Herod's Temple

Going Forth to Rule the World

Hosts of Faithful Judeans

The following terminology would then apply:
     Israel, Israelites and Israelite religion: first temple (ca. 950 B.C.E.-586 B.C.E.)
     Judea, Judeans and Judean religion: second temple (ca. 520 B.C.E.-70 C.E.)
     Jews and Judaism: religion of the rabbis, talmud, and synagogue (ca. 90 C.E. and continuing).

"Jews (and Judaism) represented only one very important and influential strand of ancient Israelite socio-religious heritage. Contrary to popular opinion they were not the only remnant or vehicle of the values and theology of Hebrew tradition. In the first century other Israelites could still credibly argue that they and not the Judeans were the true heirs to Hebrew tradition: witness Samaritans and even Paul (a self-proclaimed Hebrew of Hebrews). Thus, Paul could simultaneously condemn Judaizers and claim that the EKKLHSIA IN CRISTO IHSOU was identical with Israel."
     - Mahlon Smith (CrossTalk)

"From Christian sources, as many as thirteen to fourteen names [of Jewish groups] can be derived. Authors generally supply a series of seven names, but the names in the series do not coincide. The various designations for Jewish groups include Ebionites, Hellenists, Hemerobaptists, Herodians, Essenes, Pharisees, Galileans, Genists, Masbateians, Merists, Nazarenes, Sadducees, Samaritans, and Scribes."
     - Paolo Sacchi, "Recovering Jesus' Formative Background" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 138

(1) The Sadducees

"Early Judaism was vibrant and lively; there were hosts of faithful Jews lead by intelligent, pious, and articulate leaders such as Hillel, Shammai, and Johanan ben Zakkai among the rabbis, Honi ha-Meaggel and Hanina ben Dosa among the pious, and Philo and many others among the intellectuals."
     - James H. Charlesworth, Jesus Within Judaism

"Sadducees have their support only among the rich, and the people do not follow them, while the Pharisees have the people for their ally."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XIII, X, Sn 6

"The Sadducees mainly represented the wealthier and more aristocratic circles in Jewish society, and their first leaders came from families that were close to the pre-Hasmonean high priesthood. The Sadducees opposed the upholding of the oral law as a source of legislation equal in authority to the written. Although the Sadducees were a minority group, there were an extremely powerful one as a result of their social standing and wealth."
     - The Jews in Their Land (David Ben-Gurion Editor}

"The Sadducees [Zedukim: priests] were the highest priests, but their beliefs were rather conservative and in favor of...collaboration with the Romans."
     - Luigi Pareti, The Ancient World

"But the doctrine of the Sadducees is this: That souls die with the bodies; nor do they regard the observation of any thing besides what the law enjoins them; for they think it an instance of virtue to dispute with those teachers of philosophy whom they frequent: but this doctrine is received but by a few, yet by those still of the greatest dignity. But they are able to do almost nothing of themselves; for when they become magistrates, as they are unwillingly and by force sometimes obliged to be, they addict themselves to the notions of the Pharisees, because the multitude would not otherwise bear them."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XIII, I, Sn 4

"Sadducees accepted only the written law [from Genesis to Deuteronomy], a rather different attitude to those who accepted that twenty-two books were special...They denied any authority to the practical traditions of conduct which Pharisees accepted. According to Acts' author, they also denied the existence of angels and a resurrection. Both these beliefs were late arrivals in texts outside the main law. Probably, a Sadducee did not reject the psalms and the prophets altogether, but was wary about any bits of these books which went beyond the theology of the law or Pentateuch."
     - Robin Lane Fox, The Unauthorized Version

"And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that the events of human affairs are not at its disposal; but they suppose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the causes of what is good, and receive what is evil from our own folly."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XIII, Ch V, Sn 9

(2) The Pharisees

A Reform Movement The Pharisees were an idealistic reform movement founded during the Maccabean period to counteract Hellenistic culture and commercialism. The members followed a systematic program to live life consistent with the scriptures.

"The Pharisees [Perushim - 'separate': lay group] were adherents of novel ethical ideas and ritual, and rigid observers of their interpretation of the Bible and oral tradition; they detested the Romans (though favoring peace) and jealously guarded any form of tradition belonging to the Chosen people."
     - Luigi Pareti, The Ancient World

"The word Pharisee is usually said to mean 'separated' but it is far more likely that it means just exactly what it says, 'Persian'. In fact the modern word for Persian is still 'Pharsee' and so their name probably reflects their being influenced by the long stay in Persia by the exiled Judeans."
     - Bruce Evry, "Agrippa - The Last King Of Israel"

"The Pharisaic faith included belief in angels and demons, the mapping of heavenly abodes...the mystery of the Archetypal Man, special creation and pre-existence, the Above and Below, the Messiah, transmigration of souls [reincarnation], revelation and divine intervention...."
     - Hugh J. Schonfield, Those Incredible Christians

The Pharisaic expectation of the Messiah is expressed in the Psalms of Solomon

"Behold, O Lord, and raise up among them a king, the Son of David. In the time that thou knowest, even thou, O God! To rule over thy servant Israel. Gird him with strength to crush the unrighteous rulers. Purge Jerusalem of the heathen who oppress, excluding the sinners from the inheritance by wisdom and by righteousness; so that the pride of the sinful may be broken in pieces like the potter's vessel; so that their substance may be broken with a rod of iron, so that the sinful Gentiles may be destroyed by the word of his mouth; so that at his rebuke the nations shall flee from before his face....Then he will gather the holy people and lead them with righteousness,he will govern the tribes of the people sanctified by the Lord his God. He will not suffer iniquity to continue among them, and no man knowing evilmay dwell with them;...He will judge the peoples of the nations with wisdom and justice. And he will have the heathen to serve him beneath his yoke. He will glorify the Lord in the sight of the whole world, he will purify Jerusalem by sanctification as it was of old, so that the nations will come from the ends of the earth to behold his glory, bringing her weary sons as an offering...The Lord is his king and his hope. All powerful through his hope in God, he will therefore pity all the nations before him in fear; for he will subdue the earth by his word for ever. He will bless the people of the Lord in wisdom with gladness. He will be pure of sin, to rule over countless nations, to recover the nations and destroy the sinners, by the might of the word. In the strength of God he will not weaken, for God has made him strong by his holy spirit, and wise by the gift of enlightenedcounsel, and strength and righteousness; ... He is powerful in his works and strong in the fear of God, he feeds the flock of the Lord in faith and righteousness, he will not suffer any of them to be afflicted in their pasture; he will lead them all as equals, and there will be none proud amongst them... May God bring it to pass! ... The Lord is our king for ever and ever!"
     - Psalms of Solomon, 17:23-51

Unlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees lived relatively simple lives and emphasized virtuous conduct. Food was their key to preserving cultural identity. The Pharisees instituted the same procedures for the preparation and consumption of food as those used by the priests during temple service. The purpose was to entirely remove Hellenistic culture from the dining room and provide a regular reminder that they were different from the Greeks.

