Outlines of New Testament History [1898]

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OUTLINES OF NEW TESTAMENT HISTORY

BY REV. FRANCIS E. GIGOT, D.D., Mooney Professor of the Sacred Scriptures in St. Joseph’s Seminary Dunwoodie, New York.

SECOND AND REVISED EDITION

NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO. BENZIGER BROTHERS, PRINTERS TO THE PUBLISHERS OF HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE

Nihil Obstat. J. B. HOGAN, S.S., D.D., Censor Deputatus.

Imprimatur. † MICHAEL AUGUSTINE, Archbishop of New York. NEW YORK, July 20, 1898.

1898, BY BENZIGER BROTHERS.

PREFACE
THE present is a companion volume to the “Outlines of Jewish History” published some months ago. It deals with the historical data supplied by the inspired writings of the New Testament, in exactly the same manner as the preceding work did with the various events recorded in the sacred books of the Old Testament. In both volumes the writer has pursued the same purpose and followed the same methods.

Both works have been prepared for the special use of theological students, not, however, without the hope that they may prove serviceable to a much larger number of readers, such as teachers of Bible history in Sunday-schools, colleges, academies, and the like. In neither volume has it been the aim of the writer to supply a substitute for the Bible itself, but rather a help towards a more careful perusal of the inspired record. With this purpose in view, he has set forth such results of modern investigation as may render the sacred narrative more intelligible and attractive. Many of the difficulties which are daily being raised on historical grounds are also touched upon, and the biblical student is supplied with constant references to further sources of information.

Like the historical writings of the New Testament, the present volume contains two distinct, though very closely connected parts. The first part, gathered from the four narratives of our canonical gospels, describes the life and times of Our Lord; the second, based mainly on the book of the Acts, presents a brief sketch of the labors of Peter, Paul, James, and John, the leading apostles of Christ. The first part, under the title of “The Gospel History,” takes up the sacred narrative at the point where it was left in the “Outlines of Jewish History,” and deals with the three-and-thirty years of Our Lord’s mortal life; the second, entitled “The Apostolic History,” narrates the principal events connected with the planting and early spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire down to the year 98 A.D.

As an additional help to the student, two maps—one of Palestine in the Time of Our Lord, the other of the Roman Empire in the Apostolic Times—have been especially prepared, and will be found at the end of the volume, together with a Chronological Table established on the now commonly admitted fact that the birth of Our Lord took place some years before what is called the Christian era.

July 16, 1898.

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PART FIRST - THE GOSPEL HISTORY OR THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHRIST
FIRST PERIOD - BEFORE OUR LORD’S PUBLIC MINISTRY

CHAPTER I. GEOGRAPHY OF PALESTINE IN THE TIME OF CHRIST

I.  VARIOUS NAMES: Palestine: the most common origin.

II. SITE AND SIZE:

1. Site: Latitude and Longitude.—Boundaries.—Admirable situation.

2. Size: Length.—Breadth.—Total area.

III. GENERAL ASPECT AND DIVISIONS

IV. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF

1. Eastern Palestine:

    The high table-land beyond Jordan.

    Rivers and mountains.

2. Western Palestine:

    Three long Parallel Tracts:

    Sea-coast.

    The hilly country.

    The Jordan valley.

    Mountains (begin in the south and proceed northward).

    Lowlands (three principal).

    Rivers: Only one; streams or torrents besides.

    Lakes.


1. Various Names. Palestine, the scene of Gospel history, has in different ages been designated by the following names: (1) the land of Chanaan; (2) the land of Promise; (3) the land of Israel; (4) the land of Juda or Judæa; (5) the Holy Land; (6) Palestine. This last, by far the most common name, was originally applied by the Hebrews merely to the strip of maritime plain inhabited by their encroaching neighbors, the Philistines, hence the name; but ultimately it became the usual appellation for the whole country of the Jews.


2. Site and Size. Palestine lies between the 31° and 33° 20′ of north latitude, and between the 34° 20′ and 36° 20′ of east longitude. In the time of Christ it was limited on the west by Phenicia and the Great or Mediterranean Sea; on the south by the Brook of Egypt, the Negeb, the south end of the Dead Sea, and the Arnon river; on the east by Arabia; on the north by Anti-Lebanon, Lebanon, and Phenicia. Its situation in the temperate zone, in the centre of the ancient world, has often been admired: it combined, with a sufficient isolation from heathen influences, a position well suited to the preservation and spread of the true religion among mankind.

