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the bulk of their concern was with
laws relating to eating.
They washed pots and pans be–
cause tha t was necessary for ritual
purity. They criticized the disciples
of Jesus for eating with " unwashen
hands" (Mark 7: 1-3) because the
disciples had not followed the purity
regulations (regulations nowhere re–
quired in the Old Testament
except
for the priests in the Temple). Th e
Pharisees were scrupulous about
tithing, not because they were con–
cerned about the priests, but be–
cause they could not eat somethi ng
unless it had been properly" tithed !
Naturally, this was so much non–
sense to the average Jew. What was
to be gained by imitating th e
Temple priests? Even the priests did
not observe these purity laws out–
side the Temple in their own homes.
It is not hard to see why there were
only about
6,000
members of this
superstricttable fellowship group.
The Sadducees were a group as–
sociated mainly with the priests
(Acts
4: 1 ).
Their activities centered
mainly around the Temple. and this
is why thei r influence on Judaism
was finished when the Temple was
destroyed.
The ma in appeal of the Sad–
ducees was to the upper classes, ye t
many of the professional scribes
were Sadducees. The scribes were a
professional class roughly corre–
sponding to the
civil
servant or bu–
reauc ra t of today. They were
trained in the law (the term "scribe"
is basically interchangeable with
" lawyer") and the literature of the
Jews. They held various adminis–
trative and educational posts. They
were respected much as the lega l
and medica! professions of today.
So when Jesus said. ' 'The scribes
and the Pharisees sit in Moses'
sea
t."
He was recognizing their pres–
tige and authority as teachers. (But
then He went on to condemn many
of their practices and examp les
(Matt. 23]!)
The third Jewish sect of the first
century- the Essenes- is not men–
tioned in the New Testament. Mos t
schola rs feel the Qumran commu–
nity- immortalized and popula rized
by the Dead Sea Scrolls- was a
leading Essene center. Other writers
indicate that Essenes also lived in
various villages and cities through-
The
PLAIN TRUTH February 1978
out Palestine. They were very much
a minor group, though, and proba–
bly kept somewhat separate because
of their exclusivist altitudes.
The popular press has long en–
gaged in speculation about Jesus
being an Essene or associated with
the Qumran commun ity. Such ab–
surdities have been almost univer–
sally rejected by Qumran specialists.
There is no evidence that Jesus had
anything to do with the Essenes and
Qumran.
Self-Righteous Sinners
lt
is a basic psychological trait of
human beings that as one becomes
more convinced of his own spiritual
purity, especially if it can be ex–
pressed through physical means, he
simultaneously becomes less toler–
ant of others. In a word, he becomes
seif-righteous.
Self-righteousness is the antithesis
of godly righteousness.
It
can in fact
become the mos t insidious of sins
because it is the most difficult to
recognize.
lt
is not particula rly hard
for a prostitute to know what she is,
or for a murderer, drunk or thief to
know what he is. Perhaps it becomes
progressively more difficult for a liar
ora covetous person to recognize his
sins. But the self-righteous person–
one who thinks that he has not com–
mitted any sins, knows he is righ–
teous and knows that he knows it - is
in the gravest danger of self-delu–
sion and ultimate self-destruction.
Whatever is required, the self–
righteous person thinks he does;
whatever is forbidden , he thinks he
eschews. Yet God states that
"a/1
have
sinned"
(Rom. 3:23), and that
the personal recognition of one's
own sinful nature, mind and heart is
the essential first step in the con–
version/salvation process. For the
prostitute or murderer it can be
easy, but for the self-righteous per–
son this can be an intolerable stum–
bling block. It's no wonder that
Jesus Christ reserved His fiercest at–
tacks for the self-righteous religious
leaders who epitomized the attitude
and approach of
a/1
religious leaders
of
a/1
religions from alltimes.
The Pharisees personified the
concepts of spiritual rank, show,
pecking order, and degree of sancti–
moniousness. How all such self-righ–
teous characters know how to hate!
(Satan himself must become at least
a little jealous of their vituperative
musings; their fihhy, lying, carnal–
minded plots.)
Religious folk have always taken
themselves altogether too seriously,
and the Pharisees were no different.
But they, like all other people of
past generations, are dead.
They
were religious fanatics.
They
were
spiritually proud and morally cor–
rupt.
They
were hypocrites.
They
persecuted Jesus and finally suc–
ceeded in killing Him.
But " the Jews" did not!
Oh, the Pharisees were Jews, all
right, but then, so were most if not
al! of th e di sc iples and early
apostles, and so were the great ma–
jority of all the converts during the
early days ofthe Church!
And, to once again state the obvi–
ous: so was Jesus Christ Himself.
Consequently, to exploit the fact
that the Jewish religious leaders
were involved in the crucifixion and
murder of Jesus in order to justify
even implici tly any anti-Semitic atti–
tude is the height of historical ab–
surdi ty, ludicrous in the extreme,
and only serves to broadcast one's
ignorance. Surely a far greater case
could be made for a "pro-Semitic"
attitude, based on the clear New
Testament testimony that the lead–
ing apostles and disciples and the
great majority of the early church in
Judea and the core members of the
churches even in the Gentile world
were all Jewish!
Pharisalcal Leaven
The confrontation between these re–
ligious leaders and Jesus was easy to
foretell, and His denunciation of
them as hypocrites who honored
Him with their lips but whose hearts
were far from Him was stinging.
Jesus said, " Howbeit in vain do they
worship me, teaching for doctrines
the commandments of men," and
thoroughly scolded them for their
man-made traditions which He said
made the Word ofGod ofno effect.
Many falsely assume the religion
of the Pharisees was the Old Testa–
ment religion, the religion of Moses.
No way. Even though Jesus said
that they "sat in Moses' seat," recog–
nizing their inheritance of the
au–
thority
of Moses (in administering
the law), He warned against the
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