Sadducees

Dancing in the Kingdom- Table of Contents

Dancing In the Kingdom – Part 2 – The Kingdom Revealed– Chapter 10 – The Class of Apparitions

Sadducees

[Bible references: 2 Samuel 8:15-18; Ezra 7; Matthew 3:7; 16:1-11; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18; Luke 20:27; Acts 4:1; 5:17; 23:6-8]

The Sadducees were priests who based their legitimacy on their descendance from Zadok, a priest who lived at the time of King David. It was the Zadokite line of priests that emigrated back to Jerusalem when Persians allowed the Israelites to return from captivity. They were intent on holding onto their power which came through the ministry of the temple. Like the Samaritans, the Sadducees regard only the writings of Moses to be scripture and they interpreted them very literally.

The corrupting influence of power caused them to cooperate with the Greeks when Israel became a client kingdom of the Greek empire. Although Pharisees were also in the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees became the prominent group controlling the Sanhedrin notably during the Greek and Roman occupation.

Because the Sadducees only included the books of Moses in the scripture, they did not develop any beliefs in the resurrection, which caused conflicts with both with Jesus and the Pharisees. The interactions that are recorded are all confrontational. There is an obvious tension between Jesus and the Sadducees. Jesus came to undergo death and resurrection and to eliminate the need for continual temple sacrifices, but the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection and their status was dependent on the continuation of the temple sacrifices. In contrast to the poor and needy ‘lost sheep of Israel,’ the Sadducees were the rich upper class. The Sadducees disappeared from history upon the destruction of the temple by the Romans in AD 70.

Observe

Read Matthew 16:5-11. What is the yeast of the Sadducees?