Significant Groups During

the Time of Jesus

ROMANS
- Well discipline
- maintained public order
- ruled Israel in Jesus’ time
SADDUCEES
- wealthy and ruling priestly class or
priestly families
-worked with Romans to stay in power;
therefore, not liked by many other
Jews
-accepted only the Torah (the Law)
as scripture, no oral tradition
PHARISEES
- Strict and literal interpreters of the
Jewish Law (Torah)
-kept them away from sin and Gentile
influence
-Pharisees thought they could earn
heaven by keeping religious custom/Law
-Jesus taught God’s love a gift to
sinner and saint
THE ESSENES
- lived a monastic way of life and “A pretentious,
practiced celibacy outside society showy life is an
empty life; a
-believed God was coming, but only
plain and simple
through a catastrophic event.
life is a full of
-lived austere lives — avoiding luxuries, life.”
sharing communal meals
-Rick Warren
MODERN ESSENES—THE MONKS
 THE ZEALOTS
- led a rebellion to free their land from
bondage
-used violence as an attempt to
overthrow Romans
-Not interested in Jesus’ teachings of
peace and love for one’s enemies
MODERN DAY ZEALOTS – FREEDOM FIGHTERS
THE SCRIBES
- “teachers of the Law” or
“doctors of the law”

hieroglyphic and hieratic scripts

THE HERODIANS
- a political party rather than a religious one, supporters
of Herod Antipas, plotted with the Pharisees on how to
destroy Jesus .
Herod Antipas, Herod Philip
and Herod Archelaus
TAX COLLECTORS
- “publicans”
-considered “sinners”, collected
various forms of taxes (on crops,
poll tax, tax on transportation of
goods, and Herod’s taxes (called
Temple tax)
-Abused their power by bribing
people and imposing high tax rates
to enrich themselves
 SANHEDRIN
-the major law-making body and
supreme court of Judaism
-main governing body of the Jews
and had control of all religious
matters
-main governing body of the Jews
and had control of all religious
matters
Jesus & the Sadducees Herodians
Pharisees and Saduccees

Simon the Zealot

Jesus and Zacchaeus
a scribe
Which among the different groups of people
in Jesus’ time reflects your personality/
character?
Do you consider yourself as a…
Sadducee? Roman? Herodian? Pharisee?
Zealot? Scribe? Tax collector? Essene?

WHY do you consider yourself as such?