JESUS   THE   MESSIAH

His Life and Times

No. 4   

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Entering Into The Atmosphere of Palestine

     Even though the Jews had spread out to various other parts of the world other than Palestine, they still kept part of their values and morals very seriously.  In almost all of the cities where they lived, they were allowed to have their own city-states, which meant that they could pretty much form their own governments and laws, all the while knowing that they were under Roman rule overall.  As long as they did not do anything that would clash with Roman authority, they were pretty much left alone except for the times when they came under persecution.  That must be why they felt like they could crucify Jesus for no other reason except that he had broken what they thought was their own law.

     Some of the Roman leaders and other countries and peoples gave them magnificent gifts that were displayed in their temples.  Some of the pharaohs even came to worship there at times and were very sympathetic to their worship views.

     Even though they seemed to be prospering, there was always a segment of the population that hated them, and used every opportunity to harass or persecute them.  They never seemed to be considered in the upper hierarchy even though they might have been just as rich as any of the others in the town where they lived.  As much as they seemed to prosper in the towns where they lived, they always considered Palestine as the special place where God lived.

     The pilgrim who entered Palestine from another country probably felt like he had crossed the threshold of another world.  Manners, customs, institutions, law, life, and the very intercourse between man and woman were different from anywhere else in the world.  Everything in this land was dominated by the total idea of religion.  It penetrated every part of their lives, and was inseparably connected with the soil, at least as long as the Temple stood.

     To every Jew in the then known world, this was "the land".  Every other place was outside "the land".  They knew that Israel made the land holy.  It was so totally believed by every Jew that God had created the world on account of Israel, and for their merit, making preparation for them long before their appearance on the scene, just as a king foresees the birth of his son; Israel had been in God's thoughts not only before anything had actually been created, but even before every other creative thought.  These beliefs were found in their ancient manuscripts that have been found in excavations done.  They also believed in great study before they could do any works.  

     We must transport ourselves into this atmosphere to truly understand the views that they entertained at the time of Jesus, or to form any conception of why it was so hard for them to believe in the new doctrine that Jesus was teaching as truth.  They worshiped the law down to the last letter.  As we can gather from their writings found, they had much self-righteousness, pride of descent, pride of knowledge gained, pride of being better than any other person who was not a Jew.  All in all, they had taken God's 10 Commandments and made them into a bunch of laws that made them believe that as long as they obeyed these laws, that they were holy and righteous and better than others because they did obey.  

     At the first announcement of the coming Messiah that they had long awaited for, they were very excited.  As time went on, though, and Jesus started teaching in the Temple, they found that his teachings seemed to be much in contrast with their own ideals.  The boundary lines of the Kingdom which Jesus traced out were very different from the ones which they had already fixed, and within which they had arranged everything for their present and future.

     By the time Jesus started teaching a different and better way, they were irrevocably set in their own ways and most of them had no intention of changing, especially the leaders and teachers.  They were the ones who opposed His teaching the most.  This was the "wall of separation" that so divided Jesus from the Jews.

     Since Syria was right outside the boundaries of Palestine, it was considered more a neutral country and not as heathen as the other countries.  Hence, it was more accepted as being somewhat a part of Palestine.  This fact is probably very significant in that the name Christian was first given to the name of the new 'sect' in a place that was just outside the boundaries of "the land".  

     In thinking that they were trying to keep out 'heathenism' with all the laws they had made, they essentially brought themselves into a very terrible bondage that kept them from being open to the good news of the Gospel that Christ had waited so long to bring to the world.  

     As the Greek and Roman world grew stronger and stronger, the Jews were surrounded more and more by heathen cities.  Although the very dust of heathen soil was supposed to carry defilement, the spots that were most sacred were more and more being surrounded by heathenism.  Palestine essentially became divided into two sections: the strictly Jewish territory that would not be swayed by heathen cultures, and the Hellenic cities, that is the ones that accepted the Greek cultures and even adopted their language.  The Hellenic cities had been built at different periods, and were politically constituted after the model of the Greek cities.  They had their own senates (generally consisting of several hundred persons) and magistrates.  Each city with its adjoining territory formed a sort of commonwealth of its own.  Even though they were set up with Greek rule, they were not strictly inhabited by the Greek people.  

     Herod the Great and his immediate successors built a number of towns which were chiefly inhabited by Gentiles and had independent constitutions like the Greek cities.  Herod himself built Samaria in the center of the country; Caesarea in the west on the sea coast, along with two other cities strategically placed to spread out over the country.  Philip the Tetrarch built Caesarea Philippi and others on the western shore of the lake; and Herod Antipas built among other cities Tiberias.  

     The object of these cities was twofold.  Herod knew that he was immensely unpopular and he tried to surround himself with foreigners.  He built fortresses around his palace and the temple he built, and populated them with strangers or foreigners.  Even though he professed Judaism, he built magnificent heathen temples at Samaria and Caesarea.  These cities were really intended to form centers of Grecian influence within the sacred territory itself.  Even though these cities were Greek, they were built in honor of Caesar Augustus, the Emperor of Rome, and had statues of the Emperor as the Olympian Zeus, who was considered the main deity of all of them.  In Caesarea and Jerusalem Herod built a theatre and amphitheatre, where at great expense games were held every four years in honour of Augustus.  

     He also placed over the great gate at the Temple at Jerusalem a massive golden eagle, the symbol of Roman dominion, as a counterpart to the gigantic golden vine, the symbol of Israel which hung above the entrance to the Holy Place.  According to ancient writings found from this time, these measures led to much popular indignation, conspiracies, and much tumult, but they gradually accepted it and learned to live with it.  Even when the Talmud was written, it implied that they did not like what was going on, but did not expressly forbid the people to go to the theatre and amphitheatre.

     Israel had fallen far from earlier days when the Mishnah had gone so far as to forbid aid to a mother in the hour of her need, or nourishment to her babe, in order not to bring up a child for idolatry.  They had gone from a pure hatred of the Gentiles to compromising with their beliefs and methods of doing things.  Not only did they not stand against it, they had already let the heathen world creep in and take over much of their sacred beliefs and values.

     For more information from this book, go to the archives page at my site  www.cathydeaton.com   There are other articles of interest there also.  

     This text taken from the book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah written by Alfred Edersheim.  This book is used by permission.