The Sadducees
The Sadducees, a small but very powerful sect, were the party of the aristocracy. They claimed the authority to interpret the religious law based on the promise of the priesthood to Aaron’s descendants and their link to Zadok, the high priest under David and Solomon.
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They claimed the lucrative role of intermediary between the Jewish people and their occupiers by the precedent established with the return from Babylon. Ezra was their classic model. Upon his arrival, Ezra was the authority on religious practice and the representative of the Persian government. With time the office of the high priest had ceased to be hereditary, but the priestly class still felt they should exercise those two roles.
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Representing Israel’s conquerors through the years—and their snobbery—brought the Sadducees the disdain of the common people, but their power held until challenged by the lay movement of the Pharisees. In the days of Jesus, being a Sadducee was tantamount to being a worldly-minded Epicurean.
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Generally speaking, the Sadducees were Deists at best. If they believed in a God, they didn’t believe he was involved in the events of this world. They sought political advantage with the world powers of their day rather than seeking God’s intervention. They did not believe in life after death nor spiritual beings. They rejected the Messianic hopes of the Pharisees.
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They were right in some respects. For example, they rejected the view that the Oral Law—the oral traditions and commentary of previous rabbis—should be equal in authority to the written scripture. They also insisted that First Fruits be counted from the weekly Sabbath following Passover, rather than from the Sabbath of Passover. This is supported by the Biblical injunction that First Fruits was always on the first day of the week. (This is important to Christians because Easter is the fulfillment of First Fruits.)
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They disappeared from history with the destruction of the temple, since its functions provided their basis for existence.
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