to Jerusalem. In Nehemiah 8 we see that Ezra, who is described as being a priest and scribe, stood before the people in an elevated position – upon a pulpit that had been specially made for him – and read from the Book of the Law.
Nehemiah 8:4-6 (NIV)
4 Ezra the teacher of the Law stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.
5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
It would appear that from this time on right up until the New Testament time and the arrival of Jesus, that the sect known as the ‘scribes’ grew very rapidly in religious power and status. The scribes, because of their man-made status, thus ushered in a new form of Judaism that made every Jew responsible for the keeping of the whole Law along with the man-made additions to the Law through the Talmud and a number of man-made rituals.
Along with this new type of Judaism came a complicated and complex code of practice that had to be overseen and expounded by a group of experts and guess what? The scribes were it – the dreaded religious experts of the day, or at least one of the groups along with our friends the Pharisees and the Sadducees! And of course they made it into a very lucrative business for themselves. This was such a deviation from the path of God’s anointed scribe, Ezra.
Thus, the scribes who we meet in the Gospel narratives, and the scribes that Jesus grew up with, were a class of professional experts in the interpretation and application of the Law; it must be noted that at this stage the Law of Moses was no longer adhered to as it was given by God to Moses but had evolved into the Talmudic Law.
The Talmud is a huge collection of doctrines and laws compiled and written sometime after the book of Malachi and before the 8th Century, A.D., by ancient Jewish teachers (rabbis). The Talmud, which often cites the Old Testament, is the basic book of Jewish law and contains volumes written by the leading rabbis of the age.
In the Greek of the New Testament their (the scribes) usual title is the plural, ‘grammateis’, translated as "scribes." Less frequently they are called "lawyers", nomikoi, as in Luke 7:30:
Luke 7:30 (NIV)
But the Pharisees and the lawyers [who were experts in the Mosaic Law] annulled and set aside God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John.
The Pharisees
The Pharisees were different from the scribes in that they were primarily made up of priests, they were an ecclesiastical group, with common, although somewhat peculiar, religious aims and views, whereas the Scribes were a body of experts in the Law in a scholastic sense.
Again and again in the Gospel narratives the Pharisees are mentioned in conjunction with the scribes (Matthew 5:20, 12:38, 15:1, 23:2, Mark 2:16, Luke 5:21, 30, etc.), but although this reveals closeness of affinity it does not imply oneness of identity – they were often at loggerheads with each other. Satan’s age-old tactic of divide and conquer clearly in action.
Certainly, a man could be both a Pharisee and a scribe; the Pharisees and the Scribes were very close on many issues and viewpoints, yet still remained two different bodies. It was inevitable that the Pharisees should have much in common with the scribes, as many Pharisees were Scribes as well. The spirit and attitudes of the Pharisees were present in post-exile Judaism long before the sect took its historical form under the name "Pharisees."
The thing, however, that eventually crystallized the Pharisees into a clique or sect, was a body of Jews, primarily made up of the priests, whose goals and interests was the worldly aspects of religion and politics.
The Pharisees as a body were influential way beyond their numbers. According to Flavius Josephus the number of Pharisees in Herod's time was only about 6,000. Yet, despite their small number, they had in fact, such a hold on the minds of the people that no governing power could afford to disregard them. We need only read the four Gospels to see what sway they had in our Lord's days on earth - and what influence they had in bringing about His crucifixion.
The characteristic mark of the Pharisee - the ritualist -was that he was always ADDING TO (the Talmud is proof of this) THE LAW OF MOSES - He was not content with the written Word of God, and with the plain truth of the Word (the Law of Moses). He had to always start adding his own ideas and ordinances (known as humanism today), until religion and salvation became an overly complicated matter. This is just what the Pharisees did, until, with the weight of their accumulated religious ceremonies and observances, they made God’s Law (The Law of Moses) a burden too heavy for man to bear.
The Sadducees
According to the historian Flavius Josephus, the Sadducees seem to have been neither a religious sect nor a political party, but a social clique – much like the Greek philosophers. Numerically they were a much smaller body than the Pharisees and belonged for the most part to the wealthy and influential priestly families who were the aristocrats of the Jewish nation.
The leaders of the party were the elders with seats in the council, the military officers, the statesmen, and officials who took part in the management of public affairs. With the mass of the people, they never had much influence; but like true aristocrats, they did not greatly care about the people anyway and cared even less about what they thought – a truly self-serving bunch of hypocrites!
Their one ambition was to make themselves indispensable to the reigning prince, so that they might conduct the government of the country according to their own views and make lots of money out of it at the same time. The Sadducees held, like most modern politicians, that the law of God had no application to politics. If Israel was to be made a great and prosperous nation again it must be by well-filled treasuries, strong armies, skilful diplomacy, and all the resources of human abilities. To expect a Divine deliverance merely by making the people holy, they accounted as a sheer and dangerous fatalism.
