up five sanhedrins in Jewish territory in the 50sb.c.e.(Ant.14.91), but not
long afterward the historian relates the story of young Herod’s trial before
the Sanhedrin (14.165-79). From this episode the judicial nature of the
group’s work is clear, although it was definitely intimidated by the military
power of Herod. The Sanhedrin as a judicial body is also evidenced in the
trial of Jesus (Mark 14:53-65, where the members are identified as the high
priest, the chief priests, elders, and scribes; Matt. 26:59-68; Luke 22:66-71)
and that of his brother James (Ant.20.199-203). The book of Acts, among
several references to the council, includes Paul’s appearance before it; there
the members are the high priest along with representatives of the Pharisees
and the Sadducees (22:30–23:12). Rabbinic sources know of a Sanhedrin
that was a gathering of scholars who, among other activities, discussed
matters of religious law. How that picture relates to the earlier references in
Josephus and other Greek sources is not entirely clear.Groups
As in any society, there were various groups among the Jewish people in
the land of Israel. The sources for the earlier centuries of the period are
sparse, but they indicate differing perspectives on some issues. So, for ex-
ample, Ezra stands as a representative of a separatist point of view, one ab-
solutely opposed to intermarriage with people of other races and national-
ities; the book that bears his name includes information about many who
had felt free to engage in exogamy and who were forced to dismiss their
families. A number of scholars have argued that a fundamental tension ex-
isted in Judean society in the early Second Temple period between those
who found fulfillment of promises in the restored community and Temple
and those of a more visionary bent who looked for more spectacular real-
izations of God’s plans for his people. Those expectations found expres-
sion in some late prophetic literature and perhaps in some texts with traits
that would later characterize the apocalypses.
During the early Hellenistic period there is evidence for some Jewish
people who had greater ties with the Ptolemaic government (the Tobiad
family, for one), while others seem to have favored the Seleucid adminis-
tration (note the friendly reception of Antiochus III at Jerusalem). But the
most famous division in Jewish society, one that became unmistakable in
the early second centuryb.c.e., is the one between those Jews who were
more open to aspects of Greek culture and those who opposed the adop-79Judaism in the Land of IsraelEERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:03:54 PM