Hieron. in Isai. viii.PHARISEES. The Sect of the Pharisees was one of the most antient and most considerable among the Jews, and its Original is not very well known. The Author of the fourth Book of Maccabees, Chap. 6. says, That in the time of John Hyrcanus the High Priest, there were three Sects among the Jews, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes. Josephus, after mentioning the Letter of Jonathan to the Lacedemonians, speaks of the three Sects here named; which Letter was writ in the Year of the World 3680, and Jonathan died in the Year following. Simon succeeded him, and govern’d eight Years. After Simon, succeeded Hyrcanus, who govern’d for nine and twenty Years. So that we may place the Rise of the Sect of the Pharisees about the Year of the World 3820, before Christ 180, before the vulgar Era 184.
Joseph. Antiq. l. 14. c. 17. p. 434St. Jerome places the Beginning of the Pharisees pretty late; for he says, The Scribes and Pharisees proceeded from the Division of the two famous Schools of Hillel and Shammai. To Hillel succeeded Akiba, Master of Aquila of Pontus, who lived in the second Age of the Church, and who translated the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament out of Hebrew into Greek. ‘Tis known from Josephus, that Shammai, or Samæas, lived in the Time of Herod the Great, and consequently not long before the Birth of our Saviour. The Rabbins also acknowledged Hillel as Founder of the Sect of the Pharisees, or at least as the chief Ornament of it. But we make no doubt but that it was more antient. We see by several Passages of Josephus,1 that they were in Credit a long time before Herod, under the Reigns of Hyrcanus, Alexander Jannæus, and Salome his Wife.
Joseph. Antiq. l. 18. c. 2.The Pharisees take their Name from a Hebrew Word, which signifies Division or Separation, because they distinguished themselves from the other Israelites by a more strict Manner of Life, of which they made Profession. They imputed much to Destiny or Fatality, and to the eternal Decrees of God, which have appointed all things before Time was. Josephus, who himself was a Pharisee,2 tells us, that the Opinions of this Sect nearly approached those of the Stoicks; who did not ascribe every thing to Destiny, but left to Men a Liberty of doing good Actions or not; so that their Notion of Fatality was not destructive of Free-will, as St. Epiphanius seems to have imagined. He adds, that they were much addicted to Astrology, thinking that by means of the Stars they might arrive at the Knowledge of the Secrets of Providence.
Matt. xxiii. 27.The Sect of the Pharisees was very numerous and far extended. The Reputation they gain’d by their Learning, and by the Regularity of their Lives, made them very early to become formidable even to Kings themselves. Alexander Jannæus King of the Jews was for his whole Life at variance with the Pharisees, and had often occasion to repent it. At his Death he told his Wife, that if she would reign peaceably after him, she must win the Pharisees to her Interest.3 She follow’d this Advice, and the Pharisees taking the Opportunity, made themselves Masters of the Government, and the Queen let them dispose of every thing at their Pleasure.
When our Saviour Jesus Christ appear’d in Judea, the Pharisees were then in great Credit among the People, because of the Opinion they had conceived of their great Learning, Sanctity of Manners, and exact Observance of the Law. They fasted often, made long Prayers, paid their Tythes scrupulously, distributed much Alms: But all this was vitiated and corrupted by a Spirit of Pride, Ostentation, Hypocrisy, and Self-love. Like to whiten’d Sepulchres, they appear’d beautiful without, whilst within was nothing but Corruption and Deformity. They wore large Rolls of Parchment upon their Fore-heads, and Wrists, on which were written certain Words of the Law; and affected to have Fringes and Borders at the Corners and Hems of their Garments, broader than the other Jews wore, as a Badge of Distinction, and as greater Observers of the Law than others.
