Boethusians

The Boethusians (Hebrew: בייתוסים) were a Jewish sect closely related to, if not a development of, the Sadducees.^[1]

Origins according to the Talmud

The post-Talmudic work Avot of Rabbi Natan gives the following origin of the schism between the Pharisees and Sadducees/Boethusians: Antigonus of Sokho having taught the maxim, "Be not like the servants who serve their masters for the sake of the wages, but be rather like those who serve without thought of receiving wages",^[2] his two pupils, Zadok and Boethus, repeated this maxim to their pupils. In the course of time, either the two teachers or their pupils understood this to express the stance that there was neither an afterlife nor a resurrection of the dead, and founded the sects of the Sadducees and the Boethusians. They lived in luxurious splendor; using silver and golden vessels all their lives, not because they were haughty, but because (as they claimed) the Pharisees led a hard life on earth and yet would have nothing to show for it in the world to come.^[3] It is known to historians that these two groups denied the immortality of the soul and the resurrection, and also that the sects found their followers chiefly among the wealthy, but the origin of the sects is unconfirmed.

The Mishnah, as well as the Baraita, mentions the Boethusians as saying that the omer offering must be offered on the Sunday of Passover (in opposition to the Pharisees who offered it on the second day of Passover), resulting in different dates for the Shavuot holiday.^[4] Elsewhere, it is narrated that the Boethusians hired false witnesses in order to mislead the Pharisees in their calculation of the new moon.^[5] Another point of dispute between the Boethusians and the Pharisees was whether the high priest should prepare the incense inside or outside the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur^[6]

As the beginnings of this sect are shrouded in obscurity, so also is the length of its duration. The Talmud mentions a Boethusian in a dispute with a pupil of Rabbi Akiva,^[7] yet it is likely that the word here means simply a sectarian, a heretic, just as the term "Sadducee" was used in a much wider sense later on. A Boethus, son of Zonim, and nearly contemporaneous with Rabbi Akiva^[8] is mentioned in the Mishnah;^[9] he was not, however, a Boethusian, but a pious merchant. An amora, c. 300 CE, was also called "Boethus".

Relationship to other groups

A parallel to the Yoma 19b has "Sadducees" instead of "Boethusians"; and in other passages the Talmud undoubtedly uses these two terms indifferently in designating the same sect. Graetz's assumption, therefore, that the Sadducees were the political and the Boethusians the religious opponents of the Pharisees, is untenable.

Some scholars have identified the Boethusians with the Essenes, the sect that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls.^[10] Some of the scrolls express views similar to those attributed to the Boethusians by the Talmud. ^[11] According to this theory, the word "Boethusian" is a corruption of "Beit Essaya", meaning "House of Essenes".^[12]

A high-priestly family

The Boethusians are believed to have been associated with the members of the high-priestly family of Boethus. The family of Boethus produced the following high priests:

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Boethusians". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. Its bibliography:

• Eduard Baneth, "Ueber den Ursprung der Sadokäer und Boethus." Berliner-Hoffmann, Magazin, ix.1-37, 61-95 (also printed separately, Dessau, 1882);
• Geiger, Urschrift, 1857, pp. 105 et seq.;
• Heinrich Grätz, Gesch. der Juden, iii.89, 223, 4th ed.;
• Emil Schürer, Gesch. ii.217-218, 409–419.

External links

• Who Were the Boethusians?
• Who Were the Boethusians? II

This page was last edited on 20 May 2024, at 00:58