"Now, for the Pharisees, they live meanly, and despise delicacies in diet; and they follow the conduct of reason; and what that prescribes to them as good for them they do; and they think they ought earnestly to strive to observe reason's dictates for practice. They also pay a respect to such as are in years; nor are they so bold as to contradict them in any thing which they have introduced; and when they determine that all things are done by fate, they do not take away the freedom from men of acting as they think fit; since their notion is, that it hath pleased God to make a temperament, whereby what he wills is done, but so that the will of man can act virtuously or viciously. They also believe that souls have an immortal rigor in them, and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishments, according as they have lived virtuously or viciously in this life; and the latter are to be detained in an everlasting prison, but that the former shall have power to revive and live again; on account of which doctrines they are able greatly to persuade the body of the people; and whatsoever they do about Divine worship, prayers, and sacrifices, they perform them according to their direction; insomuch that the cities give great attestations to them on account of their entire virtuous conduct, both in the actions of their lives and their discourses also."

"Now for the Pharisees, they say that some actions, but not all, are the work of fate, and some of them are in our own power, and that they are liable to fate, but are not caused by fate."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XIII, I, Sn 3; Bk XIII, Ch V, Sn 9

"The Pharisees, continuing the tradition of the hassidim [pl. 'righteous man], represented broad popular circles and influenced the great majority of the people, who regarded them as their teachers and guides. Their leadership was in the hands of the great sages of the Torah. These sages endeavored to uphold the authority of the oral law side by side with the written law, and to popularize the Torah and establish it authority in all spheres of life: they combined faith in divine providence with a belief in the free will of man."
     - The Jews in Their Land (David Ben-Gurion Editor}

"The Pharisees, who in Herod's time numbered, according to Josephus, more than 6,000 families (not a large minority), were both influential and concerned with the strict observance of the law, which was made possible by 'traditions of the elders' or 'the law of the fathers'. There were accumulated interpretations and rulings made by their scribes which defined the law in such a way as to make obedience possible. They claimed authority for these rules equal of those written down in Scripture, and regarded them as applicable to all Israel. Their belief in resurrection underlines their personal commitment to piety; every Israelite was responsible for taking the 'yoke of the law' upon himself....Taking 'Pharisee' to mean 'separated', then, we should probably imagine that they carried their own observance of the law to the point of restricting contact with Israelites who did not observe the Pharisaic definitions of law, and who they referred to as 'am ha 'arez. They formed themselves into societies (called haburoth, 'fellowships'), the chief communal activity of which was dining. This explains their emphasis on laws relating to the cleanliness of vessels and the necessity of tithing (untithed food was unclean)."
     - John Roberson and Philip Davies, The Old Testament World

To the Pharisees, the path back to the kingdom of God "was found by remaining close to the ordinary people, working alongside them as humble tailors, shoemakers and the like, educating children, founding regional synagogues, and developing their own oral tradition of Jewish wisdom that, despite every attempt to suppress it, would flourish into present-day Judaism."
     - Ian Wilson, Jesus, The Evidence

Division Within
"The total number of Pharisees at the end of the Second Temple period is not known, but over 60,000 of them refused to take the oath of allegiance to the emperor and the king in the days of Herod - and their numbers were obviously far greater. Generally, the Pharisees were led by the distinguished sages of the day, such as Rabban Gamliel the Elder, Rabban Shim'on (his son), and Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai. But the very fact that the Pharisees had become the major force in the Land caused dissension in their own ranks: while they were united over the major principles of religion, they were divided over the major political issues."
"The most powerful wing of the Pharisees was dominated by Rabbi Hillel, who had come from Mesopotamia and been active in the Land since the days of Herod. Hillel was the greatest sage of his generation. He was president of the Sanhedrin and founder of the school that was to have the greatest influence on the nation's life. His pronouncements in social, economic, and juridical spheres were recognized by the large majority of the general community as binding.Rabbi Hillel's great rival was Shammai, whose school seems to have been associated with the extreme zealots.."
     - The Jews in Their Land (David Ben-Gurion Editor}

"Shammai was strict in the application of the laws [of the Torah] while Hillel was lenient. A gentile asked to be converted on condition that he would be taught the whole of the Torah (Pentateuch) while he stood on one foot. Shammai, when asked, refused to do so. Hillel, on the other hand, replied saying:

"What is hateful to you, do not to your neighbour; that is the whole Torah, while the rest is commentary thereon; go and learn it."

"The Pharisaic party was divided and consisted of two 'houses'. The House of Hillel followed the milder and more liberal teachings of that great rabbinic sage (30 BCE -10 CE) and the House of Shammai, the harsher and more conservative opponent of Hillel."
     - Jack Kilmon, Scriptorium

"Josephus also describes two rabbis...obviously meant to represent persons of the stature of Hillel and Shammai in Rabbinic tradition. He calls them 'Pollio and Sameas'. During the events of 37 B.C.E., they had advised the people to 'open the gates to Herod', when the latter supported by Mark Antony returned to Jerusalem and again stormed it, finally taking control for himself and his family (Antiquities of the Jews 15.2-3). For this, Herod never stopped bestowing favors on Pollio and Sameas and their Pharisee supporters, while he had the other members of the previous Sanhedrin (i.e., the Sadducee dominated one) executed (Antiquities of the Jews 14.175-6). Contrary to popular notion, fostered by the heirs to that tradition over the first millennia, the Pharisee position they represented was not the popular one. Rather the people ignored it, as they seemed to do all such advice and typically supported the more nationalist one, so the popular position was pro Maccabean, not vice versa..."
     - Robert Eisman and Michael Wise, The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered

Click here for the role played by the Pharisees after the time of Jesus.

(3) The Essenes

In Every City

"On the west side of the Dead Sea, but out of range of the noxious exhalations of the coast, is the solitary tribe of the Essenes , which is remarkable beyond all the other tribes in the whole word, as it has no women and has renounced all sexual desire, has no money , and has only palm-trees for company. Day by day the throng of refugees is recruited to an equal number by numerous accessions of persons tired of life and driven thither [to that place] by the waves of fortune to adopt their manners...."
     - Pliny the Elder (23 C.E?-79 C.E.)

