Judaism (Part 10 {a})
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A REVELATION OF TRUTH ABOUT THE JEWISH SECTS IN PALESTINE
IN THE DAYS OF CHRIST!
Part 10
All the sects of Judaism in the New Testament period had their roots in
the time of religious anarchy, when first the Egyptians and later the Syrians
dominated Palestine. This period was after the death of Alexander the Great.
These foreign nations brought into Palestine their form of Hellenism. The Jews
accepted it almost as readily as any of the countries of the East which had
been conquered by Alexander the Great.
Because the Jews represent the major non-Greek element, it is important to
observe that their reaction to Hellenism "was initially no different from that
of other non-Greek people" (Goodspeed, The Apocrypha, pg. Xiv).
The Jews, were introduced to Hellenism by the Egyptians and accepted it
almost totally. It even affected the religious beliefs of the Jews. Changes
were made in the Jewish religious services. The foreign influences was so
strong, the religious inclination so weak, that this period was called a time
of religious anarchy. Hellenism was the philosophy of free-thinking; the right
of the individual to think and reason for himself. This philosophy of
individualism was accepted by the Jews. The Jews, like their Egyptian rulers,
began to think on their own in regard to the arts, sciences, and religion!
As with Hellenism in Greece, Syria and Egypt, so in Palestine, the
individual and his opinion became important to the educated. The study of
scripture, became more of a private matter and of individual interpretation,
rather than the teachings from a body of authority like the Sopherim. In most
cases the scripture became interpreted according to the prevailing custom of
viewing everything in the light of Hellenistic "enlightenment."
During this time of religious anarchy there arose a number of individual
wanting to teach the Scripture. These men were almost wholly laymen--the priest
on the whole thought it not necessary to bother themselves with teaching or
studying the Scriptures of their forefathers.
At the end of the anarchy, we find these individual laymen establishing
themselves, with a few faithful priest, into a body of religious authority
among the Jews. However, when these men came together they brought with them
many varying opinions of the Scriptures that they had learned in their
independent study. Some of the laymen and priest accepted much of Hellenism
ways of teaching as well as the customs of Hellenism and practices. There were
some teachers however, who were less inclined towards Hellenism. Yet, all in
one way or another were influenced by Hellenism, so says Herford in his book
"Talmud and the Apocrypha," pg. 77.
There were differences of opinions between the teachers and these
differences finally evolved into the real beginning of the sects of Judaism.
All these sects had their beginning after the period of religious anarchy. It
is important to note that all the sects which came out of the anarchy had some
form of Hellenism attached to their beliefs. The various sects of Judaism can
be categorized according to the amount of apparent Hellenization that each sect
absorbed. Some absorbed a lot, some a little and some hardly at all.
Let's look at the sects of Judaism that existed in the days of Jesus the
Christ. It has been obvious that none of them were keeping the true religion
and Laws of Moses.
The first sects to be examined will be the Essenes. This group represented
the sect which consumed the greatest amount of foreign doctrine. "Greek culture
must have had a powerful influence upon Palestine since the time of Alexander
the Great--it was not repressed until the Maccabean rising--it is only natural,
if we find actual proof of this influence of Hellenism in the circle of the
Essenes" (Schurer, The Jewish People in the Times of Jesus Christ, sec ii, vol
ii, pg. 218).
There were certain religious customs and beliefs of the Jewish sect of the
Essenes which were totally Hellenistic in origin. For one, "Josephus tells us
they accepted the doctrine of the immortality of the soul" (Antiquities of the
Jews, xviii, 1, 5). He mentions this foreign belief of the Essenes in several
places. Notice: "For their doctrines is this: that bodies are corruptible, and
that the matter they are made of is not permanent; but that the souls are
immortal, and continue forever....and is like the opinions of the Greeks, that
good souls have their souls beyond the oceans, etc." (Wars of the Jews, II pg.
