Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in the province of Judea during the reign of Augustus Caesar, the first Roman ruler called emperor. About sixty years earlier, the Romans had invaded Palestine as they continued expanding their great empire throughout the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea and beyond (see the map, ). At the time of Augustus, the Roman Empire ruled over fifty million people from many different nationalities—from Palestine and Syria in the east to Spain in the west, including most of northern Africa and much of Europe. Because the Romans were well-organized and had a strong army, their empire was actually very stable. Travel and trade between areas was easier than it had ever been. Historians have observed that the international peace brought by Roman rule and the superior system of Roman roads helped disciples to spread a new religion based on Jesus' teachings.
Palestine before Roman Rule
The centuries leading up to Jesus' birth were not politically stable in the area known as Palestine. The Jewish people who returned to Judah from exile in Babylon had been allowed to rebuild their cities and the temple in Jerusalem, but they were ruled by the Persians. (See the article called “After the Exile: God's People Return to Judea,”). Then the Greeks, led by Alexander the Great, defeated the Persians and drove them out of Palestine. Alexander's generals and their descendants ruled the land for many years, bringing with them Greek (Hellenistic) culture. One Greek ruler from the Seleucid family (Antiochus IV Epiphanes) tried to force the Hellenistic way of life on the Jewish people in Palestine. When he put up a statue of a pagan god in the holy Jewish temple in 168 b.c., Jewish people were enraged and rebelled. Led by Judas Maccabeus, the people defeated the Seleucids, reclaimed the temple, and created their own government.
For nearly one hundred years the Jewish people were again in charge of the land, led by members of Judas Maccabeus' family (the Hasmoneans), who took over as kings and priests of Israel. Yet many thought that the Hasmonean rulers were as selfish and cruel as the foreign kings who had ruled before them, so Jews did not fight back when the Romans invaded the country in 63 b.c.
During these two centuries before Jesus was born, a number of different Jewish religious groups were formed, each having different ideas about how to interpret the Scriptures and live the Jewish faith. These groups with their competing ideas appear in the New Testament and will be discussed individually later in this article.
Roman Rule in Palestine
Though many peoples and cultures contributed to the cultural life in Palestine in Jesus' day, the Romans were by far the most powerful. They controlled the land with strong, well-trained armies. The Roman emperor appointed a governor (procurator) who was in charge of collecting taxes and preventing the people from rebelling against Rome. The Romans placed heavy taxes on land, on goods and food that were bought and sold, and on inheritances. They also charged tolls for people traveling through the areas they controlled. The taxes went to support the Roman army and to maintain control of Palestine. Farmers and the poor suffered the most under this system of taxes.
The Romans made contracts with local people in order to collect taxes. These local tax collectors (publicans) would often collect much more than the amount they were supposed to turn over to the Romans. They kept the rest. In Palestine, this led to bad feelings between the Jewish people and their neighbors who agreed to collect taxes for the Romans. Tax collectors were often seen as traitors by the Jewish religious leaders. Some called them sinners, and said they were not welcome to be part of the Jewish people or to worship with them. When Jesus ate with tax collectors and welcomed them (Luke 5.27-32; 19.1-10), he offended those who wanted to keep the tax collectors apart from Jewish social life.
Roman policy was to respect local customs and the laws of the peoples they ruled. They let local people form councils to control local affairs. In Judea the local ruling council (Sanhedrin) was made up of the high priest and chief priests and wealthy supporters of the Roman government. Their participation in the work of the council made them become even wealthier.
The Romans also set up rulers in the areas that were under their control. These local kings and governors reported to the Roman senate or to the emperor's representatives. For example, in 37 b.c. the Romans appointed Herod the Great as king of Palestine, partly because Herod's father had helped the Romans take control of the region. Herod ruled until 4 b.c. and was responsible for rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, which attracted many worshipers and visitors from all over the Roman Empire during the days of Jesus. The outer court of the temple, called the Court of the Gentiles, was a place where non-Jews (Gentiles) could come to see the beauty of this great building. They could also watch the temple priests offering sacrifices as representatives between God and the followers of Judaism. The high priest was the person in charge of the temple. He was able to hold this position because of the support of the Roman authorities. The income from gifts and offerings to the temple was the major source of money for the whole people of Israel.
