Pharisees

Cultural  

1. A group of teachers among the Jews (see also Jews) at the time of Jesus; he frequently rebukes them in the Gospels for their hypocrisy. Jesus says they are like “the blind leading the blind,” or like “whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.”

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Pharisees

He also had some pretty spicy things to say about Pharisees and the public performance of virtue.

From Slate ● Feb. 12, 2024

“Biblically, when the Old Testament speaks of the Pharisees, Sadducees and scribes, it’s the scribes who were attorneys; they wrote and interpreted the law. They had a specific skill set.”

From Washington Times ● Dec. 27, 2019

The Pharisees have brought a woman caught in the act of infidelity before Jesus, who was teaching at the temple.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2015

Kessler would be reciting the passage from the Gospels where Jesus admonishes the Pharisees for permitting divorce.

From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2012

No one now reads his scholarly disquisitions on the Tower of Babel, or on the Scribes and the Pharisees.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton