Extreme Pharisees: Paul and an Apostle

Paul refers to himself as in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless. (Phil 3:5-6)

Scripture saying Simon the Zealot was an apostle

The ruins of a Herodion street bordering the Temple, with old kiosks on the left. The stones on the right are probably where the Romans left them when they torched the walls in 70 A.D.

The photograph above is a good illustration of Jesus' radical acceptance of all people. The outlaw Pharisee and apostle Simon the Zealot couldn't come here before his Jesus days; the authorities would have killed him. The legalistic Pharisee Paul would have been anxious to be seen in locations close to the Temple, and it's highly likely he walked this street many times. The tax collector and apostle Matthew was probably ostracized and unwelcome here before his Jesus days.

Simon the Zealot v. Matthew the Tax Collector
The Zealots were an extreme outgrowth of the Pharisee movement, who robbed and murdered those oppressing the peasants. This classification would make particular sense for Paul since he went to such lengths to persecute Christians, yet we never hear of him referring to himself as so extreme in regards to oppression; only religious beliefs.

Simon, one of the twelve apostles, is referred to as ‘Simon the Zealot.’ (This is not Simon Peter, the leader of the group.) Zealots killed in the name of God, rather like terrorists today, and Simon was probably more astonished than anyone that a rabbi would accept Matthew, a tax collector, as an apostle.

Tax collectors, as oppressors of the peasants, were one of the groups Zealots persecuted, and when they first started following Jesus Simon may well have wished to kill Matthew. The fact that the two of them made it through three years of ministry under Jesus is testament to the power of Christ's love.

Paul the Pharisee
There was a great variation between common Pharisees, who were teachers in the synagogues and represented the majority of Jews, and registered Pharisees. Most Jews probably identified themselves as Pharisees in terms of the general teachings, but not to the extreme degree of the Pharisees Jesus targeted. (A little like most Americans identify themselves as Democrat or Republican, but don't cling too closely to what the party believes.)

Pharisaic registration came in four degrees; the highest one required you to tithe what you ate, bought AND sold, not eat at the house of one who followed looser rules, wash your hands before you ate and before touching ritually clean food, and endure a probation period that lasted from 30 days to 1 year.

In Jesus time these arches, still visible in the stonework, were the main entrance to the Temple grounds in Jerusalem. You can picture Pharisees such as Paul striding through this gate frequently, with long tassels hanging from the corners of his mantle and leather straps holding tiny boxes with Scripture wrapped around his arms and forehead, in order to be deemed pious.

The legalistic Hasidim of today can be easily distinguished from the average Jew by their haircut, hat and walk, and I wouldn't be surprised if the concept were the same and the means different in the first century.

All Jews wore tunics, covered by a large piece of rectangular cloth called a mantle. Tassels hung from the corners of the every males mantle, but Jesus says the Pharisees tassels were extra long.

All Jewish males tied small leather 'boxes' containing Scripture verses on their arms and forehead in literal obedience to Deut 6:6-8. These commandments I give to you today... tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. It's reasonable to suppose that the legalistic Pharisees wore them more frequently than most - perhaps during work hours, when most Jews removeed them.

If the Pharises looked like the Hasidim of today, generally known in Israel as following an abundance of rules, the men strode down the street with a quick gait, ramrod posture and remarkable purpose.

Becoming one of six thousand members in all of Israel required strong beliefs, and certainly attaining the fourth degree could deem one ‘faultless’ in ‘legalistic righteousness.’ Yet there is no record of these Pharisees persecuting Christians. Perhaps that aspect of Pharisaism changed when a new religion, Christianity, threatened them.

Travel Blog
See the blog of my Temple adventure.

Sources
Bivin, David, 2005, New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus: Insights from His Jewish Context, En-Gedi Resource Center, Israel

Horsley, Richard A. and Hanson, John S., 1985, Bandits, Prophets, and Messiahs: Popular Movements at the Time of Jesus, Winston Press (later published by HarperCollins Publishers)

Moseley, Ron, 1996, Yeshua: A Guide to the Real Jesus and the Original Church, Messianic Jewish Publishers

Scott Jr., J. Julius, 1995, Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament, Baker Book House


Scripture References
Paragraph 2:
Tassels – Matthew 23:5