When Herod died, his three sons were appointed by the Romans to rule Galilee and Perea, the land east of the Jordan River. The map on shows the lands ruled by each son. Under the Herods, the priests and their supporters on the council gained greater power and wealth. Although John the Baptist and Jesus were born during the time of Herod the Great, it was Herod's son, Herod Antipas, who was in power when they came to trial. Herod Antipas ordered the death of John the Baptist (Matt 14.1-12). During Jesus' trial, the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, sent Jesus to see Herod Antipas because Jesus was from Galilee, the area under this Herod's rule. Usually, the Roman governors did not want to get mixed up in local problems and arguments. This is why Pilate sentenced Jesus to death only after the leaders of the people almost started a riot and argued that Jesus claimed to be a king of the Jews. This claim meant Jesus was considered guilty of rebellion against Rome and could therefore be put to death according to Roman law.
Class and Rank in the Roman Empire FIG
EMPEROR
600 Senators
Wealthy Knights
Honorable Men
Common Workers (citizens)
Common Workers (non-citizens)
Slaves
The Roman Empire had a class structure based on wealth, birth, and citizenship. At the very top of Roman society was the emperor, who was considered the empire's “first citizen.” Some emperors even declared themselves to be equal with the gods. Below the emperor were six hundred senators, who were the empire's wealthiest citizens. Next came a group known as “knights,” who had reached a certain level of wealth. They were well-educated and often were recruited to serve in the government of the empire. Beneath them were wealthy local citizens, known as “honorable men,” who formed city councils. The upper classes in Roman society wore special clothes and got the best seats at special events.
Below these top groups came the large group of ordinary working people. They were divided into levels. First came those who were not wealthy but still had the privileges of Roman citizenship. Rome recognized only a small group of its subjects as full citizens. Citizens had the freedom and protection of their personal rights. For example, the apostle Paul was able to have his trial in Rome because he was a Roman citizen (Acts 16.37; 22.27). Jesus was not a Roman citizen, so he could be condemned to death without a formal trial by the personal decision of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate.
Below citizens in the class structure was a large group of non-citizens who were free but did not have the special privileges allowed to Roman citizens. And beneath these non-citizens, at the very bottom of the class structure, were slaves, who could legally be bought or sold, beaten or tortured, as their owners saw fit. Slaves worked mostly as household servants for the rich. At the time of Jesus, almost one-third of the population of Italy were slaves. Slavery was very common and accepted throughout the Roman Empire in Jesus' day. For more, see the mini-article called “Slaves and Servants in the Time of Jesus,”.
Jewish Groups in Palestine
As mentioned above, the Romans allowed the various peoples in their empire to develop their own local councils. These councils usually included the wealthy and powerful people in a region, who were free to make laws and to force the people in that region to obey them. The chief priests and the rich people who worked with the Roman authorities formed the Jewish council based in Jerusalem. The Greek word for this council was the synedrion. After the Romans destroyed the temple in a.d. 70, the Jews began to use this name spelled in Hebrew (Sanhedrin) for the group that replaced the priests as the organizers and lawmakers of the Jewish people in Jerusalem. This group began to write down formulas for applying the Law of Moses. These interpretations developed into what today are known as the “Mishnah” and “Talmud.”
The Jews in the time of Jesus had different opinions about what it meant to be the people of God. Here is a summary of some of the key groups that formed and how each one interpreted the Law of Moses:
Zealots. The Maccabees, as discussed earlier, insisted that the Jewish people have their own king. They were defeated when the Romans took over the land in 63 b.c. Later attempts to win freedom and create an independent Jewish state failed in a.d. 70 and again in a.d. 135. The Jewish nationalists who tried to organize the revolt against the Romans were called Zealots. Scholars disagree about whether this term applies to a single, well-organized group or to any number of groups of dissatisfied Jews who wanted to be rid of their Roman rulers. At one time, this term also meant “someone who was strongly devoted to God and God's Law.” The CEV translates zealot as “Eager One.” In the New Testament the term is even applied to one of the followers of Jesus (Luke 6.15; Acts 1.13).
Pharisees. By Jesus' day, it was common for Jewish people to meet in private homes for worship and to study the Scriptures. This practice had begun in the later second century b.c. and continued in the first century a.d. One group that did this would become very powerful within the Jewish community. They called themselves “Pharisees,” which meant “The Separate Ones” in Hebrew. They wanted to renew and protect Judaism by having all Jewish people strictly follow the laws concerning the Sabbath, fasting, and the purity of food. Most Pharisees had regular jobs and were involved in the Roman culture of the day. But their special meetings and the strict way they followed the Sabbath law forbidding work on the seventh day of the week set them apart. As a result, they had a strong sense of group identity. There were also Pharisaic groups in cities outside Palestine. The apostle Paul, who was from Tarsus in southeastern Asia Minor, said he was once a Pharisee who strictly observed the law (Phil 3.5).
