The paschal meal was the model for these social and sacred repasts. But the light in which this very model sacrifice is to be viewed was a point of dispute between the priestly party or the Saddu cees and the Pharisees. Because the paschal lamb formed the social meal of the laity, the priestly party maintained that it is not to be regarded as a sacrifice for the congregation, urging in sup port of their notion the fact that the lambs were not numerically fixed like the other sacrifices in the Temple, but were regulated according to the num ber of families, and that they must therefore be viewed simply as family sacrifices, to be eaten by the respective owners, and must not set aside the sanctity of the Sabbath, i.e., ought not to be offered on the i4th of Nisan, if the first day of the Pass over falls on the Sabbath. Hillel, however, or the Pharisaic party whom he represented, suc ceeded in carrying their point, and in putting the sacred but private offerings of the Passover on an equality with the Temple sacrifices, and it was or dained, in opposition to the priestly party, that they are to set aside the sanctity of the Sabbath ; thus making the social family meal of the laity, which the Passover constituted as sacred as the fraternal meal of the priests, consisting of the sacred sacrifices offered in the Temple (yerusalent Pesachim, cap. vi. ; Babylon Pesachim, 66 a ; Geiger, 7iidische Zeitschrift, ii. 42, seq., Breslau 1863). Having carried this point, the Pharisees also gave to their meals of the Sabbath and other holy clays a sacrificial character after the model of the Passover.
As a people of priests and kings, the Pharisees considered themselves the guardians of the divine law and the ancestral customs, trusting implicitly that he who selected them to be his peculiar people would protect and shield them and theirs from all outward dangers which threatened the state. They were firmly penetrated by the conviction that as long as they were faithful to their God no power on earth, however formidable, would be permitted successfully to ravish his holy heritage. Hence they repudiated the time-serving policy of the aristocratic Sadducees, who maintained that a man's destiny was in his own hands, and that human in genuity and state-craft ought to be resorted to in political matters. The noble motto of the Phari sees was, that everything depends upon God ex cept a man's piety, which he, as a free being, can either cultivate or neglect' (r111 COnv ?nty rmrvqn ; Berachath, 33 b ; Widah, 16, 72). It is this which Josephus means when, wishing to show to the Greeks that his brethren had philoso phical sects similar to their schools, he declares that they ascribe all to fate and God (13aptauiat eipap pepn seal rpooiar-ovqg rcizn-a, de Bell. yud. 8. 14, with .472/4. ,xviii. t. 4). The objections urged against this overruling Providence in all things, based upon the apparent absence of retri butive justice in human dealings, as exhibited in the sufferings of the righteous and in the prosperity of the wicked, the Pharisees confronted with the doctrine of a future state, where the righteous judge will requite every man according to his deeds, whether they be good or evil, and where all pre sent inequalities will be rectified. 'The reward of the righteous will assuredly be in the world to come' (Abath, ii. 16). Hence the constant ad monition to avoid that which is sinful and to re member the tribunal in the world to come. Heed three things and thou wilt eschew transgression ; remember what is above thee, the all-seeing eye and the all-hearing ear, and that all thy deeds are written down in a book' (AbW1, ii. 1). ' Attend to three things and thou shalt not come to transgres sion ; know whence thou comest, whither thou shalt one day go, and before whom thou must give an account of thyself. Thou comest from an offensive drop ; thou goest to a place of dust, worms, and decay ; and thou must give an account of thyself before the tribunal of the King of kings, blessed be he' (Abath, iii.1). 'Those that are born are to die, those that die are to rise again, those that rise again are to be judged. Know, therefore, teach it, and be assured that he is the Omnipotent ; he is the Former, the Creator, the Omniscient ; the Judge, the witness, and the prosecutor; and he will pronounce the sentence. Blessed be he, before his tribunal there is no injustice, no forgetfulness, no respect of persons, and no acceptance of a bribe, for everything is his. Know also that everything
is to be accounted for ; let not, then, thine evil lusts persuade thee that the grave is a place of re fuge for thee' (Abath, iv. 22).
With such serious views of time and eternity, the Pharisees led a temperate life, renouncing both excessive riches and immoderate pleasure, and striving above all to acquire a knowledge of that law, and to practise those precepts, which shall fit them for the life to come, as may be seen from the following declaration : The more flesh on the body the more worms [when it is dead], the more riches the more cares, the more wives the more witches, the more handmaids the more unchastity, the more man-servants the more robbery ; but the more meditation in the divine law the better the life, the more schooling the more knowledge, the more counsel the more intelligence, the more be nevolence the more satisfaction ; he who acquires a good name acquires it for himself in this world, but he who acquires a knowledge of the divine law acquires for himself life in the world to come' (Abath, ii. 17). In aiding the people to realise their high vocation, and to prepare themselves for the kingdom of heaven by obedience to the divine law, the Pharisees endeavoured to facilitate that obedience by putting a mild interpretation upon some of the rigorous Mosaic enactments, and to adapt them to ever-changing circumstances. Thus they explain the expression 4m, carcase, in Lev. vii. 24, literally, and maintain that the statute in the verse in question only declares the flesh of an animal which was torn and died a natural death to be defiling by contact, but not the skin, bones, etc. ; and that, besides the human corpse and the dead bodies of a few reptiles in which the skin and flesh are to a certain extent, identical, the skin and bones of all animals, whether clean and legally slaughtered for meat, or unclean and dying acci dentally, do not defile, but may be made up into parchment, different utensils, etc. The haughty and aristocratic Sadducees, on the other hand, who stood on their priestly dignity, and cared little for the comforts of the people, took the term r&l.l in the unnatural sense of an animal approaching the condition of becoming a carcase, i. e., being so weak that it must soon expire, and maintained that an animal in such a condition may be slaughtered be fore it breathes its last ; that its flesh must then be considered as a carcase, and is defiling, whilst the fat, skin, bones, etc., may be used for diverse pur poses (yerusalem Megilla, i. 9 ; Babylon Sabbath, 198 a). It requires but little reflection to perceive how materially and divergently these different views must have affected the whole state of society, when it is remembered that according to the Sadducees the touching of any book written upon the parch ment made from the skin of an unclean animal, or contact with one of the numerous utensils made from the leather, bones, veins, etc., of animals not Levitically clean and not legally slaughtered, im parted defilement. Again, the Pharisees, with a due regard for the interests of the people, and fol lowing the requirements of the time, explained the right of retaliation, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,' etc. (Exod. xxi. 23, etc.), as requiring pecuniary compensation, while the Sadducees took it literally (Baba Kama, 83 b, 84 a, b ; Megillath Taandh, cap. iv., Tosephta). The same consideration for the spiritual and tem poral wellbeing of the people led the Pharisees to enact that in cases of danger, when the pre scribed prayers cannot be offered, they are to offer a short prayer as follows Do thy will in heaven above, and give peace of mind to those who fear thee on earth, and whatsoever pleaseth thee do. Blessed art thou, 0 Lord, who hearest prayer !' (Berachoth, 29 b). What a striking re semblance between this and some parts of the Lord's prayer ! It was this humane and pious care for the interests of the people which made the Pharisees so popular and beloved, and accounts for the remark of Josephus that they had such in fluence with the multitude that if they said anything against a king or a high-priest they were at once believed (Antiq. xiii. lo. 5).