When
the Romans replaced the Seleucids as the great power in Jewish land, Hyrcanus
II, a Hasmonean king, was granted limited authority under the Roman governor of
Damascus. The Jews were hostile to the new regime and there were several
uprisings in the following years. The final death of hope for true Hasmonean
rule occurred with the defeat and death of Mattathias Antigonus in 40 BCE, and
the land became a province of the Roman Empire.1
Of
course, the Romans had been behind-the-scene manipulators of Judean politics
ever since the days of Judah the Maccabee, but they did not intervene directly
until after the death of Salome and the dynastic confusion that followed. Judea
did not become a vassal of Rome until Hyrcanus II (ruled 63-40 BCE) was
stripped of this rule by the great leader of Rome, Pompey, who marched his
armies through the area and occupied Jerusalem. Hyrcanus II was left in the
position of high priest, the titular head of the nation. In 37 BCE, the Romans
ended the Hasmonean dynasty once and for all by reorganizing the province and
placing Herod (37-4 BCE) as King of Judea. This Herod would become known to
history as "Herod the Great."2
Herod
the Great
 |
| Herod the Great |
Herod
was granted large governing power over Judea and he became known as one of the
most powerful kings in the eastern Roman Empire.3 Although he made
gesture toward Judean culture and religion in attempts to win the devotion and
support of his subject, he was loyal to Rome and its Hellenistic culture. He
freely reorganized the administration of the state for his own advantage,
including limiting the power of the Sanhedrin (the highest Judean deliberative
body), limiting the terms of office of the high priests, and hiring a mercenary
army of foreigners who maintained their loyalty to him. 43 Herod did launch
massive construction programs, such as aqueducts, theaters, public buildings,
fortresses44 and cities,4 including "the cities of Caesarea and
Sebaste and the fortresses at Herodium and Masada."5
"Herod's most famous project was the rebuilding of the Temple, replacing
the modest structure, now over four centuries old, with a magnificent cultic
complex on a greatly expanded site...The present day Wailing Wall in Jerusalem
(known also as the Western Wall) is a remnant of the retaining wall of Herod's
temple)."6 However, despite his building projects, "Herod
failed to win the trust and support of his Jewish subjects."7
(Note: Herod the Great is a different Herod than Herod the Tetrarch, also known
as Herod Antipas, who ruled Galilee from 4 BCE to 39 CE. It was Herod Antipas
who killed John the Baptist.)8.
Increasing
Tensions
After
the death of Herod in 4 BCE, Judea came under direct Roman administrative
control.9 Relations between the Jews living in Judea and the Roman
Empire entered into a period of increasing deterioration which would culminate
in the Jewish revolt in 66 CE. This deterioration began in 6 CE when Judea was
made a Roman province and placed under the leadership of a series of foreign-born,
mostly corrupt and incompetent procurators, who exacerbated the tensions. The
execution of Jesus occurred under Pontius Pilate, who was procurator from 26-36
CE. Jesus execution was but one incident that reflects the brutality of the
Roman administration of Judea in this time period. Pilate's decision to place
the Roman imperial eagle on the legion's standards caused more unrest.
Resentment built over many years against Roman leadership, with its heavy
taxation, hostile military presence and pagan worship and ritual observances.
When the Roman emperor Caligula (ruled 37-41 CE) ordered a statue of himself be
placed in the Temple and demanded he be worshiped as a deity, rebellion almost
occurred. Only Caligula's death stemmed the unrest.10
"Conditions
improved briefly under Caligula's successor, Claudius, who made Herod Agrippa,
a grandson of Herod the Great, ruler of the northern part of the country and
then king of Judea (41-44 CE)."11 Herod Agrippa was a friend of
Claudius and was therefore granted some freedom in managing Judea. Herod
Because Agrippa was more sympathetic to Judean life and Jewish religion, he was
more trusted by his subjects. Although the Pharisees considered him their ally,
non-Jewish residents of Judea disliked him, including the new Christian cult.12
The
Jewish War
Unfortunately,
Herod Agrippa was followed by procurators who abused their power, and tensions
mounted. Persons suspected of collaborating with the Romans were knifed in the
streets. Jews clashed with Greeks in Caesarea and there were constant conflicts
between citizens and soldiers were constant. When the last procurator, Florus,
attempted to appropriate some of the Temple's treasure, the revolt came to a
head. In 66 CE the Temple priests stopped offering sacrifices on behalf of Rome
and a popular uprising ensued. This quickly turned into open warfare between
the Jews and the Romans, known as the Jewish War.13
The
war lasted four years. It was prolonged because the Romans had not been ready
for open conflict to break out, and because the Roman general, Vespasian, went
back to Rome to contend for his place as emperor when Nero was killled in 68
CE. During the lull, various Jewish factions helped the Romans by warring among
themselves. The worst of the lot were the violent revolutionaries known as
Zealots, who attacked the aristocracy and anyone else who they thought were not
committed to the war. Once Vespasian secured his position as emperor in 69 CE,
he sent his son, Titus, to finish what he had started. Although some fortresses
held out slightly longer, Jerusalem fell in 70 CE.14
The
Romans razed Jerusalem to the ground, including the Temple. According to the
contemporary historian Josephus, hundreds of thousands of Jews died in the
siege of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the country, and thousands were sold into
slavery.15 Many Jews fled and others were impoverished due to land
confiscations. The territory became a Roman province. A punitive tax was
imposed, consisting of two drachmas paid annually to the temple of Jupiter
Capitolinus in Rome instead of the half-shekel annual offering given to the
Temple. Though the measures were harsh, there were no mass expulsions. For
many, life went on as usual.16
The
Changed National Religion
In
contrast, the national religion was both deeply affected and permanently
changed by the destruction of the Temple, because the Jewish religion was
centered on the sacrifices that could take place only in the Temple in
Jerusalem. The loss of the Temple resulted in the ruination of the priesthood
because no Temple meant no sacrifices, and therefore the priests, whose main
purpose was to perform Temple sacrifices, were no longer necessary. The priests
had been Judea's ruling class as well as its religious leadership. Their
collapse presented a vacuum into which stepped a new religious leadership, the
rabbis. The rabbis would be the ones who reorganized the nations religious
life. It was under them that the synagogue emerged and developed as the
characteristic institution of Jewish life.17
Thinking
About It
Review
the histories presented prior to this lesson. We will be starting to look at
Daniel with our next lesson and you will need to keep the previous Jewish
history we outlined in your mind. Start to read Daniel, concentrating on the
second half of the book. That is where the apocalyptic writing appears and
where our focus will be directed. The Roman history presented above will become
important when we begin to look at the Book of Revelation. Discuss among yourselves what you see in the last half of Daniel and
how it may relate to Jewish history.
Notes
1"History:
Second Temple Period - Return to Zion. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2008. March 17, 2011. Par. 6. <http://www.mfa.gov.il>.
2Scheindlin, Raymond
P. A Short History of the Jewish People. New York: Oxford, 1998. p. 42.3History, 7.
4Scheindlin, 44.
5History, 7.
6Scheindlin, 44.
7History, 7.
8Scheindlin, 44.
9History, 8.
10Scheindlin, 45.
11Ibid, 45.
12Ibid, 45.
13Ibid, 45-46.
14Ibid, 46.
15History, 8
16Scheindlin, 51.
17Ibid, 51-53.
No comments:
Post a Comment