Teachers: the objective of this lesson is to expand students' awareness of the Sadducees religious nature and convictions. This religious group of Jews often heard Jesus teach. Without question, they were aware of his work and teachings in Jerusalem and in the temple area. No evidence suggests that a Sadducee or a group within the Sadducees responded positively to Jesus. Individual Pharisees and groups within the Pharisees responded positively to Jesus, but there is no specific evidence that a Sadducee did. (Little material exits, so a lack of evidence is not proof that no response occurred.) Sadducees stressed humanity's material nature with little emphasis on humanity's spiritual nature. They were receptive to Hellenistic influences that Greek culture brought to Judaism's culture and religion.
As with the Pharisees, differing views exist regarding the origin of the Sadducees. The Babylonian captivity of the kingdom of Judah [Old Testament], produced a major transition in Judaism. The kingdom of Judah maintained a basic loyalty to the Temple. They also maintained at least the semblance of God's priesthood. Prior to the Babylonian captivity, that priesthood was Israel's religious authority. They (a) conducted sacrificial worship and (b) interpreted and declared the Law. Seemingly, these rights were unquestioned.
Prior to the Babylonian captivity, the priests held a prosperous, prestigious position in Israel's political and religious structure. They received a portion of most gifts and sacrifices given at the temple. That produced incredible material opportunities. They held a high profile position in a religious nation. They occupied a powerful role in the religious life of a religious society.
Judah's Babylonian captivity threatened their continued existence as a distinct people. It threatened their identity in a unique manner. The Law was specific: sacrificial worship could occur at a single, designated place (see Deuteronomy 12:5,11,13,14). Prior to King David's reign in Jerusalem, that correct place was determined by the tabernacle's location. Sacrificial worship occurred at the tabernacle's site. When David located the ark of the covenant in Jerusalem (see 2 Samuel 6), the proper site became Jerusalem. When Solomon built and dedicated the temple, Jerusalem became the permanent site for sacrificial worship (see 1 Kings 8).
The Babylonian captivity literally threatened the existence of Israelites as a people. It was common for a conquered, displaced people to be assimilated into the culture of the conquerors. Through the process of assimilation and intermarriage, the conquered could disappear as a distinct people. It happened so frequently that it took something extraordinary to prevent it.
The Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the temple, and they exiled Judah's people to Babylon. That produced a critical religious crisis. Judah could not engage in sacrificial worship in Babylon. Being in Babylon made this form of worship impossible. The crisis increased. The priests had no place to function, no daily sacrifices to offer. Without sacrificial worship and a functioning priesthood, how could these Israelites maintain their identity? How could they return to a proper relationship with God? What were the priests to do?
The city of Jerusalem and the temple could not preserve Judah as God's people. Both no longer existed. The issue was simple: what could preserve their identity, customs, and relationship with God? How could those be passed from one generation of Israelites to the next?
Obviously, good decisions were made. Because of these good decisions, Israel maintained its identity. The common conclusion is this: the Jewish synagogue evolved in Judah's Babylonian experience. The synagogue did not exist to replace or [later] rival the temple. Its purpose was [and is] distinct from the purpose and function of the temple.
The synagogue was the means for the religious and cultural survival of the Israelite people.
The synagogue served two purposes. (a) Since the temple was unavailable to Judah, the synagogue functioned as a place of prayer. Prayer was not substituted for sacrifice, but prayer sustained Judah because acceptable sacrifice was impossible. Certainly, Israelites prayed before the Babylonian captivity. The synagogue coordinated and intensified their prayer activity as Judah survived in a foreign environment and culture.
Students should understand that the synagogue never existed as a substitute for the temple or as a rival to the temple. The synagogue and the temple [later] would be supportive, compatible institutions that served different roles and functions within Israel's society. Acts 6:9 states synagogues existed in Jerusalem when the temple did function.
(b) Since the priesthood could not function as they did prior to the captivity, the synagogue became the place for teaching Israelites on a weekly basis. It was a place of prayer and a place of learning. Since it was not restricted to a single location, any Jewish community could maintain a synagogue. More than anything else, the synagogue provided the Israelite people with a "vehicle" to preserve their identity and educate each generation in God's laws.
