Occupation of Palestine by the Romans – 63 BC

In God’s divine plan, there was preparation ongoing among the Jews. You know, there is what is called “the Intertestament Period,” that is, the period between the last prophet who wrote in the Old Testament (Malachi) and the coming of Christ—a period of about 400 years. And so, there were some things that were going on during that Intertestament Period that deserve to be noticed.

During the time of Malachi, the Jews were part of the Persian Empire. They had been conquered, of course, by Babylonia. Babylonia had then been conquered by Persia, etc. That is testified to in both the Old Testament Scriptures and in history. And for a period of about 100 hears following the time that Malachi wrote, this was their situation. They lived in relative peace and freedom and independence during that time.

However, there was a fellow who came along called Alexander the Great. Alexander the Great was a conqueror. We know that from our history lessons. He made Greece the master of the ancient world, and a part of his conquering also included Persia.

After the death of Alexander the Great, his generals began to squabble and fight among themselves. That eventually led to the demise of the Greek Empire, and in the Middle East, in the area of Palestine, what this left was sort of imbalance of powers. With the demise of the Greeks—they were no longer the occupying force, they were no longer the government, the rule, of the area—Syria rose to power, along with Egypt. And so, here we have Palestine sort of sandwiched between Syria and Egypt, both of whom were rising powers after the demise of the Greeks.

Well, it would be Syria who would eventually conquer and take in Palestine. And they were very ruthless, very difficult rulers, particularly under one called Antiochus Epiphanes. He was a very oppressive ruler, and the Jews rebelled. Under the leadership of the Maccabbees, they became an independent nation once again.

But that was short-lived, because there was another rising world power, and that was the Roman Empire. And so, in 63 BC, the Romans, led by the Roman general Pompey, took Jerusalem and that region of Palestine. The Romans often found it expedient to rule their provinces, their outlying conquered districts, with local leaders, and that’s why we find, as we see the dawn of the New Testament, that there is one named Herod, who is the king over the Jews. Well, we know a little bit about him—we don’t need to spend much time there.

We might ask, “What does all of this world history, this ancient history, have to do with God preparing His people, the Jews, to receive the Messiah?” There are a couple of things to consider.

Of course, we know that throughout the history of the children of Israel, because of their apostasy, because they turned their backs on God, they repeatedly became a captive people. Their presence as a nation became more and more of a diminished presence. As a matter of fact, what we know about Solomon, the building of the temple, etc., that was really the beginning of the end for the nation of Israel. They had really reached their “hay day,” so to speak, under the reign of both David and Solomon. Now, they were in decline, they were diminishing, they were a people who were repeatedly defeated, and more, they were taken captive, and so on. And this happened throughout this Intertestament Period, as well. As we said, we see that they subjugated to the Persians, then to the Syrians and now to the Romans.

Most scholars and historians believe that there was lesson here for them to learn. That lesson had to do with the fact that God’s coming kingdom was not going to be an earthly kingdom. It was not going to be a repeat of the days of David and Solomon, but rather, the message was that it would be a spiritual kingdom. Well, we know that that was a lesson that they did not catch on to. So, we see, then, that this was part of the preparation, though, that God had in mind for His people.

Changes in the Religion of Israel

Now, there were some other things that had taken place during this Intertestament Period, as well. There were some changes that had occurred in the religion of Israel. For example, the religious life that the people had began, in this period of time, to center around synagogues. And so, we see, then, a rise in the use of, the popularity of and the number of synagogues, where in the 1^st Century, during the days of Jesus, particularly, there was at least one synagogue in most major cities throughout the Roman Empire. In a number of cities, there were multiple synagogues. And so, this was a change.

We also see that there is a “ruling council” that has risen during this period. They are called the Sanhedrin, or often times just referred to in the New Testament as “the Council.” They were the nation’s highest religious tribunal.

There was also the rise of religious parties, or sects, and these were prevalent during the time that Jesus walked upon the earth. There were the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and there were the Essenes. Those were the three primary sects of the Jewish religion, or nation, at that particular time.

There are a couple of things that are interesting about these parties, or sects, and that is that the Sadducees were the rulers of the temple in Jerusalem. They also did not believe in an afterlife, and so their message was, “Don’t worry. Be happy.” There message was, “If it feels good, do it.” Well, no, it wasn’t quite that bad, but they didn’t believe in a resurrection, and so they were working, they were attempting, to make things as pleasant in this life as they could for themselves. And thus, they were allied in many ways with the Romans, who were the occupying force. And they made a number of alliances with the Romans who occupied the land. Well, that drove an even larger wedge between the Sadducees and the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were the Keepers of the Law. They had a very traditional interpretation of the Law. They were very loyal to the Law. But, of course, we know that they had their downfall, as well, because in trying to keep the Law in such a strict fashion, they ended up falling into hypocrisy, into legalism, and the like. Of course, the Lord had much to say about those Pharisees while He was on the earth.

Sizable Communities of Jews All Over the Roman Empire in the 1^st Century

Judaism in the time of Jesus was not confined to Palestine. Jews were found in very large numbers, as a matter of fact, in all parts of the Roman Empire. Many had been, for example, carried away into Babylonian captivity. Some of them chose not to come back to Palestine. They stayed in the area of Babylonia.

Others had migrated into Egypt to avoid the wars and the captivities, and so on. As a matter of fact, there was a very large Jewish community at Alexandria, Egypt. It was quite substantial and it was quite influential. And, to these Alexandrian Jews, we owe the Septuagint. That is a Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures. That was done in about 250 BC—250 years before the coming of Christ. But it was a very popular translation of the Old Testament Scriptures among the people. And we see that it is quoted in the New Testament, not exclusively, but it is quoted in the New Testament by some of the writers, even being quoted by Jesus sometimes.

Well, wherever the Jews went, they carried their religion with them. Synagogues, where the faithful Jews met to pray and to study, were found, once again, in all of the major important cities in the Roman Empire. There were also persons who had turned from their pagan religions during this time and become proselytes to the Jewish faith. And on his missionary journeys, Paul customarily visited these synagogues in the cities where he went. Often his Message was received favorably by these Jews, and it was also favorably considered and accepted by many of the Jewish proselytes. In many cases, synagogues became the meeting place for the early Christians.

Well, there is little doubt that Christianity spread more rapidly because of the presence of Jews and the presence of Jewish synagogues in these outposts, if you will, that existed all around the Roman Empire.