Pharisees
In opposition to the "mingling" of the Jews and Greeks arose the brotherhood of the "Distinct" or "Separatists" (perushim, whence in the Greek form of the word "Pharisees"). When or how the fraternity assumed its shape, cannot accurately be told. The first mention of it is among the events of BC 108, when the body was already powerful and of great repute (Josephus. Ant. xiii. 10, sec. 5). A commission had been appointed by authority of John Hyrcanus to enquire how far the Divine law of religious contributions was observed by the people; and the Pharisees bound themselves to pay all tithes before the use or sale of any commodity. Another point of special agreement related to the avoidance of all uncleanness, in regard to which a multitude of rules were laid down, many of which were minute and puerile. To these two characteristics of Pharisaism our Lord alludes (Matt, xxiii. 23, 25).
But the chief point of distinction lay in the regard paid by the Pharisees to the oral law, a series of unwritten interpretations of the Divine oracles handed down from doctor to doctor, and forming an elaborate system extending to every detail of worehip and of life. The "traditions of the elders" thus spun around God's Word a web of intricate refinement; and while professing to "fence the Law", or to lessen the risk of breaking it, became in the multiplicity of subtle distinctions and vexatious rules an oppression to the conscience.
Formalism was substituted for spiritual religion, and the "separateness" of this fraternity, as evinced by their long robes with fringe and tassels, their broad phylacteries, their long prayers publicly recited by the highways at the customary hours, as well as by the casuistry of their teachings and the inconsistency of their lives, proved their piety to be in great measure an affectation.
Very terrible is the indictment brought against the Pharisees by Jesus, as reported in Matt, xxiii., Mark vii., Luke xi. They were in fact the principal obstacle to the reception of Christ and His Gospel. It was impossible for them to accept the spirituality of His doctrines, or to descend to the humility of those who would follow Him. Their spirit was that of self-sufficiency and pride. When John the Baptist preached the baptism of repentance in the wilderness, the Pharisees for the most part (Luke vii. 30), although not entirely (Matt. iii. 7), held aloof. They thanked God that they were not as other men" (Luke xviii. 10); yet while exalting themselves in their own esteem to heaven, they verily became the "children of hell" (Matt, xxiii. 15).
Undoubtedly there was another side to the Pharisaic character. They held certain great doctrinee, as that of a resurrection and future life, with a tenacity unknown to the people at large; while their strictness on points of religious observance served as an antidote to prevailing laxity. The Apostle Paul regarded it as a distinction among the professors of Judaism to be a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee (Acts xxiii. 6: comp. Phil. iii. 5). Like the Jesuits in the Roman Church, the Pharisees proved the utmost capabilities of their religious system, if, like them, they found it wanting. The best and the worst of the people were Pharisees ; t but in the best there was a narrowness and fanaticism from which the inevitable reaction waa shown in the worst.
The number of Pharisees was but small considering their great influence with the people. In the time of our Lord they appear to have been about 6,000. After the destruction of Jerusalem they disappear ae a distinct sect, but their teachings and spirit have given the tone to modern Judaism.
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