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The Sadducees were one of the religious parties of Second Temple Judaism.

Overview

During the late Second Temple period, the Sadduccean party represented the interests of the upper-class Jewish priestly aristocracy. Not all priests were Sadducees, but more than any other party the Sadducees emphasized the centrality of the Temple and the priesthood.

Religiously, the Sadducees were a conservative party, which after the Maccabean revolt preserved the ideology of the Zadokites. According to Josephus, they stressed human freedom, and rejected the belief in the end of time or in the coming of an eschatological Messiah. They considered normative the five books of Moses, downplaying the role of the Prophets and the tradition.

Until the Jewish War, the Sadduccees - although numerically a minority - were the ruling party. They supported the Hasmoneans and then the Romans. The Pharisees and the Essenes were the most significant opposition; as reform movements they openly challenged the authority of the Sadducees. More radical groups, like the Zealots and the Early Christians, attacked (sometimes violently) the leadership of the Sadducees and had to face repression and even the execution of some of their most prominent leaders (Judas the Galilean, Jesus of Nazareth, James).

The Sadducees continued to have a role of leadership at the beginning of the Jewish War, when Ananus ben Ananus succeeded in creating a government of national unity with the Pharisees and the Essenes. As the revolt progressed, however, the more moderate parties were marginalized and suppressed by the most radical factions (such as the Zealots and the Sicarii).

With the destruction of the Temple, the Sadducees disappeared as a political party. In Medieval times, the Karaites claimed to be the descendants of the Sadducees against the authority of the Rabbis.

The Sadducees in ancient sources

Christian sources

Early Christian sources

Gospel of Mark

Mark.12.18 And Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying,

Gospel of Matthew

Matt.3.7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Matt.16.1 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

Matt.16.6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Matt.16.11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Matt.16.12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Matt.22.23 The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question,

Matt.22.34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.

Gospel of Luke

Luke.20.27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,

Acts of Apostles

Acts.4.1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them,

Acts.5.17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy

Acts [23.6] Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.” [23.7] And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. [23.8] For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

The Sadducees in Scholarship

The Sadducees in Fiction

References

• Sadducees / Günter Stemberger / In: The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), dictionary, 1179-1181

• / [[]] / In: The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992 Freedman), dictionary,

External links

• Wikipedia