There are are several complexes of ruins along the Dead Sea which may be related to the early Essenes in the 1st century B.C.E. Josephus, however, does not describe the Essenes as solitary or existing in one place. Their presence in urban centers is evidenced by presence of the Essene gate in Jerusalem in the 1st c. C.E.

"They have no one certain city, but many of them dwell in every city; and if any of their sect come from other places, what they have lies open for them, just as if it were their own; and they go in to such as they never knew before, as if they had been ever so long acquainted with them. For which reason they carry nothing at all with them when they travel into remote parts, though still they take their weapons with them, for fear of thieves. Accordingly, there is, in every city where they live, one appointed particularly to take care of strangers, and to provide garments and other necessaries for them."
     - Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk II, Ch VIII, Sn 4

Click here for the complete text of Josephus on the Essenes.

Essene is derived from "assaya, which means doctor or healer....The Essenes are not mentioned anywhere in the New Testament, although their numbers were at least as great as the Sadducees and Pharisees."
     - Holger Kersten & Elmar R. Gruber, The Jesus Conspiracy - The Turin Shroud & The Truth About the Resurrection (1992)

Essene is also sometimes translated from the Greek as "Saint".

"It is possible that 'Essenes' derives from the Aramaic participle 'ase, 'asya, 'healer.' Philo, however, understood "Essene" to mean 'holiness'; see Hypothetica 11.1.
     - James H. Charlesworth, "The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Historical Jesus" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (1992), p. 67

"Essenes' in Greek has two forms, Essaioi and Esshnoi [h=eta]. Also Ossaioi and Osshnoi in Epiphanius (and cf. Slavonic Josephus). And osios in Philo. Essaioi (or related Latin) is used by Philo, Fl. Josephus, Hegesippus, Apostolic Constitutions, Porphyry, Epiphanius, Jerome [Esseos], Nilus, Isidor, the Suda, and others.
"Esshnoi (or related Latin) is used by Fl. Josephus, Pliny [Esseni], Synesius (Dio), Hippolytus, Epiphanius, Filaster, Isidor, Michael of Antioch, Solinus, Joseph (c. 380?), and others.
"There are about sixty proposed etymologies, involving Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic and/or Syriac, Persian Avestan, Sanskrit, Akkadian, and others. The etymology I find persuasive is from the Hebrew root asah, used in self-descriptions in Qumran texts (e.g., osey hatorah' in 1QpHab 8.1)."
     - Stephen Goranson (Orion)

Click here for a comparison of the Essenes with the communities of the Dead Sea scrolls.

Membership

"There are about four thousand men that live in this way, and neither marry wives, nor are desirous to keep servants; as thinking the latter tempts men to be unjust, and the former gives the handle to domestic quarrels; but as they live by themselves, they minister one to another. They also appoint certain stewards to receive the incomes of their revenues, and of the fruits of the ground; such as are good men and priests, who are to get their corn and their food ready for them. They none of them differ from others of the Essenes in their way of living, but do the most resemble those Dacae who are called Polistae [dwellers in cities]."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XVIII, Ch I, Sn 5

"Who these Polistae in Josephus, or in Strabo. among the Pythagoric Dacae, were, it is not easy to determine...[It is not improbable] that some of these Dacae lived alone, like monks, in tents or caves; but that others of them lived together in built cities..."
     - William Whiston, translator of Josephus' works

The novitiate lasted three years. "The first of these was spent outside the community, but with the three symbols of the sect, a pure white robe, a girdle, and a dibber for burying excrement out of God's sight (the Essenes seem to have identified Yahweh with the sun). Two years of moral probation followed. Only then was the initiate admitted to the common life after stringent vows of secrecy."
     - John Ferguson, An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Mysticism and the Mystery Religions

"And before he is allowed to touch their common food, he is obliged to take tremendous oaths, that, in the first place, he will exercise piety towards God, and then that he will observe justice towards men, and that he will do no harm to any one, either of his own accord, or by the command of others; that he will always hate the wicked, and be assistant to the righteous; that he will ever show fidelity to all men, and especially to those in authority, because no one obtains the government without God's assistance; and that if he be in authority, he will at no time whatever abuse his authority, nor endeavor to outshine his subjects either in his garments, or any other finery; that he will be perpetually a lover of truth, and propose to himself to reprove those that tell lies; that he will keep his hands clear from theft, and his soul from unlawful gains; and that he will neither conceal any thing from those of his own sect, nor discover any of their doctrines to others, no, not though anyone should compel him so to do at the hazard of his life. Moreover, he swears to communicate their doctrines to no one any otherwise than as he received them himself; that he will abstain from robbery, and will equally preserve the books belonging to their sect, and the names of the angels [or messengers]."
     - Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk II, Ch XIII, Sn 7

Beliefs
"The spiritualization of the cult among the Essenes was praised by Philo. Their exemplary piety expressed itself not in sacrificing animals but in rendering their minds holy (Every Good Man Is Free). This spiritual worship served as a bridge between the present and the future. According to the blessing of the high priest ([Collection of Blessings] 1QSb 4.20ff.) this highest representative of the [Yahad] community will serve God like an 'Angel of the Presence' in the holy dwelling place for the glory of God and 'cast his lot together with the angels'."
     - Otto Betz, "Jesus and the Temple Scroll" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 94

"This mention of the 'names of angels,' so particularly preserved by the Essenes, (if it means more than those 'messengers' which were employed to bring, them the peculiar books of their sect, [see the Book of Enoch]) looks like a prelude to that 'worshipping of angels,' blamed by St. Paul, as superstitious and unlawful, in some such sort of people as these Essenes were, Colossians 2:8; as is the prayer to or towards the sun for his rising every morning, mentioned before, sect. 5, very like those not much later observances made mention of in the preaching of Peter, Authent. Rec. Part II. p. 669, and regarding a kind of worship of angels, of the month, and of the moon, and not celebrating the new moons, or other festivals, unless the moon appeared. Which, indeed, seems to me the earliest mention of any regard to the phases in fixing the Jewish calendar, of which the Talmud and later Rabbins talk so much, and upon so very little ancient foundation."
     - William Whiston (translator of Josephus)

"These men are despisers of riches, and so very communicative as raises our admiration. Nor is there any one to be found among them who hath more than another; for it is a law among them, that those who come to them must let what they have be common to the whole order, - insomuch that among them all there is no appearance of poverty, or excess of riches, but every one's possessions are intermingled with every other's possessions; and so there is, as it were, one patrimony among all the brethren. They view oil as dirt, and if one of them has ointment applied against his will, he washes off his body. For they consider having a rough skin as honorable as their habit of constantly going around in white robes."
     - Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, II, VIII, Sn 2