The Pharisees taught the Law of Moses as well as other traditional laws not found in the Scriptures. Their interpretation of traditional laws are included in the Mishnah and Talmud. The Pharisees were popular with the common people and established synagogues (Jewish meeting places) and schools. Unlike some other Jewish groups, they believed in life after death (resurrection) and future rewards and punishments (see Acts 23.6).
Sadducees. This group's name may come from Zadok, the high priest of Israel at the time of King David. The Sadducees also may have been descendants of the Zadokites, who had controlled the temple as high priests for many years until the middle of the second century b.c., when they were forced from power by Jonathan, the first Maccabean high priest. The Sadducees stayed close to the priestly families and tried to influence the business of the temple. They were willing to work with the Romans when they came to rule Palestine. Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees did not accept interpretations of the Law, but believed in following only the Law of Moses. They also did not believe that the dead were raised to life (Mark 12.18; Acts 23.8). As long as the Sadducees followed the main teachings of the Law and stayed friendly with the Romans, they expected to continue in positions of power and wealth among their people. After the Jewish revolt led to the destruction of the temple in a.d. 70, the Sadducees no longer existed as a group.
Essenes. The Essenes may have been formed as a group at about the same time as the Sadducees. Instead of trying to influence the priesthood and religion of Israel from the inside, they withdrew from Jewish society, met secretly to study, and had their own special interpretation of the Jewish Scriptures. As a group, they disagreed completely with the priests and other official leaders of the Jews, and like the Pharisees, they believed in life after death.
The Essene communities were very structured. Each group had a leader who controlled who was allowed into the group, decided how property and belongings would be shared among group members, and made rulings concerning the law. Some scholars think that the Dead Sea community was an Essene group. Whether they were or not, the Essenes' beliefs show how deeply disappointed many Jews were with their religious leaders. The Dead Sea group withdrew from Jewish society and lived on a bluff overlooking the Dead Sea until the Roman army invaded the land in a.d. 66 to put down the Jewish revolt and completely destroyed the community there. For more about the Dead Sea community, see the article called “Archaeology and the Bible,”.
Scribes. Those Jews who filled jobs set up by the Romans to help run the government in the land were called “scribes.” Because they could read and write in a time when many people could not, they were very valuable to kings and governments. In the Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) they are shown as having the authority to write legal papers. Scribes are identified as keepers of government records (2 Kgs 18.18). Like Jeremiah's scribe Baruch, they took dictation and then read it aloud for people to hear (Jer 36.4-18). Scribes also worked as secretaries of state and treasurers.
In the New Testament, scribes are described as working as lawyers (Luke 5.17) and judges (Matt 23.2). Because of their extensive learning, they knew about interpreting the law, and sometimes argued with Jesus about the meaning of traditional Jewish laws (Matt 9.3; 15.1; Mark 2.16; 7.1,2; Luke 5.30; 6.7). The scribes are not the same as the Pharisees, but Pharisees and chief priests paid the scribes for legal advice. The scribes saw Jesus as a threat to law and order as set up by the Romans, which the scribes were in charge of carrying out on the local level.
Samaritans. Another group mentioned a few times in the New Testament are the Samaritans. The ancestors of the Samaritans came from the ten Israelite tribes that rebelled against King Solomon's son Rehoboam and formed a separate kingdom known as Israel, or the northern kingdom. They had their own temple on Mount Gerizim near Shechem, and their own priests. They followed the laws about the Sabbath in a very strict way, and they said that their holy Mount Gerizim was more important than Mount Zion, where the temple in Jerusalem was located. The Jewish people did not like the Samaritans and believed they were not really part of God's chosen people. The writers of the Gospels, however, record that Jesus reached out to them (Luke 17.11-19; John 4.3-9), and used one as a positive example when explaining to an expert in the Law of Moses what it means to have compassion and be a neighbor (Luke 10.25-37).
Jesus faced this complicated situation as he tried to preach his message of good news. When he defended the poor and reached out to accept people such as tax collectors, Samaritans, and prostitutes, he offended the local religious leaders. The arguments described by the New Testament writers are mainly between different groups who have different ideas about who can or can not be part of God's people. The Romans controlled Palestine but were not very interested in getting involved in these local arguments, unless they led to rebellion against Roman authority.