The “Sad You Sees” of the Sadducees

Matthew 22:23-33

Jesus having evaded the horns of dilemma by both the Pharisees and Herodians is now tested by the Sadducees. The Pharisees were the most populous, most popular, and most religious of the Jewish sects. In contrast, the Sadducees were perhaps the smallest and more materialistic and political. Unlike the Pharisees, they were pro-Roman. They had greater power and influence. They had many members in the priesthood and Sanhedrin. They only accepted the Pentateuch or five Books of Moses. There strict literal interpretation of these books resulted in their rejection of the rest of the Old Testament as mere commentary on the Law and historical accounts of the Jewish people. As a result, they rejected many of the doctrines taught in the other thirty-four books. Luke informed us the “Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both” (Acts 23:8). Thus, their testing of Jesus is going to focus on the resurrection. There was plenty of evidence from the Old Testament that God taught through the prophets that there is an afterlife (Ps. 16:9-10; 49:15; 73:24; Hos. 6:1-2; Job 19:25-27; Dan. 12:2). They could not find where Moses taught about the resurrection. The Pharisees could not answer them.

Notice the Sadducees sad attempt at flattery by calling Jesus “Teacher.” This too is insincere.

▸ Sad Testing by the Sadducees

The question to entrap Jesus was: “Moses said that if a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were with us seven brothers. The first died after he had married, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother. Likewise the second also, and the third, even to the seventh. Last of all the woman died also. Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be? For they all had her” (22:24-28).

Their argument was based on the teaching in the Law of Moses in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. This is known as the levirate marriage law. This is not to confused with the Levites who served the Tabernacle and Temple or the tribe of Levi. The term levirate comes the Latin word for “a husband’s brother.”

If a man died and left no heir, his unmarried brother was to marry his bride and bring up an heir for his brother. This would ensure the continence of tribes, families and inheritances in the promise land.

The purpose of this law was to preserve a man’s name should he die without a male heir. When Ruth was left childless at the death of her husband Mahlon. A relative of her husband, Boaz took Ruth and thus preserved the lineage of Christ by obeying the Law (Matt. 1:5).

▸ Sadly Mistaken Sadducees

Jesus does not call into question the probability of this hypothetical illustration. He deals with it as a possibility. First thing He does is attack their ignorance: “You are mistaken.” The term indicates one who wanders away from the truth. Two reasons are given from their being mistaken. First, “not knowing the Scriptures.” They talk about Moses’ teaching, but Jesus points out that in the Law of Moses it is God who is speaking. They assume the Pentateuch never spoke about the resurrection. Jesus is about to show them how wrong this is. Jesus would say in Luke’s account: “even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised” (20:37).

Second, they were mistaken about “the power of God”. They failed to see that God’s power to raise the dead was possible. If God created man in His great power, He could restore man in the resurrection.

Additionally, they were mistaken about the nature of relationships in the afterlife. Jesus said, “For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage” (22:29b). Marriage is an institution created by God to be temporary and limited to man’s time on earth. In the afterlife there is no need for the marriage relationship for honorable sex or procreation or companionship. So, they based their argument on the absurdity of a woman having seven husbands in the afterlife. Therefore, they concluded there is no afterlife. When in fact there is no marriage in the afterlife. Thus, the absurdity never existed.

The Sadducees as noted before, did not believe in angels. Jesus uses this opportunity to not only correct them on the question of the resurrection but also their belief in angels. The reason marriage is not found among men and women post-resurrection is that they “are like angles of God in heaven” (22:30b). Notice Jesus is not saying in the resurrection we will be angels but like them. They do not have marital relationships. They only serve God not a spouse. Neither is Jesus saying that all traces of gender will be erased after the resurrection. The Bible consistently refers to angels as male.

▸ Sad Ignorance of the Sadducees

Jesus exposes the ignorance of the Sadducees when He says, “have you not read what was spoken to you by God.” He quotes God in Exodus 3:6: “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (22:32a). God did not say “I was” but “I am”, therefore Jesus’ conclusion was “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living” (22:32b). Coffman explains, “Christ made an argument on such an important subject as the resurrection to turn upon a single word in the Old Testament, a single verb, and the very tense of the verb at that!” At the time of Moses, God still had a relationship with the dead patriarchs, who had been long dead. However, for this to make any sense at all, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had to be alive in another realm.

▸ Sad Silence of the Sadducees

Sadly, we are not told of the response by the Sadducees. This was not because Jesus failed to adequately answer their question. “And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching” (22:33).

So, the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection. That is why they were sad, you see.

– Daniel R. Vess