An Atheistic Bible Study Of The Gospels The Sadducees

Tweet

I have already done a summary feature about the Pharisees, so it seems only fair to explore their main political and religious rivals, The Sadducees. Their bitterness towards one another was sometimes set aside for their mutual contempt for Jesus and the early Christians. Their name comes from their veneration of Zadok, the high priest who remained loyal to King David and Solomon through their political and religious civil wars. They were fundamentalist, taking their teachings directly from scripture rather than from scholarly theological priests. They also rejected believing that souls will go to Heaven, or Hell, but believe that corpses are just left behind to rot in the graves. They did believe in Sheol, the Jewish version of Hell, a cold lonely death we all go to, regardless of how good or evil we are. They rejected belief in angels. With Jerusalem and Judaea conquered by Alexander The Great, and later the Romans, the Jews were becoming much more politically aware, with different parties and often militant parties springing up, often challenging the Roman oppressors and the ruling priestly Second Temple Of Jerusalem , the aristocratic, often corrupt Sadducees, who were much more tolerant and supportive of the Romans. As well as maintaining the Temple and running most services there, Sadducees disseminated government order, collected taxes, controlled the local army for support of Roman legion operations, Jesus, promoting a promise of Heaven, salvation, and resurrection, clearly behaved contrary to Sadducee doctrine. John The Baptist despised and feared them, calling them a ‘nest of vipers’. I’ll touch on their various conflicts with Jesus in future essays. Arthur Chappell