The Pharisees

Zeal for the Law

A devout and influential group, frequent conversation partners and opponents of Jesus, yet from them came Nicodemus and Paul.

Set apart for holiness

The Pharisees appear in history in the second century BC, under the Hasmonean kings, descendants of the Maccabees. Josephus first mentions them, alongside the Sadducees and Essenes, when narrating the rule of Jonathan, around 145 BC (Jewish Antiquities 13). The name probably comes from the Hebrew perushim, “separated ones”, but we do not know whether it was a nickname given by opponents or a title they took for themselves. Most were not priests or a hereditary elite: they were laymen, some craftsmen and merchants, others scholars linked to the class of scribes. What united them was a project: to carry the holiness God required in the Temple into the whole life of Israel, at home, in the fields, in the market. For them the Law of Moses was not a distant code but the daily path of a people called to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6).

Among kings and queens: a political story

The Pharisees did not live by study alone. The king and high priest John Hyrcanus, who ruled until 104 BC, broke with them after a Pharisee questioned his right to the high priesthood, and turned to the Sadducees (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 13). His son Alexander Jannaeus fought a civil war and, according to Josephus, had eight hundred opponents crucified; many historians think Pharisees were among them. The turning point came with Jannaeus’s widow, Queen Salome Alexandra (76–67 BC): she held the title, Josephus notes, but the Pharisees actually ruled. Under Herod they numbered more than six thousand and refused to swear loyalty to the king and to Caesar. This history explains why, in Jesus’ day, they did not control the Temple but enjoyed enormous popular prestige: the people, says Josephus, trusted them in matters of prayer and worship.

The tradition of the fathers

The most distinctive feature of the Pharisees, according to Josephus, was handing on to the people rules that came from “the tradition of the fathers” and were not written in the Law of Moses (Jewish Antiquities 13). The Gospels call it the tradition of the elders (Mark 7:3). The idea is more reasonable than it sounds: the Law commands keeping the Sabbath but does not define work; it commands tithing but does not say exactly of what. The traditions filled those gaps and applied the Law to real life. The Pharisees also believed in the resurrection of the dead, in angels and spirits, and in a future judgment (Acts 23:8), and they held together God’s providence and human responsibility. Josephus describes them as the most precise interpreters of the Law, and Paul speaks of the strictest sect of the Jewish religion (Acts 26:5). Later, part of these traditions, developed by the rabbis, was gathered in the Mishnah around AD 200.

A pure table and the tithe

Many scholars think the Pharisees’ practical hallmark was the table. They tried to eat everyday meals in a state of purity the Law required of priests in the Temple, washing hands before eating and taking care with cups, pitchers and utensils (Mark 7:3-4). They were also meticulous about tithing, setting aside a tenth even of seasoning herbs such as mint and cumin (Matthew 23:23), and they avoided eating with people they were not sure had tithed. How far these practices went is debated, and we do not know how many followed them to the letter. But they explain why it was shocking to see Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinners (Mark 2:16): for a Pharisee, the table was a place of holiness and of boundaries. Jesus does not despise purity; he moves it to the heart and opens the table to outsiders.

Hillel, Shammai and the art of disagreement

Around the turn of the era, two teachers gave their names to the main Pharisaic schools: Hillel, remembered for gentleness, and Shammai, for strictness. Rabbinic literature records hundreds of debates between the House of Hillel and the House of Shammai. One of them sheds direct light on the Gospels. According to the Mishnah, the school of Shammai allowed divorce only for serious indecency, while the school of Hillel allowed it even if the wife spoiled a meal (Gittin 9:10). When Pharisees ask Jesus whether divorce is lawful for any reason (Matthew 19:3), they are probably bringing up this debate. Jesus does not pick a side: he goes back to the design of creation. A later tradition says Hillel summed up the Law this way: what is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor; the rest is commentary (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a). Jesus gives the same rule in a positive, more demanding form (Matthew 7:12).

Jesus and the Pharisees: conflict between neighbors

The Gospels record sharp clashes over the Sabbath, purity, table fellowship and Jesus’ authority to forgive sins. Matthew 23 gathers severe woes against hypocritical scribes and Pharisees. But the picture is not one of distant enemies. Jesus dines in Pharisees’ homes (Luke 7:36; 14:1), some warn him that Herod wants to kill him (Luke 13:31), and Matthew 23 itself opens by acknowledging that they sit on Moses’ seat (Matthew 23:2-3). Jesus argues with them because they share the same questions: how do we truly obey God? His hard words follow the line of the prophets, who criticized Israel from within. Rabbinic literature itself condemns fake Pharisees: the Talmud lists seven kinds of Pharisee, nearly all examples of showy religion. Jesus’ critique targets hypocrisy, a danger for every religious person, not a people or an entire group.