Like many regions which have played a great part in the world’s history, Palestine is a very small country. Its average length is about 150 miles, and its average breadth west of the Jordan a little more than 40 miles, east of the Jordan a little less than 40 miles. The total area between the Jordan and the Great Sea is about 6600 square miles; the portion east of the Jordan has an area of about 5000 or perhaps 6000 square miles,—making the whole area of Palestine 12,000 or 13,000 square miles, or about equal to the two States of Massachusetts and Connecticut together.


3. General Aspect and Divisions. A single glance at a physical map of the Holy Land is quite sufficient to make us realize that its general aspect is that of a mountainous country. It owes this hilly appearance to the great Lebanon range, whose eastern branch (the Anti-Lebanon) is prolonged through Palestine by two distinct chains of mountains, the one on the west side, with the exception of one broad depression (the plain of Esdrælon), extending as far as the desert of Sinai, the other, on the east of the Jordan, reaching as far as the mountains of Arabia Petræa. To the west of each one of its mountain-chains Palestine has a large plain, namely, the valley of the Jordan and the sea-coast, so that the Holy Land is naturally divided into four parallel tracts extending north and south. Three of these parallel tracts are almost entirely situated to the west of the Jordan and are usually designated under the name of Western Palestine, while the track altogether east of the Jordan is known as Eastern Palestine or the Transjordanic region.

In the time of Christ Eastern Palestine comprised several great tracts of country, the exact limits of which cannot be defined at the present day. These regions were (1) Peræa Proper, which lay chiefly between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok; (2) Galaaditis (Galaad); (3) Batanea (Basan); (4) Gaulanitis (Golan); (5) Ituræa; (6) Trachonitis; (7) Abilene; (8) and finally, the Decapolis, which lay partly west of the Jordan.

The country west of the Jordan included only three great regions, viz., Judæa, Samaria, and Galilee. Of these regions Judæa was the most famous. It extended along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea almost as far north as Mount Carmel, but on the northeast its limit did not extend quite as far as Sichem. Its southern part formed a portion of Idumæa, and it extended westward from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean. It was about 40 miles wide, and was divided into eleven districts whose metropolis was Jerusalem. North of Judæa lay Samaria, which derived its name from the ancient capital of the kingdom of Israel, and whose central position in Western Palestine gave it great political importance. Finally, north of Samaria was Galilee, 50 miles long by 20 to 25 miles wide. It was divided into Upper or Northern, and Lower or Southern, Galilee.


4. Physical Description of Eastern and Western Palestine. The country beyond Jordan consists in a table-land whose length is about 150 miles from the Anti-Lebanon on the north to the Arnon river on the south, and whose breadth varies from 30 to 80 miles from the edge of the Jordan valley to the edge of the Arabian desert. Its surface, which is tolerably uniform, has an average elevation of about 2000 feet above the level of the sea, and while its western edge is broken by deep ravines running into the valley of the Jordan, its eastern edge melts away into the desert.

Eastern Palestine has three natural divisions, marked by the three rivers which cut it at right angles to the Jordan—the Arnon, the Jabbok, and the Yarmuk. Across the northernmost of these divisions, which extends from Anti-Lebanon to the Yarmuk, “the limestone which forms the basis of the country is covered by volcanic deposits. The stone is basalt, the soil is rich, red loam resting on beds of ash, and there are vast ‘harras’ or eruptions of lava, suddenly cooled and split open into the most tortuous shapes. Down the edge of the Jordan valley and down the border of the desert run rows of extinct volcanoes. The centre of this northern province is a great plain, perhaps 50 miles long by 20 miles broad, scarcely broken by a hill, and almost absolutely without trees. To the west of this, above the Jordan, is the hilly and once well-wooded district of Jaulan (Golan of Scripture); to the east the ‘harras’ and extinct volcanoes already noticed; and in the southeast, the high range of Jebel Hauran. All beyond is desert draining to the Euphrates.”

