Reference: Pharisees
American
A numerous and dominant sect of the Jews, agreeing on some main points of doctrine and practice, but divided into different parties or schools on minor points; as for instance, the schools or followers of Hillel and Shammai, who were celebrated rabbins or teachers. The name is commonly derived from the Hebrew purash, to separate, as though they were distinguished form the rest of the nation by their superior wisdom and sanctity. They first appeared as a sect after the return of the Jews from captivity. In respect to their tenets, although they esteemed the written books of the old Testament as the sources of the Jewish religion, yet they also attributed great and equal authority to traditional precepts relating principally to external rites: as ablutions, fasting, long prayers, the distribution of alms, the avoiding of all intercourse with Gentiles and publicans, etc. See Mt 6:5; 9:11; 23:5; Mr 7:4; Lu 18:12. In superstitious and self-righteous formalism they strongly resembled the Romish church. They were rigid interpreters of the letter of the Mosaic law, but not infrequently violated the spirit of it by their traditional and philosophical interpretations. See Mt 5:31,43; 12:2; 19:3; 23:23. Their professed sanctity and close adherence to all the external forms of piety gave them great favor and influence with the common people, and especially among the female part of the community. They believed with the Stoics, that all things and events were controlled by fate yet not so absolutely as entirely to destroy the liberty of the human will. They considered the soul as immortal, and held the doctrine of a future resurrection of the body, Ac 23:8. It is also supposed by some that they admitted the doctrine of metempsychosis or the transmigration of souls; but no allusion is made to this in the New Testament, nor does Josephus assert it. In numerous cases Christ denounced the Pharisees for their pride and covetousness, their ostentation in prayers, alms, tithes, and facts, Mt 6:2,5; Lu 18:9, and their hypocrisy in employing the garb of religion to cover the profligacy of their dispositions and conduct; as Mt 23; Lu 16:14; Joh 7:48-49; 8:9. By his faithful reproofs he early incurred their hatred, Mt 12:14; they eagerly sought to destroy him, and his blood was upon them and their children. On the other hand, there appear to have been among them individuals of probity, and even of genuine piety; as in the case of Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, the aged Simeon, etc., Mt 27:57; Lu 2:25; Joh 3:1. Saul of Tarsus was a Pharisee of the strictest sect, Ac 26:5; Ga 1:14. The essential features of their character are still common in Christian lands, and are no less odious to Christ than of old.
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"It was also said, "Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.'
"You have heard that it was said, "You must love your neighbor' and hate your enemy.
So whenever you give to the poor, don't blow a trumpet before you like the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they will be praised by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!
"And whenever you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!
"And whenever you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!
The Pharisees saw this and asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
When the Pharisees saw this, they told him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!"
The Pharisees, however, went out and plotted against Jesus to kill him.
Some Pharisees came to him in order to test him. They asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?"
"They do everything to be seen by people. They increase the size of their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.
Later that evening, a rich man arrived from Arimathea. His name was Joseph, and he had become a disciple of Jesus.
They don't eat anything from the marketplace unless they dip it in water. They also observe many other traditions, such as the proper washing of washing cups, jars, brass pots, and dinner tables.)
Now a man named Simeon was in Jerusalem. This man was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the one who would comfort Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
Now the Pharisees, who love money, had been listening to all this and began to ridicule Jesus.
Jesus also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves, thinking they were righteous, but who looked down on everyone else:
I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.'
Now there was a man from the Pharisees, a leader of the Jews, whose name was Nicodemus.
None of the authorities or Pharisees has believed in him, have they? But this mob that does not know the Law they're under a curse!"
When they heard this, they went away one by one, beginning with the oldest, and he was left alone with the woman standing there.
because the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there is no such thing as an angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in all those things.
They have known for a long time, if they would but testify to it, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the standards of our strictest religious party.
I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries, because I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
Easton
separatists (Heb persahin, from parash, "to separate"). They were probably the successors of the Assideans (i.e., the "pious"), a party that originated in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes in revolt against his heathenizing policy. The first mention of them is in a description by Josephus of the three sects or schools into which the Jews were divided (B.C. 145). The other two sects were the Essenes and the Sadducees. In the time of our Lord they were the popular party (Joh 7:48). They were extremely accurate and minute in all matters appertaining to the law of Moses (Mt 9:14; 23:15; Lu 11:39; 18:12). Paul, when brought before the council of Jerusalem, professed himself a Pharisee (Ac 23:6-8; 26:4-5).
There was much that was sound in their creed, yet their system of religion was a form and nothing more. Theirs was a very lax morality (Mt 5:20; 15:4,8; 23/3/type/isv'>23:3,14,23,25; Joh 8:7). On the first notice of them in the New Testament (Mt 3:7), they are ranked by our Lord with the Sadducees as a "generation of vipers." They were noted for their self-righteousness and their pride (Mt 9:11; Lu 7:39; 18:11-12). They were frequently rebuked by our Lord (Mt 12:39; 16:1-4).
From the very beginning of his ministry the Pharisees showed themselves bitter and persistent enemies of our Lord. They could not bear his doctrines, and they sought by every means to destroy his influence among the people.
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But when John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he told them, "You children of serpents! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
because I tell you, unless your righteousness greatly exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom from heaven!"
The Pharisees saw this and asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
Then John's disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don't fast?"
But he replied to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign. Yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah,
Because God said, "You are to honor your father and your mother,' and, "Whoever curses father or mother must certainly be put to death.'
"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
When the Pharisees and Sadducees arrived, in order to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He replied to them, "You say, "Red sky at night, what a delight! read more. Red sky in the morning, cloudy and storming.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, yet you can't interpret the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." Then he left them and went away.
so do whatever they tell you and follow it, but stop doing what they do, because they don't do what they say.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation! "How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make a single convert, and when this happens you make him twice as fit for hell as you are.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but on the inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Now the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and told himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who is touching him and what kind of woman she is. She's a sinner!"