11). Josephus goes on to say, speaking of the doctrine of the immortality of
the soul: "And indeed the Greeks seem to me to have followed the same notion"
(ibid.). Josephus further states, "the Essenes taught their doctrine as did the
Greeks. This doctrine is certainly of foreign origin, for no such doctrine is
found in Scripture" (ibid.). " The Essenes had always professed the purest
doctrines of Greek philosophy concerning the immortality of the soul" (Renan,
History of the People of Israel, vol v. pg. 56). "This particular teaching is
of itself proof of the influences of foreign philosophies" (Schurer, The Jewish
People in the Time of Jesus Christ, sec.ii, vol ii, pg. 214). And Josephus
states further, "If then only one sentence which Josephus says concerning the
anthropology of the Essenes is true, it is certain that their doctrine of man
is dualistic i.e. NON-JEWISH" (ibid.). There is no doubt that the Essenes
accepted the doctrine of the immortality of the soul from Hellenism and this
doctrine is completely foreign to scripture.
"The Essenes also adhered to the doctrine of asceticism--the doctrine of
perennial self-denial of even the good things of life. This belief as a
continuing custom (of self denial) is entirely alien to the teachings of the
Scripture. However, such practices were common among certain Greek sects and
Egyptian philosophies"(Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Ed., vol ii, pg. 717,720).
Because of this peculiar belief, (which the Apostle Paul condemned in
Colossians 2:23), "The Essenes developed themselves into monastic orders and
repudiated marriage" (Wars of the Jews, II, 8,2). No place in Scripture
commands an individual to withdraw into a monastery or nunnery and live a life
of celibatic asceticism. The New Testament teaches us not to withdraw ourselves
deliberately from society. "I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with
fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the
covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of
the world" (1 Cor. 5:9-10). God's Word also teaches us that marriage is
honorable and holy. "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but
whoremongers and adulterers God will judge" (Heb. 13:4).
While God's Temple was on this earth, the worshiper of God prayed facing
the Temple in Jerusalem. "Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant,
and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the
prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day: That thine eyes may be
open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast
said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which
thy servant shall make toward this place" (1 Kings 8: 28-29). Daniel prayed
three times a day in this manner. "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was
signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber
toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and
gave thanks before his God, as he did afore time" (Dan. 6:10). The Temple was
symbolically designed originally to be the residence of God and the people were
to sacrifice at the Temple and pray toward it.
The Essenes however, worshipped toward the sun. They omitted two
requirements of God which were obvious violations of Scripture. They refused to
sacrifice at the Temple, or anywhere for that matter and they did not face the
Temple when they prayed. "They worshipped toward the sun!" (Josephus, "Wars of
the Jews" ii, 8,9). This act was strictly forbidden in the Scriptures. "Then
said he unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Turn thee yet again, and
thou shalt see greater abominations than these. And he brought me into the
inner court of the LORD's house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the
LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with
their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and
they worshipped the sun toward the east" (Eze. 8:15-16). But nevertheless, the
Essenes turned their backs on the Temple and prayed towards the sun!
Relative to this esteem of the sun by the Essenes, Shurer writes that this
clearly "leads to the conclusion, that they were in real earnest in their
religious estimation of the sun. However this may be, the very turning to the
sun in prayer was contrary to Jewish customs and notions, which required the
turning to the temple and expressly repudiated the direction towards the sun as
HEATHENISH!" (The Jewish People in the Times of Christ, see ii vol. ii, pg.
213). Shurer adds: "Thus are we more and more driven to the view, that foreign
influence co-operated in the formation of the Essenes" (ibid., pg. 214).
Essenism was extreme Pharisaicism! We should not believe that Essenism, or
any of the sects of Judaism were completely heathen in doctrines in all
respects. What existed was a combining or blending of pagan doctrines with
certain teachings of the Scripture. The Essenes kept the Sabbath, circumcision,
and many of the other customs common to the Jews. They also kept many of the
traditional laws of the Pharisees. Schurer also tells us in his book "The
Jewish People in the Times of Jesus Christ" pg. 209, that the rigid religions
legalism of the Essenes and their care for ceremonial clean-ness, were
genuinely Pharisaic in origin. The Essenes were not a part of the popular
Pharisee sect. They were an entirely different and separate group. They may
have represented a group that began as a division of the Pharisaic sect and
broke away early after the religious anarchy ended. "Essenism then is in the
first place merely Pharisaicism in the superlative degree" (ibid.). The Essenes
completely separated himself from the multitude and formed exclusive societies,
and were actually more rigorous and exacting (if it were possible) than the
Pharisees as a whole. They even went beyond the Pharisaic commandments in
regard to ritualistically clean" (ibid. Pg. 210-211).
