JESUS   THE   MESSIAH

His Life and Times

No.  20

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In The House Of His Heavenly Father And

In The Home of His Earthly Father

Only one time is the great silence broken of what Christ's early life was like.  It was with the record of what took place on His first visit to the Temple.  Life and religion for the devout Jew were extremely intertwined.  No matter where a person lived, a visit to the 'house of Jehovah' would have been an exciting thing.  The Israelites felt that the basic well-springs of life were at the Temple, which they called Zion.  When they said 'Let us go to the house of Jehovah', there was a great excitement and great feelings of awe of just standing in the Court of the Temple.  This was not something great that had happened in the past, but something real that was in the NOW that they could cling to.

Under a strict law, a youth had to be 13 years of age before he could personally observe any of the ordinances or take part in any of the great feasts.  It was then that he was called 'a son of the Commandment.'  The parents, though, started taking their children a year early so that they could get a feel for how things were done.  They were basically there as observers the first year, and after they were 12, they could actually take part in things.  It is with great interest, then, that Luke specifically states that this event took place in the twelfth year of Jesus' life, and not when he became 'a son of the Commandment.'  Luke would have known of all the Jewish customs at the time, so he must have put this in for a specific reason.  

It was in accordance with this custom that on the first Pascha after Jesus had turned 12, his parents took Him with them when they went to Jerusalem.  Women at the time were not bound by law to make a personal appearance, but it seems that Mary must have wanted to go.  In the following paragraphs, we will see just what was the political makeup of the country during this time in Jesus' life.  Then in the next part of this series, we will take up with what Jesus did in the Temple at 12.

The wicked rule of Archelaus had lasted for 9 years when he was banished to Gaul.  Judaea, Samaria and Idumaea were not incorporated into the Roman province of Syria.  They were given a Procurator, whose ordinary residence was at Caesarea.  The Jews had desired an arrangement to get away from the evil Archelaus, but they didn't get what they had hoped for.  The privileges that they had hoped for were not given to them, and they were the target of much prejudice and pain.  The Sanhedrin was stripped of most of its power, and only given cases that were purely of a religious nature.  The very presence of the Roman power in Jerusalem was a constant offence, and it probably had degenerated into life being a constant struggle on their part.  

One of the first measures of the new Procurator, P. Sulpicius Quirinius, was to confiscate the ill-gotten wealth of Archelaus.  Then he ordered a census in Palestine in order to see how he needed to tax the country.  The people were very angry about having to disrupt their lives to go and be a part of the census, but it doesn't seem that it was against Jewish law.  If it had been absolutely contrary to the Law, the Rabbis would never have consented to it.  Most of the people just looked on it as a major disruption of their lives.

It was this period of Jewish history that gave rise to what he called a fourth party.  Besides the Pharisees, Sadducess, and Essenes, there was the Nationalists.  For the most part, the whole country was either with or against this party.  This is what the Nationalists  believed in their purest and simplest form:  their watchword was, negatively, to call no human being their absolute lord; postively, that God alone was to lead as absolute Lord.   Due to the characteristics and religious tendencies of the times, this part of Nationalists became known as The Zealots.  Their eventual home became not Judaea or Jerusalem, but Galilee.

Of the Herodians, Sadducess, and Pharisees, only a small portion had any real sympathy with the National Movement.  Each of the parties seemed to follow their own direction.  

The Essenes were basically absorbed with theological things that were sometimes tinged with Eastern mysticism.  They withdrew from all contact with the world and practiced an ascetic life.  No huge movement would have originated with them.

The Herodians combined strictly Pharisaic views with Herodian political partisianship.  They were pretty much just a political party with aims in that direction.

The Sadducees constituted the great bulk of the Rabbinist party, the School of Hillel.  Basically the above three parties may have been strong in number, but didn't make much of an impact as far as getting anything done.

But the brace, free Highlanders of Galilee seemed to have inherited the spirit of Jephthat in Judges 11: 3-6.  They treasured their ideals and their enthusiasm could not be kindled by the strict religious views and legalism of the Schools.  Their hearts burned within them for their God, their land, their people, their religion, and their freedom.  

Galilee was the place that had the most resistance to Herod at the outset of his career.  They organized guerilla bands which traversed the country and had one Ezekias as their leader.  When Herod finally executed Ezekias, the Sanhedrin tried to make him pay for it.

