06.06. Events between the Babylonian control and the beginning of the New Testament

Events between the Babylonian control and the beginning of the New Testament In approximately 538 BC, the Persians conquered the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to go back to Judea. Around 336 BC, Alexander the Great conquered the Persians. The significance of the Greek period is what is typically called the “Hellenization” of the people that they conquered. In order to unify the different people groups that the Greeks controlled, they tried to impose their culture, religion, language and identity on them. When Alexander died, his empire was divided among four of his generals. The two that concern us are the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Asia. The area of Palestine was between them and was consequently fought over. The area of Palestine had different people groups in it. Some of the Israelites adopted the Greek customs and language. Others held on to the customs of their fathers. This of course produced strife. The priesthood suffered a decline as the high priesthood was often purchased with bribes. The high priesthood became more of a social status rather than adherence to the priestly office and following the Law of Moses.

One of the Seleucid kings was particularly bad. He was Antiochus IV and wanted to impose the Hellenistic views and practices on the Jews. In order to unify and strengthen his hold on the diverse territories of his far-flung empire, the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV instituted a policy of mandatory hellenization—conformity to Greek ways of living. He forbade many Jewish religious practices and converted the temple in Jerusalem into a pagan temple to the Greek god Zeus. He required all Jews to offer pagan sacrifices in local villages to demonstrate their loyalty to Antiochus and his policies.ⁱ In his daring madness, the Syrian king, Antiochus IV. (Epiphanes) had forbidden their religion, sought to destroy their sacred books, with unsparing ferocity forced on them conformity to heathen rites, desecrated the Temple by dedicating it to Zeus Olympios, ...and even reared a heathen altar upon that of burnt-offering. Worst of all, his wicked schemes had been aided by two apostate High-Priests, who had outvied each other in buying and then prostituting the sacred office of God’s anointedⁱⁱ

He desecrated the temple for a period of three years. This led to the revolt led by the Hasmonaean family who are also called Maccabees. The father, Mattathias and his sons appeared to have been loyal to their religion but the descendants after them were more interested in power and wealth. It was during this time that the different Israelite parties started to show up. The Pharisees and Sadducees seem to appear around 145 BC. In 67 BC, the two sons of Salome Alexandra vied for power after her death in 69 BC. The older was rather unambitious and was given the high priesthood. The younger, the ambitious Aristobulus was given the military command. Their father, Alexander Jannaeus, made Antipater (Antipas), an Idumean, governor of Idumea. This Antipater was the grandfather of Herod the Great. His son, also named Antipater, was quite cunning and feared Aristobulus so he worked to try and have Hyrcanus II, the older son made king even though the brothers had agreed that Aristobulus would be king. Antipater knew that Aristobulus hated him for a long time.ⁱⁱⁱ Antipater was one of the leaders of Idumea who had wealth and authority.^iv He knew that he had to work with the Romans so that he could gain power and stature. The brothers and Antipater all used bribes with various people to help them. This conflict between the brothers brought about the Roman general Pompey subduing Judea and making it subject to Rome^v. The descendants of Aristobulus continued to rebel at times causing many casualties. Antipater continued to make himself useful to the Romans. He supplied a Roman army that was going against the Egyptians with money, grain and troops. He helped Julius Caesar when he was besieged in Alexandra and was made procurator of Judaea. Antipater also fought against Alexander, the son of Aristobulus. Antipater was a valiant warrior. Antipater’s sons, Herod and Phasael continued the pattern of co-operation with Rome. Herod was himself a valiant warrior and rid the countryside of robbers. There was conflict between different factions among the Jews and with their neighbours.

Herod nevertheless showed himself an able, if ruthless, administrator, and throughout his reign the Romans had no reason to rue the day when they appointed him king of the Jews. He consistently upheld the interests of Rome at home and abroad, and indeed he found no contradiction between Rome’s interests and those of his kingdom and subjects. Their interests, including the preservation of their religious freedom, would be best served, he believed, by integration into the Roman sphere of influence.^vi

Herod was a rich man and used it to obtain favour with Roman leaders. He was a great builder and built many structures in Judea and other places. He greatly expanded the temple in Jerusalem and made it a magnificent structure. His fame as a builder extended far beyond Judaea. He erected temples or other public buildings in Athens, Sparta, Rhodes and other great cities of the Greek world; he repaved the main street of Syrian Antioch and equipped it with a colonnade.^vii

Herod was politically savvy, and he was adept at supporting the right people at the right time during this most dangerous period.^viii

He had 10 wives and numerous children. One of the wives was a Hasmonaean princess who had two boys. There were many conflicts within the family and suspicions of who might try and take the throne in addition to rivalries between the various sons. He killed a number of them as well as Mariamme, the Hasmonaean princess. Herod became sicker towards the end of his life and about four or five days before his death had another son executed that had been conspiring against him.

