I studied Herbert W. Armstong’s doctrines from the mid Seventies to the mid Eighties and he taught that when Christ walked the Earth the Sadducees controlled Temple worship, not the Pharisees. He also believed the waving of the Omer occurred on Sunday, as taught by the Sadducees.
I believe that the Pharisees controlled Temple worship when Jesus walked the earth because Jesus taught that the Pharisees sit in Moses seat, not the Sadducees. If you use the KJV, here is what that translation says:
Matthew 23:1-3:
23 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat: 3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
Here is the same passage in the NASB 1995 edition:
Matthew 23:1-3:
23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, 2 saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; 3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.
Here are the same verses from the ESV (English Standard Version):
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice.
Some have claimed that when Jesus referred to the Pharisees sitting in Moses seat, it wasn’t referring to the Temple priesthood. Those that have made this claim say that those who were ruling in the Temple were actually sitting in Aaron’s seat, the seat of the priesthood, and not the seat of Moses, which was the seat of the local synagogues. This may or may not be true. The Pharisees were a majority in Judea and they could be found in many synagogues throughout Galilee and Judea and as a minority on the Sanhedrin. Those that make these claims point out the Sanhedrin was the Supreme Court of Israel and since the Sadducees controlled the Sanhedrin and were prominent in the Temple in the time of Jesus, they controlled Temple matters such as the setting the first day of the month, the celebrations of the annual holy convocations, and other matters pertaining to the sacrifices in the Temple. Josephus, Philo, and other rabbinical authors cast the Sadducees in a very negative light and claimed the Sadducees were “afraid” of the Pharisees and meekly followed the teachings of the Pharisees.
More on the seat of Moses:
Josephus also claimed the Sadducees were rude, arrogant, power-hungry, and quick to dispute those who disagreed with them. This hardly sounds like they were “afraid” or “meekly” following the Pharisees as some of the rabbis later claimed. It is possible however this is how they came across to the common folk they dealt with and not to the Pharisees themselves.
https://www.gotquestions.org/Sadducees.html
For example, there was a bitter feud between the Pharisees and the Sadducees when the waving of the Omer should occur. The Pharisees taught the waving of the Omer would occur on Nisan 16 every year and the Sadducees insisted the Omer should be waved on the day after the first weekly Sabbath after the Passover meal. The revisionist Pharisees claimed that when the Pharisees went to wave the Omer the Sadducees would meekly follow them and participate in the ritual.
The Sadducees, which had the favor of Rome and the aristocrats in Galilee and Judea, were not well liked by the common folk in the land but they weren’t around to give their side of the story when Josephus, Philo and other Pharisees and rabbis gave their views of the Sadducees. They did this after the Sadducees ceased to exist sometime after the destruction of the Temple. Therefore, some scholars dispute the rabbinical version of what the Sadducees believed or didn’t believe. The side that wins the war writes the history of that war from their viewpoint and not the views of the losers. There are no writings from the Sadducees that survived the destruction of the Temple.
I want to include HWA’s version to offer interested readers both sides of the story. If I am wrong about the Pharisees controlling the Temple Priesthood when Jesus lived I want to know. Armstrong believed the Sadducees lost control of the Temple worship sometime between the death of Jesus and the destruction of the Temple. He opts for a date around 50 CE.
Herbert Armstrong also believed the Sadducees upheld the waving of the Omer on Sunday morning, the day after the Sabbath as indicated in Leviticus 23:11.
(NASB 1995 edition) 23:1 The Lord spoke again to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:3 ‘For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings.4 ‘These are the appointed times of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them. 5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month [a]at twilight is the Lord’s Passover. 6 Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. 8 But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work.’”9 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. 11 He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it.
I believe Armstrong makes a very strong case that the Sadducees could have actually been the ones to control Temple worship when Jesus walked the earth so I am linking to his lengthy article on who controlled Temple worship and why.
There is a quote from Wikipedia on the Megillat Taanit, a first century CE document that forbade fasting and lamenting on certain holidays of the Jews. One must be careful when using Wikipedia and I am not able to confirm this quote but I post it so someone who reads it may be able to confirm for themselves its veracity.
Among the dates penned in Megillat Taanit and which were all forbidden to fast thereon, and for others also forbidden to lament the dead thereon, are to be noted the following:
- “And from the eighth day thereof (i.e. the lunar month of Nisan) until the end of the [last] festival day [of Passover], the Feast of Weeks (Shavu’ot) was restored, [being days on which] it is prohibited to mourn” [Original Aramaic: ומתמניא ביה ועד סוף מועדא איתותב חגא דשבועייא די לא למספד]
[Excursus: This episode has been explained by Rashi in Babylonian Talmud (Taanit 17b, s.v. מתמניא ביה) to mean the vindication of the Pharisees over the Boethusians in the days of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, when the Boethusians held the errant view that the people of Israel are to only begin counting the seven weeks, or 49 days of the Counting of the Omer, after the first Sabbath that follows the first Festival Day of Passover, which method would invariably cause a delay in the counting, and push back further the Feast of Weeks (Shavu’ot) which falls on the 50th day. According to the Pharisees, on the other hand, whose opinion is Halacha, the Counting of the Omer begins immediately following the first Festival Day of Passover, which happens to be the Sabbath day of rest spoken of in Leviticus 23:15, that is to say, Passover itself, and they begin the counting on the following day, on the 16th day of the lunar month Nisan, in which case the festival day known as the Feast of Weeks will always fall on the 6th day of the lunar month Sivan. When Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai prevailed over the Boethusians at this time, the days were commemorated as a semi-holiday; Shavu’ot being restored to its former time of observance.][20][21]
If this quote from Wikipedia is accurate, and I am not claiming it is, but if it is, then that would be strong evidence that the Sadducees controlled Temple worship during the time Jesus had his public ministry.
The quote refers to Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai, a Pharisee, who lived from about 30 CE to 90 CE and was instrumental on returning reckoning of the wave sheaf back to Pharisean control.
Wikipedia’s article on Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai gives the following:
The Talmud reports that, in the mid-first century, he was particularly active in opposing the Sadducees‘ interpretations of Jewish law,[2][3] and produced counter-arguments to the Sadducees’ objection to the Pharisees.[4] So dedicated was he to opposing the Sadducee view of Jewish law, that he prevented the Jewish high priest, who was a Sadducee, from following the Sadducee interpretation of the Red Heifer ritual.[5]
His home, at this time, was in Arav, a village in the Galilee, where he spent eighteen years.[6][7] However, although living among them, he found the attitude of Galileans to be objectionable, allegedly exclaiming that they hated the Torah and would therefore “fall into the hands of robbers.”[6] During the outbreak of hostilities, he settled in Jerusalem.
I want to do further research into this so I added the link to his article here, in my blog post. It’s over 80 printed pages long so read it in small chunks.
I found the following link to a discussion by the Gemarists about the timing of Shavuot addressing the two divergent opinions on its observance. It is the Menachot 65a and 65b.
I am not claiming I agree with Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai’s victory over the Sadducees but I do believe this reveals the debate that once existed at the time period when the celebration of Shavuot switched from the Sadducean view to the Pharisee view. I believe it is possible this occurred around 50 CE as Herbert Armstrong claimed many years ago. After all, it occurred during the lifetime of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai. However, I am not yet 100% convinced and will not flip over to the view that the Sadducees controlled the Temple worship when Jesus walked the earth. I need to do some further study and prayer on this subject.
Here is a link to Part One of my comments on Menachot 65a and b. This commentary has the Pharisee defense for observing the waving of the Omer on Nisan 16.
Saber's Musings 