In the second division of Eastern Palestine, which extends from the Yarmuk to the Jabbok, the volcanic elements almost entirely disappear and the limestone comes into view again. The surface of the country is generally made up of high ridges covered with forests and furnishing rich pasturage; eastward, there are plains covered with luxuriant herbage.

The third division of the Transjordanic region lies between the Jabbok and the Arnon rivers. In it “the ridges and forests alike diminish, till by the north of the Dead Sea, the country assumes the form of an absolutely treeless plateau, in winter bleak, in summer breezy and fragrant. This plateau is broken only by deep, wide, warm valleys like the Arnon, across which it rolls southward; eastward it is separated from the desert by low, rolling hills.”

The country west of the Jordan, or Western Palestine, by far the most important in Gospel history, is naturally divided into three long parallel tracts extending north and south:

(1) Sea-coast. This tract is a plain, the main portion of which extends without a break from the desert below Gaza to the ridge of Mount Carmel. A great part of this plain is flat and naturally fertile. It is intersected by deep gullies which have high earthen banks, and through some of which flow perennial streams. The neighborhood of these streams is marshy, especially towards the north. This main portion of the maritime plain is some 80 miles long and from 100 to 200 feet above the sea, with low cliffs near the Mediterranean; towards the north it is 8 miles, and near Gaza 20 miles, broad. North of the headland of Carmel, which comes within 200 yards of the sea, is the second and narrower portion of the maritime plain extending to Phenicia through the territory of Acre; very near this town the plain has an average width of about 5 miles and is remarkably fertile.

(2) The Hilly Country. Next to the coast-plain eastward comes the high table-land, which gives to Western Palestine the aspect of a hilly region. This tract is about 25 miles wide, and its eastern slopes are extremely steep and rugged. The fertility of this highland region improves gradually as one goes northward.

The southern district below Hebron is mostly made up of barren uplands. Passing a little farther north into Judæa, we find the central and northern parts of the hilly country scarcely more fertile, for the soil is poor and scanty, and springs are very rare; its western and northwestern parts, being reached by sea-breezes, offer a better vegetation, olives abound, and some thickets of pine and laurel are to be noticed; the eastern part is an uninhabitable tract known as the wilderness of Judæa.

Proceeding northward from Judæa to Samaria, the central section of Western Palestine, the country gradually opens and is more inviting. Its rich plains become gradually larger; the valleys are tillable and possess springs; there are orange-groves and orchards; the mountains are still bare of wood; northwest of Nablous, however, the slopes are dotted with fields of corn and tracts of wood.

Proceeding still northward, we reach Galilee, the northernmost division of Western Palestine, where we find the plain of Esdrælon, 15 square miles in extent. The vegetation is more luxuriant here than elsewhere west of the Jordan, and springs are abundant. The hills are richly wooded with oaks, maples, poplars; covered with wild flowers, rich herbage, etc. East of these hills is the rounded mass of Mount Thabor, covered with oaks and contrasting with the bare slopes of the Little Hermon about 4 miles distant to the southwest. North of Thabor is the plain El Buttauf, of a similar nature to that of Esdrælon, but much more elevated.

(3) The Jordan Valley. This valley extends from the base of Mount Hermon to the southern shore of the Dead Sea. Its width varies from half a mile to 5 miles; at some points it is 12 miles broad. At the foot of Mount Hermon this valley is about 1000 feet above the sea; 12 miles below, it is upon the sea-level; 10 miles farther south it is lower by 692 feet; and 65 miles farther, at the Dead Sea, it is 1292 feet below the level of the Mediterranean. The mountains on either side reach a great altitude, some points being 4000 feet high. These heights, combined with the deep depression of the valley, afford a great variety of temperature, and bring into close proximity productions usually found widely apart.

Mountains, Lowlands, Rivers, and Lakes of Western Palestine. Along the coast the only mountain of importance is the ridge of Carmel, the highest point of which is about 1750 feet. In the hilly region, the best-known points of elevation are: Hebron, 3000 feet; Mount Olivet, 2600 feet; Mounts Hebal and Garizim, 3000 feet; Little Hermon and Thabor, 1900 feet.

The three principal lowlands are: (1) the maritime plain subdivided into Philistia, the plain of Saron, and the plain of Acre; (2) the plain of Esdrælon; (3) the valley of the Jordan.

