Monthly Archives: February 2012

The Pharisees, in scriptures, are the major villains of the gospels.  There is no questions that Jesus spent a lot of time debating and criticizing

The Pharisees, in scriptures, are the major villains of the gospels.  There is no question that Jesus spent a lot of time debating and criticizing the Pharisees.  Part of the problem comes from a marvelous bit of language problems.  The dictionary defines pharisaical as marked by hypocritical censorious self-righteousness.

There is nothing in scriptures to indicate that they deliberately preached one thing and then practiced what they were denouncing.  The problem was that they were so devoted to their religious beliefs that they damaged God’s work.  They were the deeply religious conservatives of their day.  The Pharisees were the group in Jewish life that believed most strongly in “the Messiah.”  About a hundred years later, the Pharisees acclaimed Simon bar Kokhba as the prophesied messiah and died in large numbers in terrible ways rather than surrender their scriptural beliefs.

The conflict with Jesus was over his claim to be the messiah and after his death, the Pharisees seemed to feel much more protective towards his disciples.  In acts, there seems to be much more support from those Pharisees in the Sanhedrin.  Paul, although a Pharisee, was chasing Christians on behalf of the Sadducees.

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20 RSV).

According to Old Testament, upon the death of the High Priest, those who, because of their crimes had fled to the Cities of Refuge could return to their former homes and positions, their sins forgiven and forgotten. A shadow of the Messiah.

²⁸Because the manslayer should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. But after the high priest’s death the manslayer shall return to the land of his possession.

This blog will be my Bible study notebook.

In it I will create essays and record random bits of information that I find helpful in
understanding the Bible.  Feel free to add materials, and add anything
which you feel will help me understand the Bible better.  Feel also
free to ignore the person the poetry that I may record here.  Some
things cross my mind that cannot be put into prose where paragraphs
and instead will find themselves recorded is some rather
incomprehensible poetry.

I am interested in exploring the Bible itself.  I will use Jewish sources that shaped the world that Jesus lived in to find the meaning behind what he was teaching.  I don’t believe in secret doctrines and other such foolishness, but I also think that we misinterpret or are bewildered by things which were comprehensible to the people he was talking to.

I want to be challenged.  I want folks to disagree or expand the subjects that I am dealing with.  I enjoy the dialog that clarifies and produces insight.

I also have a desire to make the Bible even more meaningful than it is presently.  Sometimes we protect ourselves by isolating ourselves from some of the events of the Bible.  Please feel free to go back to older posts and respond to what they cover.

I have lived a great deal of my life teaching.  I am in my 47th year of teaching.  I have learned more from my students than they have ever learned from me.  I am hoping that
anyone who reads this blog should feel again free to expand or question or refute anything written here.  I would sooner be corrected than continue in error.

Ted