Basically, after the reign of Herod was over, the Sanhedrin just became a shadow of its former self.  It was packed with Sadducees and Priests of the King's nomination.  There were also Doctors of the canon-law whose only aim was to pursue in peace their own aspirations.  They were held in much contempt by the people and did not have any sympathy at all with The Zealots.  So as this party developed, it did not receive any support at all from the leading Rabbis.  R. Jochanan ben Saccai was one of the most renown of all the Teachers.  He tried to use all his influence to get the people to submit to Rome totally.  He was filled with cynicism and had no sympathy at all for the people, he was just looking after his own self.  Also Hillel, whom the great school had been named after, had a corrupt heart as well.  It was basically each for his own during this time.

This marks the rise of the Nationalist (Zealot) Party in Galilee at the time of Herod.  He tried mercilessly to oppress them.  First, he executed Ezekias and his top men.  Then after he became King of Judaea, he slaughtered many of the Sanhedrin.  The consequence of his horrible deeds was to give Rabbinism a different direction to go in.  

The School of Hillel was the main school of the majority at this time.  It was filled with men of no political color, theological theorists, self-seeking Jurists, and they were vain rather than ambitious.  The minority represented the School of Shammai, which were of the Nationalist Party.  Even though neither one of these parties was pleasing to God, the Nationalists were far closer to His ways than the others.

It was, of course, the policy of Herod to suppress all national aspirations that did not coincide with what he wanted.  He was very aware of what kind of trouble they could cause if he let them be.  He ended up murdering many of the Sanhedrins and tried to divide the Jewish race.  He took away their Jewish High Priest and replaced him with a non-Palestinian for the office.  This showed that he had much contempt for their religion and values.  This was a keen blow for them to accept.

The brief reign of Archelaus held the same contempt for the High-Priesthood that Herod had given to it.  On his death-bed, Herod had appointed Joazar, son of Boethos.  This was the wealthy Alexandrian priest that had a daughter named Mariamme, that Herod married.  This whole family allied to Herod and formed a party named after him called the Herodians.  They combined strict Pharisaic views with devotion to the reigning family.  There was much back-stabbing and bickering between the people as they fought for offices.  Because of all the back-stabbing and lust for power, they failed to get organized and advance the party like they had hoped.  

Remember that the Zealots had first appeared as guerilla-bands which roamed around Galilee under the leadership of Ezekias, whom Herod had executed.  The National, or Zealot, Party was not destroyed during his reign of terror, but only held in check.  Once more, the family of Ezekias headed the movement again.  There was a war that followed and the standard of the Nationalists was again raised in Galilee.  

Judas, the son of Ezekias, took possession of the city of Sepphoris, and armed his followers from the royal arsenal that was there.  It was a bloody time as they tried to lead a revolt against Rome, and there were several of Ezekias' sons that died as martyrs to the National Cause.  Some of them died under unspeakable sufferings.  Another member of the family, Eleazar, was the leader of Israel's forlorn hope and nobly died at Masada in the closing war of the Jewish War of Independence.  This is the stuff that the Galilean Zealots were made of.  They believed nobly in their cause and were willing to fight to the death for it.  

We also have to take this intense Nationalist tendency also into account in the history of Jesus, because at least one of his disciples had at one time belonged to this party.  The Kingdom of Jesus was from a far different conception that that from which the Nationalists tried to bring forth.

At the time when Jesus went up to the feast, Quirinius was Governor of Syria.  Joazar and Ananos had rotated holding the Pontifical office until, under the leadership of Pilate, Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, was appointed to the position.  Basically at this time, the rule of Palestine was done by Procurators that were appointed by the Roman Governors.  There seemed to have been several of them, and most seemed to somewhat respect the religious feelings of the Jews.  

From history it is known that they even removed the image of the Emperor from the standards of the Roman soldiers before marching them into Jerusalem.  This was because they wanted to avoid  the appearance of Caesar being a cult figure to them.  It was reserved for Pontius Pilate to force this hated emblem on the Jews, and bring them to a state of defiance.  

We should notice the critical periods in Jewish history that the public appearance of Christ synchronized with.  His first visit to the Temple followed upon the Roman possession of Judaea, the taxing, and the National rising, as also the institution of Annas to the High-Priesthood.  Also the commencement of His public Ministry was contemporaneous with the accession of Pilate, and the institution of Caiaphas.  No matter how you view these things, they have a deep bearing on the history of the Christ.  

Now that we have talked about the political moods of the time, the next text will start with Jesus going up to the Paschal Feast in Jerusalem  as he started to become of age.  We will see what it must have been like for him as He was able to be a part of all the great festivities for the first time.

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