With the temple, religious practice was centralized in one location. Making the law central allowed the religion of Israel to "travel." In other words, one could practice the law anywhere, but one couldn't practice temple worship without a temple.
In religious practice that centered on the law, sacrifice was no longer central. Rather, obedience had, to a great extent, taken the place of sacrifice.
When the temple was rebuilt, the law came to stand alongside temple worship.
The Law served to mark off Israel from other nations. It was the sign and seal of Israel's special relationship with God. It also demonstrated the covenant and Israel's hope of deliverance.
The exile and the new importance of the law served to create a new set of social relationships. In the system in which worship in the temple was primary, priests enjoyed a place of particular importance. However, in the system in which the law was primary, the importance of the priests was diminished, and the interpreters of the law (the scribes) became much more significant.
Because of this dynamic, two groups had emerged with clear definition by the time of Jesus: (1) The Sadducees, who were priests who came from priestly families. This was a temple-centered group. (2) The Pharisees, who lived according to a very specific interpretation of the law. Unlike the Sadducees, who worked in the temple, the Pharisees worked out in the community. In the NT, and especially in the Gospel of Matthew, the Pharisees are depicted in a very poor light. However, this depiction has a great deal to do with the conflict which arose between rabbinic (Pharasaic) groups and Christians after the destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 CE. After this catastrophic event, the rabbis came to occupy a position of singular importance, because Judaism, once again, had to turn to the law for religious practice and self-definition.
Law
