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For those who believe in his existence, Jesus is generally taken on the authority of the Gospels and early Christian history to have lived around in Roman Palestine (modern day Israel, Palestine and Jordan, historically the central Levant which included Judea) around 0 - 30 AD. It was in this place (and within a century after this time) that Christianity is alleged to have arisen, and its founders place Jesus and his peers in locations such as Galilee and Jerusalem within their recent past.
For this reason a wide variety of people (both Christian and otherwise) have a strong interest in this time and place. Its culture and politics uniquely formed the context for a significant change in human history and the source of many changes and beliefs which still continue to shape the world, influencing laws and cultural norms for believers and non-believers alike.
Academics, historians and Christians tend to agree that one cannot fully understand the origins of Christianity or current societical norms, or Jewish/Christian history, or Western history, or Jesus himself and the story of the Gospels, without a good understanding of the complex and volatile powder-keg of religion and politics which formed the cultural and historic context of those turbulent and formative times.
This article attempts to describe these things without assumption as to Jesus' existence or non-existence, which is addressed by the article Historicity of Jesus. Although split into History, Culture, Religion, and Politics, it is important to understand that the latter three overlap and were far from separable.
Overview of history
(to complete, some data missing)
- First Jewish Kingdom, X - X BC approx.
The original inhabitants of Roman Palestine were non-Jewish tribes such as the Canaanites and Philistines. According to legend, the first Jewish kingdom is under Saul, then David existed for around XX years from XX - XX BC, and was succeeded by a variety of lesser kings, prophets and priests until conquered by the conqueror Alexander the Great, a Macedonian, around XX BC. The law of the land was Jewish religious law, which was for the most part legislative and not harsh.
- Alexandrian rule, X - X BC approx.
Alexandrian rule was benign in part and tolerated kindly certain types of diversity. Hellenism became common, drawing the first two major threads of this article:
- The divide between traditional and Hellenised Jews, broadly those who shunned the new culture and those who sought to embrace it, and
- The tendency for religious and cultural differences to deepen into religion vs. political or secular conflict, resentment and repression, and ultimately into uprisings by the Jewish community against foreign rulers, and massive suppressive or annihilative military action.
Politically as time passed, the government also viewed somewhat negatively the wish of some Jews not to become Hellenised, and took it as an affront to the Emperor. They gradually became intolerant culturally and religiously. Harsh repression led to Jewish Nationalism, which drew further tyranny, until the open rebellion of the Maccabeean revolt around X BC.
- Second Jewish Kingdom and Roman Rule, X - X BC approx.
Subsequent to the brief ensuing Second (Jewish) Kingdom, the region fell under Roman rule as a protectorate. By AD 0, the Roman Empire was somewhat more corrupt than it had been, the overseers of Roman Palestine were capable of great brutality (___ describes how 2000 people were crucified in one day) and had become ruthless dictators, answerable to nobody except the distant Senate in Rome for their actions. Political murder was commonplace - some Roman govenors killed their own children to prevent uprisings, slaves were torched as novelty fires for events, Herod imprisoned many leaders of the community with orders they should be slaughtered when he died, and a large number of the occupied classes (Jews and non-Jews equally) lived their lives, were desperately poor, and prayed to their various gods.
- Culture, and geography, circa 25 BC - 50 AD
In these turbulent uncertain times, a mix of everyday life and dark brewing thunderclouds, religion, civil life and politics co-existed and merged uneasily.
Christians generally believe Jesus lived and preached to the agricultural villagers of the Galilee and the hill city Jerusalem at this time. It is to the deserts and wildernesses of the Negev and Jordan he is said to have travelled, and at the River Jordan which flows to Lake Kinneret (known as the Sea of Galilee) where it is stated by the Gospels that he met the preacher Yohannan (Jonathan) the Baptiser. Although people travelled hundreds or thousands of miles along established trading routes, to Rome or India, the region concerning this article is small, perhaps 100 miles north to south and 40 or 50 miles east to west.
Amongst all the people of Roman Palestine, the Jews had their own institutions: the priesthood which had become a lesser political appointment, the courts, the old Temple, and the developing learning academies and schools from which eventually Rabbinic Judaism would arise. The Jewish and Roman courts co-existed and occasionally conflicted. Religion was part of daily life, but the region was a blend of religious law and civil law, and broadly secular in politics, with religion interspersed throughout daily life.
- Jewish Revolt and aftermath, 70 - 400 AD
Around X AD, ?what provoked it - Answer=the Zealots?, open rebellion broke out, and finally open war, until in X AD the general of the 3 armies it had taken to destroy the revolt was finally able to strike new currency reading "Judea Capta" ("Judea is no more").
!the bar Kockba revolt was the 2nd Jewish revolt in about AD130, not the 1st!
Somewhere in the three hundred years from 0 - 400 AD, Christianity emerged. !Arianism and various other changes were only seperated during 4th century as not-orthodoxy there was no orthodoxy before!
Culture
Culturally, Jews had to grapple with the values of Hellenism and Hellenistic philosophy, which threatened to replace the traditions handed down from the past. Bath houses were built in Jerusalem, for instance. Most Jews tended to accept the good that came from their various conquerors (they were in succession dominated by the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Romans), but many yearned for freedom from foreign domination.
