CHAPTER III.

The Sadducees.

The Sadducees derive their name from the Hebrew word "Tzaddukeem," so called from Zadok, who was a pupil of Antigonus, the son of Socho, president of the Sanhedrim, upwards of two thousand years ago. This sect arose from the following circumstance.

Antigonus taught in his school the doctrine that "Man ought to serve God from pure love, and not in a servile manner, either out of fear of punishment or the hope of reward."

Zadok, not comprehending the spiritual idea of this doctrine, concluded that there would not be any future state of reward or punishment; and, accordingly, taught and propagated this false doctrine after the death of his preceptor, Antigonus.

This sect believed in the written law as handed down from the time of Moses; but not in the oral or traditional law. They rejected all the traditions maintained among the Pharisees. They not only denied the resurrection of the body, but even the existence of the soul after its departure from the body here on earth. They ignored the idea entertained of divine decrees, and held the belief that man is absolute master of his own actions, with the full privilege of acting as he pleases, either for good or evil. That God does not in anywise influence his creatures in the doing the one or the other; that man's prosperity or adversity in life depends entirely on his own acts, and that both are respectively the result of either his wisdom or his folly. The Sadducees received the Pentateuch as divine; but not the other books of the old testament. In the days of Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, the Sadducees were not very numerous, but supposed to have been the most wealthy among the people; and the more opulent joined them. We can easily reconcile this to our minds, as we observe in our times that the rich and the great are apt to prefer the pleasures and enjoyments of this life to any expectancy in a future state of existence. Hence they are found ready and willing to embrace such a system of religion as enables them to follow their own inclinations.

These men do not wish to tax their minds with any uneasy reflections on the subject of retribution, or of the world to come, when they shall be called to account for their past conduct in this life.

The Sadduccees were, however, not tolerated among the mass of the people, in consequence of their assertions, precepts, and doctrines, which were held by the community at large as impious, and, therefore, injurious to the happiness of society.

At the destruction of Jerusalem, this sect became very insignificant--their name became nearly forgotten for many years--and subsequently the name was applied to the sect called Karaites, whom we shall notice hereafter, in reproach and disgrace.