d with his great admiration for the
high priests, was an earlier type of the better class of Sadducees. The
persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes developed these parties. As has
already been noted, the Hasideans who followed Judas in the struggle to
restore the law and the temple service were the immediate predecessors
of the early Pharisees. The word "Pharisees" means separatists, and is
used first in the days of Jonathan (Jos. _Ant_. III 5:9) In the same
connection Josephus refers to the Sadducees. The name of this second party
is probably derived, not from the Hebrew word sadik, meaning righteous,
but from Zadok (later written Sadok or Sadduk), who was placed by
Solomon in charge of the Jerusalem temple. It was thus the designation
of the aristocratic, high-priestly party. In the Persian and Greek
periods the high priests had ruled the Judean state without opposition.
It was the rise of the party of the Pharisees that apparently developed
that of the Sadducees. This party included the hereditary nobles who
supported and sympathized with the Maccabean leaders. The Essenes
evidently represent a reaction against the prevailing moral corruption.
In many respects they were simply extreme Pharisees. They were zealots in
religion, just as the later party of the Zealots were extremists in their
hatred of Rome and in the methods which they were ready to use in order to
attain their ends.

II. Character and Beliefs of the Pharisees. Originally the Pharisees
were not a political but a religious party. The opposition of the
Sadducees in time led them to enter public life. In politics they were
conservatives. They had little sympathy with the popular ambition for
political independence, and probably regarded with alarm the tendency
toward national expansion. Alliances with the heathen nations seemed
to them disloyalty to Jehovah. In belief they were progressives. While
they stood squarely on the ancient law, they recognized the importance
of interpreting it so as to meet the many questions that rose in public
and private life. To this great and practically endless task much of
their time was devoted. They thus recognized the fact that Israel's law
was still in process of development. To their later interpretations of
the law they attributed great authority. One of their maxims was: "It
is a worse offence to teach things contrary to the ordinances of the
scribes than to teach things contrary to the written law." Naturally their
atte