The People of Palestine at the Time of Jesus

During the lifetime of Jesus the population of Palestine was incredibly diverse. Even among Jewish people there was no single, unified system of beliefs or practices. Still, there were certain things that almost all Jewish people believed: there is only one God, and this God had chosen them to be an elect and holy people, distinct from all other peoples or nations on earth; also, God had made a covenant with them and given them the Torah. Accordingly, they lived in ways that set them apart from those who were not God’s people: they practiced circumcision, kept the Sabbath, observed dietary restrictions, and committed themselves to certain standards of morality (e.g., the Ten Commandments). Beyond these basics, however, the Jewish people in the time of Jesus were quite diverse. And, of course, not everyone in Palestine was Jewish (see Matt. 15:21–28; Luke 3:14; John 4:5–9).

Pharisees

The Pharisees may be the best known of the Jewish sects to readers of the New Testament. In many Gospel stories they are the opponents of Jesus, and often they are portrayed as narrow-minded legalists (Matt. 23:23– 24) or even as hypocrites who don’t follow their own teaching (Matt. 23:3). Such an understanding, however, would be incomplete (at best), representing a hostile assessment of how Christians (who became their religious competitors) believed some Pharisees behaved some of the time. In a broader sense, the Pharisees were noted for emphasizing faithfulness to Torah, including the study of Scripture and obedience to God’s demands. They were the Jews who founded synagogues throughout the land and encouraged every Jewish person to participate in prayer, Bible study, and regular worship.

The Pharisees also assigned authoritative status to an oral body of material known as “the tradition of the elders” (see Matt. 15:2), which eventually became codified within Judaism as the Mishnah (part of the Talmud). Their interpretations of the law seem to have been driven by a conviction that all of God’s people should live with the utmost sanctity.

They urged laypeople to follow the same purity regulations in their daily lives that were expected of priests serving in the temple, the idea being that (in some sense) every house was a temple, every table was an altar, and every man was a priest. For example, the Pharisees and their followers practiced handwashings originally designated for temple service before eating any meal (see Matt. 15:2; cf. Mark 7:3–4).

Many Pharisees appear to have been scribes, and it is possible that some New Testament references to “the scribes” refer to scribes who were Pharisees (cf. Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30; Acts 23:9). The same is probably true of the “lawyers” whom we hear about now and then (cf.

Matt. 22:35; Luke 11:45); they were experts in the law (i.e., Torah) and thus probably were Pharisees. Many Pharisees were synagogue leaders, and some are referred to as “rabbis”—that is, teachers (cf. Matt. 23:6–8). Jesus (who also is called “rabbi”) probably had more in common with the Pharisees than with any other Jewish group of his day, which could explain why most of his arguments were with them: they had enough in common to make debate possible. The apostle Paul was raised a Pharisee and continued to regard himself as a Pharisee even after he became a missionary for Christ (see Phil. 3:5).

Sadducees

The Sadducees probably were the most powerful Jewish group of the day. They figure less prominently in our Gospel stories because they appear to have been centered in Jerusalem, and Jesus spends most of his time in Galilee (but see Mark 12:18–23). They seem to have controlled the temple system and often dominated the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling body. The high priest and the chief priests whom we hear about in the New Testament probably were Sadducees. Pharisees and Sadducees were able to cooperate with one another on matters of common interest, but they were divided over a number of theological and political issues.

For example, it is said that the Sadducees did not believe in life after death and that they were skeptical of nonbiblical stories regarding angels and demons. They regarded only the Pentateuch (the first five books of our Old Testament) as sacred Scripture and viewed the other books that Jews and Christians now consider to

be Scripture simply as religious writings. Whereas Pharisees were teachers who emphasized Torah and synagogues, the Sadducees were priests who focused on sacrifices and temple worship. On the crucial matter of interaction with Rome, the Sadducees appear to have been more willing than the Pharisees to compromise on political matters as long as the temple and sacrificial system could continue unabated.

Pharisees	Sadducees
generally middle class	mainly upper class
power base outside Jerusalem	power base in Jerusalem
closely associated with synagogues	closely associated with the temple
primarily teachers and scholars	primarily priests
theologically committed to maintaining Israel’s relationship with God through obedience to the law	theologically committed to maintaining Israel’s relationship with God through the sacrificial system
accepted as Scripture most of what Christians call the “Old Testament”	accepted only the Torah (Pentateuch) as Scripture
believed in resurrection of humans to a life beyond death	did not believe in resurrection to a life beyond death
recognized existence of spiritual beings, including angels and demons	skeptical of beliefs regarding different spiritual beings
regarded as social moderates who objected to imposition of Roman authority but did not advocate armed revolt against the Roman powers	regarded as social conservatives who sought collaboration with Roman authorities in ways that would ensure their own place in the status quo
prominent Pharisees: Shammai (strict interpretations of law), Hillel (more lenient interpretations of law)	prominent Sadducees: Caiaphas and Annas, identified as high priests during the lifetime of Jesus
In the New Testament they argue with Jesus over matters of law but are only peripherally connected to the plot to have Jesus put to death	In the New Testament they are the primary architects of the plot to have Jesus put to death
the primary forebears of modern Judaism	disappear from history after the disastrous Jewish war with Rome in 66–73 CE

 Essenes

The Essenes were ascetic separatists who lived in private communities. They probably are to be connected with the group that lived in the desert at Qumran and preserved the library now known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Essenes advocated strict dietary laws and other rigorous paths to holiness, including, for some of their members, a commitment to celibacy; they also practiced ritual baths and sacred meals similar to the Christian sacraments of baptism and Eucharist.

