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Herod the Great had died in 4 BCE, leaving Judea to degenerate towards self-destruction during the next century. Herod's reign had been a time of financial stability and economic prosperity for himself, and his people. They had earned sufficient wages as his builders, and cultivated more crops in his well-irrigated lands, to pay the heavy taxes and still thrive. During his reign, in the new stability of the Roman Empire, there had been a two-way movement of peoples. Many Greeks had been attracted to Judea, to settle there, and to populate Herod's new Greek-style cities, to the dismay of the Sadducean Jews. Similarly many Jews were emigrating and settling in the great trading cities all round the Mediterranean, in Egypt, Syria, in Cyprus, Asia Minor, in Greece, and even in Rome itself. This movement is known as the 'Dispersion' or the Diaspora.
Jews of the Dispersion kept all their Jewish traditions, their dietary laws, circumcision, and the Sabbath. They spoke Greek, and became dependent on the Greek translation of their Scriptures, known as the Septuagint , (LXX), which had been made 200 years earlier in Alexandria. Many serious-minded gentiles were also able now to read them,and to marvel at the sophisticated monotheism of the Jews, and some began to join Jews at worship in their synagogues. Some converted fully, but most remained as a group, known as the 'Godfearers', but keeping the Jewish Torah in all its ethical precepts.
Likewise, Jews living in the Dispersion could not live in total isolation from their surrounding cultures, and became aware of the many, and diverse religions that abounded in the Roman Empire. They can be grouped into four categories:
Even in Judaism there was as much variation as we now find today in the varieties of Christendom. Jerusalem, headed by the High Priest and the Sadducees, was the 'official' authority for the faith, but the Pharisees with their own additional interpretations of the Law were very influential among the middle classes. The Rabbis taught the ordinary country people in the synagogues, and taught the popular faith of angels, demons and evil spirits alongside the prophecies in apocalyptic style, of the Heavenly Son of Man to come, while people sang the Psalms of Solomon longing for the arrival of the new earthly Messiah-King. There were also at least two groups of Jews who had opted out completely from any loyalty to the Temple and its cult. These were the monastic Essenes, and the Community at Qumran, (of Dead Sea scrolls fame), both of whom developed their own traditions. Some Jews were less 'religious' than others, but equally determined to get rid of the Romans if they could. These were the guerrilla activists known as the Zealots.
Herod had reached the peak of his magnificence when the Roman General, Agrippa visited Judea and saw all Herod's achievements in 15 BCE, but by 4 BCE he had become ill, crazed with pain, mad, and had died, to the immediate relief of all, but his death led to a chain of disastrous events which eventually resulted in the great tragedy of 70 years later.
Herod's son, Archelaus, supervised his father's state funeral at Herodium, and promised to be a good ruler, but events conspired against him. Trouble erupted almost immediately, from loyal Jews demanding punishment for all who had helped to defeat and kill Judas and Matthias a few weeks earlier when they had torn down the Roman eagle from the Temple gateway. Archelaus demonstrated his own potential for cruelty as he suppressed the trouble, before setting off for Rome to be confirmed by Augustus as Herod's heir. Meanwhile Augustus had sent a Procurator to Jerusalem to secure Herod's huge fortune, and to organise Judea's finances for the future, but he was so harsh in his treatment of the Jews that unorganised revolts broke out all over the country. The Roman Governor of Syria, Varus, came with two whole Legions of Roman soldiers, - more than the Jews had ever seen before, - and the 'War of Varus' proved nothing less than a cruel, ruthless massacre of brave, unorganised Jews. At least 2,000 were crucified, including three popular leaders, Judas of Sepphoris in Galilee, (son of the Hezekiah of Galilee whom Herod had killed in 48 BCE), secondly Athronges, a shepherd, and then Simon, a freed slave, any one of whom might have been the expected messiah-king! At last the Jews realised the cost of opposing the might of Rome!
Augustus appointed Archelaus to be 'Ethnarc', not King, over Judea only, and Herod Antipas, Tetrarch over Galilee. A third surviving son of Herod, Philip, became Tetrarch of the lands east of the Jordan. Samaria, between Judea and Galilee, with its Greek cities and gentile inhabitants, was to be ruled from Syria. Archelaus returned to Judea, with less than he had hoped for, and finished off Varus's work of suppression by way of revenge.