The most important river of Palestine is the Jordan. At the junction of its three principal sources it is 45 feet wide and flows in a channel from 10 to 20 feet below the level of the plain. It traverses successively the lakes of Merom and Genesareth, and empties itself into the Dead Sea after an actual course of 260 miles, although the distance between its source and the Dead Sea is not more than 136 miles in a straight line. Its width varies from 45 to 185 feet, and its depth from 3 to 12 feet.

Three things are chiefly noticeable in connection with this river, namely: (1) its enormous fall of nearly 3000 feet; (2) its endless windings; (3) the absence of towns on its banks. The other streams of Western Palestine worthy of mention are the Leontes, the Belus, the Cison, and the Zerka.

The three principal lakes are the lake of Merom, the lake of Genesareth, and the Dead Sea.

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PART FIRST - THE GOSPEL HISTORY OR THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHRIST
FIRST PERIOD - BEFORE OUR LORD’S PUBLIC MINISTRY

SYNOPSIS OF CHAPTER II

I. HEROD, KING OF JUDÆA.

  1. Origin and Early Life.
  2. Accession to the Jewish Throne.
  3. Consolidation of his Power.

II. PUBLIC WORKS IN

  1. Jerusalem: Theatre; Palace; Temple.
  2. Palestine and Foreign Countries.

III. SOCIAL LIFE IN JERUSALEM.

  1. The Court and the Upper Classes.
  2. The People and their Hatred of Herod.

IV. RELIGIOUS CONDITION OF THE JEWS.

  1. Jerusalem the Religious Centre of the Jewish World.
  2. Heathenism Widespread in Palestine.
  3. The Messianic Expectation.

V. LAST PERIOD OF HEROD’S REIGN.

  1. Domestic Affairs of Herod.
  2. Condition of Palestine at Herod’s Death.



§ 1. Herod, king of Judæa

1. Origin and Early Life. Herod, whose last years of reign mark the beginning of New Testament history, did not, as was claimed by his partisans, descend from one of the noble Jewish families which returned from Babylon, but belonged to the despised children of Edom, whom the valiant John Hyrcanus had formerly conquered and forcibly converted to the Jewish faith. He was the second son of the shrewd Antipater, who during the rule of the weak Machabean prince Hyrcanus II. gradually became the real master of Judæa under the title of procurator conferred upon him by Julius Cæsar, and who profited by this fulness of power to appoint Herod, then only twenty-five years old, to the government of Galilee.

In that province Herod soon displayed the energy which ever characterized him. He crushed a guerrilla warfare, and put to death Ezechias, its leader, and nearly all his associates. This aroused the indignation of the patriots of Jerusalem, and Herod, as professing the Jewish religion, was summoned to appear before the great Sanhedrim for having arrogated to himself the power of life and death. He appeared, but escaped condemnation through the interference of Hyrcanus II., and took refuge near Sextus Cæsar, the president of Syria.

On the murder of Julius Cæsar (B.C. 44), and the possession of Syria by Cassius, Antipater and Herod changed sides, and in return for substantial services Herod was recognized as governor of Cœle-Syria, that is, of the fertile valley between Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. When the battle of Philippi (B.C. 41) placed the Roman world in the hands of Antony and Octavius, the former obtained Asia. Once more Herod knew how to gain the new ruler, and he became tetrarch of Judæa, with the promise of the crown if all went well.

2. Accession to the Jewish Throne. Forced the following year, by an irruption of the Parthians, who had espoused the cause of his rival Antigonus (the son of Aristobulus II.), to abandon Jerusalem, Herod first betook himself to Egypt, and then to Rome. There, owing chiefly to the influence of Antony, he was declared king of Judæa by the Roman senate, and, preceded by the consuls and the magistrates, he walked in procession between Antony and Octavius to the capitol, where the usual sacrifices were offered and the decree formally laid up in the archives.

After an absence of barely three months, Herod was again in Palestine, where, at the head of an army, he soon made himself master of Galilee. He next set himself at work to take the Holy City. But before investing it—which he did in the early spring of B.C. 37—he repaired to Samaria to wed the unfortunate Machabean princess, Mariamne, betrothed to him five years before. The uncle of that ill-fated queen was Antigonus, whom Herod now besieged in Jerusalem. After a siege of six months Jerusalem fell, and a fearful scene of carnage ensued. At length Herod, by rich presents, induced the Romans to leave the Holy City, carrying Antigonus with them (June, B.C. 37). Herod, the Idumæan, now ascended the throne of Judæa and inaugurated his long reign of 37 years.

