Following the test of the Pharisees comes Mark’s lone challenge to Jesus from the Sadducees (12:18–27). The Sadducees and Pharisees both arose during the Maccabean revolt (second century BC). Although they differed greatly in outlook, the Sadducees and Pharisees dominated Jewish life, and especially the Sanhedrin. Pharisees believed in divine sovereignty; Sadducees attributed events to human free will. Pharisees accepted the authority of the Torah, Writings, and Prophets (the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible), and even oral tradition; Sadducees affirmed the authority of written torah alone. Pharisees affirmed the existence of angels, demons, and the resurrection from the dead; Sadducees denied all three. Theologically, Pharisees were less restrictive and more tolerant than Sadducees, w…