"The doctrine of the Essenes is this: That all things are best ascribed to God. They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for; and when they send what they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer sacrifices because they have more pure lustrations of their own; on which account they are excluded from the common court of the temple, but offer their sacrifices themselves; yet is their course of life better than that of other men; and they entirely addict themselves to husbandry."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XVIII, Ch I, Sn 5

"It seems by what Josephus says here, and Philo himself elsewhere, Op. p. 679, that these Essenes did not use to go to the Jewish festivals at Jerusalem, or to offer sacrifices there, which may be one great occasion why they are never mentioned in the ordinary books of the New Testament..."
     - William Whiston, translator of Josephus' works

"It is a fixed belief of theirs that the body is corruptible and its constituent matter impermanent, but that the soul is immortal and imperishable. Emanating from the finest ether, these souls become entangled, as it were, in the prison-house of the body, to which they are dragged down by a sort of natural spell; but when once they are released from the bonds of the flesh, then, as though liberated from a long servitude, they rejoice and are borne aloft..."
     - Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, II, VIII, Sn 11

The belief that the soul is a prison of the body became current in the 6th century B.C.E., during what Joseph Campbell has termed the "Great Reversal". The Essene belief Zoroastrian doctrine which influenced Judaism during the Babylonian captivity. Later this doctrine would exert a profound influence in the development of Gnostism.

"There are also those among them who undertake to foretell things to come, by reading the holy books, and using several sorts of purifications, and being perpetually conversant in the discourses of the prophets; and it is but seldom that they miss in their predictions."
     - Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, II, VIII, Sn 12

Josephus relates how Archelaus, Herod's son and successor, called upon an Essene called Simon to interpret a dream for him ( War of the Jews, II, VII, Sn 3). A typical day in the life of an Essene is described below:

"And as for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary; for before sun-rising they speak not a word about profane matters, but put up certain prayers which they have received from their forefathers, as if they made a supplication for its rising. After this every one of them are sent away by their curators, to exercise some of those arts wherein they are skilled, in which they labor with great diligence till the fifth hour. After which they assemble themselves together again into one place; and when they have clothed themselves in white veils, they then bathe their bodies in cold water. And after this purification is over, they every one meet together in an apartment of their own, into which it is not permitted to any of another sect to enter; while they go, after a pure manner, into the dining-room, as into a certain holy temple, and quietly set themselves down; upon which the baker lays them loaves in order; the cook also brings a single plate of one sort of food, and sets it before every one of them; but a priest says grace before meat; and it is unlawful for any one to taste of the food before grace be said. The same priest, when he hath dined, says grace again after meat; and when they begin, and when they end, they praise God, as he that bestows their food upon them; after which they lay aside their [white] garments, and betake themselves to their labors again till the evening; then they return home to supper, after the same manner; and if there be any strangers there, they sit down with them. Nor is there ever any clamor or disturbance to pollute their house, but they give every one leave to speak in their turn; which silence thus kept in their house appears to foreigners like some tremendous mystery; the cause of which is that perpetual sobriety they exercise, and the same settled measure of meat and drink that is allotted them, and that such as is abundantly sufficient for them."
     - Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk II, Ch VIII, Sn 5

The Therapeutae
"Many of the monastic followers, who devoted themselves to their ascetic practices of prayer and penance with great zeal, developed astonishing abilities. These gifted monks, called therapeuts, seem to have attracted special attention with their public healings."
     - Holger Kersten & Elmar R. Gruber, The Jesus Conspiracy - The Turin Shroud & The Truth About the Resurrection (1992)

Philo "describes the virtues of the Therapeutae who, in contrast to the Essenes, pursue the life of contemplation. (For Philo, the Essenes represent the life of activity). The Therapeutae (known only from Philo) were Jewish mystics and ascetics who lived especially in the area around Alexandria, near Lake Mareotis....Philo notes that the Therapeutae above all desire to see, to have a vision of the true Being; so intense is their passion that Philo compares them to Bacchoi/Bacchai or Korybantes. For this reason the Therapeutae ordinarily live solitary lives of simplicity and rigorous piety, but at the time of a festival like the Feast of Pentecost (Shavuoth, 'Weeks') they put on white robes and gather together as a community for worship and a common meal."
     - The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook, Marvin W. Meyer, Editor

"After the supper they hold the sacred vigil which is conducted in the following way. They rise up all together and standing in the middle of the refectory form themselves first into two choirs, one of men and one of women, the leader and precentor chosen for each being the most honored amongst them and also the most musical. Then they sing hymns to God composed of many measures and set to many melodies, sometimes chanting together, sometimes taking up the harmony antiphonally, hands and feet keeping time in accompaniment, and rapt with enthusiasm reproduce sometimes the lyrics of the procession, sometimes of the halt and of the wheeling and counter-wheeling of a choric dance."
     - Philo of Alexandria, On the Contemplative Life

"Then, 'having drunk as in the Bacchic rites of the strong wine of God's love', they become a single choir and commemorate the Exodus event. Just as a choir of Israelites, with Moses and Miriam leading them, praised God at the time of the Exodus, so also the choir of Therapeutae sings all night long, until at sunrise they face the east and greet the rising sun."
     - The Ancient Mysteries: A Sourcebook, Marvin W. Meyer, Editor

"Lovely are the thoughts, lovely the words, and worthy of reverence the choristers, and the end and aim of thoughts the words, and worthy of reverence the choristers, and the end and aim of thoughts, words, and choristers alike is piety. Thus they continue till dawn, drunk with this drunkenness in which there is no shame, then not with heavy heads or drowsy eyes but more alert and wakeful than when they came to the banquet, they stand with their faces and whole body turned to the east and when they see the sun rising they stretch their hands up to heaven and pray for bright days and knowledge of the truth and the power of keen-sighted thinking. And after the prayers they depart each to his private sanctuary once more to ply the trade and till the field of their wonted philosophy."
     - Philo of Alexandria, On the Contemplative Life

The Empire of the Judeans

"You may indeed set as king over you him whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother."
     - Deuteronomy 17:15

"As an Idumean he {Herod] was disliked by Judeans; as the usurper of the Hasmoneans he was resented by the aristocracy. During his reign he succeeded in creating his own 'aristocracy' from those loyal to Rome and appointed by himself. But he apparently favored those traditional religious groups who did not oppose him, such as Pharisees and Essenes....Perhaps the most widespread attitude towards Herod is represented in the Psalms of Solomon, a collection of poems written during his reign [to express the piety of the Pharisees and assembled sometime after 48 B.C.E. ]. One of these poems (number 17) calls for a king of David's line who will reprove the Gentiles and reign justly. No Idumeans, no Hellenizers...but no priests, either!"
     - John Roberson and Philip Davies, The Old Testament World

"May God purify Israel in the day of mercy with a blessing,
In the day of choosing the kingship of His Messiah,
Happy are they who shall live in those days
To see the goodness the Lord shall perform for the generation to come..."
     - Psalms of Solomon 18: 5-7

"The Messiah is both completely human and yet God-like in his qualities and power: totally sinless, he smashes the sinful Gentiles simply by the power of his word - a power very reminiscent of God's word in the OT."
     - John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew - Rethinking the Historical Jesus, Vol. 2.

