The religion of the Jew in the present day, is that which was practised by the sect called Pharisees, and is in general use among all the descendants of Israel, wherever they may be dispersed throughout the earth. There are some few exceptions, in those who have seceded, and have set up a standard for themselves; but they are few in number, and not very significant in the scale of Judaism. The principle which they so strenuously advocate is a mere change in the formulæ of prayer, and the mode of synagogue worship, under the idea of conciliating the Gentiles, by whom they are surrounded. The belief in the coming of the Messiah, and the resurrection of the dead, as also the restoration of Israel to the promised land, is not in the least invalidated. The Jews in general look forward with anxious hope for the forthcoming of that period in which all this shall come to pass, as so frequently foretold by the prophets in the various ages in which they flourished.
CHAPTER III.[ToC]
The Sadducees.
The Sadducees derive their name from the Hebrew word "Tzaddukeem," so called from Zadok, who was a pupil of Antigonus, the son of Socho, president of the Sanhedrim, upwards of two thousand years ago. This sect arose from the following circumstance.
Antigonus taught in his school the doctrine that "Man ought to serve God from pure love, and not in a servile manner, either out of fear of punishment or the hope of reward."
Zadok, not comprehending the spiritual idea of this doctrine, concluded that there would not be any future state of reward or punishment; and, accordingly, taught and propagated this false doctrine after the death of his preceptor, Antigonus.
This sect believed in the written law as handed down from the time of Moses; but not in the oral or traditional law. They rejected all the traditions maintained among the Pharisees. They not only denied the resurrection of the body, but even the existence of the soul after its departure from the body here on earth. They ignored the idea entertained of divine decrees, and held the belief that man is absolute master of his own actions, with the full privilege of acting as he pleases, either for good or evil. That God does not in anywise influence his creatures in the doing the one or the other; that man's prosperity or adversity in life depends entirely on his own acts, and that both are respectively the result of either his wisdom or his folly. The Sadducees received the Pentateuch as divine; but not the other books of the old testament. In the days of Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, the Sadducees were not very numerous, but supposed to have been the most wealthy among the people; and the more opulent joined them. We can easily reconcile this to our minds, as we observe in our times that the rich and the great are apt to prefer the pleasures and enjoyments of this life to any expectancy in a future state of existence. Hence they are found ready and willing to embrace such a system of religion as enables them to follow their own inclinations.