Nicodemus, Gamaliel, Paul and what came after

Some of the most striking figures of the New Testament come from among the Pharisees. Nicodemus seeks Jesus at night and calls him a teacher come from God (John 3:1-2); later he brings myrrh and aloes to bury him (John 19:39). Gamaliel, Hillel’s grandson according to tradition, defends the apostles in the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:34). His most famous student, Saul of Tarsus, says he was a blameless Pharisee as to righteousness under the Law (Philippians 3:5-6) and, as an apostle, still calls himself a Pharisee while defending the resurrection (Acts 23:6). Acts mentions Pharisees who believed in Jesus (Acts 15:5). After the Temple was destroyed in 70, the Sadducees vanished, and the sages who largely inherited the Pharisaic tradition shaped rabbinic Judaism. That is why using “Pharisee” as a synonym for hypocrite is unfair to history and impoverishes our reading: Jesus’ warning speaks to every religious reader.

Did you know?

• Under Herod, more than six thousand Pharisees refused to swear loyalty to Caesar and the king. Their fine was paid by the wife of Pheroras, Herod’s brother. Josefo, Antiguidades Judaicas 17
• Josephus sums up Queen Salome Alexandra’s reign by saying she had the title, but the Pharisees had the power. Josefo, Guerra Judaica 1
• Josephus himself, a priest, says that at age 19 he began to conduct his public life following the school of the Pharisees. Josefo, Vida 12
• Rabbinic tradition tells that a Gentile asked Hillel to teach him the whole Law while standing on one foot. Hillel replied: what is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor; the rest is commentary. Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a (later tradition)
• The Talmud also criticizes fake Pharisees: it lists seven kinds of Pharisee, and nearly all of them are examples of showy religion. Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 22b

Where this shows up in the Bible

• Marcos 7:1-5: Washing hands before eating was not a hygiene rule but a matter of ritual purity: the Pharisees applied to the home table precautions designed for priests. Mark explains the custom to non-Jewish readers. Jesus does not attack God’s Law, but human tradition placed above the commandment, and he moves purity to the heart.
• Mateus 19:3-9: The question about divorce for any reason echoes the debate between the schools of Hillel, more permissive, and Shammai, stricter. The Pharisees want to know which side Jesus is on. He refuses to play the game of exceptions and goes back to the beginning: God joined man and woman, and Moses’ concession arose from hardness of heart.
• Mateus 23:23-26: Tithing mint and cumin meant taking the Law seriously down to the details. Jesus does not tell them to drop that: he says they should do one without neglecting the other. The problem is reversing priorities, cleaning the outside of the cup while forgetting justice, mercy and faithfulness, which are the heart of the Law.
• Lucas 13:31: A detail that often goes unnoticed: it is Pharisees who warn Jesus that Herod Antipas wants to kill him. Whether out of sincere concern or to get him to leave, the gesture breaks the image of a hostile bloc. Luke shows Pharisees who invite Jesus to dinner, argue with him and even try to protect him.
• João 3:1-2: Nicodemus is a Pharisee and one of the people’s leaders. He comes at night, perhaps out of caution, perhaps to talk without hurry, and begins by acknowledging that Jesus comes from God. His path through the Gospel, from the night conversation to his defense in the council and the burial, shows that faith can grow slowly inside a sincere Pharisee.
• Filipenses 3:5-6: Paul is not ashamed of having been a Pharisee: he lists it among his credentials, with the tribe of Benjamin and zeal for the Law. What changes is the value he gives all of it in light of Christ. His story shows that faith in Jesus did not arise against Pharisaic Judaism, but also from within it.

To go deeper

• Flavius Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, books 13, 17 and 18
• Flavius Josephus, Jewish War, book 2 (the Jewish schools)
• Mishnah, tractates Avot and Gittin (c. AD 200)
• E. P. Sanders, Jewish Law from Jesus to the Mishnah (1990)
• Anthony J. Saldarini, Pharisees, Scribes and Sadducees in Palestinian Society (1988)
• Jacob Neusner and Bruce Chilton (eds.), In Quest of the Historical Pharisees (2007)

Where to read in the Bible

• Matthew 23
• Acts 23:6

Connections

• linked to The Essenes and Qumran · factual · Documento de Damasco (CD) 11:13–14; Matthew 12:11
• linked to The Sabbath and Purity · factual · Marcos 2:24
• linked to Jesus of Nazareth · stated in the text · Matthew 23
• linked to Nicodemus · stated in the text · John 3:1
• linked to Paul · stated in the text · Acts 23:6
• linked to The woman caught in adultery · stated in the text · John 8:3
• linked to The Pharisee and the Tax Collector · editorial reading · Luke 18:11
• linked to The withered hand · stated in the text · Mark 3:6

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