We have no reason for thinking, either, that strict Pharisaic laws were widely observed, and plenty of reasons for thinking that they were observed only by the Pharisees themselves. Thus it remains likely that the great majority of Jews cared sufficiently about their god, their scriptures and their Jewish heritage to take a fair amount of trouble over the observance of at least biblical law. They prayed, they fasted, they went to synagogue, they travelled to Jerusalem for the regular feasts. They did not eat pork, they kept the sabbath, they circumcised their male children. Equally, they paid
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