But the Lord told him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but on the inside you are full of greed and evil.
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, "O God, I thank you that I'm not like other people thieves, dishonest people, adulterers, or even this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.'
I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.'
None of the authorities or Pharisees has believed in him, have they?
When they persisted in questioning him, he straightened up and told them, "Let the person among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her."
When Paul saw that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he shouted in the Council, "Brothers, I'm a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I'm on trial concerning the hope that the dead will be resurrected." After he said that, an angry quarrel broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided, read more. because the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there is no such thing as an angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in all those things.
All the Jews know how I lived from the earliest days of my youth with my own people and in Jerusalem. They have known for a long time, if they would but testify to it, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the standards of our strictest religious party.
Fausets
From perishin Aramaic, perashim, "separated." To which Paul alludes, Ro 1:1; Ga 1:15, "separated unto the gospel of God"; once "separated" unto legal self righteousness. In contrast to "mingling" with Grecian and other heathen customs, which Antiochus Epiphanes partially effected, breaking down the barrier of God's law which separated Israel from pagandom, however refined. The Pharisees were successors of the Assideans or Chasidim, i.e. godly men "voluntarily devoted unto the law." On the return from Babylon the Jews became more exclusive than ever. In Antiochus' time this narrowness became intensified in opposition to the rationalistic compromises of many. The Sadducees succeeded to the latter, the Pharisees to the former (1Ma 1:13-15; 1Ma 1:41-49; 1Ma 1:62-63; 1Ma 2:42; 1Ma 7:13-17; 2Ma 14:6-38). They "resolved fully not to eat any unclean thing, choosing rather to die that they might not be defiled: and profame the holy covenant." in opposition to the Hellenizing faction.
So the beginning of the Pharisees was patriotism and faithfulness to the covenant. Jesus, the meek and loving One, so wholly free from harsh judgments, denounces with unusual severity their hypocrisy as a class. (Mt 15:7-8; 23:5,13-33), their ostentatious phylacteries and hems, their real love of preeminence; their pretended long prayers, while covetously defrauding the widow. They by their "traditions" made God's word of none effect; opposed bitterly the Lord Jesus, compassed His death, provoking Him to some "hasty words" (apostomatizein) which they might catch at and accuse Him; and hired Judas to betray Him; "strained out gnats, while swallowing camels" (image from filtrating wine); painfully punctilious about legal trifles and casuistries, while reckless of truth, righteousness, and the fear of God; cleansing the exterior man while full of iniquity within, like "whited sepulchres" (Mr 7:6-13; Lu 11:42-44,53-54; 16:14-15); lading men with grievous burdens, while themselves not touching them with one of their fingers. (See CORBAN .)
Paul's remembrance of his former bondage as a rigid Pharisee produced that reaction in his mind, upon his embracing the gospel, that led to his uncompromising maintenance, under the Spirit of God, of Christian liberty and justification by faith only, in opposition to the yoke of ceremonialism and the righteousness which is of the law (Galatians 4; 5). The Mishna or "second law," the first portion of the Talmud, is a digest of Jewish traditions and ritual, put in writing by rabbi Jehudah the Holy in the second century. The Gemara is a "supplement," or commentary on it; it is twofold, that of Jerusalem not later than the first half of the fourth century, and that of Babylon A.D. 500. The Mishna has six divisions (on seeds, feasts, women's marriage, etc., decreases and compacts, holy things, clean and unclean), and an introduction on blessings. Hillel and Shammai were leaders of two schools of the Pharisees, differing on slight points; the Mishna refers to both (living before Christ) and to Hillel's grandson, Paul's' teacher, Gamaliel.
An undesigned coincidence confirming genuineness is the fact that throughout the Gospels hostility to Christianity shows itself mainly from the Pharisees; but throughout Acts from the Sadducees. Doubtless because after Christ's resurrection the resurrection of the dead was a leading doctrine of Christians, which it was not before (Mr 9:10; Ac 1:22; 2:32; 4:10; 5:31; 10:40). The Pharisees therefore regarded Christians in this as their allies against the Sadducees, and so the less opposed Christianity (Joh 11:57; 18:3; Ac 4:1; 5:17; 23:6-9). The Mishna lays down the fundamental principle of the Pharisees. "Moses received the oral law from Sinai, and delivered it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and these to the prophets, and these to the men of the great synagogue" (Pirke Aboth ("The Sayings of the [Jewish] Fathers"), 1). The absence of directions for prayer, and of mention of a future life, in the Pentateuch probably gave a pretext for the figment of a traditional oral law.
The great synagogue said, "make a fence for the law," i.e. carry the prohibitions beyond the written law to protect men from temptations to sin; so Ex 23:19 was by oral law made further to mean that no flesh was to be mixed with milk for food. The oral law defined the time before which in the evening a Jew must repeat the Shema, i.e. "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord," etc. (De 6:4-9.) So it defines the kind of wick and oil to be used for lighting the lamps which every Jew must burn on the Sabbath eve. An egg laid on a festival may be eaten according to the school of Shammai, but not according to that of Hillel; for Jehovah says in Ex 16:5, "on the sixth day they shall prepare that which, they bring in," therefore one must not prepare for the Sabbath on a feast day nor for a feast day on the Sabbath. An egg laid on a feast following the Sabbath was "prepared" the day before, and so involves a breach of the Sabbath (!); and though all feasts do not immediately follow the Sabbath yet "as a fence to the law" an egg laid on any feast must not be eaten.
