Part 2.

New Testament.

1. The Historical Background.

The people among whom Jesus lived prided themselves on being children of Abraham and

of Israel. The fortunes of the patriarchs, the growth of Jacob’s family in Egypt into the nation

of Israel, the deliverance of this family-nation from Egyptian bondage, the divine care for it

during the forty years in the wilderness, the giving of institutions of worship and a code of

moral and civil law, the settlement in the land which had been promised to their fathers —

these events along with the numerous miracles of those early ages were matters of common

knowledge. They were familiar also with the exploits of the judges, the rise of the kingdom

and the age of David, the erection of the first temple under the agency of Solomon, the

division of the kingdom — permitted because of Solomon’s sins, the continued sinfulness of

the people and the preaching of the prophets to give warning, the captivity of the northern

kingdom into Assyria and later of Judah, the southern kingdom, into Babylon, and the

restoration of Judah, when Cyrus, the Persian who had conquered Babylon, permitted Jews

under Zerubbabel to return to their homeland, to restore Jerusalem, and to build the second

temple. Moreover, many of the reforms under Nehemiah, who was the last Old Testament

political leader, persisted as social customs until the days of the New Testament.

Throughout the Old Testament the nation Israel is seen as a chosen people, separated

from the rest of the world. Their advanced moral and civil code, the system of sacrifices

given to them at Sinai — especially the sin offerings, the greater accountability in which they

were held for waywardness from the high standards they had learned, the captivities into

which they were permitted to go because of their lapses into idolatry, and withal the way in

which the Jewish people were preserved — all these, as they are set forth in the Old Testament,

make an important background of history for a study of the life and mission of the Lord

Jesus.

But the New Testament is not just a continuation of the Old. A political situation

vastly different from that described in the Old Testament Scriptures and a greatly changed

social order are observed at the beginning of the New Testament. An intertestamental interval

of more than 400 years came between the time of Nehemiah (last writer of Old Testament

Scriptures) and that of John the Baptist. Governmentally this era falls into four epochs: the

Persian, the Greek, the Maccabaean, and the Roman.

The Persian Epoch. At the time of Nehemiah, the Persians were ruling over the Jews

who had resettled in Palestine; and their rule continued until the fall of the Persian empire to

Alexander the Great, or at least until the entry of Alexander into Jerusalem in 333 B.C.

During this epoch the High Priest began to exercise civil as well as religious functions, and

there first appeared the jealousy and the cleavage between the Jews and Samaritans. Also, the

scribes, who became influential interpreters and the teachers of the Mosaic law, made their

appearance as a distinct class during this epoch.

The Greek Epoch. This era lasted from the conquest of the land by Alexander until

the heroic exploits of the Maccabaean family, who achieved political independence for the

Jewish community in Palestine. Under Alexander the Jews lived in comparative peace and

prosperity. After the conqueror’s death in 323 B.C., Judaea was first made a part of the Greek

kingdom in Egypt whose capital was Alexandria, and whose kings are known in history as

the Ptolemies. Their rule was sometimes tolerant and beneficent and sometimes cruel and

tyrannical. The second Ptolemy was interested in the Jewish sacred books and had the Old

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Testament translated from Hebrew into Greek, which translation is known as the Septuagint.

After 125 years under Egypt, the Jewish people and their homeland were seized by the Greek

kings of Syria whose capital was Antioch. This epoch was brought to a close in a series of

most violent oppressions and persecutions with much bloodshed, inflicted by Antiochus

Epiphanes, known as one of the cruelest tyrants in all history and the prototype of the Antichrist.

Many thousands of Jews were slain, and other thousands were sold into slavery. The

temple at Jerusalem was desecrated and closed, and the Jewish people were forbidden to

worship Yahweh or observe their religious customs, but were commanded to offer sacrifices

to the Greek gods.

The Maccabaean Epoch. The oppression and persecution inflicted on the Jews by

Antiochus could not do otherwise than arouse resentment on the part of the faithful ones and

inspire resistance at the first opportunity. In the little town of Modin, Mattathias, an aged

priest, dared to refuse to offer a heathen sacrifice, as the king's officers had ordered him, and

in open defiance of the tyrannical rulers, struck dead an apostate younger priest who volunteered

to officiate. Then Mattathias and his five sons, aided by their fellow-townsmen, turned

on the Greek officers and slew them all. Immediately the challenge went forth to all who

were zealous for their traditions and the worship of Yahweh to rally to the hills around the

brave old priest, with thousands responding. But Mattathias soon succumbed to the hardships

of the camp and the infirmities of age; and leadership of the band of patriots passed to Judas,

his third son, known in history as Judas Maccabaeus (Judas the Hammerer). Without doubt,

Judas was the most illustrious figure in Jewish history between David and Jesus. Against

overwhelming odds this praying genius of battle, won five of the most brilliant victories

recorded in history. After one of these victories he led an army of rejoicing citizens into

Jerusalem (165 B.C.) to reopen the temple, which had been closed for three years, to cleanse

it and its furnishings from the defilement which Antiochus had put upon them, and to dedicate

it anew to the service of the true God. At last Judas fell in battle with an overwhelming

Syrian-Greek horde, but the fight for freedom went on, led by his undaunted brothers. Jonathan,

youngest of the five, a shrewd diplomat, having taken the reins of leadership, secured

important concessions for his people from a rival claimant to the throne in Antioch who later

came into power.

