semiopen wrote: ↑Sun Oct 01, 2017 9:46 amWe know virtually nothing about the Pharisees, and certainly nothing about a sound logical structure underpinning their beliefs...I have no problem with Paul being an asshole, but his apparent Pharisaic deficiencies doesn't seem convincing.
Then, if we are to make progress, then maybe we may find something else about the Pharisees:
Josephus,
Antiquities..., 13, 10, 5:
"However, this prosperous state of affairs moved the Jews to envy Hyrcanus; but they that were the worst disposed to him were
the Pharisees, who were one of the sects of the Jews, as we have informed you already.
These have so great a power over the multitude, that when they say any thing against the king, or against the high priest, they are presently believed. Now Hyrcanus was a disciple of theirs, and greatly beloved by them. And when he once invited them to a feast, and entertained them very kindly, when he saw them in a good humor, he began to say to them, that they knew he was desirous to be a righteous man, and to do all things whereby he might please God, which was the profession of the Pharisees also. However, he desired, that if they observed him offending in any point, and going out of the right way, they would call him back and correct him. On which occasion they attested to his being entirely virtuous; with which commendation he was well pleased.
But still there was one of his guests there, whose name was Eleazar, a man of an ill temper, and delighting in seditious practices. This man said," Since thou desirest to know the truth, if thou wilt be righteous in earnest, lay down the high priesthood, and content thyself with the civil government of the people," And when he desired to know for what cause he ought to lay down the high priesthood, the other replied, "
We have heard it from old men, that thy mother had been a captive under the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. "
This story was false, and Hyrcanus was provoked against him; and all the Pharisees had a very great indignation against him..."
We are halfway to sighting the Story that was dismembered and rewritten. There may even be some mischief here. Josephus is suspect at many points in his "Histories" of the Hasmoneans and the soon-to-be-seen Alexander Jannaeus. At worst, treat this as "Historic Literature". The "ill tempered man" is named "Eleazar" and that name is radioactive:
1 Chronicles 24: 1 - 3 (RSV):
[1] The divisions of the sons of Aaron were these. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abi'hu, Elea'zar, and Ith'amar.
[2] But Nadab and Abi'hu died before their father, and had no children, so Elea'zar and Ith'amar became the priests.
[3] With the help of Zadok of the sons of Elea'zar, and Ahim'elech of the sons of Ith'amar, David organized them according to the appointed duties in their service.
If you would understand the NT, you simply must see the House of Eleazar: "Jehoiarib" has the Dynastic Hasmoneans assigned to them although the 16th Group Immer (the last of the Eleazar Group) believes the Hasmoneans came from them (Shulamit Elizur and Leibner).
Josephus gives a reason for the hatred of the Pharisees. They tell Hyrcanus that he does not have sufficient "Piety and Purity" to be the High Priest (Note the irony when you consider what follows with Herod and then the High Priesthood in terms of "Purity"). Jannaeus will make a decision at his death that will change the Course of Judea. Queen Salome (not Alexandra) will ascend to the Throne in exchange for the Pharisees taking over the bureaucracy of the government.
The Hasmonean's Lineal Rulers will be murdered and the Hellinistic Jerusalem Capital will be run at the exclusion of Jehoiarib and the other Mishmarot Clans. They will be marginalized until the Coup attempt at the 4 BCE Passover.
Make. No. Mistake.
The Pharisees are viscerally hated and though the Story was hacked up and rewritten, this part of the Story remains the same:
Matthew 23: 13 (RSV):
[13] "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in.
I invite you to read this as an actual event without the Metaphysics attached. The Kingdom of Heaven is a real place and it is shut before certain men, not spirits. This describes, I believe, the Passover Slaughter of 4 BCE. It points out the fiction of "Paul". Whether we know the Belief System of the Pharisees or not, they were certainly a POLITICAL Force, as Maccoby rightly points out.
CW