Antigonus of Sokho

Antigonus of Sokho

Sokho

Sokho is the name of two towns in biblical Judah....

was the first scholar of whom Pharisee tradition has preserved not only the name but also an important theological doctrine. He flourished about the first half of the third century BCE. According to the Mishnah

Mishnah

The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah" and the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...

, he was the disciple and successor of Simon the Just . His motto ran: "Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of reward; rather, be like servants who do not serve their master for the sake of reward, and let the awe of Heaven be upon you"(Artscroll translation) It sums up the Pharisaic doctrine that good should be done for its own sake, and evil be avoided, without regard to consequences, whether advantageous or detrimental.

Antigonus of Sokho

Sokho

Sokho is the name of two towns in biblical Judah....

was the first scholar of whom Pharisee tradition has preserved not only the name but also an important theological doctrine. He flourished about the first half of the third century BCE. According to the Mishnah

Mishnah

The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah" and the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...

, he was the disciple and successor of Simon the Just . His motto ran: "Be not like servants who serve their master for the sake of reward; rather, be like servants who do not serve their master for the sake of reward, and let the awe of Heaven be upon you"(Artscroll translation) It sums up the Pharisaic doctrine that good should be done for its own sake, and evil be avoided, without regard to consequences, whether advantageous or detrimental. The conception dominant in the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The Hebrew Bible is a term referring to the books of the Jewish Bible as originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew with some Biblical Aramaic...

, that God's will must be done to obtain His favor in the shape of physical prosperity, is rejected by Antigonus, as well as the view, specifically called "Pharisaic," which makes reward in the afterlife

Afterlife

The afterlife is the idea that the consciousness or mind of a being continues after physical death occurs. In many popular views, this continued existence often takes place in a spiritual or immaterial realm. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics...

 the motive for human virtue

Virtue

Virtue is moral excellence. A virtue is a character trait or quality valued as being good.Personal virtues are characteristics valued as promoting individual and collective well-being, and thus good by definition. The opposite of virtue is vice.-Virtues and values:Virtues can be placed into a...

.

Antigonus points out that men's actions should not be influenced by the lowly sentiment of fear of mortals, but that there is a divine judgment of which men must stand in awe. The expression "Heaven" for "God" is the oldest evidence in postexilic Judaism

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...

 of the development of the idea of a transcendental Deity. It is also a curious fact that Antigonus is the first noted Jew to have a Greek

Greek language

Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...

 name. Later legend connects Antigonus with the origin of the Sadducee sect. The tale is that Tzadok, the founder of the Sadducees, misconstrued his teachings (the above motto) to mean that there is no afterlife, it was then that he and his partner left the fold.