When Jonathan was treacherously assassinated, Simon, the oldest of the sons of

Mattathias, took up leadership in the cause. In 144 B.C. he achieved for his oppressed people

full freedom from the Greeks, both through his bravery in battle and by his wise statesmanship.

As these heroes were of the priestly family, they served in a double capacity — as

political rulers, and as high priests in the cleansed and restored temple. At length Simon, like

his brother Jonathan, was betrayed and slain along with two of his sons; but a third son, John

Hyrcanus, was quick to take the reins of leadership. After successful struggles to establish his

power in the face of the Greek sympathizers, this ruler led a series of expeditions against

hostile neighboring tribes, particularly the Idumaeans to the south and the Samaritans to the

north. Later he suppressed the unfriendly activities of the tribes that lived east of the Jordan.

By these operations he extended the boundaries of his country until they embraced all the

lands of the Old Testament twelve tribes.

But succeeding generations were not always as unselfish in spirit or as genuinely

patriotic as Mattathias and his sons. A son of Hyrcanus assumed the title King of the Jews

with royal pomp, at the same time retaining the high priest’s office and function. There were

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family jealousies and murder in the scramble for the throne and the high priesthood, and at

times the people were sorely oppressed.

It was about this time that the sects, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, appeared.

Fundamentally, the difference between these groups was religious; but during the Maccabaean

epoch they became more or less political parties, the Pharisees being the party of the

common people and the supporters of the revolution, and the Sadducees the party of the

wealthy aristocrats and sympathizers with the Greeks.

The Roman Epoch. For centuries the power of the Romans in the west had been

rising. Their victorious armies were subduing kingdoms around the shores of the Mediterranean

Sea and far into the interior, bringing them under Roman rule; nor was the little kingdom

of the Jews to escape. A quarrel between two brothers for the high priesthood and the

Jewish throne was the occasion for the Romans to seize the country and establish their power

over it. When Pompey, the Roman general, came into the country, each of the brothers

appealed to the invader for aid on his side of the quarrel. Before Pompey rendered a decision,

the younger of the two brothers, who was the more aggressive and in many respects the

stronger, seized the city of Jerusalem and fortified it against the Romans. After a long and

bloody siege the Romans entered the city. They took the ambitious younger brother and his

two sons as prisoners, and making Judaea a Roman province, named the older of the brothers,

and the more peace-loving, as high priest and ethnarch. This latter appellation was an empty

title, for the real ruler of the country was Antipater, a crafty Idumaean chieftain who never

lost an opportunity to increase his own power or advance the interests of his family. He was

soon given the title procurator, that is, guardian of the country for the Romans.

Upon the death of Antipater by assassination in 43 B.C. his son Herod (known in

history as Herod the Great) became the ruler. After six years of bloody war with the last

claimant of the Maccabaean throne and with the invading Parthians, Herod was named King

of Judaea by the Romans. His reign was marked by insane jealousy and ruthless bloodshed.

He did not hesitate to put to death any who opposed him, or who seemed to obstruct or hinder

his rule or his purposes. Among those executed were three of his own sons, his favorite wife,

Marianne, and her brother, whom he had shortly before appointed high priest. He was the

king when Jesus was born; and his action in having all the young boys of Bethlehem put to

death, in order to be rid of One who was reportedly born King of the Jews, is well known.

Herod was a builder: he rebuilt many of the cities which had been ravished in the wars. Best

known of his building projects was the replacing of Zerubbabel’s temple, erected five centuries

before, with the magnificent structure which was in use during the life of Jesus.

According to the provisions of Herod’s will, his kingdom was to be divided among

three of his sons: Archelaus was to be king in Judaea and Samaria, Antipas (the Herod who

had John the Baptist beheaded) was to be tetrarch in Galilee and Peraea, and one Philip

tetrarch in Itruraea and Trachonitis, a region east of the Sea of Galilee. When he died in 4

B.C., the Roman senate confirmed this arrangement, except that Archelaus was named

ethnarch of Judaea instead of king.

Archelaus was a weakling, as cruel as his father, but not so efficient as a ruler. After

ten years of misrule the Romans found it necessary to remove him; and at the request of many

Jews, Judaea was put under a procurator — or governor — sent directly from Rome. Pontius

Pilate, who gave the death sentence against Jesus, was the fifth such governor sent to Judaea.

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Political Situation During the Ministry of Jesus. In Luke 3:1 there is a general, though not

quite complete, statement of the political situation during the active life of Jesus. The territory

ruled by Pilate embraced Judaea and Samaria, all of which lay between the Mediterranean

Sea and the Jordan River; that ruled by Herod Antipas included Galilee west of the

Jordan valley and Peraea east of that valley (spoken of in the Gospels as the region beyond

Jordan). The tetrarchy of Philip lay east of the Sea of Galilee and the upper Jordan. Within

the territory of Antipas and of Philip was a group of cities, inhabited mostly by Greeks, which

were free from rule of the tetrarchs. Originally there were ten of those, joined in a loose

league known as Decapolis. All of them were east of the Jordan.