Contrast Mic 6:8. A member of the society of Pharisees was called chaber; those not members were called "the people of the land"; compare Joh 7:49, "this people who knoweth not the law are cursed"; also the Pharisee standing and praying with himself, self righteous and despising the publican (Lu 18:9-14). Isaiah (Isa 65:5) foretells their characteristic formalism, pride of sanctimony, and hypocritical exclusiveness (Jg 1:18). Their scrupulous tithing (Mt 23:23; Lu 18:12) was based on the Mishna, "he who undertakes to be trustworthy (a pharisaic phrase) tithes whatever he eats, sells, buys, and does not eat and drink with the people of the land." The produce (tithes) reserved for the Levites and priests was "holy," and for anyone. else to eat it was deadly sin. So the Pharisee took all pains to know that his purchases had been duly tithed, and therefore shrank from "eating with" (Mt 9:11) those whose food might not be so. The treatise Cholin in the Mishna lays down a regulation as to "clean and unclean" (Le 20:25; 22:4-7; Nu 19:20) which severs the Jews socially from other peoples; "anything slaughtered by a pagan is unfit to be eaten, like the carcass of an animal that died of itself, and pollutes him who carries it."
An orthodox Jew still may not eat meat of any animal unless killed by a Jewish butcher; the latter searches for a blemish, and attaches to the approved a leaden seal stamped kashar, "lawful." (Disraeli, Genius. of Judaism.) The Mishna abounds in precepts illustrating Col 2:21, "touch not, taste not, handle not" (contrast Mt 15:11). Also it (6:480) has a separate treatise on washing of hands (Yadayim). Translated Mr 7:8, "except they wash their hands with the fist" (pugmee); the Mishna ordaining to pour water over the dosed hands raised so that it should flow down to the elbows, and then over the arms so as to flow over the fingers. Jesus, to confute the notion of its having moral value, did not wash before eating (Lu 11:37-40). Josephus (Ant. 18:1, section 3, 13:10, section 5) says the Pharisees lived frugally, like the Stoics, and hence had so much weight with the multitude that if they said aught against the king or the high-priest it was immediately believed, whereas the Sadducees could gain only the rich.
The defect in the Pharisees which Christ stigmatized by the parable of the two debtors was not immorality but want of love, from unconsciousness of forgiveness or of the need of it. Christ recognizes Simon's superiority to the woman in the relative amounts of sin needing forgiveness, but shows both were on a level in inability to cancel their sin as a debt. Had he realized this, he would not have thought Jesus no prophet for suffering her to touch Him with her kisses of adoring love for His forgiveness of her, realized by her (Lu 7:36-50; 15:2). Tradition set aside moral duties, as a child's to his parents by" Corban"; a debtor's to his creditors by the Mishna treatise, Avodah Zarah (1:1) which forbade payment to a pagan three days before any pagan fest
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On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be double what they gather on other days."
"You are to bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. "You are not to boil a young goat in its mother's milk."
"You are not to seek vengeance or hold a grudge against the descendants of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD."
"I am your God. I've separated you from the people. You are to differentiate between the clean animal and the unclean and between the unclean bird and the clean. You are not to make yourselves detestable on account of any animal, bird, or any creeping creature of the ground that I've separated for you as unclean.
If one of Aaron's descendants has an infectious skin disease or a discharge, he is not to eat anything sacred until he has been cleansed. Anyone who touches an unclean thing on account of the dead, or who has a seminal discharge, or who becomes unclean by touching a creeping creature or another human being, whatever the uncleanness may be read more. such a person who comes in contact with anything like this will become unclean until evening. As a result, he is not to eat the sacred things unless he has bathed himself with water. When the sun has gone down and he has been cleansed, he may eat of the sacred things, since that's his food.
"The person who is unclean but who doesn't purify himself is to be eliminated from contact with the assembly, since he has defiled the LORD's sanctuary and the water of impurity wasn't sprinkled on him. He is to be considered unclean
"Listen, Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. You are to love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. read more. Let these words that I'm commanding you today be always on your heart. Teach them repeatedly to your children. Talk about them while sitting in your house or walking on the road, and as you lie down or get up. Tie them as reminders on your forearm, bind them on your forehead, and write them on the door frames of your house and on your gates."
The army of Judah captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory.
"But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Those who live in the dust will wake up and shout for joy! For your dew is like the dew of dawn, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
who say, "Keep to yourself!' "Don't touch me!' and "I am too holy for you!' "Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day long.
Take notice! I'm about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things won't be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating, for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. read more. I'll rejoice over Jerusalem, and take delight in my people; no longer will the sound of weeping be heard in it, nor the cry of distress. "And there will no longer be in it a young boy who lives only a few days, or an old person who does not live out his days; for one who dies at a hundred years will be thought a mere youth, and one who falls short of a hundred years will be considered accursed. People will build houses and live in them; They'll plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They won't build for others to inhabit; they won't plant for others to eat for like the lifetime of a tree, so will the lifetime of my people be, and my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
He has made it clear to you, mortal man, what is good and what the LORD is requiring from you to act with justice, to treasure the LORD's gracious love, and to walk humbly in the company of your God.
"You have heard that it was told those who lived long ago, "You are not to commit murder,' and, "Whoever murders will be subject to punishment.' But I say to you, anyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be subject to punishment. And whoever says to his brother "Raka!' will be subject to the Council. And whoever says, "You fool!' will be subject to hell fire.
"You have heard that it was said, "You are not to commit adultery.'
"It was also said, "Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.' But I say to you, any man who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
"You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'
"That's why I'm telling you to stop worrying about your life what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body what you will wear. Life is more than food, isn't it, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky. They don't plant or harvest or gather food into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. You are more valuable than they are, aren't you? read more. Can any of you add a single hour to the length of your life by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Consider the lilies in the field and how they grow. They don't work or spin yarn, but I tell you that not even Solomon in all of his splendor was clothed like one of them. Now if that is the way God clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and thrown into an oven tomorrow, won't he clothe you much better you who have little faith? "So don't ever worry by saying, "What are we going to eat?' or "What are we going to drink?' or "What are we going to wear?' because it is the unbelievers who are eager for all those things. Surely your heavenly Father knows that you need all of them! But first be concerned about God's kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be provided for you as well. So never worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
The Pharisees saw this and asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
"Two sparrows are sold for a penny, aren't they? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's permission. Indeed, even the hairs on your head have all been counted!
told his servants, "This is John the Baptist! He has been raised from the dead, and that's why these miracles are being done by him."
