Sadducees

Pronunciation: SAD-dyoo-sees

Occurrences: 14

First Reference: Yeshua 29:10

Now there were also among the people many which were of the scribes and Pharisees, and with them also were certain of the Sadducees and Herodians; for they had all come seeking against the Lord some offense.

See: Caiaphas, Herodians, Pharisees, Sanhedrin

Summary: The Sadducees represented a conservative Jewish sect responsible for overseeing various political, religious and social affairs in Israel. Unlike the Pharisees, who typically came from the middle-class, the Sadducees were wealthy and came from the elite Jewish aristocracy. The Jewish High Court, called the Sanhedrin, was comprised of many high priests of the Sadducee party. Striving to maintain social and political order, the Sadducees saw compromise with Rome as a means to preserve their power and wealth.

Sadducees considered the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) as the only source of divine authority, holding to a literal interpretation of Mosiac Law while rejecting the Oral Law, as proposed by the Pharisees. Sadducees rejected the idea of spirits, resurrection of the dead, and the afterlife, while Pharisees and most Jews embraced such beliefs.

Sadducees oversaw maintenance of the Temple in Jerusalem and presided over the sacrifices there. During the days of Yeshua, the Temple court had become a corrupt market place and banking center, from which the high priests (Sadducees) greatly benefited (Y:4:42-45; Y:44:1-6).

The leader of the Sadducee party was Joseph Caiaphas, who, also having purchased the position of High Priest from Pontius Pilate, received a percentage of all the tithes, offerings and revenues that flowed into the Temple.

Both John the Baptizer and Yeshua criticized the Sadducees for corruption and hypocrisy and for placing the letter of the law above the spirit of the law. The Sadducees, namely Caiaphas, considered Yeshua and his teachings a threat to their power, wealth and authority. Scripture relates several occasions in which Sadducees were offended by Yeshua and conspired to kill him.

Y:30:4-27 Sadducees attempt to trap Yeshua, asking a hypothetical question about marriage and the afterlife

Y:37:35-51 Offended Sadducees pick up stones to kill Yeshua but refrain after Pharisees counsel against it

Y:39:27-43 Sadducees scoff against Yeshua and become offended at his responses

Notes/References:

On a certain day when Yeshua was again in the city teaching, there came unto him they which were of the Sadducees which believed not in the life after death;

For the Sadducees scorned the traditions and teachings of the elders, for they believed with strictness the law of Moses only.

Yeshua 30:4-5

For many which were of the Sanhedrin believed in Yeshua and would not permit that any evil should fall upon him.

But they which were of the Sadducees and the scribes consulted whereby they might take Yeshua by subtlety and put him to death according to the law.

Yeshua 44:46-47

Sabriel

Saerel