IL Scripture Notices. — Although frequently mention- ed in the New Test, in conjunction with the Pharisees, they do not throw such vivid light as their great an- tagonists on the real significance of Christianity. Ex- cept on one occasion, when they united with the Phari- sees in insidiou.sl3' asking for a sign from heaven (Matt. xvi, 1, 4, 6), Christ never assailed the Sadducees with the same bitter denunciations which he uttered against the Pharisees ; and they do not, like the Pliarisees, seem to have taken active nieasures for causing him to be put to death. In this respect, and in many others, they have not been so influential as tlie Phari.sees in the world's history; but still they deserve attention, as rep- resenting Jewish ideas before the Pharisees became tri- umphant, and as illustrating one phase of Jewish thought at the time when tlie new religion of Christianity, des- tined to produce such a momentous revolution in the opinions of mankind, issued from Judaea.
SADDUCEE
235
SADDUCEE
The Sadducees are not spoken of at all in the fourth Gospel, where the Pharisees are frequently mentioned (John vii, 32, 45; xi, 47, 57 ; xviii, 3; viii, 3, 13-19; ix, 13); an omission which, as Geiger suggests, is not un- important in reference to the criticism of the Gospels (ut siqj. p. 107). Moreover, while Paul had been a Pharisee and was the son of a Pharisee, while Josephus was a Pharisee, and the Mishna was a Pharisaical digest of Pharisaical opinions and practices, not a single un- doubted writing of an acknowledged Sadducee has come down to us, so that for an acquaintance with their opin- ions we are mainly dependent on their antagonists. This point should always be borne in mind in judging their opinions and forming an estimate of tlieir character, and its full bearing will be duly appreciated by those who reflect that even at the present day, with all the checks against misrepresentation arising from publicity and the invention of printing, probably no religious or political party in any country would be content to accept the statements of an opponent as giving a correct view of its opinions.
III. The Tenets and Practices of the Sadducees. — To apprehend duly the doctrines and usages of this sect, it must be borne in mind that the Sadducees were the aristocratic and conservative priestly party, who clung to their ancient prerogatives and resisted every innova- tion which the ever-shifting circumstances of the com- monwealth demanded; while their opponents, the Phari- sees, were the liberals, the representatives of the people —their principle being so to develop and modify the Mosaic law as to adapt it to the retpiirements of the time, and to make the people at large realize that they were " a people of priests, a holy nation." Thus, stand- ing immovably upon the ancient basis, the Sadducees, whose differences were at first chiefly political, after- wards extended these differences to doctrinal, legal, and ritual questions.
A. Political Opinions. — The primary political differ- ence between the two sects was that the Sadducees maintained that a man's destiny is in his own hands, and that human ingenuity and statecraft are therefore to be resorted to in political matters; while the Phari- sees clung to the conviction that the political relations with foreign nations, like the theocracy at home, are under the immediate control of the holy one of Israel (Josephus, A nt. xiii, 5, 9 ; xviii, 1, 4, with Wa?; ii, 8, 14 ; Mishna, Berachoth, 33 b; Nidah, 16, 72). That the Sadducees, who were the real aristocracy (Josephus, A nt, xviii, 1,4) and the successful warriors in the Maccabtean struggles (ibid, xiii, IG, 2; Wai; i, 5, 3), should have espoused such political views was the natural result of their political success. Moreover, the doctrine that what a man possesses is what he deserves was peculiar- ly gratifying to the successful and aristocratic caste. Besides, in this respect, as in all other matters, the Sad- ducees showed their conservatism in abiding l)y the Pen- tateuchal views that a man is rewarded in this world ac- cording to his deeds, and that prosperity and adversity are a test of piety and wickedness (Deut. xxviii, 1-68, with Psa. xxxvii, 25).
B. Doctrinal Views. — 1. Rejection of the Oral Lav\ — Foremost among the doctrines of the Sadducees is the tenet that the Hebrew Scriptures, with the authoritative explanations and glosses which developed themselves in the course of time, are the sole rule of faith and prac- tice, thus denying that there existed any orally trans- mitted law to supplement the written law, to which their opponents the Pharisees laid claim ; or, as Jose- phus states it, "the Pharisees have given to the people many statutes from the traditions of the fathers which are not written in the law of Moses ; and it is for this reason that the Sadducees reject them, saying that it is only the written observances which are binding, but those which are transmitted by the fathers are not to be observed" (Ant. xiii, 10, 6). For the better understand- ing of this important question, it must be remarked that the Pharisees and the orthodox Jews to the present day