You hypocrites! How well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
It is not what goes into the mouth that makes a person unclean. It is what comes out of the mouth that makes a person unclean."
"The scribes and the Pharisees administer the authority of Moses, so do whatever they tell you and follow it, but stop doing what they do, because they don't do what they say.
"They do everything to be seen by people. They increase the size of their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door to the kingdom from heaven in people's faces. You don't go in yourselves, and you don't allow those who are trying to enter to go in. "How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation! read more. "How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make a single convert, and when this happens you make him twice as fit for hell as you are.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make a single convert, and when this happens you make him twice as fit for hell as you are. "How terrible it will be for you, blind guides! You say, "Whoever swears an oath by the sanctuary is excused, but whoever swears an oath by the gold of the sanctuary must keep his oath.' read more. You blind fools! What is more important, the gold or the sanctuary that made the gold holy? Again you say, "Whoever swears an oath by the altar is excused, but whoever swears by the gift that is on it must keep his oath.' You blind men! Which is more important, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? Therefore, the one who swears an oath by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. The one who swears an oath by the sanctuary swears by it and by the one who lives there. And the one who swears an oath by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it. "How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others. You blind guides! You filter out a gnat, yet swallow a camel! read more. "How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but on the inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that its outside may also be clean. "How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead people's bones and every kind of impurity. In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. "How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous. Then you say, "If we had been living in the days of our ancestors, we would have had no part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Therefore, you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Then finish what your ancestors started! You snakes, you children of serpents! How can you escape being condemned to hell?
He told them, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is worthless, because they teach human rules as doctrines.' read more. You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."
You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." Then he told them, "You have such a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your own tradition! read more. Because Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother,' and, "Whoever curses his father or mother must certainly be put to death.' But you say, "If anyone tells his father or mother, "Whatever support you might have received from me is Corban,"' (that is, an offering to God) "you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.' You are destroying the word of God through your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other things like that."
They kept the matter to themselves but argued about what "rising from the dead" meant.
who will not receive a hundred times as much here in this world homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields, along with persecution as well as eternal life in the age to come.
Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him. So he went to the Pharisee's home and took his place at the table. There was a woman who was a notorious sinner in that city. When she learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's home, she took an alabaster jar of perfume read more. and knelt at his feet behind him. She was crying and began to wash his feet with her tears and dry them with her hair. Then she kissed his feet over and over again, anointing them constantly with the perfume. Now the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and told himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who is touching him and what kind of woman she is. She's a sinner!" Jesus told him, "Simon, I have something to ask you." "Teacher," he replied, "ask it." "Two men were in debt to a moneylender. One owed him 500 denarii, and the other 50. When they couldn't pay it back, he generously canceled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?" Simon answered, "I suppose the one who had the larger debt canceled." Jesus told him, "You have answered correctly." Then, turning to the woman, he told Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You didn't give me any water for my feet, but this woman has washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You didn't give me a kiss, but this woman, from the moment I came in, has not stopped kissing my feet. You didn't anoint my head with oil, but this woman has anointed my feet with perfume. So I'm telling you that her sins, as many as they are, have been forgiven, and that's why she has shown such great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little." Then Jesus told her, "Your sins are forgiven!" Those who were at the table with them began to say among themselves, "Who is this man who even forgives sins?" But Jesus told the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."
He answered, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus told him, "You have answered correctly. "Do this, and you will live.'" read more. But the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
After Jesus had said this, a Pharisee invited him to have a meal with him. So Jesus went and took his place at the table. The Pharisee was surprised to see that he didn't first wash before the meal. read more. But the Lord told him, "Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but on the inside you are full of greed and evil. You fools! The one who made the outside made the inside, too, didn't he?
"How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, spices, and every kind of herb, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others. How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You love to have the places of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplaces. read more. How terrible it will be for you! You are like unmarked graves people walk on them without realizing it."
As Jesus was leaving, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely, interrogating him about many things. They watched him closely in an effort to trap him in something he might say.
But the Pharisees and the scribes kept complaining, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
Now the Pharisees, who love money, had been listening to all this and began to ridicule Jesus. So he told them, "You try to justify yourselves in front of people, but God knows your hearts, because what is highly valued by people is detestable to God.
Jesus also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves, thinking they were righteous, but who looked down on everyone else: "Two men went up to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. read more. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, "O God, I thank you that I'm not like other people thieves, dishonest people, adulterers, or even this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.'
I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even look up to heaven. Instead, he continued to beat his chest and said, "O God, be merciful to me, the sinner that I am!' read more. I tell you, this man, rather than the other one, went down to his home justified, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the person who humbles himself will be exalted."
who will not receive many times as much in this world, as well as eternal life in the age to come."
But this mob that does not know the Law they're under a curse!"
His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that caused him to be born blind?"
They asked him, "You were born a sinner and you are trying to instruct us?" And they threw him out.
Now the high priests and the Pharisees had given orders that whoever knew where he was should tell them so that they could arrest him.
Yet many people, even some of the authorities, believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not admit it so they would not be thrown out of the synagogue.
So Judas took a detachment of soldiers and some officers from the high priests and the Pharisees and went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
beginning when he was baptized by John until the day he was taken up from us. Therefore, someone like this must become a witness with us to his resurrection."
"It was this very Jesus whom God raised and we're all witnesses of that.
