John Hyrcanus breaks with the Pharisees
Acts 23:6–8; Matthew 3:7; 22:23
By the time of John Hyrcanus, the parties that fill the pages of the Gospels had formed. When a Pharisee insulted him at a banquet, Hyrcanus broke with the Pharisees and joined the Sadducees.
For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees confess all of these.
Acts 23:8 (World English Bible)
The Pharisees (probably “separated ones”) grew out of the devout Jews who had resisted Greek ways. They were popular with ordinary people, taught careful obedience to the Law, and kept a large body of oral traditions handed down from the elders. The Sadducees were mostly wealthy priestly families, close to the temple and to power, who accepted only the written Law and rejected those traditions.
Josephus says that at a feast a Pharisee named Eleazar told Hyrcanus to give up the high priesthood, claiming his mother had once been a captive. Stung, Hyrcanus went over to the Sadducees. The two parties were still divided over the resurrection and angels in Paul's day (Acts 23:6–8).
Ancient witnesses outside the Bible
Historical sources, not Scripture.
- Antiquities 13.10.5–6
- Antiquities 18.1.2–4 — Josephus describes the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes
- War 2.8.14 — the Pharisees and Sadducees compared
- Life 2 — Josephus tries the three sects and follows the Pharisees
Dating notes
Josephus first mentions the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes in the time of Jonathan, about 145 BC. Ussher places Hyrcanus's break with the Pharisees in 108 BC, near the end of his reign; Josephus gives no exact year. The name Sadducee may come from Zadok, the high priest of Solomon's day.