In the first century AD, Jews lived across the Roman Empire in relative harmony.
Protected by Rome and allowed to continue their religion, everything was fine until rebellion in Judaea led to a major change in the practice of their faith.
The Roman Empire: in the First Century. The Roman Empire. Jews In Roman Times | PBS
The name Pharisee is probably derived from the Hebrew perushim or the Aramaic perishaya, which means “the separated (ones),” though it is debated as to from what or whom they were separated. Like the Sadducees, they first made their appearance in the late second century B.C.E. under the Maccabees whom they initially supported, but from whom they later separated. After John Hyrcanus took bloody revenge on them for a Pharisee’s criticism of his mother, they once again came into their own under Queen Alexandra (76-69 B.C.E.) and gradually gained in stature. Unlike the Sadducees, most Pharisees were not priests, but lay scholars whose main influence was in their development and preservation of the oral legal tradition mentioned above. Thus, they were rooted in the synagogue and known for pious living (alms, tithing, prayer, and fasting) and interpretation of the Torah, especially in areas such as food purity, crops, Sabbaths and festivals, and family affairs. In these areas, the Pharisees “made a hedge for the Torah.” In direct contrast to the Sadducees, they accepted the larger notion of Scripture, as well as newer views such as angels, demons, and the resurrection of the dead. In the New Testament, Jesus is pictured as frequently in debate with the “scribes and the Pharisees,” the former having perhaps formed still another, separate group. The Pharisees were divided into various “schools,” the best known being those of Hillel and Shammai in the first century. Their most renowned teachers became rabbis, though the beginning of the use of this term is also debated. Unlike the Sadducees, then, many of the Pharisaic traditions have been preserved in the so-called rabbinic literature, for it was the Pharisees who survived the war with Rome and reorganized Judaism along Pharisaic lines at the coastal town of Javneh (Jamnia). Here the books of the Jewish Scriptures were decided, the oral traditions collected, and the prayer against the Christians (Nazarenes) and Heretics added to the important set of Jewish prayers, the Eighteen Benedictions. Henceforth, the heart of Judaism was the Torah, the synagogue, and the interpretation of Torah by the rabbis.
The Jewish World of Jesus: An Overview