While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the commander of the Temple guards, and the Sadducees came to them.
you and all the people of Israel must understand that this man stands healthy before you because of the name of Jesus from Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead.
Then the high priest and all those from the sect of the Sadducees who were with him were filled with jealousy. So they went out,
God has exalted to his right hand this very man as our Leader and Savior in order to extend repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.
"They hung him on a tree and killed him, but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear
But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, "The gentiles must be circumcised and ordered to keep the Law of Moses."
When Paul saw that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he shouted in the Council, "Brothers, I'm a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I'm on trial concerning the hope that the dead will be resurrected."
When Paul saw that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he shouted in the Council, "Brothers, I'm a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I'm on trial concerning the hope that the dead will be resurrected." After he said that, an angry quarrel broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided,
After he said that, an angry quarrel broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided, because the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there is no such thing as an angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in all those things.
because the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there is no such thing as an angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in all those things. There was a great deal of shouting until some of the scribes who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and argued forcefully, "We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"
From: Paul, a servant of Jesus the Messiah, called to be an apostle and set apart for God's gospel,
But when God, who set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace, was pleased
"Don't handle this! Don't taste or touch that!"
Hastings
A study of the four centuries before Christ supplies a striking illustration of the law that the deepest movements of history advance without the men, who in God's plan are their agents, being clearly aware of what is going on. The answer to the question
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Now confess this to the LORD God of your ancestors, and separate yourselves from the nations of the land and from foreign wives."
But when John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he told them, "You children of serpents! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Then Jesus told the crowds and his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees administer the authority of Moses,
"The scribes and the Pharisees administer the authority of Moses, so do whatever they tell you and follow it, but stop doing what they do, because they don't do what they say. read more. They tie up burdens that are heavy and unbearable and lay them on people's shoulders, but they refuse to lift a finger to remove them.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.
This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and descendants of Levi to him from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"
Until some men arrived from James, he was in the habit of eating with the gentiles, but after those men came, he withdrew from the gentiles and would not associate with them any longer, because he was afraid of the circumcision party.
Because all of you are one in the Messiah Jesus, a person is no longer a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a male or a female.
In him there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free person. Instead, the Messiah is all and in all.
Morish
This name was given to a religious school among the Jews; it is supposed to have been derived from the Hebrew word parash, signifying 'to separate'; it was given to them by others, their chosen name being chasidim, 'pious ones.' Josephus speaks of them as early as the reign of Jonathan (B.C. 161-144). They prided themselves on their superior sanctity of life, devotion to God, and their study of the law. The Pharisee in the parable thanked God that he was 'not as other men.' Lu 18:11. Paul, when before Agrippa, spoke of them as 'the most straitest sect.' The Pharisees included all classes of men, rich and poor: they were numerous, and at times had great influence. In the council before which Paul was arraigned they were well represented. Ac 23:6-9. They were the great advocates of tradition, and were punctilious in paying tithes. In many respects the ritualists of modern days resemble them.
The Lord severely rebuked all their pretensions, and laid bare their wickedness as well as their hypocrisy. It may have been that because of the great laxity of the Jews generally, some at first devoutly sought for greater sanctity. Others, not sincere, may have joined themselves to the sect, and it thus degenerated from its original design, until its moral state became such as was exposed and denounced by the Lord. The very name has become a synonym for bigotry and formalism. Probably such men as Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Saul were men of a different stamp, though all needed the regenerating power of grace to give them what they professed to seek.
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The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, "O God, I thank you that I'm not like other people thieves, dishonest people, adulterers, or even this tax collector.
When Paul saw that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he shouted in the Council, "Brothers, I'm a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I'm on trial concerning the hope that the dead will be resurrected." After he said that, an angry quarrel broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided, read more. because the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there is no such thing as an angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in all those things. There was a great deal of shouting until some of the scribes who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and argued forcefully, "We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"
Smith
Phar'isees,
a religious party or school among the Jews at the time of Christ, so called from perishin, the Aramaic form of the Hebrew word perushim, "separated." The chief sects among the Jews were the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes, who may be described respectively as the Formalists, the Freethinkers and the Puritans. A knowledge of the opinions and practices of the Pharisees at the time of Christ is of great importance for entering deeply into the genius of the Christian religion. A cursory perusal of the Gospels is sufficient to show that Christ's teaching was in some respects thoroughly antagonistic to theirs. He denounced them in the bitterest language; see
15/7/type/isv'>Mt 15:7-8; 23/5/type/isv'>23:5,13-14,15,23; Mr 7:6; Lu 11:42-44
and compare
Mr 7:1-5; 11:29; 12:19-20; Lu 6:28,37-42
To understand the Pharisees is by contrast an aid toward understanding the spirit of uncorrupted Christianity.
1. The fundamental principle all of the of the Pharisees, common to them with all orthodox modern Jews, is that by the side of the written law regarded as a summary of the principles and general laws of the Hebrew people there was on oral law to complete and to explain the written law, given to Moses on Mount Sinai and transmitted by him by word of mouth. The first portion of the Talmud, called the Mishna or "second law," contains this oral law. It is a digest of the Jewish traditions and a compendium of the whole ritual law, and it came at length to be esteemed far above the sacred text.
2. While it was the aim of Jesus to call men to the law of God itself as the supreme guide of life, the Pharisees, upon the Pretence of maintaining it intact, multiplied minute precepts and distinctions to such an extent that the whole life of the Israelite was hemmed in and burdened on every side by instructions so numerous and trifling that the law was almost if not wholly lost sight of. These "traditions" as they were called, had long been gradually accumulating. Of the trifling character of these regulations innumerable instances are to be found in the Mishna. Such were their washings before they could eat bread, and the special minuteness with which the forms of this washing were prescribed; their bathing when they returned from the market; their washing of cups, pots, brazen vessels, etc.; their fastings twice in the week,
Lu 18:12
were their tithing;
and such, finally, were those minute and vexatious extensions of the law of the Sabbath, which must have converted God's gracious ordinance of the Sabbath's rest into a burden and a pain.
