Pharisees: Separatists (Heb. persahin, from parash, "to separate"). They were
probably the successors of the Assideans (i.e., the "pious"), a party
that originated in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes in revolt against
his heathenizing policy. The first mention of them is in a
description by Josephus of the three sects or schools into which the
Jews were divided (B.C. 145) The other two sects were the Essenes
and the Sadducees. In the time of our Lord they were the popular
party
(John 7:48) They were extremely accurate and minute in all
matters appertaining to the law of Moses
(Matthew 9:14; 23:15; Luke 11:39)
(Luke 18:12) Paul, when brought before the council of Jerusalem,
professed himself a Pharisee
(Acts 23:6-8; 26:4,5) There was much that
was sound in their creed, yet their system of religion was a form and
nothing more. Theirs was a very lax morality
(Matthew 5:20; 15:4,8)
(Matthew 23:3,14,23,25; John 8:7) On the first notice of them in the New
Testament
(Matthew 3:7) they are ranked by our Lord with the Sadducees
as a "generation of vipers." They were noted for their
self-righteousness and their pride
(Matthew 9:11; Luke 7:39; 18:11,12) They
were frequently rebuked by our Lord
(Matthew 12:39; 16:1-4) From the very
beginning of his ministry the Pharisees showed themselves bitter and
persistent enemies of our Lord. They could not bear his doctrines, and
they sought by every means to destroy his influence among the people.
