From Tim Moore 1st draft. short thoughts.  8/18/01

So much for the Sadducees setting Pentecost during the time of Christ.  No wonder they no longer quote Unger's.  So much for Mr. Ogwyn and the second chapter of Acts  showing Christ kept the same Pentecost as the Jews.  The Plain Truth is that no one really knows how they done it but the political clout of the Pharisees cannot be underestimated.  One expert says something, another something else.  I personally believe this version in Unger's is probably the most accurate.

Finally, we must realize that even though the Sadducees controlled the high priesthood at the time of Christ, their power was
severly restricted. The New Unger's Bible Dictionary states:

Although the spiritual power of the Pharisees had increased greatly, the Sadducean aristocracy was able to keep at the helm in politics. The price at which the Sadducees had to secure themselves power at this later period was indeed a high one, for they were in their official actions to accommodate themselves to Pharisaic views (p. 1112,"Sadducee").

Alfred Edersheim, a noted Jewish historian, recorded the practical effects of the Pharisees' power in relation to the keeping of Pentecost:

The Pharisees held, that the time between [Passover] and Pentecost should be counted from the second day of the feast; the Sadducees insisted that it should commence with the literal "Sabbath" after the festive day. But despite argument, the Sadducees had to join when the solemn procession went on the afternoon of the feast to cut down the "first sheaf," and to reckon Pentecost as did their opponents. (p. 220, ch. 15, Sketches of Jewish Social Life)

It is almost certain that the Sadducean High Priest Caiaphas did not wave the sheaf offering on the Sunday morning after Yeshua first appeared to his disciples. History shows that, whatever his personal feelings about Pentecost were, he was forced for political reasons to present the wave sheaf offering at the same time the majority of the nation thought it should be done: the morning of Friday, Nisan 16.