I would say the Pharisaic cult is proto-Gnostic, and the paradigm/ worldview set by Kabbalah is inherently Gnostic. The teachings/ Magic Arts of Kabbalah were adopted from Canaanites, Babylonians and Zoroastrians, possibly Egyptians too. Gnostic = A sect or cult that sees forbidden or occulted knowledge as the means of salvation or apotheosis And the Pharisees pushed the idea that they had secret knowledge/ teachings passed down from Moses, that only they knew of, therefore they ought to be the sole religious authorities. That "Gnosis" was all orally transmitted between them and to initiated 'rabbis' before the Talmud was written down in Babylon.