A
Brief History of Jewish Sects
by Yoseif Yaron
SECOND TEMPLE
A BRIEF HISTORY OF JEWISH SECTS > Page 1, 2, 3, 4
It is, however, during the time of the second temple up through the tenth century that is perhaps the most fertile period for the development of Jewish sects. The Roman occupation and the second Diaspora created an environment of great hardship, out of which people tried to escape their pain through religious zeal. As may be supposed, this provided a fertile ground for the growth of religious sects.
The foremost historian of the second temple period was Flavious Josephus. Flavious Josephus is a very controversial figure, and there is much that has been written about the historical accuracy of his accounts. That, however, is another topic. Other primary sources that detail information about sects of the second temple are: the Talmud, Mishna and Tosepta - the 'Abot de Rabbi Nathan, the Christian scriptures. Modern archaeology is also a good source of information on second temple sects.
From Josephus, we know of five major sects: Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots and Sicarii. Josephus divides those sects into three groups: Philosophical (religious), nationalist, and criminal. Of those listed, according to Josephus, the first three are religious:
For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews. The followers of the first of which are the Pharisees; of the second, the Sadducees; and the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essenes (Bellum Judaeum [Wars of the Jews] 1 chapter 8.2).
The Zealots and Sicarii, described as political or criminal factions by Josephus, were groups of extreme nationalists. Their religious beliefs were inseparable from their political convictions. This is not to say that the Pharisees and Sadducees were not political. All of the sects of the second temple were political, and religious; there was no separation between the two. The Czeczan rebels in Russia are a good example of a modern group that is inseparably religious and nationalist, much like the Sicarii, or Zealots.
The Pharisees, Sadducees and Essenes are well known to many people. Most historians, though there is some debate about this,2 consider the Pharisees to be the forefathers of the Rabbis. The Pharisees were unique in their belief in an oral law, complementary to the Law of Moses in the Torah. This was one of the key differences between the Pharisees and other sects, as Josephus points out in AJ:
What I would now explain is this, that the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the laws of Moses; and for that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them, and say that we are to esteem those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers (AJ 13.297f)
The Sadducees are described by Josephus mostly in contrast to the Pharisees. As observed in the passage above, the Sadducees are those who reject the observances not written in the Law of Moses. See also the passages below:
Now for the Pharisees, (11) they say that some actions, but not all, are the work of fate, and some of them are in our own power, and that they are liable to fate, but are not caused by fate… And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal; but they suppose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the causes of what is good, and receive what is evil from our own folly (AJ 13, book 5.9)
In as much as the Sadducees were defined mainly by their strict adherence to the law of Moses as the only legitimate source of Jewish law, they have often been thought of as the progenitors of the Karaites. No conclusive historical evidence, however, exists to prove this contention.
The Essenes are described at length by Josephus in BJ:
These last [the Essenes] are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater affection for one another than the other sects have. These Essenes reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence, and the conquest over our passions, to be virtue. They neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons children, while they are pliable, and fit for learning, and esteem them to be of their kindred, and form them according to their own manners. They do not absolutely deny the fitness of marriage, and the succession of mankind thereby continued; but they guard against the lascivious behavior of women, and are persuaded that none of them preserve their fidelity to one man (BJ book II 8.2).
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