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Jesus was a Pharisee and I have receipts.
This impacts a lot of how a person might understand the gospels.
Come and learn.
1/x Thread.
This impacts a lot of how a person might understand the gospels.
Come and learn.
1/x Thread.
Before I bring receipts, I want to observe that the synoptic gospels were written already most likely when the split between Jewish-Christians (in the process of becoming just Christians) and Jews were already at least beginning to take place, if not well underway.
So it may well have been that the authors of the gospels were motivated to distance Jesus from his Pharisaic-ness, because they themselves were already in the process of breaking up with them.
It may have been conscious, it may not have been, but think about how you write about your ex after the relationship ends vs while you're together.
I've also heard speculated that the gospels were written to distance the nascent Christian community from the Jews in the event of Jews rebellion against the Romans and the Christians didn't want to be caught up in that. I do not know if this is true, will let scholars weigh in.
OK, but Jesus the Pharisee. Let's look at things he was quoted as saying, and things that come in the Pharasaic (what we Jews call Rabbinic, or the Sages, or Tanaaitic) tradition, shall we?
Matthew 7:12 "Do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."
Hillel the Elder: "That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study." https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.31a.6?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Hillel the Elder: "That which is hateful to you do not do to another; that is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go study." https://www.sefaria.org/Shabbat.31a.6?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Some of these will take 2 tweets to compare.
Mark 12:30-31 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Mark 12:30-31 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
NB that Jesus here is quoting first Deuteronomy 6:5 and then Leviticus 19:18. He's saying which of the commandments in the Torah are the most important ones.
Would a Jewish sage suggest such a thing, that there's a most important mitzvah??
Well, yes.
Would a Jewish sage suggest such a thing, that there's a most important mitzvah??
Well, yes.
(or a greatest principle, I should say)
"And you shall love your neighbor as yourself:יי Rabbi Akiva teaches: this is the greatest principle of Torah. Ben Azzai teaches: "this is the book of the generations of Adam" (Gen. 5:1) is more fundamental.
https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/10083.3?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
"And you shall love your neighbor as yourself:יי Rabbi Akiva teaches: this is the greatest principle of Torah. Ben Azzai teaches: "this is the book of the generations of Adam" (Gen. 5:1) is more fundamental.
https://www.sefaria.org/sheets/10083.3?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Note that Ben Azzai is saying that the most important thing is that we're all descended from the same ancestor. But this debate about what verse is at the heart of things is... a thing we do.
OK, here's a spicy one. Remember, Matthew was codified after the Temple was destroyed and the Jewish/Christian split was very real. So we have language used by our sages, but a conflation of all Pharisees where there was likely nuance.
I've heard a number of scholars suggest that Jesus held by the school of Hillel, and may in many of these passages have been yelling at the school of Shammai, with whom the school of Hillel was in frequent disagreement. (Again! Intra-communal debate!).
Which would make sense given that Shammai was more interested in precision and rigorousness & Hillel was more for accessibility and openness and teaching along the way. Shammai didn't suffer fools. Hillel humored them, let them in, taught them along the way.
Judaism ultimately followed the school of Hillel, I might note.
Anyway.
Anyway.
It's pretty likely that Jesus is yelling at the House of Shammai here, in Matthew 23:13, for suggesting that non-Jews might not get into Heaven. Because he's ultimately aligned with the House of Hillel.
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to." is the NIV translation.
Here's Rabbi Eliezer, who held by the House of Shammai, being quoted implying that non-Jews don't have a share in the World to Come. Then you see Rabbi Yehoshua, who held by the House of Hillel, saying no--it's only non-Jews who fear God who don't get in. https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.105a.11?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Can you see how Jesus and Rabbi Yehoshua are pretty much making the same point, with a different tone?
Another one. Matthew 15:3-6.
Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ ...
Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ ...
5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition."
So he's mad that someone vowed to the Temple stuff that could have been used to support their parents.
Remember Rabbi Eliezer, school of Shammai? Yeah, he maybe did that. https://sefaria.org/Nedarim.64b.2?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Hillel expressly forbade people to give all their stuff to the Temple.
Remember Rabbi Eliezer, school of Shammai? Yeah, he maybe did that. https://sefaria.org/Nedarim.64b.2?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Hillel expressly forbade people to give all their stuff to the Temple.
One last one. Matthew 23:2-3. “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach."
Talmud says the House of Hillel was "agreeable & forbearing, & when they taught, they would teach both their own statements & the statements of the House of Shammai. When they cited a dispute, they prioritized the statements of Beit Shammai to their own". https://www.sefaria.org.il/Eruvin.13b.11?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en
Reread Jesus' statement in light of him being part of the House of Hillel, both accepting the legitimacy of the House of Shammai's opinions and perhaps feeling a little salty that the deference and respect the House of Hillel extended wasn't reciprocated.
I'm just saying.
I'm just saying.
Here's some more background on the Rabbinic worldview, from Michael. I quibble with his language around "the Rabbis knew they were hypocrites"--I think they felt the tension deeply about whether or not mitzvot--performance of commandments--required intentionality or not...
& certainly were concerned that their service to God be service to God, but I really wouldn't use that language. They called each other out on their positions and stances, but again, that's not quite the same thing. But it's a helpful primer, so, thread: https://twitter.com/RotationlSymtry/status/1016098849864241152
Gah--"only non-Jews who forget God don't get in", I meant. https://twitter.com/TheRaDR/status/1188737198339825664
Also here’s the other Pharisees thread if you haven’t seen: https://twitter.com/theradr/status/1093962230369058816?s=21
Ok. I want to nuance my wording a little bit. I came in strong but I think I should have used more tentative language. That is: I wish my first tweet had been more like:
Let’s explore Jesus’ relationship to the Pharisees and the possibility that he was one.
Let’s explore Jesus’ relationship to the Pharisees and the possibility that he was one.
Clearly y’all know what I think but there is scholarly debate about all this and I try to be responsible on here.
Also some people argue that the Pharisees are not the tanaaim/sages, so I need to add some porousness in there.
Also some people argue that the Pharisees are not the tanaaim/sages, so I need to add some porousness in there.
But the first mention of the Pharisees/prushim were the gospels themselves & then Josephus, who was one foot in and & foot out of the Jewish world. Even if it wasn’t how the tanaaim referred to themselves—seems clear that others did.
Like, what’s this mysterious other group that is democratized and holds by the Oral Torah?
And our tradition holds that they were our ancestors. It’s not specious.
But I do wish I had used more open language in threading this needle.
And our tradition holds that they were our ancestors. It’s not specious.
But I do wish I had used more open language in threading this needle.
I stand by my receipts. I stand by the connections I’m making. I believe in the argument.
AND I do wish I had been more careful in how I framed it. Is all.
AND I do wish I had been more careful in how I framed it. Is all.