Mt 12:1-13; Mr 3:1-6; Lu 18:10-17
3. It was a leading aim of the Redeemer to teach men that true piety consisted not in forms, but in substance, not in outward observances, but in an inward spirit. The whole system of Pharisaic piety led to exactly opposite conclusions. The lowliness of piety was, according to the teaching of Jesus, an inseparable concomitant of its reality; but the Pharisees sought mainly to attract the attention and to excite the admiration of men.
6/2/type/isv'>Mt 6:2,6,16; 23:5-6; Lu 14:7
Indeed the whole spirit of their religion was summed up not in confession of sin and in humility, but in a proud self righteousness at variance with any true conception of man's relation to either God or his fellow creatures.
4. With all their pretences to piety they were in reality avaricious, sensual and dissolute.
Mt 23:25; Joh 13:7
They looked with contempt upon every nation but their own.
Lu 10:29
Finally, instead of endeavoring to fulfill the great end of the dispensation whose truths they professed to teach, and thus bringing men to the Hope of Israel, they devoted their energies to making converts to their own narrow views, who with all the zeal of proselytes were more exclusive and more bitterly opposed to the truth than they were themselves.
5. The Pharisees at an early day secured the popular favor and thereby acquired considerable political influence. This influence was greatly increased by the extension of the Pharisees over the whole land and the majority which they obtained in the Sanhedrin. Their number reached more than six thousand under the Herods. Many of them must have suffered death for political agitation. In the time of Christ they were divided doctrinally into several schools, among which those of Hillel and Shammai were most noted. --McClintock and Strong.
6. One of the fundamental doctrines of the Pharisees was a belief in a future state. They appear to have believed in a resurrection of the dead, very much in the same sense: as the early Christians. They also believed in "a divine Providence acting side by side with the free will of man." --Schaff.
7. It is proper to add that it would be a great mistake to suppose that the Pharisees were wealthy and luxurious much more that they had degenerated into the vices which were imputed to some of the Roman popes and cardinals during the two hundred years preceding the Reformation. Josephus compared the Pharisees to the sect of the Stoics. He says that they lived frugally, in no respect giving in to luxury. We are not to suppose that there were not many individuals among them who were upright and pure, for there were such men as Nicodemus, Gamaliel, Joseph of Arimathea and Paul.
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So whenever you give to the poor, don't blow a trumpet before you like the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they will be praised by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!
But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees from the hidden place will reward you.
"Whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites, because they put on sad faces to show others they are fasting. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!
At that time, Jesus walked through the grain fields on a Sabbath. His disciples became hungry and began picking heads of grain to eat. When the Pharisees saw this, they told him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" read more. But he told them, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? How is it that he went into the house of God and ate the Bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for him and his companions to eat but was reserved for the priests? Or haven't you read in the Law that on every Sabbath the priests in the Temple violate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? But I tell you, something greater than the Temple is here! If you had known what "I want mercy and not sacrifice' means, you would not have condemned the innocent, for the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." Moving on from there, Jesus went into their synagogue. Suddenly, a man with a paralyzed hand appeared. The people asked Jesus if it was lawful to heal on Sabbath days, intending to accuse him of doing something wrong. But he asked them, "Is there a man among you who, if he had one sheep and it fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, wouldn't take hold of it and pull it out? How much more is a human being worth than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on Sabbath days." Then he told the man, "Hold out your hand." He held it out and it became normal, as healthy as his other hand.
You hypocrites! How well did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Then the Pharisees went and planned how to trap Jesus in conversation.
"They do everything to be seen by people. They increase the size of their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
"They do everything to be seen by people. They increase the size of their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love to have the places of honor at festivals, the best seats in the synagogues,
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door to the kingdom from heaven in people's faces. You don't go in yourselves, and you don't allow those who are trying to enter to go in. "How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and say long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater condemnation! read more. "How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make a single convert, and when this happens you make him twice as fit for hell as you are.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but on the inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.
Jesus went into the synagogue again, and a man with a paralyzed hand was there. The people watched Jesus closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, intending to accuse him of doing something wrong. read more. He told the man with the paralyzed hand, "Come forward." Then he asked them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do evil on Sabbath days, to save a life or to destroy it?" But they remained silent. Jesus looked around at them in anger, deeply hurt because of their hard hearts. Then he told the man, "Hold out your hand." The man held it out, and his hand was restored to health. Immediately the Pharisees and Herodians went out and began to plot how to kill him.
The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples were eating with unclean hands, that is, without washing them. read more. (The Pharisees and indeed all the Jewish people don't eat unless they wash their hands properly, following the tradition of their elders. They don't eat anything from the marketplace unless they dip it in water. They also observe many other traditions, such as the proper washing of washing cups, jars, brass pots, and dinner tables.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with unclean hands." He told them, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
Jesus told them, "I'll ask you one question. Answer me, and then I'll tell you by what authority I'm doing these things.
"Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, he should marry the widow and have children for his brother. There were seven brothers. The first one married and died without having children.
Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who insult you.
"Stop judging, and you'll never be judged. Stop condemning, and you'll never be condemned. Forgive, and you'll be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A large quantity, pressed together, shaken down, and running over will be put into your lap, because you'll be evaluated by the same standard with which you evaluate others." read more. He also told them a parable: "One blind person can't lead another blind person, can he? Both will fall into a ditch, won't they? A disciple is not better than his teacher. But everyone who is fully-trained will be like his teacher. "Why do you see the speck in your brother's eye but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you don't see the beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you'll see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
But the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
"How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, spices, and every kind of herb, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others. How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You love to have the places of honor in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplaces. read more. How terrible it will be for you! You are like unmarked graves people walk on them without realizing it."
