Most
Christians are used to thinking of terms of denominations: Baptists,
Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Catholics, Episcopalians, etc.,
meeting together in little groups of people with similar styles of
worship and doctrinal understanding. But only on the very rarest of
occasions would these diverse-thinking groups of people all meet together
in the same place at the same time for communal worship.
This
was not the case with the Synagogues of the Late Second Temple Period,
and certainly not during the first half of the first century of the
Common Era. At that time there were essentially three major or divisions
of Judaism, with five additional overlapping subgroups.
Prior
to the Maccabean revolt[31] (ca.
185-160 BCE), Judaism was rather well united. However, under Greek
rule many Jews tended to adopt a Greek, or Hellenized, life-style. These
Hellenistic Jews were opposed by a more traditionalist group known as the
Chasideans (not to be confused with modern Chasidic Judaism). As the
Seleucid Greeks began to oppress the Jewish people, they united and
revolted against the Greeks. For the duration of the 25-year Maccabean
war Judaism remained fairly united, but after the war the Jewish
people divided into three main groups: the Pharisees, Sadducees, and
Essenes.
The
Pharisees [P’rushim] were the theological conservatives of the
time, holding to a literal interpretation of the Scriptures. They
believed that G-d gave Moshe [Moses] two Torahs, a written Torah and an
oral Torah,[32] both
of which they considered to be authoritative, but open to interpretation
by specially-trained teachers, called Rabbis. Most Pharisees would have
considered themselves “Scribes,” or experts in Torah, though not all
Scribes were Pharisees.
The
Sadducees [Tzedukim] grew out of the Hellenized aristocratic elements of
Judaism. While they probably would have considered themselves theological
conservatives who held to a strict interpretation of the written Torah,
their theology more closely resembled that of modern liberal
“Christianity.” They rejected all things supernatural, particularly
rejecting miracles, spirit beings, and the resurrection of the dead.[33]
Unfortunately, the Sadducees were also the political appointees to the
Temple priesthood and held a majority of the seats on the
Sanhedrin (Israel’s equivalent of America’s Supreme Court). By the time
of Yeshua there were likely very few of the kohenim [priests] who
were actually scripturally qualified to serve in the Temple.
The
Essenes felt that both the Pharisees and the Sadducees were far too
liberal, and that the priesthood was totally corrupt, so they gathered in
monastic communities and developed their own sacrificial
system independent of that of the Temple. Perhaps the best-known Essene
community was the one at Qumran which left us the Dead Sea Scrolls.
After
Israel came under the control of the Roman Empire, a group of political
activists known as Zealots arose, who both advocated and attempted to
bring about the overthrow of Rome. A particularly violent subgroup of the
Zealots was a band of assassins known as the Sicarii (also spelled
Sacarii), or assassins, after the Latin word for the short
ice-pick-like daggers with which they dispatched (usually via a quick
thrust to the base of the brain) anyone they felt to be a Roman
sympathizer. Among Yeshua’s talmidim were at least two members of the
party of the Zealots: Simeon Zealotes (Simon the Zealot) and Yehudah
Sicarius (or Judah the Assassin), usually translated into English as
“Judas Iscariot.”[34] Bar
Abba (Barabbas, or Son of a Father), who was released by Governor Pilate
in exchange for Yeshua’s execution, was a notorious Sicarius (Matthew
27:11-25).
The
Pharisaic tradition was the only one to survive the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 CE by more than a very few years, and is even now not
very far removed from modern Judaism. The Sadducees quickly dissolved
after the destruction of the Temple because without the temple service
they no longer had a reason to exist. The Essenes were quickly wiped out
by the Roman armies because their monastic communities provided such easy
targets. And the Zealots were quickly rounded up and crucified for
treason against Rome.
However, during the period of time between the initial conquest of
Israel by the Romans and the destruction of Jerusalem, the Pharisees,
Sadducees, and Zealots all met together for study, prayer, and worship in
the same synagogues. It was into this milieu that Yeshua and His
talmidim were born, studied Torah, walked
halakah[35],
taught the Gospel message, and eventually died—as fully
Torah-observant Jews.
There
was also a fourth identifiable group in the synagogue, the
Gentile proselytes[36], or
ger. The famous Jewish historian Josephus describes the ger,
or convert, as one who adopts the Jewish customs, following the laws of
the Jews and worshiping G-d as they do—one who has become a Jew (Antiquities,
xx. 2, §§ 1, 4; cp. xviii. 3, 5.)
Ezra’s policy, founded on the belief that the new commonwealth should be
of the holy seed, naturally led to the exclusion of those of foreign
origin. Still, the non-Israelite could gain admittance through
circumcision (see Ex. xii).[37]
These
were people who were not Jewish-born, but who, like King David’s
grandmother Ruth, left their pagan ways behind them to fully embrace the
G-d, the People, the Land, and the Torah of Israel.
According to tradition, every Pharisee was expected to win at least one
proselyte to Judaism every year. It is my contention that Dr. Luke, who
penned the most scholarly of the Gospel accounts and the Book of the
Acts, if not he was not a natural-born Jew, was one of these proselytes,
and may very well have been converted to Judaism by Rav Sha’ul himself.
The
process of this conversion would have included the foreswearing of all
pagan beliefs and practices, the taking of a Jewish name [shem kodesh],
immersion in a mikvah [a special pool of “living water”],
circumcision for men, and the offering of a sacrifice in the Temple.
Those who had gone through this conversion process were considered as
much Jewish as those who were born as Jews. If this were not true, then
their children would not be considered Jewish, nor would their
grandchildren. If Ruth did not become fully a Jew through her “conversion
process,” whatever form it may have taken, then her grandson, King David,
could not have been considered fully a Jew either!
There
was a fifth group of people who were also part of the synagogue, called
variously Sojourners, Strangers, Semi-Converts, or simply G-d-Fearers.[38] The
G-d-Fearers were Goyim who would have demonstrated a great love for the
G-d, the Land, the People, and the Torah of Israel, but yet stopped short
of formal conversion and circumcision.
But
of the stranger it was expected that he would forego the worship of
idols (Leviticus xx. 2; Ezekiel xiv. 7) and the practice [sic.] of
sorcery, incest, or other abominations (Leviticus xviii. 26), and that he
would refrain from eating blood (Leviticus xvii. 10), from working on
Sabbath (Ex. xx. 10, xxiii. 12), from eating leavened bread on
Pesach (Ex. xii. 19), and from violating Yom ha-Kippurim [Yom Kippur]
(Leviticus xvi. 29).[39]
[Compare Acts 15:28-29]
Having
agreed to observe the conditions described above, the G-d-Fearer was free
to participate as fully as he (or she) desired in the religious
observances of his synagogue community, but was not under obligation to
observe the entire oral Torah, nor was he obligated to undergo the
rite of circumcision. For all practical purposes, he lived as a Jew among
Jews but was not expected to “bear the full burden of Torah.”
Cornelius of Caesarea (Acts 10:1) was such a man, as perhaps was the
Roman centurion (Luke 7:5) who built the synagogue which Kefa’s [Peter’s]
family attended in Capernaum. Other G-d-Fearers are mentioned in Acts
13:43, Acts 17:4, and Act 17:17. It is my firm conviction that (except
for the issue of having embraced the Messiah, obviously) the
G-d-Fearer would have been virtually indistinguishable from most of the
non-Jewish members of any modern Messianic Jewish congregation.
