Historical Background to the Gospels

• Herod the Great (d. 4BCE)
• The Tetrarchs
• The Census Revolt of 6CE
• Direct Roman Rule
• The Persecution of Christians in Rome by Nero (64CE)
• The Jewish Revolt (66 CE)
• Josephus
• Destruction of the Temple in 70CE
• After the War

Herod is connected to Jesus historically in many ways. Jesus was born during the last years of Herod's reign. It was this Herod that the gospel of Matthew alleged ordered the massacre of all male babies under two years old as an attempt to get rid of Jesus. It was also the temple that Herod built which Jesus referred to as his father's house when he drove out the moneychangers. [1]

Back to the top

The Tetrarchs

Philip seems to have a quiet reign. When he died in 34 CE, he left no heir and his tetrarchy was passed over to the Roman legate of Syria. The other two Herods did not led such a peaceful life. Herod Archelaus' rule coincided with a rise in messianic fervor among the Jews and the Samaritans. This fervor which boiled over into minor uprisings was dealt with severely by Archelaus. His oppressive rule, however, made the Romans fear a widespread Jewish revolt. As a result, in CE6, Augustus banished him to Vienne. After that his tetrarchy became a province administered directly by a Roman procurator or governor.

Herod Antipas, of the three, was the one most like his father. An event that concerned Antipas that was narrated in the gospels involved what was, to the Jews of that time, an illicit affair. It involved Antipas and Herodias, the wife of his brother, Philip. This sister-in-law induced Antipas to leave his wife, which he did. Herod then married Herodias, an incestuous union in Jewish eyes. It was the condemnation of this action by John the Baptist that led to his imprisonment and execution (Mark 6:14-29). It was under Herod Antipas' reign that Jesus grew up in Galilee. It was also to this Herod that Luke says Pilate sent Jesus for interrogation (Luke 23:6) during his trial in Jerusalem. Herod Antipas remained as tetrarch until CE39 when he, too, was banished to Lyons in Gaul. [2]

Back to the top

The Census Revolt of 6 CE

Back to the top

Direct Roman Rule

This Herod also appeared in the narrative documents of the New Testament (in the Acts of the Apostles). His name is Herod Agrippa I (10 BCE-44 CE). Agrippa was the grandson of Herod the Great through his father Aristobolus, who was Herod's second son. For some services rendered to the Emperor Claudius, Herod Agrippa was made the king of the entire region of Palestine once ruled by his grandfather in 41 CE. His rule was short lived though, for he died suddenly in 44 CE. It was Herod Agrippa who had James, and probably his brother John, executed in 44 CE. It was also this Herod that imprisoned Peter (Acts 12:1-3). [6]

After the death of Herod Agrippa in 44 CE, he was succeeded by the seventh procurator, Fadus. In his eight years as procurator, Fadus kept good control of the Judean political climate. His successors however did a poorer job. Jewish resentment against Roman occupation reached a boiling point in 66 CE. Fadus successor was Felix became the eighth procurator in 52 CE. It was during Felix's tenure that Paul the apostle was arrested and detained for trial. Felix's successor, Festus held the office for only two years, from 60-62 CE. [7]

It was during the procuratorship of Festus that Paul was sent to Rome to appeal his case. Paul spent two whole years under house arrest in Rome. According to the Acts of the Apostle he "without hindrance...preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ."(Acts 28:31).

Back to the top

The Persecution of Christians in Rome by Nero

Then in 64 CE, a great fire, lasting a week, raged over central Rome. Nero then used the burnt-out land to built a new palace, the Domus Aurea. Not surprisingly the finger of suspicion as to the cause of the fire fell upon Nero. He looked for a scapegoat and found a convenient one in the Christians. He than began a systematic persecution of Christians in the city of Rome. The terror that befell the Christians (incidentally, one of the few times the Christians were systematically persecuted.) included being used as living torches and being thrown to beasts in the amphitheater. It was in this persecution, circa 64-67 CE, that, according to tradition, both Paul and Peter were martyred. [8]

The Jewish Revolt (66 CE)

In 66 CE a race riot between the Jews and the Gentiles erupted in Caesarea. The Gentiles slaughtered 20,000 Jews within an hour. This slaughter, together with the arrests of Jews by the order of Florus, effectively emptied Caesarea of any Jewish resident. Florus handled subsequent events poorly: he desecrated the Jewish Temple and attempted to extort the Jews by ordering them to pay him 17 gold talents (in today's value this would be about US$350,000) from the Temple funds for protection. This sequence of humiliating events united the Jews; the Zealots were joined by all the major Jewish sects. In May of that year the Zealots attacked the Roman garrison stationed outside Jerusalem. The garrison, which was led by Cestius Gallus, the legate of Syria, was routed by the Jewish insurgents. This initial moral boosting victory initiated open rebellion against the Romans all over Palestine. [10]

Back to the top

Josephus

Back to the top

Destruction of the Temple in 70 CE

With the fall of Jerusalem the main force of the Jewish revolt was no more. The rest of the operation consists of mopping up the remaining insurgents. The last Jewish stronghold was in fortress of Masada, west of the Dead Sea. Masada was stubbornly defended by the Jews but it too, fell in 74 CE. The Jews in Masada, realizing that Roman victory is imminent, committed mass suicide. When the Romans finally made their way into the fort, to their surprise they found only one woman alive. With the fall of Masada, the Jewish revolt ended. [13]

Back to the top

After the War

The Nazarenes, the followers of Peter and James, were, by logical extension, the true followers of Jesus. Before the revolt, they were caught in the middle between the Gentile Christians and the Jews. They could not fully accept the Gentiles because they still believed that Jesus never abrogated the Law. To them a follower of Jesus must first be a Jew. The Jews in turn could not accept the Nazarenes because of their beliefs in Jesus. The Roman destruction of Jerusalem made the Jews even more eager to foster unity among themselves to the exclusion of others. The Nazarenes with their associations Gentiles began to be shunned by the orthodox Jews. Eventually a test clause was inserted, around 90 CE, in the Jewish synagogue worship to exclude Nazarenes from them. [d] By the time of the second Jewish revolt in 132-135 CE the break between the Nazarenes and Judaism was completely severed. [14]

The destruction of Jerusalem was viewed by the Gentile Christians from a different angle. To them it was proof of God's punishment to the Jews for rejecting the savior. As the number among of Gentile Christians grew, Jewish Christianity, with its insistence on adherence to the Law, was pushed into the background. The die was cast. The Nazarenes were ejected from Judaism and eventually became a heretical sect within Christianity. The sect finally disappeared around the fourth century.

With the exclusion of the Nazarenes from the Jewish synagogue worship, the followers of Jesus, the Nazarenes and the Gentile Christians, became an entity distinct from Judaism. With this we end our brief excursion into the historical background of the New Testament times.

Back to the top

Notes

Back to the top

References

Back to the top