Abram Herbert Lewis - Spiritual Sabbathism

112 SPIRITUAL SABBATHISM
The Pharisees did not intend this, except negatively.
Their doctrine was that Israel must not
meddle with politics or aspire to political power, but
must remain a nation apart. The nation was now
a church, and Jehovah would protect it. Israel
should acknowledge no king but God.
If Israel was
conquered, let the curse be upon the conquerors.
The Messiah would come and put all nations under
his feet.
Let Israel keep the law and wait patiently
for the Lord. When, however, the Maccabeans
came to act no longer like priests but like princes, the
Pharisees were drawn into internal politics.
They
nobly resisted the brutal Alexander Jannasus (105-
78 B. C.) and eight hundred of them met martyrdom.
Their love of the law was sealed with blood.
Under Rome neither Pharisee nor Sadducee had
any political power, and the distinction became a
religious distinction. The Sadducees admitted the
authority of the law, but they denied that it needed
rabbinical supplements. Also they denied the immortality
of the soul.
They were naturally men of
affairs, and they became the secular or positivistic
party in Judaism. The Pharisees insisted that the law
needed explanation, and that the scribal comments
should be in some sense binding on the faithful.
Also they insisted on the immortality of the soul,
and the Messianic kingdom. In general, the peo-
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