Archelaus remained very unpopular for the next 10 years, during which his cruelty kept the people quiet. The people's lives had changed dramatically since Herod's death. All his builders were redundant, and the unrest had reduced the agricultural yield, while there were far fewer traders passing through, paying their import taxes. The taxes to Rome , and for Archelaus, now impoverished, continued to be a big burden, - but now the people had a struggle to pay, and subsequently struggled to live. Poverty began to be rampant. There was no help either from the Jewish religious leaders because Archelaus had hired, and fired, several High Priests in quick succession. Eventually, in 6 CE, A deputation from the Jews appealed to Augustus in Rome, to rid them of Archelaus. The Emperor obliged, sent Archelaus into permanent exile, and placed Judea under direct rule from Rome.From now on, Judea would be ruled by a Roman Procurator, with Caesarea as its capital city. At this time, 6 CE, (not as Luke's Gospel says!), Quirinius, the Governor of Syria was sent to hold a census, for tax purposes, and to organise the province's finances. He also appointed the family of Annas, (and Caiaphas), to bring stability to the High Priesthood. Quirinius departed, leaving Coponius in control, but the census had caused such indignation, particularly in Galilee, that a huge insurrection erupted in Galilee, involving , this time, many Pharisees. Again it was crushed, and in the repercussions another very popular Galilean, (might-have-been messiah), called Judas, was killed.
(Remember, at this time, another young 10 year old lad, Jesus, was growing up in Galilee!).
The country settled down more quietly for a while, during which time Augustus died in 15 CE, and was succeeded by the Emperor Tiberias. While he ruled in Rome, Judea and Galilee began to realise another prophet was at work. His name was John.
John, known as the 'Immerser' to Josephus, appeared from the desert areas like an old-style Jewish prophet, but with an up-to-date apocalyptic-style message which had instant appeal to many Jews. He preached with prophetic, and well-educated authority, attracting many Pharisees to hear him. His message had popular appeal too, for he urged everyone to become spiritually ready, by repentance, for the imminent arrival of the Messiah, and the eschatological End of the World, when God would intervene again, as of old, to defeat all evil, and consign all wickedness to the everlasting fires of Hell. He attracted many disciples, and taught them in the ethical interpretation of the Law, over a period of 2 - 3 years, during which only the most sincere persevered, and then he urged them to be baptised publicly, in the River Jordan, (symbolically recalling Joshua's crossing the Jordan to take possession of the Promised Land). But they were not to become members of yet another 'community', like the Essenes, but to return home quietly, and wait! (Some returned home to the Diaspora, to emerge later).
Josephus, and the Christian gospels, agree that Herod Antipas was so alarmed by this movement, that he was responsible for removing John from the public scene, and for his subsequent death in captivity. None of John's teachings have survived independently, but Jesus of Nazareth had certainly been one of his pupil-disciples, and it is likely that he continued John's style of teaching, if not its content too. No uprising followed John's death, and no repercussions among John's disciples. All was well, - for Herod, - for the next few years., but not for the people of Judea in the south. In the year 26 CE Pontius Pilte had been appointed Procurator. He was insensitive to the Jews, goaded them with insults, and then was surprised by their reactions. He had again imposed the Roman eagles in Jerusalem, overlooking the Temple; he had plundered Temple funds, ostensibly to improve the city's irrigation system, and sent his soldiers out with clubs hidden in their cloaks, to use at whim when crowds gathered. Once again the atmosphere was becoming volatile, when Jesus of Nazareth began to preach, and heal in Galilee.
Jesus was probably born, and grew up in Galilee, where he emerged from John's Baptism, which for him had been a life-changing 'theophany experience', and eventually began his own ministry. His message was that God's kingdom was no longer imminent, but had arrived, in himself. He was based in Capernaum beside the Sea of Galilee, teaching conventional Jewish morality of which the Pharisees approved, but with such an original and intellectual grasp of the Law that they were bewildered. The ordinary folk began to hope that Jesus would declare himself to be the coming Messiah-King, and as excitement grew, Jesus left Galilee to avoid Herod's fears and a fate similar to John's. Eventually at the great 'freedom' festival of Passover Jesus took his disciples to Jerusalem, where for a short while he dominated the Temple courts with his teaching, and while the nervous priestly authorities determined to reduce the heightened atmosphere by getting rid of him. Pilate, for once, was worried for his own position as Procurator, so co-operated with the High Priest, and Jesus was killed.
So ended the 'Historical Jesus'. His disciples, like John's, melted away without trouble, and all was well again. Pilate, however, was recalled in 36 CE, and lived in obscurity till he died.
During the next years a new Jewish community, of the 'Followers of the Way', (the Christian Church), began to emerge from the now, ebullient disciples of Jesus. In 41CE, however, the new Roman Emperor, Caligula, tried to transform the Jewish Temple into a Temple to himself, with a big statue of himself in pride of place, (like Antiochus Ephiphanes had done 200 years earlier). Fortunately Caligula died before the statue arrived in Jerusalem , - or the Jewish rebellion might have led to disaster in the 40s, instead of the 60s, - when it did.
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