Re: hH OUSA hAIRESIS in Acts 5:17

From: CWestf5155 (CWestf5155@aol.com)
Date: Fri Jan 09 1998 - 13:38:45 EST


In a message dated 98-01-09 12:07:12 EST, you write:

> To tell the truth, it's not
> immediately clear to me whether the hAIRESIS includings the chief priest or
> refers just to his associates. That's the kind of question the words alone
> don't answer; it must be decided from other information. Some one will
> surely know: _would_ the chief priest be a Sadducee?

"Sadducee" refers to a family branch, descended (if memory serves) from a
priest named Zadok. It seems that the term would sometimes include "friends"
of the family as well as actual relatives. During Roman rule, the high priest
was selected from one of two families: the Sadducees or the Boethusians.
During this time period, the high priest was selected from the Sadducees.
Here's a quote from H W. Hoehner, "Herodian Dynasty", *Dictionary of Jesus and
the Gospels*, p. 325: "Herod the Great ... and his grandson Agrippa I never
selected a high priest from among the Sadducees, who were pre-Hasmonean, but
rather from the house of Beothus. However, a reversal of this policy occurred
between Herod's son Archelaus's depostition in A.D. 6 and Agrippa I's
acquisition of Judea in A. D. 41. At that time of of the high priests came
from the Sadducean house of Annas because the province of Judea was not under
Herodian rule but under direct Roman role of the prefects.



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