Religious Authorities

Question 1

The Jewish religious authorities had great power and influence over what?

Answer 1

The everyday lives of the Jews

Question 2

who was at the head?

Answer 2

The High Priest

- who during the trail of Jesus was called Caiaphas

Question 3

What did the High Priest preside over?

Answer 3

The Jewish High Council, called the Sanhedrin, which met in Jerusalem

Question 4

who was part of the Sanhedrin (Jewish High Council)

Answer 4

Those who had been a previous High Priest, tribal elders, senior members of the Priestley families and scribes

Question 5

what did the Romans allow the Sanhedrin to do?

Answer 5

-exercise wide powers over civil administration + were able to judge criminal and civil cases

Question 6

what did the Sanhedrin have the right to do?

Answer 6

Pass any sentence permitted under Jewish Law except the death sentence, which required approval of the Roman procurator

Question 7

What were the Sanhedrin responsible for?

Answer 7

Ensuring the Jewish people obeyed the Law Of Moses and undertook their religious obligations

Question 8

what three main groups made up the religious authorities?

Answer 8

The Scribes
The Pharisees
The Sadducee’s

Question 9

what were the scribes experts in Scribes?

Answer 9

Experts in the law of Moses

Question 10

What was their function?

Answer 10

Preserve and study the Law and teach their pupils about it
- they were lawyers sometimes called ‘teachers of the Law’ and were entrusted with he administration of the Law, often acting as judges in criminal cases

Question 11

What did the Pharisees control?

Answer 11

Largest group, numbering about 6000

- controlled religious affairs and worked in synagogues

Question 12

What did the Pharisees make the people do??

Answer 12

Kept the law in exact detail and saw themselves as model Jews

Question 13

Did the Pharisees keep themselves apart from ordinary Jews?

Answer 13

Yes - made them seem arrogant and legalistic

Question 14

What were the Sadducee’s

Answer 14

A very small but powerful group

Question 15

What did the Sadducee’s have?

Answer 15

money -they were wealthy and held seats in the Sanhedrin

Question 16

what made the Sadducee’s very unpopular?

Answer 16

The fact that they worked peacefully with the Romans

Question 17

Were the Sadducee’s conservative?

Answer 17

Yes - and rejected ideals such as immortality, Resurrection and the existence of angels and demons

Question 18

what were the three other notable groups within Judaism?

Answer 18

The Essene’s
The Zealot’s
The Samaritans

Question 19

About the Essen’s

Answer 19

Were a religious group who believed they were the true people of God and who lives a strict religious life

Question 20

What did the Essen’s believe they were?

Answer 20

The Sons Of Light awaiting the final battle against forces of darkness

Question 21

About the Zealot’s

Answer 21

saw themselves as revolutionaries and freedom fighters

- fought to free Israel from the Romans and led many unsuccessful uprisings

Question 22

About the Samaritans

Answer 22

lived in a region of Samaria

• Jews detested the Samaritans and would not accept them as true Jews because their ancestors had intermarried with the Babylonian invaders centuries earlier
• as a result Samaritans had own temple and worshiped God in their own way

Question 23

Israel was part of the Roman empire and what were the Romans

Answer 23

Political authorities

Question 24

because the Romans found it hard to understand the Jewish religion what did they do?

Answer 24

delegated a great deal of local power to the Sanhedrin

Question 25

Judea the provenance that included Jerusalem was under the jurisdiction of who?

Answer 25

the Roman Governor of Syria, and governed by a roman officer under the upper class equestrian rank a Procurator

Question 26

At the time of Jesus who was the Procurator

Answer 26

Pontius Pilate