“Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:12, NKJV)
The Pharisees are a modern byword for nitpicking hypocritical killjoys. They have a semi-deserved reputation which they even accepted themselves with the rabbis making jokes about the seven types of Pharisee including the satirically described “bloody nosed Pharisee,” who in his desire to avoid sinning [when] looking at a woman improperly (Matthew 5:28) bashes his nose against a wall!1
In Jesus’ day there were at least seven (by some estimates up to twenty-four) separate Jewish sects. Each sect, like our modern day denominations, was characterised by distinct doctrines and alternate attitudes to Scripture. The views on Scripture varied on both its extent, whether only the Law (Sadducees) or also the Prophets and Writings (Essenes) or additionally the oral law and traditions (Pharisees), and its interpretation, whether literal (Sadducees), allegorical (Philo and Greek Jews), practical (Pharisees) or eschatological (Essenes). Jesus probably lay in between the Pharisees and the Essenes in his theology, although in practice he also exhibited powers like Jewish healers and exorcists. In Matthew 16:6,11-12 Jesus refers to both the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, whilst Mark terms the latter Herodians (Mark 8:15) as many of them were.
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Author: K. J. Went
Keywords: Leaven, Leaven of the Pharisees, Pharisees, Hypocrisy Pharisees, Hypocritical Pharisees
Bible reference(s): Matthew 16:6-12, Mark 8:15, Luke 12:1
Source: Difficult Sayings.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.