Matthew 22:23

The Pharisees believed in resurrection from the dead (Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2). The Sadducees did not because they did not find it explicitly taught in the Pentateuch. They believed that both the material and the immaterial parts of man perish at death (cf. Acts 23:8). [Note: Josephus, Antiquities of . . ., 18:1:3-4; idem, The Wars . . ., 2:8:14.] There was much diverse opinion concerning death and the afterlife in Jesus’ day. [Note: Cf. G. W. E. Nickelsburg, Resurrection, Immortality and Eternal Life in Intertestamental Judaism.]