A prominent religious sect of Judaism existing in the first century C.E. According to some scholars, the name literally means “Separated Ones; Separatists,” referring perhaps to avoidance of ceremonial uncleanness or to separation from Gentiles. Just when the Pharisees had their beginning is not precisely known. The writings of the Jewish historian Josephus indicate that in the time of John Hyrcanus I (latter half of the second century B.C.E.) the Pharisees already formed an influential body. Wrote Josephus: “And so great is their influence with the masses that even when they speak against a king or high priest, they immediately gain credence.”—Jewish Antiquities, XIII, 288 (x,*5).
Josephus also provides details concerning the beliefs of the Pharisees. He observes: “They believe that souls have power to survive death and that there are rewards and punishments under the earth for those who have led lives of virtue or vice: eternal imprisonment is the lot of evil souls, while the good souls receive an easy passage to a new life.” (Jewish Antiquities, XVIII, 14 [i,*3]) “Every soul, they maintain, is imperishable, but the soul of the good alone passes into another body, while the souls of the wicked suffer eternal punishment.” Regarding their ideas about fate or providence, Josephus reports: “[They] attribute everything to Fate and to God; they hold that to act rightly or otherwise rests, indeed, for the most part with men, but that in each action Fate co-operates.”—The Jewish War, II, 162, 163 (viii,*14).
Jesus declared that the scribes, like the Pharisees, had added many things, making the Law burdensome for the people to follow, loading the people down. Furthermore, as a class, they had no genuine love for the people nor did they desire to help them, being unwilling to use a finger to lighten the people’s burdens. They loved the plaudits of men and high-sounding titles. Their religion was a front, a ritual, and they were hypocrites. Jesus showed how difficult their attitude and practices had made it for them to come into God’s favor, saying to them: “Serpents, offspring of vipers, how are you to flee from the judgment of Gehenna?” (Mt 23:1-33) The scribes were heavily responsible, for they knew the Law. Yet they took away the key of knowledge. They were not content with refusing to acknowledge Jesus, of whom their copies of the Scriptures testified, but they added to their reprehensibility by fighting bitterly to keep anyone else from acknowledging him, yes, from listening to Jesus.—Lu 11:52; Mt 23:13; Joh 5:39; 1Th 2:14-16.
