The Pharisees became a recognizable group on the landscape of Jewish culture in the second century BC, making their presence felt throughout the New Testament era. The Pharisees were a highly identifiable group during the time of Jesus given their distinguished leaders, distinctive habits of living, and regular meeting. A person became a Pharisee not by family heritage as did the clergy of Israel or by being born into a wealthy, aristocratic family like the Sadducees but by pledging to lead a pure life that conformed to the many rules of the