God’s Word for You

Daniel 11:33-35 Pharisees and Sadducees

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Wednesday, January 21, 2026

33 Those of the people who are wise will instruct many, but for some time they will fall by the sword or be burned, or captured or plundered. 34 When they stumble, they will be helped a little, but many will join them who are insincere. 35 Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified, and made clean, until the end time, for it will still come at an appointed time.

The “wise” ones must be understood to mean those who kept their faith based on the word of God. Solomon said, “Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance” (Proverbs 1:5), and again, “The wise inherit honor, but God holds up fools (unbelievers) to shame” (Proverbs 3:35). The word Daniel uses for these faithful teachers is makilim, “those who cause others to have insight,” which is a marvelous word for good teachers. This instruction would be carried out mostly out in the villages, or in caves in hiding, but there would be many attacks and battles. This is the beginning of the Maccabean revolt. At first, the Maccabees led their people into battle but refused to fight on the Sabbath. But after a particularly terrible massacre, they began to fight on the Sabbath as well—a phenomenon repeated in the American Civil War by Stonewall Jackson, who even began to prefer battles on Sundays.

The description of the tortures given to the faithful Jews is especially terrible: sword, fire, capture, and plunder. For many it was never a choice of which of these evils the would face, but rather the horror of all of them, simply on account of their faith.

The “little help” of verse 34 might leave a student of history confused and scratching his or her head. The Maccabees were not just partly successful in their wars against the Antiochene Greeks, but in the end they achieved complete victory, the deliverance of Israel from Syrian tyranny, and “at least a temporary blossoming forth of national glory and independence” (Leupold, p. 506). (The Maccabees were the sons of a priest named Mattathias). These are the main achievements of this family recorded in 1 Maccabees:

166-160 BC. Judas Maccabeus wins a series of victories over the generals of Antiochus IV. He reconsecrates the temple and secures religious freedom for Israel. The high priest Alcimus causes trouble for him through intrigue. Judas dies in battle. (1 Maccabees 3:1-9:22).

160-142 BC. Jonathan succeeds Judas. Jonathan is more of a politician than a general; he plays some of his enemies off against one another, and secures his own position as high priest, but he is murdered by a man named Trypho (1 Maccabees 9:23-12:53).

142-134 BC. Simon supports the Syrian Demetrius II who wins the throne from Antiochus VI. Simon is also named high priest. He makes a treaty with Rome. But the son-in-law of Antiochus VII betrays and assassinates Simon and his sons (1 Maccabees 13:1-16:24).

About seventy years after Simon’s death, the Roman general Pompey captured Jerusalem and Israel, making it a Roman kingdom. In 40 BC, they set Herod the Great on the throne to rule. After Herod died, Roman prefects (governors) were assigned to rule in Jerusalem, with the longest terms held by Gratus (15-26), Pilate (26-36) and Felix (52-60, see Acts 23:23).

The Maccabees were also the spiritual ancestors of the Pharisees, who were the conservative Jewish leaders during the time of John the Baptist, Jesus, and Paul (20-60 AD). With such success, and the liberation of Israel and restoration of the temple, why does the Angel say that theirs was just “a little help”? The movement, for one thing, was not ideal. Many joined who were insincere, meaning that their motives were not godly but proceeding from greed, anger at the government, or bloodlust. Also, the movement did not proceed to restore holiness in Israel with teaching and dedication of the people, but only the rededication of the temple. The pattern set by David and the Judges of healing the nation beginning in the hearts of the people was not followed by the Maccabees. The original Maccabees, the sons of Mattathias, were concerned about their own piety, that is certain, but this was marred in the next generation. The son of Simon, who was the high priest John Hyrcanus (134-104 BC) strongly supported the new party of the Pharisees. But at a banquet, Hyrcanus was looking for compliments (as petty and insecure rulers so often do) and asked the group to judge him and his reign. King Lear set the standard for this kind of groveling: “Which of you shall we say doth love us most?” Everyone praised Hyrcanus with the sort of submissive drivel we would expect. But one Pharisee named Eleazer said, “If you are a just man, abandon the high priesthood, for which you are disqualified by the illegitimacy of your birth.” Kauffeld writes: “This was based on the story that the mother of Hyrcanus had once been captured by a heathen who had treated her as part of his harem. Hyrcanus was supposedly their child.” He was so furious that Eleazar was barely able to escape with his life, and Hyrcanus switched his allegiance from the Pharisees to the Sadducees at that time.

All of this was known to God in eternity, for all the days ordained for each one of us were written in God’s book before one of them came to be (Psalm 139:16). The faces and fingers of each man, woman, and child; the movement and flow, the very tide of history, the caprices, vanity, folly and silly desires of tyrants—all of this was known to God before he first said “Let there be.” He knew the troubles of your heart today, the worries about your children, the ache in your heart about your spouse’s happiness, the little pains in my ankles and knees—all of this has always been known to him, and he has taken it all and woven each and every thread into the great tapestry of his divine plan to rescue mankind. Here in this prophecy, the world had moved from the world Daniel knew, how so recently Babylon had fallen, how mighty Persia seemed at the time, but how soon the Greeks would come, and after them the Romans, and in Israel there would arise the puppet king Herod, surrounded by Roman soldiers, Pharisees, Sadducees, and all the pieces would be in place for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, on his way so soon to take away the sin of the world.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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