The Psalms of Solomon "preserve one of the most detailed messianic expectations in the immediate pre-Christian centuries.There is more substance to the ideas concerning the Messiah in the Psalms of Solomon than in any other extant Jewish writing."
     - The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

"The kingdom of our God is forever over the nations in judgment.
Lord, you chose David to be king over Israel, and swore to him about his descendants forever that his kingdom should not fail before you.
See, Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, to rule over your servant Israel in the time known to you, O God...and their king shall be the Lord Messiah."
     - Psalms of Solomon 17:3-4, 21, 32

By the first century, an estimated 10-15% of the population of the Roman empire outside of Palestine was Jewish.

"Jews throughout the Diaspora began to feel a sense of unity and purpose under their new monarch. He [Herod] in his turn began to build, determined to make Jerusalem and Judea the glory of the east. He restored Jerusalem, entirely rebuilt the temple, fortified the harbor at Caesarea, constructed a summer palace down the side of the barren cliff of Masada, and build up an army and fleet."
     - Barbara Thiering, Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Tombs of the Patriarchs, Hebron Only building of Herod's still standing

"Jerusalem was a major city in a cosmopolitan culture. In contained not only the Temple, but also a large arena for chariot and horse races (a hippodrome), a stadium for athletic contests (a gymnasium), and massive theaters."
"First-century Jews probably did enjoy the Greek games...but no shrine for the mystery cults has been found outside Caesarea..."
     - James H. Charlesworth, Jesus Within Judaism

"Outside Palestine he [Herod] subsidized games and festivals. And everywhere he provided water; his palaces were supplied by aqueducts, as were Caesarea and Jerusalem (impressive remains are still visible at both). Not only cities, but also the countryside benefited from improved water supplies; thanks to improved irrigation, the kingdom became much more productive agriculturally. And when famine struck at home, Herod supplied grain from is own funds."
     - John Roberson and Philip Davies, The Old Testament World

"...In 20-19 B.C.E. Herod the Great set in motion plans to make the Jerusalem Temple the largest and most magnificent religious building in the world. The platform on which it stood, built with huge blocks of stone, stretched a quarter of a mile long by a fifth of a mile wide. Gleaming god plates were set up in the inner courts. From its ramparts silver trumpets heralded each dawn. Twenty thousand functionaries were employed in its servicing, and a further sixteen thousand craftsmen and laborers were drilled as construction and refurbishing teams that would be kept occupied for three quarters of a century.
     - Ian Wilson, Jesus, The Evidence

"Herod was forced to tax the Palestinians beyond their abilities to pay, eventually in many cases seizing others' wealth for himself and reducing many Jewish landlords to tenant farmers (Ant 17.304-9). Property (chrema and ousia are the Greek words employed) was seized; in addition to the taxes,.'tribute' was imposed 'on everyone each year,' and these entailed 'lavish extra contributions' (Ant 16.308)."
     - James H. Charlesworth, "Jesus as 'Son' and the Righteous Teacher as 'Gardener'" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (1992), p. 170

"His reign gave them a third of a century of peace and prosperity and the new harbor at Caesarea increased trade. But Herod's lavish building programs cost immense sums of money and taxes were necessarily high. By the standards of the time he was not a bad ruler. He was brutal but far less so than the Hasmonaeans. Herod's greatest asset was in fact the very thing for which Jews most criticized him - his half-hearted attitude towards Judaism. Augustus had realized Herod's true value when he gave him Samaria and the coastal strip for although Herod was careful not to offend the Jews he did not oppress the Samaritans and non-Jews. A Hasmonaean ruler would certainly have persecuted them and similarly a non-Jewish ruler would have had little sympathy with the Jews.
"Herod's greatest fault was his ungovernable passion both in love and hate. This coupled with his constant fear of losing this throne led to most of his 'crimes' especially those committed within his own family."
     - Peter Connolly, Living in the Time of Jesus of Nazareth

(2) Diaspora Essenes

"...The Paean to Alexander Jannaeus - one of several Jewish historical personalities mentioned in the scrolls - emerges as the work of a Palestinian poet who took pride in that ruler's reign and had a conception of the overall unity of the Jewish nation, both in Palestine and in the widespread diaspora that already existed long before the destruction of the Second Temple."
     - Norman Golb, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?, (1995) p. 361

"Menahem was a man of talent, who founded the Magians, whose name reflected their Babylonian culture....Menahem and his order moved into the position of advisers to Herod.....Menahem and his successors became the 'Isaac' of the New Israel. Where 'Abraham' (Hillel) was the Father (a term that eventually became 'Pope'), 'Isaac' was the patriarch of Babylon and the east. He acted as the real force in what soon became a mission with Herod as its nominal head. Jewish missionaries went out in the Diaspora under his direction, looking for potential recruits for baptism."
"Diaspora Essenes shared the divergent [solar] calendar and many traditions of Palestinian Essenes, but did not espouse their unworldliness and strict views on morality. For the Palestinians, the Diaspora kind were 'seekers-after-smooth-things', taking the easy way."
     - Barbara Thiering, Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls

"Prophesy not to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions..."
     - Isaiah 30:10

The apocalyptic prophesies of the pseudographical First Book of Enoch were written during the Maccabee rebellion, around 150 B.C.E.

"He [the Lord of Spirits] placed the Elect One on the throne of glory; and he shall judge all the works of the holy ones in heaven above, weighing in the balance their deeds...
They shall be terrified and dejected; and pain shall seize them when they see that Son of Man sitting on the throne of his glory. [These] kings, governors, and all the landords shall [try to] bless, glorify, extol him who rules over everything from the beginning, him who has been concealed."
     - 1 Enoch 61:8, 62:6-7

The Diaspora Essenes "arrived at the conclusion that the year 41 BC, the time when Herod began his rise to power, was the year 3900 from creation. The Enoch prophecy had taught that the world was to last, in all, for 4900 years, so they were now at the beginning of the last millennium of world history. Herod, the leader who had appeared at the propitious beginning, would usher in the last period of history, when the New Israel would spread over the world to become a Kingdom of the Jews, the greatest empire yet known."
The Essenes "intended to restore not only the Davids, but the high priests of the family of Zadok who had held sway with them....Herod agreed that a David could have power in the empire but only as a subordinate to himself. The center of power would be in Jerusalem and the east, but the David could be patriarch in the less important west, including Rome. There would be a triarch, modeled on the Roman triumvirate, with its heads in the center, east, and west; an 'Abraham' in the center under Herod, an 'Isaac' in the east, and Rome and the west would be the patriarchate of 'Jacob' and his descendants."
     - Barbara Thiering, Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls

"And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?"
     - Mark 12:26

Click here for an explanation of the color-coding used in the sayings and acts of Jesus.

