New Testament history: Pharisees, Sadducees, and messianic expectations
In 1st Century Palestine, the people were divided; in fact the entire country was divided with no core of union. There was mongering and corruption. The people were divided internally, the Jews splintered into various sects of differing beliefs, and they were also divided externally with rebellion against insecure and corrupt rule. On an external level, the Jews too were occupied by the Romans and their various proctors and, therefore, reduced to foreign and interfering rule.
Three prominent groups represented the Homeland at this time: the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and Zealots