As a body they rejected totally the Oral Law accumulated by the scribes and held to by the Pharisees and professed to stand by the Written Law (or should I say their own interpretation of it) alone; though, even their stand on the Written Law alone was done so with great scepticism. Matthew 22:23 and Acts 23:8 show how sceptical was their attitude to the Written Law, for we are told that they denied the bodily resurrection and did not believe either in angels or spirits and certainly did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
Thus, we can understand how intolerable to such a group were the teachings of Jesus and His Messianic claims. Their hatred is measured by their readiness to consort even with the detested Pharisees in order to kill Him. It was they, in fact, who were personally responsible for His crucifixion (compare Luke 3:2; John 11:49, 18:13,14,24, 19:15; Mark 15:11).
The mark of the Sadducee - the rationalist - was that he was always TAKING FROM the Law of Moses. He could not accept the written Word of God in its entirety, or the truth of it as it stands without drastic deletions. Everything had to be tried at the bar of human reason. This, that, and the other thing, had be cut out of the Law to make faith reasonable and tenable. This was precisely the attitude of the Sadducee. They could not or rather, would not believe either in angels or demons, either in the resurrection of the dead or in any other miracle and, as I said before, that Jesus was the Messiah.
The Herodians
The Herodians were purely a politically motivated group, and as the name suggests, they were devout followers of Herod the Great (who was actually not so great). Their main aim was to promote and further the political aims of the Herodian government and its systems. As such a group and because of their political viewpoint, they automatically gained the seal of approval from Herod and to a lesser degree, from the Roman authority. The Herodians as a group were referred to in scripture in Matthew 22:16, Mark 3:6 and 12:13.
Well, what more can I say about the Herodians? I can well imagine that many people of the day would consider it sound policy to strengthen the hold of the Herod house (politically speaking of course) on the Jewish leaders and public in general. What could be wiser than to back the Herodian throne, which enjoyed the favour of Rome, and thus giving Judea the protection of the mighty Roman Empire? Many saw, in the Herodians, the one Jewish hope of a separate national continuance; the one alternative to direct heathen rule. Others were inclined to favour a blend of the ancient faith and Roman culture such as the first Herod and his successors had sought to promote. This approach was the highest consummation of Jewish hopes. Nobody thought to ask God of course! Still, what can you expect from a stiff-necked people such as they were?
The Herodians were hated by the Pharisees. The two parties were bitterly intolerant of each other, which makes the consorting of the Pharisees with the Herodians against our Lord all the more astonishing. The trademark of the Herodian - the secularist – was that he was purely politically driven. He cared nothing for the Law of Moses one way or the other and cared not much more for his fellow man.
The Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin, quite often referred to as the Jewish Council, was the supreme civil and religious tribunal of the Jewish nation and also the supreme, judicial and administrative council of the Jewish people. The Sanhedrin consisted of seventy-one members, made up, so it would appear, of:
- The high priest
- Twenty-four "chief priests" who represented all twenty-four orders of the whole priesthood (1 Chronicles 24:4,6)
- Twenty-four "elders," who represented the laity, often called "elders of the people," as in Matthew 21:23, 24:3; Acts 4:8 - reminding us of the 24 elders surrounding the throne in Revelation 4:4
- Twenty-two "scribes," who were the expert interpreters of the law in matters both religious and civil.
Our Lord could have had in mind the president and seventy senators of the Sanhedrin when He chose His seventy representatives and co-workers, as recorded in Luke 10, just as He could have had the twelve tribes of Israel in mind when He appointed the twelve apostles. His choice of those seventy was prophetic perhaps, symbolising perhaps that, amongst other significances, that the authority of that old-time Jewish court was indeed now passing away in favour of a new "seventy" under His own ‘Kingship’. Purely conjecture on my part.
The Common People
There is, yet, one very important aspect of the old-time Judaism which we must not on any account overlook. It is not only courts and schools and leaders and political parties which compose a nation, but those thousands and thousands of individuals who are only known anonymously and collectively as "the common people”, people just like you and me.
These common people far removed from the pomp and ceremony of earthly courts and the strife of factions and the heated atmosphere of political and religious fanaticism, were waiting for just one thing, the consolation of Israel, their Messiah.
And now at last as we enter into the New Testament times, and to people such as these, the long expected Messiah was revealed. In the hour of Israel's deepest degradation, when Herod's kingdom seemed to mock the aspirations of all faithful Israelites with its cruelty and its counterfeit resemblance of the true Law, their eyes beheld the Lord's Anointed, the true King of the kingdom of God, the Ruler, whose foretelling was from of old, from the very foundations of the world and from everlasting to everlasting.
Now when the New Testament writings start at the book of Matthew, we are faced with a completely different scenario – a different world to that at the time of the Book of Malachi. Rome is now the dominant world power and Israel is one of its puppet states and its puppet king is the infamous Herod the Great (we can now change his name to Herod the Horrible!) and the Roman Governor is the equally infamous Pontius Pilate.
Now that’s the cultural, religious and social scene that our Lord Jesus was born into, lived through and ministered into!
To Jesus belongs all glory, honour and praise!
Jesus, the Name above all names!
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