What did the Sadducees believe to be the Law?

Answer 1

They believed that they should cooperate with the Romans.

They believed they are the official interpreters of the 5 books of Moses. They didn't believe in the Oral Law, which was taught by the Sages. Nor did they believe in ressurection or the messiah.

Answer:There is a common conception that the Sadducees, like the later (and now largely defunct) Karaites, made a deliberate decision to reject the Oral Law and reinterpret the Scriptures.

However, a careful perusal of the Talmud reveals that the Sadducees were actually opportunists who had nothing much at all to do with religion in any fashion. They were lax in Judaism; they were men of politics who weren't interested in Torah-matters.

The group that did (on rare occasions) argue with the Torah-Sages concerning subjects of religious observance, were a tiny sect called the Baitusim (Boethusians), who quickly died out.

Answer 2

The Tzdukim (Sadducees) were a breakaway group who turned their back on the authority of the Torah sages. They continued in the ways of the Hellenising Jews. They were active in politics and intrigue and had no interest in the Torah.

At that time the Jewish courts still had the ability to enforce the Torah laws; and almost all Jews were Torah-observant; so, in order to avoid total rejection by the surrounding community, the Sadducees outwardly maintained a facade of keeping the major Torah precepts (such as the Sabbath), while ignoring the Oral Torah and customs and flouting the words of the Sages.

They went lost not long after.

Answer 3

1. They were extremely self-sufficient to the point of denying God's involvement in everyday life; 2. They denied any resurrection of the dead (Matt. 22:23; Mark 12:18-27; Acts 23:8); 3. They denied any afterlife, holding that the soul perished at death, and therefore denying any penalty or reward after the earthly life; 4. They denied the existence of a spiritual world, i.e., angels and demons (Acts 23:8).

The Sadducees represented one of the political and religious factions during Judaism in the midst change from about 200 BC until the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.They reigned as a conservative political group that embodied the Aristocracy (elitists) of the Jewish society; standing rigidly for the written Scripture as the sole authority for their faith that included only the five Books of Moses.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the Sadducees wanted to maintain the priestly caste as they considered themselves followers of the High Priest Tsadok1. The Sadducees were a Jewish religious sect that flourished.

Sadducees rejected the Pharisaic tenet of an oral Torah, and created new interpretations based on a literal understanding of verses. Belief in the Pentateuch alone

Their beliefs bordered on Atheism:

1. They were extremely self-sufficient to the point of denying God's involvement in everyday life.

2. They denied any resurrection of the dead (Matt. 22:23; Mark 12:18-27; Acts 23:8).

3. They denied any afterlife, holding that the soul perished at death, and therefore denying any penalty or reward after the earthly life.

4. They denied the existence of a spiritual world, i.e., angels and demons (Acts 23:8).

FOOTNOTE

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1. The Sadducees (from Hebrew: Tsdoki, צדוקי meaning "High Priest") were a religious and political movement within ancient Judaism that existed during the second Temple period (c. 350 B.C.E.-70 C.E.). The group was founded in the second century B.C.E., and ceased to exist sometime after the first century C.E., following the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire.

Acts:23:8: For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.

Jewish AnswerThe Sadducees split off from the Pharisees around 200 BCE. The movement was made up of the priests and aristocrats of Jewish society. The did not accept the validity of the Oral Torah and believed in a strict, narrow, and unchanging interpretation of the written Torah. Examples of some beliefs they rejected are: immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, and the existence of angels. They were Temple centric and would sometimes buy their way into the office of High Priest. Even though they took such a narrow view in regard to Torah interpretation, they were strong assimilationists in terms of society and adopted the ways of Greek culture. The Sadducees died out with the destruction of the Second Temple.

Answer 4

The religious leaders took the Ten Commandments, along with some laws in Leviticus to come up with 613 laws.

The extrapolated "Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy" to many laws about the Sabbath, such as:

a person could only walk so far (a Sabbath Day's journey).

Jews weren't allowed to spit on the Sabbath because their spit would water a plant, and that was considered work.

They couldn't build a fire on the Sabbath.

Answer

The Sadducees split off from the Pharisees around 200 BCE. The movement was made up of the priests and aristocrats of Jewish society. The did not accept the validity of the Oral Torah and believed in a strict, narrow, and unchanging interpretation of the written Torah. Examples of some beliefs they rejected are: immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, and the existence of angels. They were Temple centric and would sometimes buy their way into the office of High Priest.

Answer 5

The Sadducees and Pharisees both considered the Torah to be the source of law, and both recognized the authority of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem as the supreme court and legislature in charge of interpreting that law and applying it to the conditions of the day. They differed, however, in what they emphasized. The Sadducees emphasized the Temple ritual and the continuation of the sacrifices as being of utmost importance, and they were willing to make significant compromises with Rome in order to preserve the Temple system. The Pharisees emphasized personal piety, study and ethics.