Bible Lexicons

Σαδδουκαῖος, Σαδδουκαιου, ὁ, a Sadducee, a member of the party of the Sadducees, who, distinguished for birth, wealth, and official position, and not averse to the favor of the Herod family and of the Romans, hated the common people, were the opponents of the Pharisees, and rejecting tradition (see παράδοσις, 2) acknowledged the authority of the O. T. alone in matters pertaining to faith and morals (Josephus, Antiquities 13, 10, 6); they denied not only the resurrection of the body (Matthew 22:23; Mark 12:18; Luke 20:27; Acts 23:8), but also the immortality of the soul and future retribution (ψυχῆς τέ τήν διαμονην καί τάς καθ' ᾅδου τιμωρίας καί τιμάς ἀναιρουσι, Josephus, b. j. 2, 8, 14, cf. Antiquities 18, 1, 4), as well as the existence of angels and spirits (Acts 23:8). They maintained man's freedom in opposition to the doctrine of divine predestination (according to Josephus, b. j. 2, 8, 14). They are mentioned in the N. T. (in addition to the one already referred to) in Matthew 3:7; Matthew 16:1, 6, 11f (in which passages they are associated apparently with the Pharisees contrary to the truth of history ((?) cf. the commentaries ad Iliad chapters)); Matthew 22:34; Acts 4:1; Acts 5:17; Acts 23:6f. The Sadducees derived their name apparently not from the Hebrew צַדִּיק, as though they boasted of being pre-eminently 'righteous' or 'upright' (since it cannot be shown that the vowel i ever passed over into u), but, according to a more probable conjecture now approved by many, from the Zadok (צָדוק, the Sept., Σαδδουκ), who was high priest in the time of David and exhibited special fidelity to the king and his house (2 Samuel 15:24ff; 1 Kings 1:32ff); hence, the posterity of this priest (צָדוק בְּנֵי, Ezekiel 40:46; Ezekiel 43:19; Ezekiel 44:15; Ezekiel 48:11) and all their adherents seem to have been called Σαδδουκαῖοι (צדוקים). Cf., besides others, Winers RWB, under the word, Sadducäer; Reuss in Herzog xiii., p. 289ff; (Sieffert in Herzog edition 2 xiii., pp. 210-244); Geiger, Sadduc. u. Pharisäer (Brsl. 1863); Keim, i., p. 273ff (English translation, i. (2nd edition), p. 353f); Hausrath in Schenkel iv., p. 518ff; Schürer, Ntl. Zeitgesch. 2te Aufl. § 26; Wellhausen, Pharis. u. Sadducäer (Greifsw. 1874); Oort, De oorsprong van den naam Sadducëen, in the Theolog. Tijdsehrift for 1876, p. 605ff; (Ginsburg, in Alexander's Kitto, under the word; Edersheim, Jesus the Messiah, book iii., chapter ii.; Geikie, Life of Christ, chapter xlv. (cf. chapter v.); and B. D. American edition, under the word , for additional references).