Cactus Game Design Message Boards

The stone throwers are not ruled as Pharisees, I think because the group was a mob of people, and the Pharisees were probably just a part of it. But I've never been really clear on that.

1But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

   But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

 9At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

 11"No one, sir," she said.
      "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

Stone Throwers is not considered a Pharisee; they were part of a crowd stirred up by the Pharisees.

Stone Throwers were not necessarily ALL Pharisees, and cannot be proven that they were ALL Pharisees. In fact, the Bible and church history show that teachers of the law are not Pharisees, hence they are named separately. 

• If it is possible that one in the crowd was not, then they are cannot be considered all Pharisees.
• Teachers of the law were Levites in the OT period and scribes in the NT period. Neither title or group are considered Pharisees.
• "Scribe" is a title or office, "teachers of the law" is a description of what a scribe does. They are synonymous, i.e., scribes were the teachers of the law.
• In the NT scribes or teachers of the law were often associated with the Pharisees, but were NOT simultaneously Pharisees. If you search scripture, you'll see many references to "scribes and pharisees", which I believe is being restated in the verse associated with Stone Throwers.
• Why would the two be named separately if the teachers of the law were Pharisees?

I'm pretty sure we discussed this several years ago when the current status was decided, hence not categorized in the REG as Pharisees. It was not an oversight.

Sometimes a little research outside the game helps.

Mike

That's what I was thinking too!  Seems like a better passage would be Acts 7 when Stephen was stoned, or even later in Acts when Paul was stoned.

Perhaps this card should be renamed "Group of men, some of whom were probably pharisees, who were on the verge of throwing stones."