They espoused messianic beliefs and harbored apocalyptic ideas about imminent judgment and divine deliverance. The Essenes are never mentioned in the New Testament, and there is no sure indication that any New Testament figure knew about them or had any contact with them. Nevertheless, scholars like to compare

and contrast Essene beliefs and practices with those of Christianity. In particular, John the Baptist has been evaluated in this light: like the Essenes, he lived in the wilderness, called for radical repentance, and baptized people. It is impossible to know for sure, but most scholars today find no direct evidence to suggest that John was an Essene (or had ever been one), but he may have been influenced by some of their ideas.

Zealots

The Zealots were radical anti-Roman Jews who advocated armed rebellion against the Roman forces. Their numbers included the sicarii, knife-wielding assassins who mingled in with crowds and stabbed Jews suspected of collaborating with the Romans. Ultimately, the Zealots and their sympathizers would be responsible for leading the Jews into a disastrous war against Rome in 66–73 CE. They probably are not mentioned in the New Testament itself, though one of Jesus’s disciples was called “Simon the Zealot” (the term could simply

mean “Simon the zealous one”). The Zealots may not have appeared as an organized force in Palestine until a few years after the time of Jesus.

Herodians

The Herodians were a political coalition of Jews who supported the family and dynasty of Herod, which included many Roman leaders who ruled various areas of Palestine at various times. In the New Testament they are mentioned as collaborating with Pharisees to trip up Jesus politically and to establish grounds for having him banished or destroyed (see Mark 3:6; 12:13).

Samaritans

The Samaritans lived primarily in Samaria, the region situated between Judea (where Jerusalem was) and Galilee (where Jesus lived and conducted most of his ministry; see map 1.2). They claimed that they were the true Israel (descendants of the “lost” tribes taken into Assyrian captivity around 722 BCE) and that the Jews represented a heretical splinter group that had gotten its start when Eli set up a rival sanctuary in Shiloh (see 1 Sam. 1:3). The Samaritans had their own temple on Mount Gerizim and claimed that it was the original sanctuary; they regarded the temple in Jerusalem as a secondary sanctuary built by heretics (see John 4:19–22).

They did not accept anything as Scripture but the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible), and they had their own version of the Pentateuch, which differed at key points from that of the Jews (e.g., one of the Ten Commandments states that the Lord is to be worshiped only on Mount Gerizim). The Samaritans claimed that their version of the Pentateuch was the original and that the Jews had a falsified text produced by Ezra during the Babylonian exile.

According to the Jews, the Samaritans were not children of Israel at all; rather, they were either descendants of foreign colonists whom the Assyrians had brought into the land after the conquest in 722 BCE or, at best, the offspring of Israelites who had forsaken their traditions and intermarried with foreigners. Both Jewish and Samaritan religious leaders taught that it was wrong to have any contact with the opposite group.

Ideally, Jews and Samaritans were not to enter each other’s territories or even to speak to one another. During the New Testament period, however, Samaria was under Roman rule, and the Romans did not recognize Samaria and Judea as separate countries; they simply grouped them together (along with Idumea) as one realm with a single ruler. The Jewish Roman historian Josephus reports numerous violent confrontations between Jews and Samaritans throughout the first half of the first century.

In the New Testament Jesus often is represented as having a compassionate, if not friendly, attitude toward Samaritans: he surprises a Samaritan woman by engaging her in conversation (John 4:3–26), and he even points to individual Samaritans as good examples for his Jewish followers to emulate (Luke 10:30–37; 17:11– 19). The book of Acts indicates that some Samaritans became Christians (Acts 8:5–17).

Gentiles

Gentiles are people who are not Jews. They were also prominent in Palestine at this time. Large numbers of Romans, Greeks, and Persians had moved into the area and settled there, contributing to the urbanization of traditionally rural areas.

Indeed, the two largest cities in Galilee at the time of Jesus were Tiberias and Sepphoris, but Jesus is never said to visit either one of them. As he travels about the countryside, he demonstrates an obvious preference for villages, completely avoiding the large urban centers, where most of the gentiles lived. Jewish attitudes toward gentiles varied: among the Pharisees, Rabbi Shammai is reported to have espoused intolerance of gentiles, whereas Rabbi Hillel is said to have been more

conciliatory. The evidence on Jesus is mixed (for a negative attitude toward gentiles, see Matt. 6:7; 10:5; 18:17; 20:25–26; for a positive attitude, see Matt. 8:5–13). Even Paul, who devoted the latter part of his life to bringing salvation to the gentiles, does not always seem to have thought highly of them (see, e.g., Rom. 1:18– 32).

The attitude of gentiles toward Jews was also somewhat varied. Anti- Semitism was high, with many gentiles (including those who lived in Palestine) openly hating Jews and despising their culture, customs, and religion. But there were also a good number of gentiles who were attracted to the Jewish religion. Of particular interest to New Testament study are those gentiles who were called “God-fearers.” The God-fearers were half-converts—gentiles who embraced Jewish theology, worship, and morality but did not follow ritual purity laws, which they regarded as specific for ethnic Jews. They were allowed to attend synagogues, but typically they were not circumcised (which would have constituted a full conversion and made them “Jews”). Eventually, these God-fearers became prime candidates for conversion to Christianity (see Acts 10:1–2).