PHARISEES, a sect of the Jews first mentioned by Josephus, (Ant. xiii., 5, 9). Their activity extended over a period of three centuries (from c. 135 B.C.—A.D. 135). They first emerged as an organized party in the reign of John Hyrcanus and were active down to the time of Hadrian. We may assume that the Pharisees occupied a position of considerable influence and power during the reign of John Hyrcanus (135-105 B.c.). Later, in the reign of Alexander Jannaeus (5o4-78 B.c.) they appear to have quarrelled with the Maccabaean ruler (who, it must be remembered, func tioned as high priest as well as king) and the quarrel lasted some time. The breach was healed in the reign of his widow Salome Alexandra (78-69 B.c.). During the New Testament period the Pharisees, as is evident from the pages of the New Testament, played a dominating part in Jewish communal life.
Their general aim was to develop and deepen the work of the earlier Hasidim in making the Torah the accepted rule of life for the mass of the Jewish people. Their work was astonishingly suc cessful. They made the synagogue a permanent and widespread institution of Jewish life. Here in the weekly assemblages the lections were read and expounded to the people ; the synagogue prayers were developed and made familiar. They also organized a system of elementary religious instruction.
Origin of the Name.—Of the various explanations of the name, the view of Lauterbach is most plausible, that the term (which means "separated" or "expelled") is due to an actual event, viz. the expulsion of the lay teachers from the priestly Sanhedrin. It must be remembered that during the Persian period of the Post Exilic epoch the schools which perpetuated the teaching of the law were priestly in character and the actual teachers were themselves priests. These earlier Sopherim were also responsible for the actual transmission of the text. The system lasted on till the earlier part of the Greek period. Then the earlier simplicity and self-contained character of the Jewish community began to break down under the influence of Greek conditions. This applied also
to the teaching of the law to the people. "Laymen arose who had as much influence among the people and with the government as the High-Priest, and they became leaders." These laymen were practically the Pharisaic party who were able to force some of their party into the priestly Sanhedrin. Later a crisis arose in the Sanhedrin and the lay leaders were apparently expelled—hence the name Pharisees. As is well known, the Pharisees stood for the oral law as well as for the written, and one of their chief pre occupations was to deduce arguments for linking up popular cus tom with the written text of the Pentateuch. They were thus led to develop an ingenious system of exegesis which in course of time resulted in the development of a vast hermeneutical literature.
In order to estimate Pharisaism aright during its active period it is necessary to remember that it was sharply divided into warring sects and schools. These are probably not exhausted by the rival schools of Hillel and Shammai ; and the polemic of Jesus in the Gospels was primarily directed not against the party as a whole, but against one section of it, an extreme wing of the followers of Shammai who were open to the charge of formalism and hypocrisy. It is probable that the Shammaites were in the ascend ent at this time; later, after A.D. 7o, the milder peace-loving school of Hillel predominated. Pharisaism was the dominant factor in the development of orthodox Judaism, which assumed a more or less permanent form in the Rabbinical system. Its main interest was to bring the sanctions of religion into this life. This tendency also appears in its Messianic doctrine, which it has im pressed on all parts of the synagogue liturgy. Its Messiah is not the transcendental and heavenly figure of some of the apocalyp tists, but a purely human son of David. See G. F. Moore, Juda ism; Art. "Pharisees" in Enc. Rel. and Ethics. (G. H. B.)