Pharisees in Biblical History

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Schaff's Bible Dictionary

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Who are the Pharisees?
THE PHARISEES
(from a Hebrew word meaning separated), formed one of the most conspicuous and powerful sects or parties among the Jews in the time of our Lord. The name does not occur before the N.T. period, and the origin of the sect is somewhat obscure. It is probable, however, that the Pharisees were simply a continuation or development of the Assideans ("the pious") in the time of the Maccabees. 1 Mace. 2:42; 7:13; 2 Mace. 14:6. Under the foreign rule, and more especially under the Syrian government, which left no means unemployed - even resorting to violence - in order to effect an amalgamation of the different nationalities under its sway, it was natural that there should rise among the Jews a party which opposed this influence and labored to preserve the national integrity. The Pharisees were this party, and much of their influence with the people was no doubt due to their political position. On the accession of Herod, 6000 Pharisees refused to take the oath of allegiance, but were "put down with a strong hand;" and, again, it was the Pharisees who originated and organized that desperate resistance to the Romans which finally led to the dispersion of the whole nation. In a constitution, however, like that of the Hebrew theocracy, a political party must always be a religious sect at the same time, and with the Pharisees their political position was a simple consequence of their religious standpoint. As they were national in politics, they were orthodox in religion; and in opposition to the two other sects, the Sadducees and the Essenes, they stood among the people as the true expounders of the Law. In the time of our Lord, however, their orthodoxy had degenerated into mere formalism. The principal points of difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees were the doctrine of the immortality of the soul and a future reward or punishment; the doctrine of a divine Providence acting side by side with the free will of man; and the doctrine of an oral tradition descending from Moses and involving the same authority as the written Law, - all of which doctrines the Pharisees accepted, while the Sadducees rejected them. It was, however, more especially the last-mentioned doctrine which gave the Pharisees their peculiar character, and which caused our Lord to denounce them so often and so severely. Teaching that God had given to Moses, on Mount Sinai, an oral explanation with respect to the proper application of the written Law, and commanded him to transmit this explanation by word of mouth, the Pharisees ended by placing the oral explanation above the written commandment, the tradition above the Law. Entangled in the minute and subtle application of the Law, they missed its spirit; and though to the very last there were found noble characters among them, such as Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, Gamaliel, and others, self-conceit, arrogance, and hypocrisy became the general characteristics of the sect. They were exceedingly particular in refraining from anything which had not been duly tithed, but they forgot to pay that tithe which is most necessary of all, and which consists in meekness and mercy. Matt 23:23; Luke 18:12. They were exceedingly particular in avoiding anything which the Law declared unclean, but they forgot to acquire that cleanness which is the most important of all, and which consists in the purity of the heart. Matt 16:11. And while they themselves degenerated into empty formalists, they troubled the conscience of the people by the absurd importance they ascribed to the most futile questions, such as what material the wick of the Sabbath-lamp was to be made of, whether or not it was permitted to eat an egg laid on a Sabbath-day, etc. Hence we understand how they could at the same time be the true bearers of Judaism in politics and in religion, and yet be punished by our Lord by the severest denunciations.

Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'pharisees' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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