Hieron. in Matt. xxiii. 27.There were some of them, as St. Jerom says, who fix’d Thorns to the bottom of their Robes, which as they walked might prick their Legs, and draw Blood from them, that they might make Mortification familiar to them, and be continually obliged to think on God. They often wash’d their Hands, and pretended to a great external Purity, never entering their House, or sitting down at Table, without washing. When they had been in the Streets, or in the Market, for fear they hæref. 16. Luke xviii. 2. Epiphan. hæref. 16. Matt. ix. 11. Luke vii. 39.should have touched any unclean Thing, they wash’d from their Fingers Ends up to their very Elbows. They would not so much as touch a Publican, or any Man that they thought led an ill Life, nor would they eat, drink, or pray with him. All the Vessels they made use of, their Utensils, and very Beds, were often plunged in Water: And they often bathed themselves in Joseph. in vita sua. Mark vii. 10, 11, 12.cold Water, by way of Purification.
They kept many Fasts of Supererogation. The Pharisee in the Gospel boasts of his fasting twice a Week, that is, Monday and Thursday, according to Epiphanius; and they did it with greater Strictness than the other Jews. ‘Tis these that our Saviour pointed at, when he says, Mat. vi. 16. Moreover when ye fast, be not as the Hypocrites, of a sad Countenance; for they disfigure their Faces, that they may appear unto Men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their Reward. But thou when thou fastest, anoint thy Head, and wash thy Face; that thou appear not unto Men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in Secret. And thy Father which seeth in Secret, shall reward thee openly. The Pharisees upbraided our Saviour and his Disciples, for eating and drinking as other Men, whereas they and the Disciples of John the Baptist Mark vii. 4. Mark vii. 11.fasted often. And Josephus gives an Account, that being young, he put himself under the Conduct of one called Banneus, a very austere Man, who eat nothing that was dress’d or prepared, but contented himself with what the Earth produced of its own accord.
In Matters of Religion the Traditions of the Antients were the chief Subject of their Studies; and to these they made Additions of their own as they thought fit, making their own Opinions to pass for Traditions of the Antients. By this means they had overburthen’d the Law with a vast Number of trifling Observances, that were useless and disgustful, and which made it a heavy and insupportable Yoke. They had even alter’d it and corrupted it in important Articles, by their own perverse Interpretations of it, as our Saviour in his Gospel reproaches them with it. For Example, the Law commands us to honour Father and Mother: The Pharisees taught, that if we say to our Parents that are in Necessity, Father, or Mother, the thing that you ask of me is dedicated to God, it is no longer in my Power, but you shall have a Part in the Merit of my Offering; they were then freed from the Obligation of succouring their Parents.
The Observation of the Sabbath is another Point they had refined upon, and our Saviour had often Debates with them upon this Head. They maintained, that upon this Day it was not so much as allowed to heal a Luke vi. 7. John ix. 16.sick Person, though Christ did it only with a Word speaking. They found fault, that upon this Day the People brought their Sick to be healed. They were scandalized, that a Man carried away his Bed upon the Sabbath -day, after he had been cured of a Palsy. Mark ix. 11. John v. 8, 9.From all which they concluded, that Jesus Christ could not be a Man sent from God, because he so little observed that profound Rest, that they thought was to be kept on John ix. 16. Epiphan. hæref. 16.this Day. St. Epiphanius relates surprizing Effects of these their great Austerities, for preserving the Purity of the Body. There were some of them who almost deprived themselves intirely of Sleep. Others were used to sleep upon a Plank of a Foot broad, that if they should sleep too soundly, they might fall down upon the Ground, and so being awaken’d, they might go to Prayers. Others lay upon sharp and uneven Stones; others upon Thorns: So that even in Sleep they might practise Mortification.
