The Jewish Sects
The Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians and Zealots which play so important a part in the Gospel records, all have their origin during the two centuries before the birth of MESSIYAH. They represent different reactions to the continuing clash between Hellenism and Jewish religious life. While the Maccabean struggle had settled the political problem of the relationship between the Syrian Seleucids and Judea, it forced upon Judaism the necessity of determining its own relationship to the outside world.