he Pharisees than to the Sadducees, for the
latter were hostile to the Herodian claims, from the first; yet in spirit
they seem more like to the worldly aristocracy than to the pious scribes.
The Samaritans lived in the land, a people despising and despised. Their
territory separated Galilee from Judea, and they were a constant source of
irritation to the Jews. The hatred was inherited from the days of Ezra,
when the zealous Jews refused to allow any intercourse with the
inhabitants of Samaria. These Samaritans were spurned as of impure blood
and mixed religion (II. Kings xvii. 24-41). The severe attitude adopted
towards them by Ezra and Nehemiah led to the building of a temple on Mount
Gerizim, and the establishment of a worship which sought to rival that of
Jerusalem in all particulars. Very little is known of the tenets of the
Samaritans in the time of Jesus beyond their belief that Gerizim was the
place which, according to the law, God chose for his temple, and that a
Messiah should come to settle all questions of dispute (John iv. 25).

15. Although the religious life of the Jews centred ideally in the temple,
it found its practical expression in the synagogue. This in itself is
evidence of the relative influence of priests and scribes. There was no
confessed rivalry. The Pharisee was most insistent on the sanctity of the
temple and the importance of its ritual. Yet with the growing sense of the
religious significance of the individual as distinct from the nation,
there arose of necessity a practical need for a system of worship possible
for the great majority of the people, who could at best visit Jerusalem
but once or twice a year. The synagogue seems to have been a development
of the exile, when there was no temple and no sacrifice. It was the
characteristic institution of Judaism as a religion of the law, furnishing
in every place opportunity for prayer and study. The elders of each
community seem ordinarily to have been in control of its synagogue, and to
have had authority to exclude from its fellowship persons who had come
under the ban. In addition to these officials there was a ruler of the
synagogue, who had the direction of all that concerned the worship; a
_chazzan_, or minister, who had the care of the sacred books, administered
discipline, and instructed the children in reading the scripture; and two
or more receivers of alms. The Sabbath services consisted of prayers, and
reading of the scriptures--bot