(Note: Like Robert Eisman, Barbara Thiering disputes the generally accepted dating of the Dead Sea Scrolls and places events described in the scrolls in the first century C.E. As radio-carbon dating has shown, though, the majority of the scrolls are older than this, and are in turn copies of still older scrolls.)

"The style is that of a rabbinic debate (discussion of a problem posed by scripture), which was not characteristic of Jesus. It belongs to the later Palestinian community, when Christians were in direct conflict with Pharisees and other groups. The Sadducees are made the opponents because they traditionally opposed the concept of resurrection."
     - Robert W. Funk, Roy W. Hoover, and the Jesus Seminar, The Five Gospels

"The descendant of David who was willing to co-opate with Herod's plans at this time was a man called Heli. Two generations later, he would have a grandson: Jesus."
"Heli was descended from Nathan, a younger son of King David. The true genealogy of Jesus is that set out in Luke's gospel. In Matthew's gospel, Heli's line is grafted into the royal line running down through Solomon, Heli now being called 'Jacob', his title as a patriarch. This explains why Joseph, the father of Jesus, has a father called Heli in one list and Jacob in the other.
"Jacob-Heli agreed to be the third in the triarchy, and the government of the potential kingdom was thus set up. They met at a council table, in the fashion of initiates meeting for the sacred meal of the Essenes....The daily prayer of members was 'Thy Kingdom come'."

"The aim of gaining six hundred thousand members to form a New Israel was to be achieved by a project of evangelism lasting forty years, the first generation of the millennium."
"Herod's scheme of initiation into a new form of Judaism was immensely successful. Jews everywhere were willing to join the worldwide society whose meetings were held in the evenings in private houses. Entry was for members only; they had to show at the door an admission token in the form of a white stone from the river Jordan which the missionaries gave them at baptism. On the stone was written their new Jewish name."
     - Barbara Thiering, Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls

"To him who conquers, I will give a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it."
     - Revelations 2:17

"The missionaries, going out to the Diaspora with their leather wallets full of white stones, would come back with the same wallets full of money, in foreign currency. Once put into Jewish currency by the money-changers, it would be stored in vaults, ready to be used by Herod for his vast building projects, or any subsequent causes."
     - Barbara Thiering, Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls

Times of Tribulation

Judas, the son of Saripheus

"There was one Judas, the son of Saripheus, and Matthias, the son of Margalothus, two of the most eloquent men among the Jews, and the most celebrated interpreters of the Jewish laws, and men well beloved by the people, because of their education of their youth; for all those that were studious of virtue frequented their lectures every day...."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XVII, Ch VI, Sn 2, Sn 4

The two scholars incited a number of young men to destroy a golden eagle that Herod had erected over the Temple gate, since the Torah forbade the erection of any representation of a living creature. They and forty of their followers were caught by soldiers in the ensuing melee and led to Herod.

"Herod burnt...Matthias, who had raised the sedition, with his companions, alive. And that very night there was an eclipse of the moon.[March 13, 4 B.C.E.]"
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XVII, Ch VI, Sn 4

"One particularly revealing aspect of this revolt is cited by Josephus. At once, 'as soon as mourning for Herod was over', public demand was whipped up for the incumbent Herodian high priest [Menahem] to be deposed and another, 'of greater piety and purity', to be installed in his place [Bk XVII, Ch IX, Sn 1]."
     - Baigent and Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

Desecration of the Temple and an illegitimate priesthood were constantly re-occuring themes that inflamed zealous Judeans from the second century B.C.E. to the downfall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.

Herod's son Archelaus, who took his father's place on the throne, failed at appeasing Judas' and Matthias' supporters. By the following Passover, he ordered a regiment to suppress the seditious multitudes gathered in Jerusalem and the cavalry reportedly slew three thousand men. Archelaus was then forced to appear before Caesar in Rome to defend his actions and a challenge to his throne by his half-brother Antipater. During Archelaus' absense Caesar's procurator, Sabinus, aggressively oppressed the Judeans and stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment.

"But on the approach of Pentecost, which is a festival of ours, so called from the days of our forefathers, a great many ten thousands of men got together [in Jerusalem]; nor did they come only to celebrate the festival, but out of their indignation at the madness of Sabinus, and at the injuries he offered them. A great number there was of Galileans, and Idumeans, and many men from Jericho, and others who had passed over the river Jordan, and inhabited those parts. This whole multitude joined themselves to all the rest, and were more zealous than the others in making an assault on Sabinus..."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XVII, Ch X, Sn 2

The Romans sallied forth from Herod's palace and a terrible slaughter ensued around the Temple. Surrounding cloisters were burned, with many of the protestors throwing themselves into the fire or on their own swords rather than die at the hands of Roman soldiers. Troops seized the Temple treasury and divided the spools amongst themselves and Sabinus. The rebels increased their efforts as they lay siege to the palace, trapping Sabinus and the Roman legion inside.
As anti-Roman sentiment grew, most of the king's troops deserted including "three thousand of the most warlike of Herod's army" and a contingent of horsemen. The insurrection spread throughout Judea. "Two thousand of Herod's old soldiers" joined the rebels, driving the loyalist troops out of the plains and into the mountains.

Judas, son of Ezekias
Civil disorder spread throughout Judaea and into Galilee.

"Galilee was a frontier province bordering on Syria and much of the population remained gentile, at least in spirit. Like most frontiersmen the Galilean Jews were a hardened people. Although Galilee became predominantly Jewish it was prone to disturbances."
     - Peter Connolly, Living in the Time of Jesus of Nazareth

"There was also Judas, the son of that Ezekias who had been head of the robbers; which Ezekias was a very strong man, and had with great dificulty been caught by Herod."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XVII, Ch X, Sn 2

"...Judas and his followers promptly raided the royal armory in the Galilean city of Sepphoris, plundering weapons and equipment for themselves."
"Around the same time...Herod's palace at Jericho, near Qumran, was attacked by arsonists and burned down."
     - Baigent and Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

The revolt was eventually put down by the Roman general Varus who brought in two legions and four troops of horsemen from Syria along with several auxiliary forces provided by regional leaders, including Nabatean Arabs. The forces placed under Varus' son burned Sepphoris and enslaved the inhabitants. Several villages were burned as well and two thousand of the rebels were captured and crucified by the Romans.
Augustus Caesar dividedthe kingdom up amongst Herod's sons, Philip, Antipas and Archelaus, who received six hundred talents of tribute-money every year.

