WHAT do we know respecting the origin of the Pharisees?
We shall have to go back in Israel’s history to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah to obtain an answer to this question. When at the end of the seventy years of which the prophet Jeremiah spoke (Jer. 29:1010For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. (Jeremiah 29:10), & Ezra 1:11Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, (Ezra 1:1)), a few of the children of Israel (Ezra 2:6464The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore, (Ezra 2:64)) returned to their own land from the captivity in Babylon, they found Jerusalem in ruins, and the temple of Jehovah a desolate heap. All the glory of the olden days had departed because of the sins of God’s people. But at Jehovah’s bidding, through His prophets, the temple was rebuilt (Ezra 6:1414And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. (Ezra 6:14)), and the walls also of Jerusalem were restored. (Neh. 4:66So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work. (Nehemiah 4:6), & 6:15.) Thus once more Israel—or rather, a remnant of their nation―was reestablished in their own land.
When the temple was finished, “the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land,” kept the feast of unleavened bread, which accompanied the Passover. (Ezra 6:2121And the children of Israel, which were come again out of captivity, and all such as had separated themselves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land, to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat, (Ezra 6:21).) Note the words, separated themselves. The people of Israel were denounced by the princes for not having separated themselves (ch. 9:1) from the heathen; the people were bidden, separate yourselves from the people of the land (ch. 10:11), and the seed of Israel is said to have separated themselves from all strangers. (Neh. 9:22And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. (Nehemiah 9:2).) We say note the words, separated themselves, for the meaning of “Pharisees” is The Separate.
Separation from evil (Neh. 10:2828And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding; (Nehemiah 10:28)) and separation to God (vs. 29) was then the origin of the idea of the Pharisee. But the origin and the end were as distinct from each other as are light and darkness. And as we read these words of God about the Pharisees of the last time― “These be they who separate themselves, sensual (or natural), having not the Spirit” (Jude 1919These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. (Jude 19)), we are appalled at the ingenuity of our fallen nature, which so adroitly turns the divine principle of holiness into that most corrupt thing―self-glorification.
In the temple as rebuilt, the ark of the Lord was not (2 Chron. vs. 9), nor had this new temple the glory-cloud as Solomon’s (ch. 7:3). That visible token of the divine presence had retreated from the earth and gone to heaven, as Ezekiel, the prophet, had seen in his visions. (ch. 8, & 11:12, 23.) Moreover, the sacred Urim and Thummim on the high priest’s breastplate, from or on which in some way God communicated His mind to His people, were no more. Hence Israel had its temple, but not the true glories of the temple.
It was, then, at this time, when the absence of these tokens of God’s delight should have rendered His people heart-broken and humble, that the pretentious sect of the Pharisees rose into power. They had lost the spirit of the separation God requires, and had seized upon the letter, the word―The Separated. Instead of being separated from sin and iniquity, and to God, they were separated from the people of God by their scriptural knowledge (see John 7:48, 4948Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? 49But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. (John 7:48‑49)) and their traditions (Mark 7:3-83For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. 4And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. 5Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? 6He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. (Mark 7:3‑8)), and to themselves by their own proud thoughts about themselves.
But were the Pharisees at the first what they were in the time of our Lord? No; for undoubtedly there was real zeal for God to contend against the inroads of what in the remote times we refer to was “modernized religion,” time serving, and worldliness. Against these things the earnest and faithful separated ones of about 300 years before our Lord stood nobly, and, indeed, many died for the truth. But as the years rolled by, the true became corrupted, and the false took its place; so that God describes those who separate themselves as walking after their own ungodly lusts. (Jude 1818How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. (Jude 18).)
What were the distinguishing doctrines of the Pharisees? Briefly, we may say their doctrines were having their traditions as well as the written word of God. Had they confined their belief to the Scriptures, their conduct would have been condemned by the Scriptures. But they laid aside the commandment of God to hold the tradition of men. Hence said our Lord to them, “Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.” (Mark 7:99And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. (Mark 7:9).) When once men depart from the written word of God, and allow ever so small an amount of human tradition a place of rule in their souls, it is like letting water through a dam―beginning as a trickling stream it grows into a rushing torrent, carrying the conscience before it.
We find the Pharisees wasting their time and pouring contempt upon God in discussing the veriest trifies, as, for example, whether an egg laid on a festival should be eaten or not; whether poultry should be eaten with milk; what kind of wick and oil candles used on the Sabbath should have! One rabbi said that boiled suet might be used for such candles, another equally wise rabbi said the contrary. These vain questions occupied their minds! It seems as if it were one of God’s judgments on self-satisfied traditionists, that they should be given over to occupation with petty trifles about which no truly earnest soul, having eternity before him, would dare to spend five minutes of his precious lifetime.