Dr. Helen Bond

But it's good to know that most of the time, this is sort of conjecture.

Yeah.

I mean, again, the problem is we don't know how many people were there in Judea.

Half a million, a million, two million.

But even on a fairly conservative estimate, they're a small percentage of the population.

Well, I think the thing is you need to sort of distinguish between actual power and influence.

So I think earlier on in sort of Hasmonean times, they might have been periods when they had a certain amount of power.

I think certainly by the time of Herod, they're a little bit there.

But Josephus really says very little about them in the time of Herod.

You know, they're not making the headlines.

And I think that continues under the rule of his sons and then direct Roman rule of Judea itself.

But I think they have a certain amount of influence.

I think people think that they have popular ideas.

They are the innovators.

For us reading the New Testament, it sounds a little bit like they're these rigid legalists and you wouldn't want to have anything to do with them.

But I think in their context, they're thought of as being the ones with the big ideas.

They're sort of the ones who are...

with the moment, you know, talking about resurrection, looking for a Messiah figure.

They're talking about, you know, purity is clearly something that a lot of people are interested in.

And so I think they probably have quite a lot of influence and respect from people too.