Describe the Pharisees of Jesus’ day.

The Pharisees were pillars of the community, respected and honored. Their name means the separated ones, and they were separatists who stood apart and aloof, even wearing special clothing to make sure everyone was impressed with who they were. They were legalists, preoccupied with keeping not only the Mosaic Law but the thousands of regulations added to it over the years, and they loved to concern themselves with externals like tithing and ritual purity. They thought they could meet God's standards by keeping the outward rules, and, like all legalists, they were very proud of themselves and expected to be looked up to.