Moreover, as many Jews lived in the Diaspora, and Roman Palestine itself was populated by many Gentiles, Jews had to confront a paradox in their own tradition: their Torah applied only to them, but revealed universal truths. This situation led to new interpretations of the Torah, influenced by Hellenic thought and in response to Gentile interest in Judaism.
Several languages were used in Palestine at this time, and the matter of the lingua franca is still subject of some debate. The Jews almost certainly spoke Aramaic among themselves. Greek was at least to some extent a trade language in Palestine, and indeed in the entire eastern portion of the Roman empire. Pontius Pilate, as a Roman from Rome, would most likely have spoken Latin privately with his wife, but would probably have used Greek to handle day to day business in the province, though it is also possible (though perhaps improbable given his character) that he used Aramaic for this. Scholars debate whether Jesus himself spoke any other languages than Aramaic and (as a Jew) Hebrew. In favor of his knowing at least some Greek is the notation in the Gospels that he worked as a carpenter. In a wood-poor land such as Galilee, he would have had to deal with caravans from the wider Middle-East in order to obtain the raw materials for his work.
Political life
At the start of the first century AD, Palestine was ruled by King Herod the Great in the name of the Romans. An Idumean by birth, his rule was marked by alternating acts of cruelty and kindness toward his people. It was he who funded the rebuilding of the Second Temple. At the same time, he built up the city of Caesarea on the coast to be a model Roman city, complete with pagan temples. Herod was very unpopular, and several stories of Herod's cruelty have reached us via Josephus. The Gospel of Matthew adds the incident of the massacre of the innocents in Bethlehem, though this is absent from every other historic or biblical record, and is thought to be a fabrication by many scholars.
After Herod's death, the regions of Palestine were combined under the rulership of a temporary procurator, Varus, who quelled rioting by putting thousands of Jews to death by crucifixion. After Varus, the territory was divided among Herod's sons: the southern part of the territory (Judea and Samaria) was given to Archelaus, who ruled under the title of ethnarch, while Herod Antipas received Galilee and the southern transJordan territories and Philip received the northern Transjordan. Archelaus antagonized the Jews as his father had, and in 6 a delegation was sent to Rome to request his removal. Augustus acceded to the demand by combining Judea and Samaria into the province of Palestina, under the rule of a line of Roman procurators, beginning with Coponius (6 - 9). The procurator who ruled from 26 to 36 was Pontius Pilate, whose rule, according to non-biblical sources was notoriously cruel and depraved.
Pilate's administration was marked by many antagonistic actions toward the Jews. Some have suggested that this was at the behest of Sejanus, who held was the strong man in Rome during much of Pilate's career. Sejanus certainly had an anti-Jewish cast to his politics. Sejanus died in 32, and Tiberius repealed most of the anti-Jewish policies instituted by Sejanus. Pilate was finally recalled to Rome for his excessive cruelty, at which point he vanished from proven historical sources.
Most Jews were desperately poor and resented having to pay tribute to Rome. Although Jews were relatively autonomous, ruled by a Jewish high priest and tetrarch, these officials were appointed by Rome and thus had questionable legitimacy. Talk of a restoration of the monarchy was seditious under Roman occupation, and thus during festivals, such as the Passover, the population swelled – and outbreaks of violence and riots were common. Maintaining the peace was one of the primary jobs of the high priest, and as a consequence the priest frequently had people arrested and sent to trial for treason.
Religious factions
During this time the religion of the Jews centered on the Temple in Jerusalem, but no particular form of Judaism was established as the predominant and correct one. Several movements arose among the leading Jews, with various opinions on the issues of the day. The Sadducees and the Pharisees were the most important, followed by the Essenes and the Zealots. Most Jews, of course, did not belong to any faction, but were more or less affected by the preaching of the various groups.
Sadducees
The Sadducees were primarily composed of aristocrats and priests and occupied most of the important posts in what self-government the Jews were permitted under the Romans. The Sanhedrin was largely, though not exclusively, populated by Sadducees. They tended to be disliked by the common people, partially because of their "collaboration" in the Roman occupation.
Religious beliefs of the Sadducees stressed the Hebrew Bible as the sole source of moral obligations. They rejected later doctrines such as the afterlife, angels, demons, and direct intervention of God in human history. When these traits were taken to the extreme, there was the danger of falling into skepticism.
The office of high priest was theoretically a life-long post. However, the Romans regularly deposed the high priests to make way for new leadership. Due to the manipulations of Annas, however, the temple remained in control of one family for most of the first century until it was destroyed. Annas was high priest from 7-11. His son-in-law Caiaphas was high priest from 18-22 and 24-36. His sons Eleazar (23-24), Jonathas (37), Theophilos (38-42), Matthias (42-44) and Ananias (63) all became high priests. The Gospel of John reports a separate trial of Jesus before Annas (in addition to the Sanhedrin), perhaps because many considered him to be the legitimate high priest.