Thus this extreme Pharisaicism led to asceticism and their other peculiar
customs that most Jews completely disavowed! The Essenes went quit a bit
farther than the Pharisees in accepting outright many of the customs of the
heathen they learned while under Hellenism. There is no doubt that the Essenes
were recipients of many pagan doctrines and many of them came from Egyptian
Hellenism. "Essenism represents a Judaism of quite peculiarly blended
into-Pharisaic and Alexandrian view and appears in alliance with pagan
philosophy and with many rites of Egyptian priests" (Condor, "Judas
Maccabeans," pg. 208,210). The Essenes teachings were far from those of Moses!
"So Essenism can be understood only when regarded as a blending of Jewish and
Greek ideas" (Ency. Biblica, col. 2011).
The Truth About the Pharisees--- "like the Essenes, many of the Pharisees
had adopted the pagan belief in the immortality of the soul" (Josephus, "Wars
of the Jews," II, 8, 14). This doctrine is plainly recognized by scholars, to
have come from heathenism and not from Scripture. The Pharisees were not
willing to go as far as the Essenes in its complete pagan interpretation. Some
of the Pharisees seem to have had certain reservations concerning the new
doctrine. Josephus, himself a Pharisee and throughly acquainted with their
doctrines, makes a vague distinction between the Pharisee belief and that of
the Essenes. He says, "The Pharisee believed in an "immortal vigour" to be in
the body; while the Essenes believed outright in the immortality of the soul"
(Antiquities of the Jews, xviii, 1,3 & 4). There seems to be some doubt in some
of the Pharisees but most believed in it, but with varying degrees of
interpretation. The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is not taught in
Scripture! In fact the Scripture teaches the exact opposite. "Behold, all souls
are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is Mine: the
soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if the wicked will turn from all his sins
that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful
and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die" (Eze. 18:4,21). In the New
Testament we find, "Which in His times He shall shew, who is the blessed and
only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath
immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man
hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen" (1 Tim.
6:15-16).
Who were the Apocalyptists? These were a very minor religious group. The
name denotes those who supposedly reveal "hidden truths" or "secret doctrines."
These sects certainly differed from the major groups of Judaism. They did not
represent any large religious movements among the Jews. "The Apocalyptic
literature certainly represents an element in the Judaism of its time, but it
was an element of very minor importance compared with those of the Pharisees,
in which lay the real vitality and strength of Judaism! It is a fundamental
mistake to suppose that the Apocalyptic literature can explain what Judaism
really stood for, in that or any other age" (Herford, Judaism in the New
Testament Period, pg. 11).
The writings of these few individuals or religious sects were completely
rejected by the Jews. Some of the reasons for their rejection by the other
sects is because they were obviously contradictory with one another in many way
they were at variance with popular teachings of the Scripture. All the writings
of these Apocalyptists were written during or sometime after the period of the
religious anarchy. Some were written even as late as the First Century A.D.
"Their teachings on the whole, while having Jewish basis, reflect men's
opinions and ideas which were absorbed from Hellenism. The teachings of the
various book are extremely diverse. Strong elements of Hellenism are found in
some and in others to a lessor degree" (Ency. Biblica, col 2010, 2011). Some of
their teachings were directly influenced by Egyptian and Syrian Hellenism.
Their teachings represent those of some individuals teachers who, after the
religious anarchy, began to teach their own religious beliefs independent of
the Pharisees, but nonetheless, equally erroneous!
"Traces of Syrian Hellenism, which had been implanted among the less
educated masses, endured, and the victorious Judean people (after the
successful Maccabean Revolt) harbored a growing semi-Hellenism crowd who had
neither grasped the pure Hebraic faith nor received the pure Hellenic spirit.
This populace (certain leaders among them) fostered the apocalyptic literature
with its fantastic and yet somewhat materialistic spirituality, which, while it
was largely an expression of the Hebraic mind and a development of the
prophetic vision, shows a marked impress of foreign doctrine" (Bentwich,
Hellenism, pg. 335).
The principles behind the apocalyptic literature are an infusion of
certain Jewish beliefs with Hellenism. "The aspect that, that literature
presents is of so diversified a character that it is difficult to combine all
the different elements into one connected whole" (Schurer, "The Jewish People
in the Time of Jesus Christ," Sec .ii, Vol. iii, pg. 1).