It would appear that the taxes on the people were quite heavy. They not only had to pay taxes to Rome, but they also had the temple tax to pay. The religious dues were heavy enough; they included obligations (like the “first” and “second” tithes) which were originally alternatives, or one of which was intended to replace another, but which were now combined.^ix In the absence of data only an approximate estimate of the burden can be attempted, but F. C. Grant is not far wide of the mark when he calculates that “the total taxation of the Jewish people in the time of Jesus, civil and religious combined, must have approached the intolerable proportion of between 30 and 40 per cent; it may have been higher still.^x

Herod was ruthless when it came to protecting his own rule, and this was borne out in his slaughter of Bethlehem’s children recorded in Mat 2:16-18.^xi In view of such executions, the emperor Augustus reportedly quipped, “It is better to be Herod’s pig than son” (Macrobius, Saturnalia, 2:4:11)

Prior to his death, he commanded all the principal men of the entire Jewish nation to be brought to him. Because he was afraid that nobody would mourn for him at his death, but rather rejoice, he ordered that they all be shut up in the hippodrome. He then commanded his sister and her husband to have them executed as soon as he died so that there would be great lamentations among the people. After he died, his sister did not carry out the order.^xii,xiii

After his death, his kingdom was divided among 3 of his sons. Archelaus received Judea, Antipas received Galilee and Philip received an area on the east side of the Sea of Galilee, North of the Decapolis.

While the brothers were pressing their claims in Rome, there were many attempts at revolt in Palestine. The most serious was in Galilee, where an insurgent named Judas, whose father Hezekiah had been captured and put to death by Herod forty years before, raided the palace at Sepphoris and seized the armory.³⁸ This rising was not put down until Varus, imperial legate of Syria, marched south with two legions to crush it and to pacify the troubled land.xiv Archelaus was a bad and oppressive ruler and was exiled in 6 AD by Caesar Augustus. now Archelaus took possession of his ethnarchy, and used not the Jews only, but the Samaritans also, barbarously; and this out of his resentment of their old quarrels with him.^xv There were many factions during this time which caused much strive and divisions.The rapacity of many provincial governors is only too well attested in Roman records.^xvi

Popular resentment was felt not only against the Romans but against the wealthy landed proprietors who prospered at the expense of their poorer fellow countrymen.^xvii The land had a diverse population due to the various wars and even Herod bringing in mercenaries to help him. As Herod, well knowing his unpopularity, surrounded himself by foreign mercenaries, and reared fortresses around his palace and the Temple which he built, so he erected these fortified posts, which he populated with strangers, as so many outworks, to surround and command Jerusalem and the Jews on all sides. …. At the same time, the Herodian cities enjoyed not the same amount of liberty as the ‘Hellenic,’ which, with the exception of certain imposts, were entirely self-governed, while in the former there were representatives of the Herodian rulers.^xviii With the various wars and captivities, the Jews were scattered throughout many countries. Once they were allowed to return to Judea, most did not return but stayed where they were. Some were even settled in other places by those that ruled them.

Jewish slaves that were taken in war could at times get their freedom and were thus called “freedmen”. Some stayed where they were and others returned to Judea. Some of the slaves and freedmen had very good positions and others were quite poor and had a hard time making ends meet.^xix

It is of interest that the Israelites did not seem to have the issue of idolatry after the Babylonian exile. Prior to the exile, they had frequent issues with idolatry. Holding on to their belief that they worshipped the only true God brought them into conflict with the Greeks and Romans. It may have also contributed to their hostility towards Jesus as He claimed to be God. They did not understand the nature of God being a triune God.

Really good resources that goes over the time from Abraham to the early second century are the “Crossway ESV Bible Atlas” and the “Holman Bible Atlas”. A detailed background is provided by F.F. Bruce in “New Testament History”. (The only caveat is that they use a secular timeline rather than a Biblical one from creation to a time after the flood.)