3. Consolidation of His Power. The first part of Herod’s reign (B.C. 37–25) was spent in bloody endeavors to consolidate his power. Antigonus was executed, together with forty-five of his more prominent partisans. The aged Hyrcanus II., who had taken refuge among the Parthians, was induced by the most solemn promises of protection to return to Jerusalem, and was then assassinated (B.C. 30). Aristobulus III., the grandson and successor of Hyrcanus in the priesthood, was drowned at Jericho by the orders of the king, and even Mariamne—the only wife for whom Herod ever bore a real affection—fell a victim to her husband’s blind jealousy. The next victim whom the tyrant suspected of plotting against his throne was Alexandra, his mother-in-law. And when, at length, he discovered, concealed with his brother-in-law, the sons of Babas, distant relatives of the Machabean family, whom he had long sought for in vain, he had them put to death together with their protector. Only then did he feel sure that no Asmonean would endanger his possession of the Jewish throne.

Meanwhile, and also with a view to consolidate his power, Herod neglected nothing to keep up friendly relations with Rome. To please his then all-powerful patron, Antony, he gave up to Cleopatra—who exercised a controlling influence over Antony—a valuable part of his dominions, the fertile district of Jericho. Upon the fall of Antony at Actium (B.C. 31) he succeeded in making a friend of Octavius on the island of Rhodes. Not only did this new patron confirm him in his kingdom, but he greatly enlarged it. When Herod sent his two sons by Mariamne, Alexander and Aristobulus, to Rome for their education, he received from Octavius a new increase of territory, and afterwards was appointed procurator of the province of Syria, and with such authority that his colleagues in command could take no step without his concurrence.


§ 2. Public Works

1. In Jerusalem. To establish himself still more in the favor of Augustus, Herod imitated him in great works of peace. He erected a theatre within the Holy City, and without the walls an amphitheatre in which he held games in honor of the emperor with horse and chariot races and the bloody fights of gladiators and wild beasts. He not only embellished the old residence of the Asmoneans which stood at the end of the bridge between the southern part of the Temple and the upper city, but built for himself in the upper city a royal palace with wide porticoes, rows of pillars and baths, and for the adornment of which he spared neither marble nor gold. Contiguous to that new palace arose three towers of great size and magnificence to which he gave the names of Hippicus, after one of his friends, Phasælus, after his brother, and Mariamne, after his beloved wife. He restored and enlarged the citadel, which he named Antonia, after his former patron. Finally, the most magnificent of all his buildings in Jerusalem was the Temple, which in its former condition was out of keeping with the beautiful recent structures in the Holy City, and which after its rebuilding by Herod became justly the greatest national glory of the Jews.

2. In Palestine and Foreign Countries. Herod’s love of building naturally extended to other places within his dominions. Samaria, already raised from its ruins by Gabinius, was now reconstructed in a magnificent style, fortified, and adorned with a temple in honor of Augustus; hence its new name of Sebaste (Augusta). Jericho received among other embellishments a theatre, amphitheatre, and hippodrome. In place of the ancient Capharsaba, Herod founded the city of Antipatris, thus named from his father; the new city of Phasælis arose north of Jericho; to one of the many strongholds which he built in various directions he gave the name of Herodium, and he took care that it should be supplied with rooms splendidly fitted up for his own use; other fortresses, like that of Machœrus, were restored and adorned with royal palaces. No less than twelve years of work were spent in raising a maritime city on the site of Straton’s tower, and which received the name of Cæsarea in honor of the emperor. Its exposed anchorage was slowly transformed into a safe harbor by a strong breakwater, which was carried far out into the Mediterranean, and from the quays which lined its harbor the stately city arose in the form of an amphitheatre. In its centre was a hill, on which Herod built a temple dedicated to Augustus, with two colossal statues, one of Rome, and the other of the emperor.

