Daily Devotion

 

When the Sanhedrin had been finally silenced, the Sadducees appeared on the scene. The whole point of their question depends on these two things:

(1^st) it depends upon the levirate law of marriage. (Deuteronomy 25:5.) According to that law, if a married man died childless, his brother must marry the widow and beget children to carry on the line. It is far from likely that it was operative in the time of Jesus, but it was included in the Mosaic regulations and the Sadducees regarded it as binding.

(2^nd) It depends upon the beliefs of the Sadducees. Sadducees and Pharisees are often mentioned together, but in beliefs they were far apart.

(a) The Pharisees were entirely a religious body. They had no political ambitions, and were content with any government that allowed them to carry out the ceremonial law. The Sadducees were few, but very wealthy. The priests, and the aristocrats were nearly all Sadducees. They were the governing class, and they were largely collaborationist with Rome being unwilling to risk their wealth, their comfort, and their place.

(b) The Pharisees accepted the scriptures plus all the thousand detailed regulations, and rules of the oral, and ceremonial law, such as the Sabbath law, and the laws of handwashing. The Sadducees accepted only the written law of the Old Testament; and in the Old Testament they stressed only the law of Moses.

(c) The Pharisees believed in the resurrection from the dead, in angels, and spirits. The Sadducees believed that there was no resurrection from the dead, and that there were no angels, nor spirits.

(d) The Pharisees believed in fate, and that a man's life was planned, and ordered by God. The Sadducees believed in unrestricted free-will.

(e) The Pharisees believed in, and hoped for the coming of the Messiah; the Sadducees did not. For them the coming of the Messiah would have been a disturbance of their carefully ordered lives.

Life Application: Which of the two groups do you fit in, or would you choose to be a part of?

 

Praise/Prayer: Dear Father, I am so thankful that Jesus came into the world with a whole new way into Your presence. I am so thankful that I do not have to accept so many things that existed before Jesus came. Thank You for entry into Your presence anytime I want to. What a wonderful privilege it is to be able to know that I can come into Your presence with whatever needs I have, and You are faithful to meet my needs. Hallelujah! Amen!