Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/861

 PHABBJETUS

789

PHARISEES

Kings, xxiii, 29 sqq.; II Par., xxxv, 20 sqq.), and Ephree, or Hophra, the contemporary of Sedecias (Jer., xliv, 30), are styled Pharao Nechao and Pharao Ephree, according to tlie then Egyptian usage.

Unnamed Fharaos of the Bible. (1) The Pharao of Abraham. — Tlie uncertainties attaching to ancient chronology make it impossible to determine the iden- tity of the Pharao who ruled over Egypt when Abra- ham arrived in the country. The Massoretic text gives 1125 years between Abraham's migration to Chanaan and the building of the temple, whereas the Septua- gint allows 870 (see Chronology). As the building is placed about 1010 b. c. by some scholars, and about 969 B. c. by others, the date of Abraham's migration would be 21.35 or 2094 b. c. for the iSIassoretic text, and 1880 or 1839 b. c. for the Septuagint. Ancient Egyptian chronology is as uncertain as that of the Bible. If Meyer's dates, adopted in the article Egypt, are correct, Abraham's journey to Egypt would have to be referred to the reign of one of the Mentuhoteps of the eleventh dynasty, or to that of either Usertesen (Sesostris) III, or Amenemhet III of the twelfth. (2) The Pharao of Joseph. — It is generally admitted that Joseph held office under one of the shepherd, or Hyksos, kings, who ruled in Egypt between the twelfth and eighteenth dj'nasties, and were finally expelled by Ahmose I shortly after 1580. The length of their rule is unknown, but probably it did not last much over a hundred years. Joseph's tenure of office would accordingly be placed in the seventeenth cen- tury B. c. If the Exodus took place at the beginning of the reign of Merneptah, i. e., about 1225, as most scholars now maintain, and the sojourn of the Israel- ites in Egypt lasted 430 years, as stated in the Masso- retic text (Ex., xii, 40), the time would be about 1665. The names of four Hyksos kings are known to us from Egyptian monuments, a Khian and three Apophises. George Syncellus states that in his time (eighth cent. A. D.) there was a general consensus that the Pharao of Joseph was Apophis, probably Apophis II, the most important of the three. This opinion is possibly true, but the history of the period is too obscure to allow a definite statement.

(3) The Pharao of the Oppression and of the Exo- dus. (See Israelites.)

(4) The other Pharaos. — The Pharao with whom Adad sought refuge in the time of David (III Kings, xi, 17) was a king of the twenty-first dynasty, ei- ther Paynozem or Amenemopet. Solomon's father- in-law (III Kings, iii, 1) may have been Amenemopet, Siamon, or Pesibkhenno II. The Pharao mentioned in IV Kings, xviii, 21 and Is., xxxvi, 6 is by many thought to be Tharaca; but if the exTJedition of Sen- nacherib occurred in 701, as is generally held, there is little doubt that Shabaka, or possibly Shabataka, is the Pharao referred to. Tharaca came to the throne some years later, and the title King of Ethiopia (IV Kings, xix, 9; Is., xxxvii, 9) is given to him by antici- pation. The unnamed Pharao of Jer.,xxv, 19, is prob- ably Nechao, who is certainly meant in xlvi, 17, and xlvii, 1 ; elsewhere Ephree is intended. The latter is also the Pharao of Ezechiel.

Ses the literature mentioned under the articles to which refer- ence has been made. F. BecHTBL.

Pharbaetus, titular see and suffragan of Leontop- olis, in Augustamnica Secunda. This name is merely the transcription, with the Coptic article P, of the native name Harbail or Harbet, a name which is moreover reproduced under the form Kip^evdos in George of Cvprus ("Descriptio orbis romani", ed. Gelzer, 706)." It is the capital of the nome of this name in Lower Egypt described by Herodotus (II, 166); Strabo, XVII, i, 20; Pliny, V, 9, 11. There is a record of Bishop Arbetion at Nicica in 325 (Gelzer, "Patrum nicaenorum nomina", LX), and Bishop Theodorus in 1086 (llenaudot, "Historia patriar-

charum alexandrinorum", 458), but it is possible that the latter was bishop of another Pharbsetus situated further to the west, and which according to Vansleb was equally a Coptic see. John of Nikiu (Chron- icle, CV) relates that under the Emperor Phocas (602-10) the clerics of the province killed the Greek governor Theophilus. Pharbietus is now called Hor- beit, north of Zagazig in the Province of Sharqyeh; it has about 520 inhabitants.

Gelzer, Georgii Cyprii Descriptio orbis romani, 114-16; Roug£, Geographie ancienne de la Basse Egypte (Paria. 1891), 66-74; Am^lineau, La Giographie de VEgypte A I'ipoque copte (Paris, 1S93), 330. S. VaILH^.

Pharisees, a politico-religious sect or faction among the adherents of later Judaism, that came into exist- ence as a class about the third century B. c. After the exile, Israel's monarchial form of government had become a thing of the past; in its place the Jews created a community which was half State, half Church. A growing sense of superiority to the heathen and idolatrous nations among whom their lot was cast came to be one of their main characteristics. They were taught insistently to separate themselves from their heathen neighbours. "And now make con- fession to the Lord the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure, and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from your strange wives" (I Esd., x, 11). Intermarriage with the heathen was strictly forbidden and many such marriages previously con- tracted, even of priests, were dissolved in consequence of the legislation promulgated by Esdras. Such was the state of things in the third century when the newly introduced Hellenism threatened Judaism with de- struction. The more zealous among the Jews drew apart calling themselves Chasidim or "pious ones", i. e., they dedicated themselves to the realization of the ideas inculcated by Esdras, the holy priest and doctor of the law. In the violent conditions inci- dental to the Machabean wars these " pious men ", sometimes called the Jewish Puritans, became a dis- tinct clacs. They were called Pharisees, meaning those who separated themselves from the heathen, and from the heathenizing forces and tendencies which constantly invaded the precincts of Judaism (I Mach., i, 11; II "Mach., iv, 14 sq.; of. Josephus Antiq., XII, V, 1).

During these persecutions of Antiochus the Phar- isees became the most rigid defenders of the Jewish religion and traditions. In this cause many suffered martyrdom (I Mach., i, 41 sq.), and so devoted were they to the prescriptions of the Law that on one occasion when attacked by the Syrians on the Sabbath they refused to defend themselves (I ]Mach.,_ii, 42; ibid., V, 3 sq.). They considered it an abomination to even eat at the same board with the heathens or have any social relations with them whatsoever. Owing to their heroic dcvotedness their influence over the people became great and far-reaching, and in the course of time they, instead of the priests, became the sources of authority. In the time of Our Lord such was their power and prestige that they sat and taught in " Moses' seat ". This prestige naturally engendered arrogance and conceit, and led to a perversion in many respects of the conservative ideals of which they had been such staunch supporters. In many passages of the Gospels, Christ is quoted as warning the mul- titude against them in scathing terms. "The scribes and the Pharisees have sitten in the chair of Moses. All things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do: but according to their works do ye not; for they say and do not. For they bind heavy and insupportable burdens, and lay them on men's shoulders; but with a finger of their own they will not move them. And all their works they do for to be seen of men. For they make their phylacteries broad, and enlarge their fringes. And they love the first places at feasts, and the first chairs in the syna-