Eventually much of Judah became hellenised under the rulership of the Greeks, and over a period of time new doctrines and pagan ideas became accepted. These new ideas were often represented as “traditions of the elders” and these traditions, both good and bad, came to be known as the Oral Law.
Then, in 196 BC the Sanhedrin was established comprising priests from the tribe of Levi and lay people thought to be wise teachers. This was a new innovation as previously the Levites alone had the authority to teach religion to the people. These lay teachers organised themselves into the party of the Pharisees, and the priests became known as the Sadducees.
Hellenistic indoctrination of the Jews became more widespread during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes (175 BC), who invaded Jerusalem, polluted the Temple by burning swine’s flesh on its altar, forbade the worship of God and, in the Holy Place, erected a statue of Jupiter Olympus – the prophesied “abomination of desolation” (Daniel 11:29-31).
The British scholar Travers Herford commented in regard to this period: “In the absence of authoritative guidance…new ideas had been formed under the influence of Hellenism which had permeated the land for more than a century, and there had been no one to point out the danger which thereby threatened the religious life of the people” (Talmud and Apocrypha, pp. 64-65).
This was the situation when Jesus Christ began His ministry, during which He condemned many of the attitudes and actions of the Pharisees. In chapter 23 of Matthew, Christ acknowledged the Pharisees were religious leaders and He warned His audience, and us, not to follow their example, using the phrase “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” seven times.
“Hypocrite” comes from the Greek word hupokrites and refers to someone who is acting or pretending. Christ forcefully addressed the issue of hypocrisy in Matthew 6:1-18. The hypocrites give offerings for the purpose of being seen (verses 1-2); they pray to impress others (verse 5); and they try to look miserable when they fast so they will be admired for their sacrifice and pitied for their discomfort (verse 16). Christ’s message to His disciples was simply: If you do this, the admiration of others will be your only reward.
1. Apart from their hypocrisy and malicious intent towards Christ (See Matthew 22), the Pharisees also clashed with Him because they failed to acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah. They should have recognised the timing of His first coming. The wise men came looking for Jesus as a young child, and the scribes and chief priests were able to identify where Christ was to be born (Matthew 2:1-8). Herod certainly believed He had arrived (verses 8-18), and others were also looking for the Messiah’s birth at this time (Luke 2:25-35)
Also Nicodemus, a high-ranking Pharisee, had come to Christ, telling him “we know you are a teacher come from God,” (John 3:2). But inspite of this most of the Pharisees spoke against Him, sought His death and dissuaded those who heard Him from learning more about the Kingdom of God (Matthew 23:13), repeating their forefathers’ failure to recognise the prophets sent by God (verses 29-39).
2. A second area where the Pharisees came into conflict with Christ was by adding to the Scriptures while omitting what was intended. As mentioned earlier, they relied heavily on the “oral law”, which they claimed was the words of Moses. However, there is no suggestion in Scripture that any oral law was to be added. Their traditions and additions to the law of God often had the effect of undermining the very law they appeared to honour and obey.
In Matthew chapter 12 the Pharisees condemned the disciples for picking handfuls of grain on the Sabbath day because they were hungry. They saw this as “reaping” which would be considered work (verses 1-8). While the Sabbath commandment forbids work from which one would earn one’s living it does make provision for basic human (or animal) needs and comforts (see also Luke 13:10-17).
Later the same day they became so incensed at Christ for healing a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath that they began to plot to kill him (Matthew 12:9-14), a direct breach of God’s commandment regarding premeditated murder. As Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). Little wonder Christ said of them, “You reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition” (Mark 7:7-9) and accused them of ignoring “the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith” (Matthew 23:23).
3. The third area of conflict was that the Pharisees had a reputation for wanting to appear righteous before others and tended to look down on those whom they considered less pious than themselves. Their religion was often a source of pride. Christ referred to this propensity of the Pharisees to seek honour from men rather than God in His reprimand (Matthew 23:5-12, 24-28). Instead of leading people to God, they more frequently led the few who would actually follow them to become Pharisees like themselves (Matthew 23:13,15).
To understand the gravity of this, we should consider the summary Christ gave when speaking to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 15:8-9. Quoting from the prophet Isaiah, He concluded, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” In other words they had incorporated error, superstition and human tradition into their religious life and teaching.
