The Pharisees: Keeping the Tradition of Men

The faith of ancient Israel was the worship of Yahweh - (the God who called Himself "I Am").  They believed He was in control of nature and history, and that He had chosen them for Himself, entering into covenant relationship with them at Mt. Sinai.  They were governed by God's Word, as written by Moses; and by God's Spirit - rushing upon certain individuals; the prophets and the judges.  Thus they were governed by God's grace.  As the people of God, they were (nationally), the kingdom of God on earth.  Alone among all the nations of earth they developed no mythology, but recorded their history as God's dealings with them.  

But this faith did not endure.  First the people of Israel, then the people of Judah,  forsook the God of their fathers, broke their covenant relationship with Him, refused His warnings, no longer kept His commandments, and worshipped other gods who were false gods.  As a result, their nations were destroyed.  Most of the survivors from Judah were taken away to Babylon as captives.  Once there, the prophets continued to remind them of a coming Redeemer - the Messiah - Who would set up, and establish, the Kingdom of God on earth.  But this time it would be an everlasting Kingdom.    This Kingdom, "True Israel", would be made of people who kept God's covenant (because they had His laws written upon their hearts - not on mere tables of stone).  Foreigners would be included!

Seventy years later some of the people of Judah struggled back to Jerusalem.  They found the city and the temple in ruins - as the armies of Babylon had left them.  They rebuilt the temple, but it was never the same.  The ark of the covenant was missing - and with it the shekinah glory of God.

The Old Testament covenant was a covenant of Grace (read Deuteronomy), but by Jesus' time the religion of the Jews had become a legalistic system known today as Rabbinic Judaism - or the religion of the Pharisees.  How had the faith of Israel - the worship of Yahweh - been transformed into Judaism?

Beginning at the time of Ezra (several generations after the first captives had returned from Babylon), there were men who separated themselves to study (and keep) the Law of God - the Torah.  Ezra was well qualified to be their teacher.  He was a priest of the lineage of Zadok, (the line of the high priests), and was also a very great scribe; an authority on the Law of Moses.  It is said he started a school for scribes.  The scribes who attended these schools were zealous for God.  They felt that God had allowed the nations of Israel and Judah to be destroyed because of their failure to keep God's Law.  (They were right about this)  So they devoted themselves to study and keep the Law.  Later, because the priests and Levites neglected to teach the people, these scribes were called upon to become teachers of the Law.  Houses of study, called synagogues, were built for this purpose.  (Originally the synagogues were only for prayer and study - not worship.  But later they became places of worship.)

These men who had separated themselves to copy, study, interpret, and keep the Laws of Moses as recorded in the Torah eventually became known as scribes.  Later, the scribes became leaders of a group known as Pharisees, or "Separatists."   To them, study was the highest act of worship.  So far so good - BUT...

The Pharisees ("Perushim" in Hebrew) wanted to be pure and holy according to Leviticus 11:44-45.   So they stayed away from the common people (Am Ha-Eretz), who did not tithe, or keep themselves ritually pure, and who knew very little about the Law.  For example they said, 

"But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."  John 7:49

Amazingly, the Pharisees believed that the Messiah would come if all the people of Israel could keep the Sabbath Law perfectly for just one Sabbath, (Saturday day of worship).  Perhaps that is why they became so fanatically strict about keeping the whole Law. 

The Pharisees counted 613 laws in the Law of Moses (the Torah).  To make sure they did not break even one of these laws they created  "fences" around the laws.  These fences are called "The Traditions of the Elders" in the New Testament.  The idea was to make so many traditions around a law that a person would have to break a tradition before he could actually break the law.  But these "fences" were the "traditions of men" and Jesus objected to them in the New Testament because they made the Word of God of none effect!  Example:

For Moses said, "Honor your father and mother;" and, "He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death." But you say, If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban" - (that is a gift to God).  then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down.  And many such things you do.  Mark 7:11-13

The problem was that the Pharisees kept trying to make everyone else live up to their "fences".  For example they felt that everyone should fast on the second and fifth days of the week as they themselves did - although this was not commanded in the Law of Moses.  Jesus condemned them for that.  (Luke 18:12)

Within just one generation these "fences" around the law became so many that no one could keep track of them.  The spirit sank beneath the letter of the law.  Since the law had become too heavy for the common man, the Pharisees became the teachers and interpreters of it.  They had knowledge which most men did not have, and they were tempted to extreme pride.  The Law became supreme.  It was a suffocating  legalism.  In that climate there could be no room for the Spirit, or the prophet, or for the Messiah Who called Himself, "greater than the temple," and Who claimed that His word was greater than the Law."  But that is exactly what Jesus told the Pharisees - in His effort to save them - to call them back to the Spirit - to Yahweh, and to Himself.

"Or have you not read in the law (of Moses) that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?  Yet I say to you that in this place there is one greater than the temple." Matthew 12:5-6

Still, for all this, it was the Pharisees who gave the world a tremendously rich heritage which can never be forgotten:  Many of the Pharisees were also scribes.  They were the ones who copied the books of the Old Testament over and over again - according to strict standards - and preserved them for all time. 

The rulers of the synagogues were usually Pharisees.  They controlled the synagogue schools and taught in them.  They went on missionary journeys and served as judges.  They even told the priests how to offer the temple sacrifices! 

Teaching the law was actually a job for the Levites to do (Deuteronomy 33:10), but they neglected their duties and the scribes (most of whom were Pharisees), were requested to take their place.   The Pharisees said they got their authority from Deuteronomy 17:9, where the priests, Levites, and judges made decisions about the Law.  The Pharisees were very popular with the people because of their love for God and His Law.  The people thought of the Pharisees as pious and righteous.

Yet there were never very many Pharisees.  Their numbers were probably limited by their strict standards.  Josephus, the Jewish historian, says that at the time of Christ there were only about 6,000 of them - but their influence was extreme.  Josephus says the Pharisees had about two million followers.  The world population of Jewish people was only about four million at that time, and at least one million of them did not live in Palestine. 

The Pharisees were in control of the temple rituals.  Nicodemus, the ruler of the temple, was a Pharisee who came to Jesus by night. 

The Pharisees were admitted into the Sanhedrin, the political leadership of the Jews, and thus gained a great deal of control and respect.

note:  Not all of the Pharisees were scribes, and not all of the scribes were Pharisees.  The scribes and Pharisees who came from Jerusalem were the ones who gave Jesus the most trouble.  They probably represented the Sanhedrin.  (see Mark 7:1-13)

next lesson: Scribes
previous lesson: Herod the Great; Timeline
table of contents