If Israelites could acknowledge on a weekly basis (a) their dependence on God and (b) God's role in their lives, and if they could continue communicating their laws, they could retain their identity even in their separation from their homeland.
That background is provided to make this point. Many think the Sadducees had their roots in the evolution of the synagogue system. In Jesus' day, commonly the priests were Sadducees. The Sadducees controlled the temple's area and functions. From the period prior to Jesus' birth continuing through Jesus' life, a Sadducee was commonly the high priest.
Sadducees were the aristocrats of Jerusalem. They exercised considerable power in the Jerusalem Sanhedrin, Israel's most powerful court. They accepted laws and teachings only from the first five books of the Old Testament. They were not popular as a religious party. After the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, they ceased to exist.
Though the "how" may not be documentable, the Sadducees' connection with the priesthood of ages past is likely. That should sober us. They were arguably the most religious people in the nation [if you determine being "religious" by a conservative interpretation of the law and by worship]. Yet, they were materialists who seriously questioned a person's spiritual nature.
Most references to the Sadducees are found in Matthew [the gospel written for Jewish readers] and Acts [with a focus on their opposition to Christianity]. Mark and Luke mention them once [the same incident].
While the Sadducees were religiously significant in Jesus' lifetime, aside from occasionally being his opponents, they were not prominent in his ministry. The Pharisees were. The Pharisees were more popular and had greater public influence than the Sadducees. The Sadducees had power and prestige, but little popularity and influence.
Read Acts 23:6-8. Background: Paul was on trial in the Jerusalem Sanhedrin. He knew the verdict was determined before the trial. He deliberately divided this powerful court.
"Brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!"
His statement set the Pharisees in opposition to the Sadducees. It created dissension between the two groups within the court.
The Sadducees rejected resurrection, angels, and spirits. The Pharisees accepted the existence of all three.
Read Acts 4:1-3. Background: Peter healed a lame man in the temple area (chapter 3). This healing created a teaching opportunity. He taught about the resurrected Jesus. The Sadducees, the priests, and the temple guard heard what Paul said.
Peter and John were emphasizing the reality of Jesus' resurrection. Verification of resurrection distressed them.
With force, they put them in jail.
Read Acts 5:17-32. Background: the apostles continued preaching Jesus' resurrection after the court placed an injunction on Peter and John to cease preaching about Jesus. All of the apostles were arrested and placed on trial.
The high priest and Sadducees were associates.
Read Matthew 3:7-10. Background: John, Jesus' forerunner, taught in the wilderness and baptized repenting people for the forgiveness of sins (see Mark 1:4). Multitudes came to hear John and to be baptized. The crowds included Pharisees and Sadducees.
They came for baptism.
He did not commend them for coming. He said repentance had nothing to do with their decision to seek baptism. Their confidence was determined by the fact that they were the physical descendants of Abraham. They did not bear "good fruit" spiritually, and therefore they [as an orchard tree] would soon be cut down.
Their desire to be baptized reflected no commitment to redirect their lives. Repentance was not their motive. John said their motives were unacceptable.
Read Matthew 16:1-12. Jesus cautioned against the Pharisees and Sadducees' leaven.
Their teaching was their leaven (yeast).
Read Matthew 22:23-33. Background: In the last week of Jesus' earthly life, Jerusalem's religious leaders were determined to discredit him and his teachings.
The widow of a childless marriage was to be married by a brother of the deceased (Deuteronomy 25:5,6). The law commanded Israelites not to sell their land. Land was not permanently sold. It was inherited. It had to stay in the family. Such marriages kept the land in the same families.
Such a widow was married in succession to seven brothers [each dying childless]. The Sadducees viewed life after death as a continuation of physical existence. They asked whose wife this widow would be after death. She was wife to all seven before death.
He said they were mistaken in their view because they did not understand the scripture nor God's power.
God said "I am" [present tense] the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since these three men were not physically alive at the same time, life after death had to be real. If God is the God of all three at the same moment, all three had to exist at the same moment.
Link to Student Guide
Quarter 1, Lesson 4