Our Saviour upbraids them with making long Prayers, standing up in the Synagogues, or at the Corners of the Streets; and under pretence of Prayer, to consume Widows Matt. xxiii. 14. Matt. xxiii. 15.Houses. He also reproaches them with compassing Sea and Land to make a Proselyte, or to convert a Gentile; and after that, to make him still a greater Sinner than he was before, by teaching him a pernicious Doctrine, instead of shewing him the true Paths of Vertue. He says, they affect to build up the Tombs of the old Prophets, and openly to Luk. xi. 47, 48. Matt. xxiii. 29.declare, that they disapprove of the Actions of their Fore-fathers who persecuted them; while they themselves are actuated by the same Spirit, and oppose all those that would reclaim them from their Enormities. The Followers of this Sect condemned only the actual Commission of Sin, and thought themselves allowed to entertain any evil Desires, Thoughts and Designs, that were not attended with outward Acts of Sin. Thus Josephus laughs at Polybius, for thinking Antiq. l. 12. c. 13.the Gods had punished Antiochus, for having only form’d a Design to pillage the Temple of the Goddess Diana, though he had not put it in execution.
The Pharisees believed the Soul to be Immortal, and acknowledged the Existence of Acts xxiii. 8.Angels and Spirits, and admitted a kind of Transmigration of the Souls of good Men,4 which might pass from one Body to another; whereas those of wicked Men were condemned to dwell for ever in Prisons of Darkness. ‘Twas in consequence of these Principles, that some of the Pharisees said, that Jesus Christ was John the Baptist, or Elias, or some one of the old Prophets; Matt. xvi. 14.that is, that the Soul of one of these great Men had passed into the Body of our Saviour. They believed also the Resurrection Matt. xxii. 23.of the Dead, and admitted of all the Consequences of it, against the Sad-ducees who rejected it. Lastly, Josephus, who was a De bello, l. 7. c. 25.Pharisee, believed that the Demons that possessed Men, were nothing else but the Souls of wicked Men, which enter the Bodies of other Men, and are sometimes driven from thence by Exorcisms. We see some Foot-steps of this Opinion in the Gospel. See the Commentary upon St. Matthew, viii. 29, 30, 31.
The Sect of the Pharisees was not extinguished by the Destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem, and by the Dispersion of the Israelites. The greatest Part of the Jews that still subsist are of this Sect,5 being as much devoted to their Traditions, which they call the Oral Law, as their Ancestors were. He that rejects the Oral Law is an Apostate, and deserves Death, say the modern Pharisees or the Rabbinists; for this is the Name that they now commonly go by. Benjamin of Tudela, who lived about the latter End of the Twelfth Age, says, That in his Journey he found Pharisees, that were continually bewailing the Desolation of Sion and of Jerusalem, who abstain’d from Flesh, and were always clothed in Black, fasting every Day except the Sabbath, and perpetually praying for the Deliverance of Israel.
The Opinions of the modern Pharisees are the same as of the antient. They leave every thing to the Disposal of Destiny, except what depends upon human Liberty. They say that all Things are in the Hand of Heaven, except the Fear of God; that is to say, that in the Exercise of Acts of Piety they have free Will, and may voluntarily determine themselves to Good or Evil. M. Hist. of Jews, l. 3. c. 2. art. 8.Basnage says, They do not differ from those that in Holland are called Remonstrants. Those of this Age are less strict than the Antients as to Food, and other Austerities of the Body; but they come nothing short of them in Vanity and Tenaciousness for the pretended Traditions of their Fathers. They also hold a kind of Metempsychosis, or Revolution of Souls. The Fathers who have writ concerning Heresies, have made a Heresy of the Pharisees, as if those that made Profession of this Sect had been separated from the Body of the Jews, as among us, Hereticks are excommunicated and rejected by the Orthodox: But it was not so with the Jewish Sects. Whatever Abuses and Corruptions might prevail among them, whether in Manners or Opinions, they were united in Communion with the other Israelites. The Pharisees and the Sadducees even discharg’d the chief Offices of Religion and the State. The Reader may peruse our Dissertation upon the Sects of the Jews, printed before our Commentary upon St. Mark; and Serrarius and Basnage upon the same Subject.
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