When Jesus noticed how the guests were choosing the places of honor, he told them a parable.
"Two men went up to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, "O God, I thank you that I'm not like other people thieves, dishonest people, adulterers, or even this tax collector. read more. I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.'
I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even look up to heaven. Instead, he continued to beat his chest and said, "O God, be merciful to me, the sinner that I am!' read more. I tell you, this man, rather than the other one, went down to his home justified, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the person who humbles himself will be exalted." Now some people were even bringing their infants to Jesus to have him touch them. But when the disciples saw this, they sternly told the people not to do that. Jesus, however, called for the children and said, "Let the little children come to me, and stop keeping them away, because the kingdom of God belongs to people like these. I tell all of you with certainty, whoever doesn't receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never get into it at all."
Jesus answered him, "You don't realize now what I'm doing, but later on you'll understand."
Watsons
PHARISEES, a sect of the Jews. The earliest mention of them is by Josephus, who tells us that they were a sect of considerable weight when John Hyrcanus was high priest, B.C. 108. They were the most numerous, distinguished, and popular sect among the Jews; the time when they first appeared is not known, but it is supposed to have been not long after the institution of the Sadducees, if, indeed, the two sects did not gradually spring up together. They derived their name from the Hebrew word pharash, which signifies "separated," or "set apart;" because they separated themselves from the rest of the Jews to superior strictness in religious observances. They boasted that, from their accurate knowledge of religion, they were the favourites of Heaven; and thus, trusting in themselves that they were righteous, despised others, Lu 11:52;
18:9, 11. Among the tenets inculcated by this sect, we may enumerate the following: namely, they ascribed all things to fate or providence; yet not so absolutely as to take away the free will of man; for fate does not cooperate in every action, Ac 5:38-39. They also believed in the existence of angels and spirits, and in the resurrection of the dead; Ac 23:8. Lastly: the Pharisees contended that God stood engaged to bless the Jews, to make them all partakers of the terrestrial kingdom of the Messiah, to justify them, and make them eternally happy. The cause of their justification they derived from the merits of Abraham, from their knowledge of God, from their practising the right of circumcision, and from the sacrifices they offered. And as they conceived works to be meritorious, they had invented a great number of supererogatory ones, to which they attached greater merit than to the observance of the law itself. To this notion St. Paul has some allusions in those parts of his Epistle to the Romans, in which he combats the erroneous suppositions of the Jews, Romans 1-11.
The Pharisees were the strictest of the three principal sects that divided the Jewish nation, Ac 26:5, and affected a singular probity of manners according to their system; which, however, was, for the most part, both lax and corrupt. Thus many things which Moses had tolerated in civil life, in order to avoid a greater evil, the Pharisees determined to be morally right: for instance, the law of divorce from a wife for any cause, Mt 5:31, &c; 19:3-12. (See Divorce.) Farther: they interpreted certain of the Mosaic laws most literally, and distorted their meaning so as to favour their own selfish system. Thus, the law of loving their neighbour, they expounded solely of the love of their friends, that is, of the whole Jewish race; all other persons being considered by them as natural enemies, whom they were in no respect bound to assist, Mt 5:43; Lu 10:31-33. They also trifled with oaths. Dr. Lightfoot has cited a striking illustration of this from Maimonides. An oath, in which the name of God was not distinctly specified, they taught was not binding, Mt 5:33; maintaining that a man might even swear with his lips, and at the same time annul it in his heart! And yet so rigorously did they understand the command of observing the Sabbath day, that they accounted it unlawful to pluck ears of corn, and heal the sick, &c, Mt 12; Lu 6:6, &c; 14. Many moral rules they accounted inferior to the ceremonial laws, to the total neglect of mercy and fidelity, Mt 5:19; 15:4; 23:23. Hence they accounted causeless anger and impure desires as trifles of no moment, Mt 5:21-22,27-30; they compassed sea and land to make proselytes to the Jewish religion from among the Gentiles, that they might rule over their consciences and wealth; and these proselytes, through the influence of their own scandalous examples and characters, they soon rendered more profligate and abandoned than ever they were before their conversion, Mt 23:15. Esteeming temporal happiness and riches as the highest good, they scrupled not to accumulate wealth by every means, legal or illegal, Mt 5:1-12; 23:5; Lu 16:14; Jas 2:1-8; vain and ambitious of popular applause, they offered up long prayers in public places, but not without self-complacency in their own holiness, Mt 6:2-5; Lu 18:11; under a sanctimonious appearance of respect for the memories of the prophets whom their ancestors had slain, they repaired and beautified their sepulchres, Mt 23:29; and such was their idea of their own sanctity, that they thought themselves defiled if they but touched or conversed with sinners, that is, with publicans or tax-gatherers, and persons of loose and irregular lives, Lu 7:39; 15:1.
But, above all their other tenets, the Pharisees were conspicuous for their reverential observance of the traditions or decrees of the elders: these traditions, they pretended, had been handed down from Moses through every generation, but were not committed to writing; and they were not merely considered as of equal authority with the divine law, but even preferable to it. "The words of the scribes," said they, "are lovely above the words of the law; for the words of the law are weighty and light, but the words of the scribes are all weighty." Among the traditions thus sanctimoniously observed by the Pharisees, we may briefly notice the following: the washing of hands up to the wrist before and after meat, Mt 15:2; Mr 7:3; which they accounted not merely a religious duty, but considered its omission as a crime equal to fornication, and punishable by excommunication: the purification of the cups, vessels, and couches used at their meals by ablutions or washings, Mr 7:4; for which purpose the six large water pots mentioned by St. Joh 2:6, were destined: their fasting twice a week with great appearance of austerity, Lu 18:12; Mt 6:16; thus converting that exercise into religion which is only a help toward the performance of its hallowed duties: their punctilious payment of tithes, (temple-offerings,) even of the most trifling things, Lu 18:12; Mt 23:23. And their wearing broader phylacteries and larger fringes to their garments than the rest of the Jews, Mt 23:5. See PHYLACTERIES.