Jews were required to offer sacrifices at the Temple three times a year: Passover, Sukkot, and Shavuot. Due to the large distances involved, many Jews did not complete all of these pilgrimages, though most attempted to do so. The Gospels report that Jesus' family made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem every year.
Pharisees
The groups of "scribes" and "lawyers" mentioned in the Bible come largely from the ranks of the Pharisees. The Pharisees, along with most of the people, resented Roman rule, but in the first half of the first century, they were not overtly political.
Pharisees accepted the various instructions and interpretations of the Hebrew Bible as binding, as well as many traditions that remained unwritten. Furthermore, they accepted many new doctrines, such as the resurrection of the dead, the last judgment, angels and demons.
Essenes
The third group, the Essenes, is never mentioned in the Bible. They were an ascetic group, which had split from the Pharisees, to live in small communities in isolation from the social life of the Jewish people. When the Romans under Titus came to destroy Jerusalem, some Essenes carefully sealed their writings into clay jars hidden in caves. These writings, which were discovered at Qumran between 1947 and 1956, are called the Dead Sea scrolls.
Zealots
The Zealots sought political freedom from the Romans through exercise of military force. The uprisings of 67 AD that led up to the destruction of the temple in 70 were under the leadership of the Zealots. It is still debated whether the Zealots were an active political force before the second half of the first century. No record exists narrating organized uprisings among the Jews of this time, though some of Pilate's acts against the Jews could well be in answer to seditious behavior. One of Jesus' Apostles, Simon, is given the attribute "the Zealot" in the Gospel of Luke.
Prophets and Messiahs
Moreover, many individuals claimed to speak for God, in the prophetic tradition of Isaiah and Jeremiah, or to be able to heal people, in the prophetic tradition of Elisha.
Many Messianic groups arose, claiming to have within their number, the true Messiah, saviour of Israel. One of the most noticable and successful was that of John the Baptist. Contrary to accounts in the bible, suggesting that John the Baptist led people to Jesus, many other historic sources suggest that followers of John the Baptist believed John the Baptist to be the Messiah. This point of view is also held by the Mandaeanists, a group descending from followers of John the Baptist, and still surviving today.
Many Jews hoped that the Romans would be replaced by a Jewish king (a Messiah) of the line of David – the last legitimate Jewish regime. However, Jews were divided over how this might occur. Most Jews believed that their history was governed by God, meaning that even the conquest of Roman Palestine by the Romans was a divine act. Therefore the Romans would be replaced by a Jewish king only through divine intervention; thus, the majority of Jews accepted Roman rule, and most groups did not preach revolt. However, some (primarily the Zealots) believed that the kingdom should be restored immediately, through violent human action.
Jesus and the religious groups
Many of Jesus' teachings coincided with the Pharisees, but the New Testament reports many disagreements with them. Most scholars believe that these were created by the evangelists and reflect more the situation between Christians and Jews after the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, when Pharisaism emerged as the hegemonic form of Judaism. Jesus' primary complaint against the Pharisees in the Gospels is their hypocrisy, which Jews today consider an unfounded slander.
However, many of his teachings also echoed the beliefs of the Qumran community (which was probably a branch of the Essenes), which have lead some to suggest that Jesus himself was an Essene. The Essenes also practised a form of ritual bath, which has led many commentators to suggest that John the Baptist was also a member of the Essenes, or at least had significant contact with them.
Many scholars argue that it is likely that, like most Jews, Jesus believed that the restoration of the monarchy would be accomplished by divine means, not by any movement of the Zealot kind. However, he did believe that this restoration was imminent.
The Gospel of Mark (largely thought amongst scholars to be the earliest of the canonical Gospels) frequently uses of the term Son of man , also found in apocalyptic works such as the second half of the Book of Daniel, has lead some 20th century Biblical scholars (for example, Bart Ehrmen), to think that Jesus originally preached apocalyptic Judaism. However, the term Son of man is generally thought to have been a 3rd person self-referencing device (such as "one ought not to ...."), which is the use it takes elsewhere in Jewish writing. (More information about the intended meaning of the term Son of Man can be found in the article Son of Man).
After the 1st Jewish Revolt
After the destruction of the Temple in 70, the Zealots committed suicide, and the Sadducees, and Essenes disappeared.??????WHY??????. The Pharisees developed into the later forms of Judaism.
Originally the intent of Jesus' followers was to preach to the Jews. Some but not all requirements were removed, as it was felt that the new emphasis was on faith and not detailed laws. Thus there were 'Jewish Christians', Jews who believed in Jesus as the foretold Messiah. When the Jews as a community rejected this, the Christian message was taken to the gentiles instead. To make it palatable, and draw a line separating them from the Jews (who were by now becoming politically dangerous associates) many more of the restrictive laws were removed and the emphasis was shifted.
The mesage that reached the gentiles was therefore a more universal one, in the sense that it was easier to digest, its appeal was more emotional than legalistic, and it did not contain many of the practices beliefs and rituals by which the Jews kept themselves separate from others. It was during this period, many scholars argue, that Christians transformed the meaning of the word messiah to be universal and divine, rather than particular and human.