Sadducees facts for kids

The Sadducees (/ˈsædjəsiːz/; Hebrew: צְדוּקִים, romanized: Ṣəḏūqīm, lit. 'Zadokites') were an important group of Jews in Judea. They were active during the time of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, from about 167 BCE until the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE. People at the time often compared the Sadducees to two other main Jewish groups: the Pharisees and the Essenes.

Historians like Josephus say that the Sadducees were mostly from the wealthy and powerful families in Judea. They had many important jobs in politics, society, and religion. This included taking care of the Temple in Jerusalem. The group disappeared not long after the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE.

What Does the Name "Sadducees" Mean?

The name "Sadducees" comes from a Greek word, which came from a Hebrew word. It is linked to the name Zadok (צָדַק), which means "to be right" or "just." This might show that they were a high-ranking group in society when they first started.

A Look at Sadducee History

Some historians believe the Sadducees got their name from Zadok. He was the first High Priest of Israel to serve in Solomon's Temple. The leaders of the Sadducees were thought to be the Kohanim, who were priests and descendants of Zadok.

An old Jewish story, Avot of Rabbi Natan, tells about two students, Zadok and Boethus. Their teacher taught them to serve God without expecting a reward. Over time, these students or their followers misunderstood this. They came to believe there was no life after death or resurrection of the dead. This led them to start the Sadducee and Boethusian groups. They lived very fancy lives, using expensive dishes. They thought the Pharisees lived hard lives and would get nothing for it in the next world.

Josephus also mentions a Sadduc who worked with a rebel leader named Judas. Some think the Sadducees might have gotten their name from this Sadduc.

The Second Temple Era

A Sadducee, shown in a 15th-century book called the Nuremberg Chronicle

The Second Temple period was a long time in Jewish history. It started when the Second Temple was built in Jerusalem in 516 BCE. It ended when the Romans destroyed it in 70 CE. During this time, Jerusalem was ruled by different empires.

First, the Persian Empire controlled Judea. The Temple became the main place of worship. Its priests became very powerful in both religious and everyday matters. This continued when the Greeks took over after Alexander the Great conquered the region. Greek culture and ideas mixed with Judaism, creating Hellenistic Judaism.

After Alexander died, his generals fought over his empire. Judea was ruled first by Egypt (the Ptolemaic dynasty) and then by Syria (the Seleucid Empire). During these times, the High Priest of Israel was chosen with the Greek rulers' approval. This mixed religious and government power even more.

Around 168 BCE, the Syrian King Antiochus IV Epiphanes tried to stop Jewish practices. This led to the Maccabean Revolt. The Hasmonean dynasty led this successful rebellion. They created an independent Jewish kingdom around 142 BCE. Many experts believe the Sadducees started to form around this time. They likely grew from the powerful religious leaders during the early Hasmonean period.

The Hasmonean rule ended in 63 BCE when the Roman general Pompey conquered Jerusalem. This began the Roman period in Judea. The Romans slowly took power from Jewish kings and gave it to Roman officials. This led to the First Jewish–Roman War in 66 CE. The Romans won, destroying Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE. This ended the Second Temple period.

After the Temple Was Destroyed

After the Temple was destroyed in 70 CE, the Sadducees mostly disappeared. They are only mentioned a few times in later Jewish writings (like the Talmud) and some Christian texts. Later, a Jewish group called Karaite Judaism sometimes used the name "Sadducees" for their early followers.

What Did the Sadducees Do?

The Sadducees had important jobs in both religion and government.

Religious Duties

The Sadducees were in charge of keeping the Temple in Jerusalem running. Their high social standing was linked to their priestly duties. The Torah (Jewish law) gave priests the job of performing sacrifices at the Temple. This was the main way people worshipped God in ancient Israel. They also led sacrifices during the three major festivals when Jews traveled to Jerusalem.

Their religious beliefs and social status supported each other. The priesthood was often the highest class in Jewish society. However, not all priests or wealthy people were Sadducees. Many were Pharisees, and some didn't belong to any group.

Political Duties

The Sadducees handled many official government tasks. Members of the Sadducees would:

• Manage the country's daily affairs.
• Represent Judea to other countries.
• Be part of the Sanhedrin, which was the high Jewish court. They often worked with, and sometimes argued with, the Pharisees there.
• Collect taxes, including money from Jews living outside Judea.
• Organize and lead the army.
• Manage relationships with the Roman Empire.
• Help solve problems and disagreements among the people.

What Did the Sadducees Believe?

We don't have any writings from the Sadducees themselves. All we know about their beliefs comes from other sources. These sources were often written by people who didn't like the Sadducees. For example, Josephus was a Pharisee, Christian writings were often critical, and later Jewish rabbis (who came from the Pharisees) were usually against them.

Main Beliefs

The Sadducees did not accept the Oral Torah, which was a set of traditions and interpretations passed down by word of mouth, as taught by the Pharisees. They believed that only the Written Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) was truly from God. Later, the Pharisees criticized this belief, saying it helped the Sadducees keep their power.

