The Pharisees and the Sadducees appear on this scene as important voices, capable of swaying public opinion even to the point of rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. (Matthew 15:1, 2; 16:1; John 11:47, 48; 12:42, 43) However, there is no mention of these two influential groups anywhere in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Josephus first mentions the Sadducees and the Pharisees in the context of the second century B.C.E.

It is when writing about Hyrcanus’ reign that Josephus first deals with the increasing influence of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. (Josephus had mentioned the Pharisees who lived during the reign of Jonathan.) He does not relate their origins. Some scholars view them as a group that came out of the Hasidim, a pious sect who supported Judah Maccabee in his religious goals but left him when his ambitions turned political.