(2) The Zealots

The Census by Quirinius (6 C.E.)

"And it was in Gessius Florus's time that the nation began to grow mad with this distemper, who was our procurator, and who occasioned the Jews to go wild with it by the abuse of his authority, and to make them revolt from the Romans."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XVIII, Ch I, Sn 6

In 6 C.E., after ten years of misrule, Archelaus was banished to Syria and Judea was placed under direct Roman rule "governed by a Roman prefect [Coponius] but under the watchful eye of the governor of Syria. Quirinius was sent out as the new governor of Syria with orders to make a census of all property and to sell of the estates of Archelaus. There can be little doubt that this was the famous census mentioned in the Gospel of Luke [2:1-3] in connection with the birth of Jesus."
     - Peter Connolly, Living in the Time of Jesus of Nazareth

Cyrenius, a Roman senator also came to Judea to administer the census (which was for purposes of taxation) and "dispose of Archelaus's money".

"The census was bitterly resented by the Jews but the high priest tried to persuade them to accept it. However not all would listen to his advice. Resistance to the census was lead by a man known as Judas the Galilean and a Pharisee named Zadduk. The revolt made little headway but it laid the foundations of the Zealot movement which preached the forcible removal of the Romans."
     - Peter Connolly, Living in the Time of Jesus of Nazareth

Judas of Galilee

"He [the Instructor] shall leave them [the Men of the Pit] their wealth and profit like a slave does his master - presently humble before his oppressor, but a zealot for God's law whose time will come: even the Day of Vengeance."
     - Rule of the Community 9:22-23

"The Zealots of popular tradition are generally acknowledged to have been founded at the dawn of the Christian era by a figure known as Judas of Galilee, or, more accurately perhaps, Judas of Gamala."
     - Baigent and Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

The Zealots inherited the warrior mantle of the Maccabees, but the tradition of freedom fighters goes back even earlier to the 11th century B.C.E. Then David and his band of outlaws hid in caves and fought a guerrilla war against King Saul. (Accounts of these events, described in the Book of Psalms and 1 Samuel parallel the lawless times discussed in the Amarna Letters.)

"Jews in Galilee, angered by Roman oppression and this new taxation, rallied under the banner of Judas and Tsadok, a deputy of the House of Shammai."
     - Jack Kilmon, Scriptorium

"Under his [Coponius'] administration it was that a certain Galilean, whose name was Judas, prevailed with his countrymen to revolt, and said they were cowards if they would endure to pay a tax to the Romans and would after God submit to mortal men as their lords. This man was a teacher of a peculiar sect of his own, and was not at all like the rest of those their leaders."
     - Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk II, Ch VIII, Sn 1

"Yet was there one Judas, a Gaulonite, of a city whose name was Gamala* who, taking with him Sadduc, a Pharisee, became zealous to draw them to a revolt, who both said that this taxation was no better than an introduction to slavery, and exhorted the nation to assert their liberty....They also said that God would not otherwise be assisting to them, than upon their joining with one another in such councils as might be successful, and for their own advantage; and this especially, if they would set about great exploits, and not grow weary in executing the same; so men received what they said with pleasure, and this bold attempt proceeded to a great height."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XVIII, Ch I, Sn 1

* Gamala was a fortified hillside town in the Golan 7 miles east of the Sea of Galilee in the district of Gaulonitis. In 69 C.E., Titus' army assaulted Gamala on the way to Jerusalem. According to Josephus (Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk IV, Ch I, Sn 10), the defending rebels, facing imminent, defeat threw their wives and children down from a rocky precipice in the upper city before jumping themselves. 5,000 reportedly died this way and another 4,000 were slain by the Romans with only two women surviving.

Sadduc, the Pharisee
"...When the historian Josephus speaks of a teacher, apparently named 'Sadduc' or 'Zadok', as the leader of a messianic and anti-Roman Judaic following, this too would seem to be a faulty Greek rendering of the 'Righteous One' [Zaddik]."
"In the Old Testament the High Priest of David and Solomon is called Zadok, either as a personal name or as an official title. He is traditionally associated, very closely, with the Messiah, the anointed one, the rightful king. More specifically, he is associated with the Davidic Messiah."
     - Baigent, Leigh and Lincoln, The Messianic Legacy

Jonah wept when God spared Nineveh from destruction after the people turned from their evil ways:

"And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."
     - Jonah 4:3

"Investigate and seek and know how Jonah wept. Thus, you shall not destroy the weak by wasting away or by [crucif]ixion....Let not the nail touch him. Then you shall raise up for your father a name of rejoicing and for all of your brothers a [firm] foundation....You shall see and you shall rejoice in the Eternal Light and you will not be one who is hated (of God)."
     - Aaron A 4Q541, Fragment 1

"As the whirlwind passeth, so is the wicked no more; but the righteous [one] is an everlasting foundation."
     - Proverbs 10:25

In the Kabbalistic sefirot [emanations of God], "Yesod (foundation) is the ninth sefirah and represents the phallus, the procreative life force of the universe. He is also called Zaddiq (Righteous One)...Yesod is the axis mundi, the cosmic pillar."
     - Arthur Green in the Preface to the Zohar(Daniel Chana Matt Editor)

"Light is sown for the righteous one, joy for the upright in heart."
     - Psalms 97:11

"In the Zohar's view, and in much of Jewish mysticism thereafter, the very existence of the universe is predicated on the existence of the Righteous/Righteous One."
     - Robert Eisman and Michael Wise, The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered

The first priest of God was called Melchizedek, or more properly "Melchi Zaddik".

"But he who first built it was a potent man among the Canaanites, and is in our own tongue called [Melchizedek], the Righteous King, for such he really was; on which account he was [there] the first priest of God, and first built a temple [there], and called the city Jerusalem, which was formerly called Salem."
     - Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk VI, Ch X, Sn 1

The name or title Sadduc/Zakkik also resonates with the Teacher of Righteousness who founded the original breakaway Yahad or "Unity Group" documented in several key Dead Sea Scrolls.