According to Josephus, the Sadducees believed:

• People have free will; they can choose between good and evil. They did not believe in fate or a future that was already decided.
• God is good and does not do evil.
• The soul is not immortal, meaning it does not live forever.
• There is no afterlife, and no rewards or punishments after death.
• It is good to debate and discuss ideas with teachers of philosophy.

The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. However, they did believe in the traditional Jewish idea of Sheol, a place where the dead go. Josephus also said the Sadducees were rude, unlike the kind Pharisees. But this was likely just an insult from a rival group. Josephus also claimed the Sadducees often had to give in to the Pharisees because the Pharisees were more popular with the common people.

The Sadducees appear in the Christian gospels, but not in much detail. They are usually just listed as people who disagreed with Jesus. The Christian book Acts of the Apostles gives a bit more information:

• The Sadducees were linked to the high priest and seemed to have most of the power in the Sanhedrin.
• They did not believe in resurrection, while the Pharisees did. Paul used this difference to get the Pharisees to protect him.
• The Sadducees did not believe in spirits or angels, but the Pharisees did.

Disagreements with the Pharisees

The Sadducees and Pharisees often disagreed on religious laws and interpretations:

• The Sadducees believed that water poured out became ritually impure. The Pharisees disagreed. Many of their arguments were about ritual purity.
• Regarding inheritance, the Sadducees had different rules for who inherited property if a man died without sons. They would sometimes give property to a distant female relative. The early Jewish sage Yohanan ben Zakkai argued against this, saying that a daughter only inherits if there are no sons. The Sadducees eventually agreed with the Pharisees on this point.
• The Sadducees thought a master should pay for damages caused by his slave. The Pharisees disagreed, thinking a slave might cause damage on purpose to make the master pay.
• The Pharisees believed that false witnesses should be executed if their false testimony led to a verdict, even if the punishment hadn't happened yet. The Sadducees argued that false witnesses should only be executed if the falsely accused person had already been killed.

Later Jewish rabbis, who were like the descendants of the Pharisees, had a very negative view of both the Sadducees and Boethusians. They saw them as not following the Torah strictly enough. They also disliked their efforts to get common people to join their groups. Maimonides, a famous Jewish scholar, believed the Sadducees rejected the Oral Torah just to make the Written Torah easier to follow for their own benefit. He even said the Sadducees "harmed Israel and caused the nation to stray from following God."

Different Jewish Groups

The Pharisees and the Sadducees Come to Tempt Jesus by James Tissot (Brooklyn Museum)

During the Second Temple period, the Jewish community had many different groups. Josephus described the Sadducees as being different from the Pharisees and the Essenes. The Sadducees were also clearly separate from the early followers of Jesus, who later became Christians. These groups had different beliefs, social standings, and holy texts. While the Sadducees didn't write their own books that survived, we learn about them from other old texts. These include the New Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and later Jewish writings like the Mishnah and Talmud. In general, the Sadducees were the wealthy, powerful, and traditional leaders of Jewish society.

Disagreements with the Essenes

The Dead Sea Scrolls, which are often linked to the Essenes, show that the Essenes and Sadducees had very different ideas and social positions. Some experts think the Essenes might have started as a group of Zadokites, meaning they had priestly roots like the Sadducees. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Sadducees are sometimes called Manasseh. The scrolls suggest that the Sadducees (Manasseh) and Pharisees (Ephraim) became different from the Essenes, who saw themselves as the true Judah.

The scrolls describe conflicts between the Essenes and Sadducees. For example, one scroll says that the Sadducees (Manasseh) are "wicked ones" whose rule will end. It blames them for the downfall of ancient Israel and the siege of Jerusalem. This shows that the Essenes challenged the Sadducees' right to rule. It also supports the idea that the Sadducees were the ruling class.

Disagreements with Early Christians

The New Testament, especially the books of Mark and Matthew, tell stories that show Jesus and the Sadducees often disagreed. In one story, a Sadducee tries to trick Jesus by asking about resurrection. He asks whose husband a woman would be in the afterlife if she had been married to seven brothers. Jesus replies that in the resurrection, people "neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven." He also tells them they don't understand the scriptures or God's power.

Matthew's Gospel also records John the Baptist calling both the Pharisees and Sadducees a "brood of vipers," which means he saw them as dangerous.

Disagreements with the Pharisees

Josephus, who wrote a lot about the Second Temple Period, gave a detailed account of the different Jewish groups. In his book Jewish Antiquities, he explains that "the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers, which are not written in the law of Moses." He adds that the Sadducees "reject them and say that we are to esteem those observance to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers." This means the Sadducees did not accept the Pharisees' Oral Torah. They believed only the Written Torah was truly divine.

The rabbis, who are seen as the followers of the Pharisees, describe the differences between the two groups in the Mishnah Yadaim. The Mishnah explains that the Sadducees believed the holiness of sacred texts depended on how much people loved them. A passage from the book of Acts suggests that both Pharisees and Sadducees worked together in the Sanhedrin, the main Jewish court.