Mark 12:19-24 - There were seven brothers

12:19-23

They address Jesus as “Teacher” since they are asking a theological question, though they may well have been using the term in a mocking way, thinking that they were about to demonstrate that Jesus was not so clever after all. The question they raise is a reductio ad absurdum type argument. They did not believe in the resurrection, so their question assumes that there is a resurrection, but then seeks to demonstrate that this leads to nonsense. They refer to Deut 25:5,6 that instructs that if a man dies without a son, then his wife should marry within the family so that the man’s name can be continued. They then extend this to an imagined scenario involving seven brothers, finishing with what they see as the clincher. “At the resurrection, whose wife will she be?”

12:24

We see here an example of presuppositional apologetics. Rather getting involved in a silly argument accepting the assumptions of the Sadducees argument, Jesus attacks the underlying assumptions of what the Sadducees are saying. In fact Jesus does not hold back, and strongly rebukes the Sadducees. “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?” The Sadducees who considered themselves to be worldly wise, were actually rather stupid. The same can be said of many of the so-called clever people of today, especially those in the church.