The relationship between the Pharisees and the later rabbis is not easy to define. Conventional wisdom says that the rabbinic movement was born of the Pharisaic sect. But the writings of the rabbis do not explicitly substantiate that connection. It takes a discerning eye to assess the nature of the historical connection between the two groups.
Since the Middle Ages, Jews and Christians generally have assumed that the first rabbis were Pharisees. That assumption is supported by a good deal of evidence. Like the Pharisees, the rabbis claimed to maintain a sacred tradition of scriptural exegesis. The Mishnah, the earliest record of the rabbinic legal tradition known as halakhah, approvingly cites select opinions ascribed to the Pharisees (m. Yadayim 4:6-8). Later rabbinic sages espoused teachings on fate, free will, and the afterlife ascribed to the Pharisees in the New Testament and by the contemporary Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. They even recalled Pharisaic personalities of the first century C.E. such as Gamaliel and his son Shimon as founders of the rabbinic discipline (m. Avot 1:16-18; see Acts 5:34-39; Josephus, Life 190-91).
Read Full Article »