Who were the Pharisees?
In the gospels, we read about Pharisees on a number of occasions. Most often, they are portrayed as legalistic nitpickers who plot against Jesus. Is this an accurate presentation?
One of the problems in gathering information about the Pharisees is the lack of ancient sources that mention them. The gospels are not the best sources of information about the Pharisees, since the first Christians likely found themselves in conflict with Pharasaic and rabbinic Judaism from early on. Such conflict would have significantly intensified after the destruction of the temple in 70 CE, when rabbinic Judaism began to become increasingly important. The ancient Jewish historian Josephus offers some discussion of Pharisees, but Josephus is often an untrustworthy source. His historical writings consistently reflect apologetic concerns, and he has no qualms about shaping his historical accounts to meet his own needs. There are rabbinic sources, as well, but these do not come from the time of the Pharisees. There is no extant text written by a Pharisee. Paul tells us that he was a Pharisee at one time (Phil 3.5), but, of course, he was not one at the time of his writing. Josephus likewise indicates ties to Pharisaic Judaism in his own past, but, even if he is telling the truth, he had long since left the Pharisaic group with which he had once associated.
Despite the difficulties with the sources that we do have, we can still derive certain information from these sources. The following statements about Pharisees can be made with relative certainty:
1) Pharisees comprised a lay group, the members of which were considered to be legal experts.
2) They had a special way of living that was based on their particular interpretation of the law.
3) They were especially interested in regulations related to ritual purity and tithing.
4) They believed in an afterlife and in a final judgment.
5) Unlike the members of the Qumran community, who were Essenes who withdrew to the shores of the Dead Sea and formed a sectarian group, the Pharisees lived and worked in mainstream society.
There were a number of different Jewish groups in Palestine during the first century. In fact, many scholars prefer to talk about "Judaisms," rather than "Judaism." Some Jews were Essenes, who, like the Pharisees, held to a very strict interpretation of the law. The Sadducees were a priestly group who worked in the temple. There were also Zealots, who believed that the best way to respond to the Jews' gentile overlords was through military force. The earliest followers of Jesus, who comprised a group that is sometimes referred to as the "Jesus movement," made up yet another form of Judaism. The Pharisees, then, were one Judaism among many. We might think of the them as comprising a "renewal movement," a group which set out to live in an exemplary manner in order to respond to its social, cultural, and religious environment. The members of this group tried to fulfill their religious responsibilities faithfully.
When we read the gospel accounts of the Pharisees, we should keep in mind that these accounts do not offer an "objective" picture of the Pharisees, but, rather, a view which has been shaped by conflict between early Christians and Pharisaic Jews. This is not to say that Jesus himself never came into conflict with the Pharisees, but that the gospel accounts, like all narrative remembrances of past events, have been shaped by the perspectives of those who have related the stories.
Source:
Freedman, David Noel, et al, eds.
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