With all their pretensions to piety, the Pharisees entertained the most sovereign contempt for the people; whom, being ignorant of the law, they pronounced to be accursed, Joh 7:49. Yet such was the esteem and veneration in which they were held by the populace, that they may almost be said to have given what direction they pleased to public affairs; and hence the great men dreaded their power and authority. It is unquestionable, as Mosheim has well remarked, that the religion of the Pharisees was, for the most part, founded in consummate hypocrisy; and that, at the bottom, they were generally the slaves of every vicious appetite, proud, arrogant, and avaricious, consulting only the gratification of their lusts, even at the very moment when they professed themselves to be engaged in the service of their Maker. These odious features in the character of the Pharisees caused them to be reprehended by our Saviour with the utmost severity, even more so than the Sadducees; who, although they had departed widely from the genuine principles of religion, yet did not impose on mankind by a pretended sanctity, or devote themselves with insatiate greediness to the acquisition of honours and riches. A few, and a few only, of the sect of the Pharisees, in those times, might be of better character,
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When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the hill. After taking his seat, his disciples came to him, and he began to teach them: read more. "How blessed are those who are destitute in spirit, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to them! "How blessed are those who mourn, because it is they who will be comforted! "How blessed are those who are humble, because it is they who will inherit the earth! "How blessed are those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, because it is they who will be satisfied! "How blessed are those who are merciful, because it is they who will receive mercy! "How blessed are those who are pure in heart, because it is they who will see God! "How blessed are those who make peace, because it is they who will be called God's children! "How blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to them! "How blessed are you whenever people insult you, persecute you, and say all sorts of evil things against you falsely because of me! Rejoice and be extremely glad, because your reward in heaven is great! That's how they persecuted the prophets who came before you."
So whoever sets aside one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom from heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom from heaven
"You have heard that it was told those who lived long ago, "You are not to commit murder,' and, "Whoever murders will be subject to punishment.' But I say to you, anyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be subject to punishment. And whoever says to his brother "Raka!' will be subject to the Council. And whoever says, "You fool!' will be subject to hell fire.
"You have heard that it was said, "You are not to commit adultery.' But I say to you, anyone who stares at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. read more. So if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your body parts than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to lose one of your body parts than to have your whole body go into hell." "It was also said, "Whoever divorces his wife must give her a written notice of divorce.'
"Again, you have heard that it was told those who lived long ago, "You must not swear an oath falsely,' but, "You must fulfill your oaths to the Lord.'
"You have heard that it was said, "You must love your neighbor' and hate your enemy.
So whenever you give to the poor, don't blow a trumpet before you like the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they will be praised by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward! But when you give to the poor, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, read more. so that your giving may be done in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." "And whenever you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!
"Whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites, because they put on sad faces to show others they are fasting. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!
"Why do your disciples disregard the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands when they eat."
Because God said, "You are to honor your father and your mother,' and, "Whoever curses father or mother must certainly be put to death.'
"They do everything to be seen by people. They increase the size of their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
"They do everything to be seen by people. They increase the size of their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to make a single convert, and when this happens you make him twice as fit for hell as you are.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.
"How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
(The Pharisees and indeed all the Jewish people don't eat unless they wash their hands properly, following the tradition of their elders. They don't eat anything from the marketplace unless they dip it in water. They also observe many other traditions, such as the proper washing of washing cups, jars, brass pots, and dinner tables.)
Once, on another Sabbath, Jesus went into a synagogue and began teaching. A man whose right hand was paralyzed was there.
Now the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this and told himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would have known who is touching him and what kind of woman she is. She's a sinner!"
By chance, a priest was traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he went by on the other side. Similarly, a descendant of Levi came to that place. When he saw the man, he also went by on the other side. read more. But as he was traveling along, a Samaritan came across the man. When the Samaritan saw him, he was moved with compassion.
How terrible it will be for you experts in the Law! You have taken away the key to knowledge. You didn't go in yourselves, and you kept out those who were trying to go in."
Now all the tax collectors and sinners kept coming to listen to Jesus.
Now the Pharisees, who love money, had been listening to all this and began to ridicule Jesus.
Jesus also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves, thinking they were righteous, but who looked down on everyone else:
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, "O God, I thank you that I'm not like other people thieves, dishonest people, adulterers, or even this tax collector.
The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, "O God, I thank you that I'm not like other people thieves, dishonest people, adulterers, or even this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.'
I fast twice a week, and I give a tenth of my entire income.'
Now standing there were six stone water jars used for the Jewish rites of purification, each one holding from two to three measures.
But this mob that does not know the Law they're under a curse!"
"I'm telling you to keep away from these men for now. Leave them alone, because if this plan or movement is of human origin, it will fail. However, if it's from God, you won't be able to stop them, and you may even discover that you are fighting against God!"
because the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there is no such thing as an angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in all those things.
They have known for a long time, if they would but testify to it, that I lived as a Pharisee, adhering to the standards of our strictest religious party.
My brothers, do not let your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus, the Messiah, be tainted by favoritism. Suppose a man wearing gold rings and fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in. read more. If you give special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, "Please take this seat," but you say to the poor man, "Stand over there" or "Sit on the floor at my feet," then you will have made false distinctions among yourselves and will have judged from evil motives, will you not? Listen, my dear brothers! God has chosen the poor in the world to become rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who keep on loving him, has he not? But you have humiliated the man who is poor. Are not rich people the ones who oppress you and drag you into court? Are not they the ones who blaspheme the noble Name by which you have been called? Nevertheless, you are doing the right thing if you obey the royal Law in keeping with the Scripture, "You must love your neighbor as yourself."