"The Teacher is generally identified as what his community considers to be the legitimate high priest. As a priestly figure the Teacher's role as a mediator would be the maintenance of the comunity's relationship with God, as his chosen people. It is possible that the title 'Teacher of Righteousness' refers not to one historical individual but to an office that is to be filled in the historical realm."
     - Ysmena Pentelow, Abstract: The Teacher of Righteousness

"..As for me [my] office is among the gods..."
     - Thanksgiving Psalm 4Q427 Frag. 7 Col. 1.11

The second important religious figure that may be associated with the office is James the Just (Zaddik/Zadok), brother of Jesus. James, of course, was the leader of the first Christian community. (Note that members of the early Christian community considered Jesus as the high priest who ascended to heaven.)

The Fourth Philosophy

"...Judas and Sadduc, who excited a fourth philosophic sect among us, and had a great many followers therein, filled our civil government with tumults at present, and laid the foundations of our future miseries, by this system of philosophy,...because the infection which spread thence among the younger sort, who were zealous for it, brought the public to destruction."

"But of the fourth sect of Jewish philosophy, Judas the Galilean was the author. These men agree in all other things with the Pharisaic notions; but they have an inviolable attachment to liberty, and say that God is to be their only Ruler and Lord. They also do not value dying any kinds of death, nor indeed do they heed the deaths of their relations and friends, nor can any such fear make them call any man lord."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XVIII, Ch I, Sn 6

"Was there really a distinct 'fourth philosophy' as Josephus claims? This is highly dubious, since he is our only witness to it and even he can't come up with a name to distinguish this faction from other Jews. The way Josephus describes it, the advocates of this 'fourth philosophy' appear to be simply radical Pharisees, since he blames them for slaughtering their own 'friends.'"
     - Mahlon Smith (CrossTalk)

According to linguistic criteria, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Acts of the Torah is contemporary with Judas and Sadduc. Norman Golb identifies the group the scroll originated from, the Sons of Zadok, as a school or sect of the Pharisees living in expectation of the "End of Days". Could Sadduc have been the leader of the dissident sect? Was the sect an extremist branch of Shammai's conservative wing?
Note that while the Pharisees were almost exclusively confined to Judea, the Zealot movement was based in Galilee - a region with a separate religious tradition. An alliance between factions from these two regions shows how extensive opposition the imposition of direct Roman rule must have been.

"The religious outlook of these rebel groups was based on Pharisee doctrines but in some ways was more extreme. For instance, the rebels elevated political freedom to the plane of a religious principle - regarding submission to imperial rule as a grave religious transgression. In this, they differed also from the Hasmonean rebels who rose up against Antiochus, two centuries earlier.
"In the earlier period the Jews had rebelled only when there was no alternative, when the very survival of Jewry was in danger. For the extremists, however, freedom became the ideal - freedom irrespective of existing circumstances."
     - The Jews in Their Land (David Ben-Gurion Editor}

"The Zealots were a splinter group of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were content to ignore the Romans. The Zealots were not. They wanted to drive them out. They planned to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth - a kingdom ruled by God and not by man. When Jesus said 'Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's', the Zealots would have agreed with him. For all the produce of God's land belonged to God and this included the Roman tribute. The main Zealot center was Galilee. The revolt really started when Galilee was annexed to the Roman province in 44 C.E."
     - Peter Connolly, Living in the Time of Jesus of Nazareth

Josephus, who (along with Saul of Taursus) was a self-proclaimed Pharisee (ostensibly also of the moderate Hillel school), used only the harshest condemnation for the Zealots in his writings (although he wrote very favorably about James the Just.)

"There is no evil that did not spring from these men. And the people were divided beyond description. Endless fighting broke out, the sort where no one has control. And they eliminated friends & those who might have lessened the ordeal. Turmoil was raised by great numbers of bandits [LHSTAI]. And there were assassinations of prominent men. Some had a belief that they were righting the community. But in fact they were hoping to advance their own people."
     - Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Bk XVIII, Ch I, Sn 1

("By his own account Josephus had dabbled in many schools of Jewish 'philosophy,' and had really identified with none until the peace [after the Jewish War] Pharisees became the only legitimate brand of Judaism.")
      Mahlon H. Smith (CrossTalk)

Aftermath

"...For then it was that the Sicarii got together against those that were willing to submit to the Romans, and treated them in all respects as if they had been their enemies, both by plundering them of what they had, by driving away their cattle, and by setting fire to their houses..."
     - Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk VII, Ch VIII, Sn 1

The Zealots "attacked the two Roman legions sent from Syria to suppress the rebellion and were soundly defeated. As a result, two thousand zealots, including, Judas, were crucified and about 6,000 young Galileans were deported to slavery in the western empire."
     - Jack Kilmon, Scriptorium

"These events were to be followed by some seventy-five years of incessant guerrilla warfare and terrorist activity culminating in the full-scale military operations of AD 66-73."
     - Baigent and Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

Judas' "mantle of leadership passed to his sons, of whom there were three. Two of them, Jacob and Simon, were well-known 'zealot' leaders, captured and crucified by the Romans some time between AD 46 and 48. The third son (or perhaps grandson), Manahem, was one of the chief instigators of the revolt of AD 66."
     - Baigent and Leigh, The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception

An even more renowned descendent was Eleazar, commander of the Sicarii that sacrificed themselves at Masada in 73 C.E.

"The roots of the party were mainly in the Judean peasantry, and the facts that the first things they did were attack the city aristocrats [67 to 68 C.E.], seize control of the temple, and elect as High Priest [69 C.E.] a villager of their own sort - all these fit perfectly with peasant piety."
     - Morton Smith, "Zealots and Sicarii, Their Origins and Relation", The Harvard Theological Review 64:1-19

"Hereupon they [the Zealots] sent for one of the pontifical tribes, which is called Eniachim, and cast lots which of it should be the high priest. By fortune the lot so fell as to demonstrate their iniquity after the plainest manner, for it fell upon one whose name was Phannias, the son of Samuel, of the village Aphtha. He was a man not only unworthy of the high priesthood, but that did not well know what the high priesthood was, such a mere rustic was he ! yet did they hail this man, without his own consent, out of the country, as if they were acting a play upon the stage, and adorned him with a counterfeit thee; they also put upon him the sacred garments, and upon every occasion instructed him what he was to do. This horrid piece of wickedness was sport and pastime with them, but occasioned the other priests, who at a distance saw their law made a jest of, to shed tears, and sorely lament the dissolution of such a sacred dignity."
     - Flavius Josephus, War of the Jews, Bk IV, Ch III, Sn 8

Zealots, Zadokites (Sons of Zadok), and Nazarenes (Judean Christians) all appear to be integrally linked as part of the Messianic movement which was opposed to the Temple authority (Herodian appointed Sadducees).