| Second Temple Judaism |
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| Meaning of Name: |
Descendants of Zadok, members of the old (pre-Hasmonean) High Priestly family | “Separatists” — probably because their special dietary restrictions and purity rules limited their social interactions with outsiders |
Possibly “healers” because of their reputation for performing miraculous cures | |||
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| Attitude towards the Hasmonean Rulers: | Opposed their usurping of the High Priesthood (which had previously belonged to the Zadokite dynasty) | Opposed the Hasmoneans’ combination of Priestly and political power | Apparently opposed to the non-Zadokite priesthood. Their founder, the “Teacher of Righteousness,” had been persecuted by a Hasmonean king. |
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| Social Class: | Aristocratic priests | Common people | N/A | |||
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| Figures of authority: | Priests | Scholars and Scribes
They challenged the importance of the priesthood, limiting it to the performance of Temple rituals. |
The “Teacher of Righteousness”
The apparent founder of the sect was probably a Zadokite priest who rejected the Jerusalem leadership |
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| Attitude to Bible: | Literalist: As a hereditary leadership they did not have to justify their authority, and did not have to develop special skills in interpreting it. |
Sophisticated scholarly interpretations:
This was proposed as an alternative to priestly authority: Leadership had to be earned through knowledge and ability, not inherited. |
“Inspired Exegesis” — distinctive intepretations of their own sect, especially those of the “Teacher of Righteousness” |
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| Attitude to “Oral Torah”: |
Accepted only what was explicitly written in the Torah | Believed in authority of “ancestral traditions” even if they had no basis in the Torah. | The Dead Sea Scrolls demonstrate their distinctive Biblical interpretations and rules, similar in purpose — but not in content — to the Pharisees’ “Oral Torah.” | |||
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| Practices: | Based directly on the Torah | Accepted many additional laws and interpretations based on the “Oral Torah” and their own interpretations. | “Inspired Exegesis” |
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| Emphasis on priestly rituals and obligations (which enhanced the priests’ holiness and and authority) | Extention of priestly laws (e.g., purity of food) to non-priests | Accepted many additional laws and interpretations based on their own interpretations. | ||||
| “Luni-solar” calendar | Solar calendar | |||||
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| Beliefs: | Rejection of ideas that have no clear basis in the Bible, such as life-after-death. | Acceptance of some non-Biblical beliefs that had been accepted by the people, e.g., Physical resurrection of the dead. | Believed in spiritual survival after death. | |||
| Assertion of human freedom and accountability for their actions. | Believed in limited free will: “Everything is in the power of Heaven except for the fear of Heaven.” | Dualistic determinism: Humanity has been divided into “Children of Light and Children of Darkness,” who will soon clash in an apocalyptic war. | ||||
| Mirrored from <ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/J_Transp/J06_2ndTempSects.html>. |