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Understanding the Roman Presence in Yeshua’s World

Many readers and scholars of the New Testament have imagined Yeshua living in a world in which the Roman soldiers and officials daily oppressed the Jews living in Judaea and Galilee. In Jerusalem, Jewish leaders were in day-to-day control. The magistrates were Jewish and ruled according to Jewish law, the schools were Jewish, and the religion was Jewish. The high priest and his council were responsible for many things, for example:

(1) organize the payment of tribute

(2) get the money and good to the right person

(3) police Jerusalem

(4) guard the Temple

The Romans understood that the high priest was a suitable ruler for three reasons:

(1) government by the high priest was traditional

(2) Jews held the office in reverence

(3) he was considered to be a good official spokesman for Rome by the Romans

The Romans considered the high priest to be the responsible official in Jerusalem. If Jews wanted to deal with Rome, they went through the high priest. If Rome wanted to communicate with the Jewish people, the perfect summoned the high priest. If things went wrong, the high priest was held accountable.

In Galilee there was no official Roman presence at all. Greek-speaking Gentiles lived in the cities that they had long inhabited. In geographical Galilee there was one Gentile city, Scythopolis (see map), but it was independent of political Galilee. In Judaea the official Roman presence was very small. There was one Roman of rank in residence, and he was supported by a handful of troops. This Roman and his small military force lived among a lot of other Gentiles in Caesarea, seldom came to Jerusalem, and did nothing to plant Roman laws and customs in the Jewish parts of the country.

In terms of culture, the emperor and the Senate of Rome did not intend that the Jews of Judaea should become Romanized. In spite what some New Testament scholars claim, Rome did not `annex’ Palestine – not even Judaea, though it was a Roman province. They did not impose Roman educational, civil, religious or legal institutions on the Jewish people. Rome’s interest in the Jewish homeland was quite limited: maintain a stable region between Syria and Egypt.

Contrary to the image created by Josephus, in the late twenties and thirties, Jewish Palestine was not tottering on the brink of revolt. The main protests near the lifetime of Yeshua were largely non-violent, but this doesn’t mean the populace was happy with the situation. In the 50s the situation began to heat up and escalate until war broke out in 66.

(SOURCE: The Historical Figure of Jesus by E. P. Sanders © 1993; Allen Lane the Penguin Press, New York, NY.; pp. 26-28.)

Be Empowered,
Jim Myers

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