This munificence of the Jewish monarch was not, however, limited to his own dominions. “For the Rhodians he built at his own cost the Pythian temple. He aided in the construction of most of the public buildings of the city of Nicopolis, which Augustus had founded near Actium. In Antioch he caused colonnades to be erected along both sides of the principal street.… Tyre and Sidon, Byblus and Berytus, Tripolis, Ptolemais and Damascus were also graced with memorials to the glory of Herod’s name. And even as far as Athens and Sparta proofs of his liberality were to be found.”


§ 3. Social Life in Jerusalem

1. The Court and the Upper Classes. In his great desire to please Augustus and appear a liberal and cultured prince, Herod held a court whose splendor and general tone resembled in many ways that of the emperor. Like the Roman ruler, the king of Judæa surrounded himself with men accomplished in Greek literature and art, and many among them were placed in offices of trust or honor. Prominent among them was the historian, Nicholas of Damascus, on whom Herod relied implicitly, and to whom he intrusted all important and difficult diplomatic missions. Another Greek, a certain Ptolemy, was at the head of the royal finances, while other Greeks or half-Greeks acted as tutors or travelling companions to his sons. Foreign mercenaries surrounded his person, and in so far contributed to give to his court a non-Jewish aspect. Again, the personal example of the king, who had himself submitted to receive lessons from Nicholas of Damascus in philosophy, rhetoric, and history, contributed powerfully to make his various officers reach a wider and higher culture than that which had ever been witnessed at the court of the Asmoneans. Unfortunately the Jewish monarch ever remained a barbarian at heart, and his practice of polygamy, together with his suspicious temperament, greatly interfered with the peace and happiness of those immediately connected with him.

Under Herod the upper classes lost much of their hereditary power, and endeavored to make up for it by a life of luxury and enjoyment; yet the high priests continued to form an influential aristocracy.

2. The People and their Hatred of Herod. Amid all his power and glory, Herod himself realized how far he was from enjoying the good-will of his subjects at large. He knew that they murmured at his introduction of foreign and heathen practices, his arbitrary setting up and deposition of the high priests, his prodigal expenditure, and his terrible severity against his opponents. Hence he several times attempted to pacify the people by truly generous and liberal deeds; but their gratitude did not last long, and time and again serious conspiracies endangered his life.


§ 4. Religious Condition of the Jews

1. Jerusalem the Religious Centre of the Jewish World. In consequence of such popular opposition to his rule, as to that of a hated Idumæan and of a direct representative of the foreign and pagan authority of Rome, Herod carefully refrained from interfering with all that the worship of Jehovah in His own sanctuary required in the eyes of the Jews of Palestine and of the Dispersion. Under him, therefore, as under his predecessors, Jerusalem remained the great metropolis of Judaism. It was at the Holy City that the dispersed Jews regularly congregated in hundreds of thousands, bearing their yearly tribute and anxious to worship the God of their ancestors within the sacred precincts of His Temple. It was in the Holy City that each important section of the Hellenistic Jews had contributed to erect a beautiful synagogue, where those of the same tongue and country and interests could hold meetings of their own, and welcome their fellow-countrymen at the time of the annual festivals. It was in Jerusalem that the great masters of Israel, looked up to by the whole Jewish world, expounded the Law and the traditions of the elders, and from the Holy City that all the parts of the Eastern and Western Dispersion received the teachings of their fathers, the regulations for the feast-days, etc. All this had besides the advantage to secure for the capital of Judæa a commerce, an influence, a prestige which it would never have possessed otherwise, and, as long as he was able to control it by the free appointment or removal of the head of the Jewish hierarchy, Herod had no direct interest to interfere with it.

2. Heathenism Widespread in Palestine. That this conduct of the Jewish king was simply the result of expediency is made plain by his manner of action wherever he felt himself free to encourage heathenism. Not only far away, in Phenicia, Syria, Asia Minor, and Greece, he made himself the ostentatious patron of everything pagan, rearing temples, theatres, porticoes, gymnasia, etc., but also around the central district of Palestine, and even to some extent within its limits, he started or encouraged idolatry. Gaza, Ascalon, Dor, Cæsarea, Joppe, Samaria, Panias were desecrated by heathen temples, altars, idols, and priests. Even “in the Temple of Jerusalem the Grecian style of architecture was freely adopted. It is true that in the Temple proper Herod could not venture to forsake the traditional forms; but in the building of the inner fore-courts we see the influence of Greek models.” Indeed the king went so far as to place within its sacred precincts a number of trophies, and to display over its main entrance a golden eagle, the symbol of pagan Rome.

3. The Messianic Expectation. It is easy to understand how such unholy changes, forced upon the Jewish patriots and believers by the iron hand of the royal Idumæan, made them long ardently for the reign of the Messias, which their sacred books represented as a future kingdom of righteousness, and which their apocryphal literature—such writings, for instance, as the Sibylline Books, the Book of Enoch, and the Psalter of Solomon—described chiefly under the attractive images of material prosperity. False Messiahs made their appearance at the very moment of Our Lord’s stay in Egypt, and the message of John the Baptist, a little later, gave a new impulse to the general belief that the Messias was at hand. Not only the New Testament is full of references to such an expectation, but even pagan writers bear witness to it.

The full frame of mind of Our Lord’s contemporaries regarding the person and work of the Messias will be gradually unfolded in the course of the present work; yet, even from now, it may be useful to set forth the general belief of the time. According to the popular ideal, the Messias was to be primarily a political leader, a mighty deliverer of His people from the tyranny of its pagan oppressors, and also a restorer of the Jewish institutions in their primitive purity. Issued from David’s race and born in Judæa, He was expected to start a world-wide empire, of which Jerusalem would be the capital, and in which the sons of Abraham would be superior in things temporal as well as spiritual to the rest of the world. To be admitted into this Messianic kingdom it would be sufficient to observe the enactments of the Mosaic law, to which the Messias would Himself be subjected. Finally, a large number of Jews believed that if the nation was once engaged in such an extreme conflict with the Romans as to threaten Jerusalem and its Temple with destruction, the Messias must needs appear.

We shall see later on how Our Lord gradually modified these expectations.


§ 5. Last Period of Herod’s Reign

1. Domestic Affairs of Herod. The last period of Herod’s rule (B.C. 15–4) was disgraced by scenes of bloodshed still more awful than those which darkened its first years, and the history of his domestic affairs is that of a long succession of intrigues and murders. Antipater, his eldest son by his former wife Doris, accused his stepbrothers Alexander and Aristobulus of wishing to avenge upon Herod the death of Mariamne, their mother. Antipater was believed, as well as the court people whom the accuser had won over, and who were constantly inventing new reports. Accusations and reconciliations now alternated with each other; but the calumnies did not cease in the king’s palace till Alexander and Aristobulus were strangled by his order at Sebaste (B.C. 7). A multitude of Pharisees, with some of the courtiers who had conspired against Herod in favor of Pheroras, his brother, were put to death. Upon further inquiry, the death of Pheroras brought to light the whole secret history of years. He had died by taking poison sent by Antipater to dispatch Herod. Even the second Mariamne—the daughter of Simon the high priest—was proved to have been privy to the plot, and her son Philip was, on this account, blotted out of his father’s will (B.C. 5). Antipater, now unmasked, was handed over for trial to the Syrian proprætor. Easily convicted, he was led away in chains. At last the strong nature of Herod gave way under such revelations, a deadly illness seized him, and soon word ran through Jerusalem that he was no more. At once riots took place; but the troops were turned out and the unarmed rioters scattered; many who had been seized were put to death.

Antipater was executed only five days before his father’s demise. Herod died in the seventieth year of his age (750 U.C.).

2. Condition of Palestine at Herod’s Death. At the news of the tyrant’s death frightful anarchy prevailed in Palestine. The popular voice, backed up by tumult and riot, clamored for the redress of grievances, such as the diminution of public burdens, the release of the prisoners with whom Herod had crowded the dungeons, the abandonment of onerous taxes, etc. Very soon, in fact, Archelaus, to whom Herod had left by his last will the government of Judæa, Idumæa, and Samaria, saw himself compelled to send a large body of troops against the rioters, 3000 of whom were slain.

A little later the Roman officials seized upon the treasures of the late king, and insurrection upon insurrection broke out against them. Even the troops of Herod wandered about in bands, plundering as they pleased, and false Messiahs appeared who assumed the diadem and gathered troops of bandits. Finally, a large number of the Jews had been so disgusted with the Herodian rule that they sent 500 of their number to Augustus to ask him not to ratify the will of the deceased monarch, and to suppress the royal authority in Judæa.