{N}JEWISH REBELLIONS{/}

In less than ten years Augustus had transformed the Roman world of the 
Republic into the Empire. The entire Mediterranean basin and numerous 
territories very distant from its shores were subject to the authority of 
Rome, including Palestine.
The Jewish community had seen how Caesar had granted them privileges 
related to their religion. Rome guaranteed the Jews freedom of worship in 
the Temple in Jerusalem. It also extended this religious tolerance to the 
religious services held in synagogues throughout the diaspora. But all of 
this also accentuated a division existing among Jews themselves, namely 
between those like the Pharisees and Essenes who desired nothing more 
than the freedom of worship granted by Rome, and those who continued to 
demand political independence as well.
The confrontations arising from a population that was growing more and 
more impatient with the heavy handed harassment of Roman officials and 
imperial government led to three Jewish rebellions in less than seventy 
years, as well as to savage reprisals and to the unprecedented dispersion 
of the Jewish community.
{K}DIVIDED HERITAGE{/}

In the first testament that Herod the Great made, he left his kingdom to 
{N}Herod Antipas{/}, the second of the two sons that he had with Malthace. 
However, shortly before his death Herod made a new will in which he 
included the other son of Malthace, and {N}Philip{/}, born of his fifth wife. 
The king's death initiated unbelievable disruptions. {N}Archelaus{/}, son of 
Malthace, believed himself to be the rightful heir of the crown even 
before Rome had ratified his father's will. He vented his anger with 
terrible violence. Palestine was subject to frightening confusion and 
victim of rival groups.
Since succession depended upon Augustus' choice, each of the presumed 
heirs set sail independently of the others to plead his cause in Rome. 
However, pious Jews among whom the Pharisees had much influence, did not 
want any member of this royal dynasty that had conducted itself in such a 
scandalous manner. They longed for the restoration of a priesthood under 
the authority of a high priest worthy of the name. These pious Jews also 
set sail to demand an audience with Augustus after having appealed for 
help from the important Jewish colony in Rome.
Deprived suddenly of its political authorities and its wise leaders, the 
country experienced so many new disturbances that the Syrian legate, 
Quintilius Varus, had to intervene with troops from Antioch. This 
repression only served to create more animosity against the Romans among 
the Jewish population. It was at this time that the extreme wing of the 
Pharisees created the separate group of the {N}Zealots{/} who chose the path 
of violence to achieve their objectives.
The three brother heirs returned from Rome. Augustus ratified their 
father's will but with some modifications. He denied Archelaus the title 
of king. Instead he would be ethnarch of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. 
Herod Antipas became ethnarch of Galilee and Perea. Philip became 
ethnarch of Gaulanitis, Batanea, and Trachonitis, territories to the east 
of the Jordan.
{K}JUDEA UNDER THE PROCURATORS{/}

True son of his father, Archelaus governed with such brutality that a 
large part of the population protested against him. They again sent a 
delegation to Rome to be liberated from this despot. Augustus deposed 
Archelaus whom he exiled to Gaul. The territory lost its rank as allied 
kingdom and was annexed to the province of Syria. Nevertheless, it was to 
be administered in an autonomous manner by a prefect under the 
jurisdiction of the provincial legate residing in Antioch of Syria. The 
prefect collected the taxes and commanded the auxiliary troops which were 
recruited locally. He alone had authority to execute sentences of capital 
punishment, including any pronounced by the {N}Sanhedrin{/}. Since the 
Sanhedrin continued to administer justice in keeping with its particular 
rights and to direct religious affairs, the only jurisdiction Rome 
exercised in this field was for the prefect to nominate the high priest. 
The Community of Jerusalem reserved freedom of worship under the 
supervision of the Roman garrison stationed in the Fortress Antonia. By 
exceptional privilege, the Community was exempt from imperial worship and 
from doing military service.
During the years that followed the deposition of Archelaus, the Jewish 
population of Judea had plenty of motives to complain about Roman rule. 
{N}Pontius Pilate{/} in particular, who ruled Judea from 26 to 36 AD, 
provided many examples of brutality and humiliation. Having treated the 
Samaritans in the same way, he was summoned to Rome to account for his 
conduct. He never returned. Possibly he committee suicide...or was invited 
to do so.
{K}PHILIP{/}

The Tetrarch Philip (not to be confused with the Philip or Herod-Philip 
of [Mk_6,17] cf: the following paragraph) built a city on 
the upper Jordan which he named Caesarea (This is {N}Caesarea Philippi{/}.), 
another in Gaulanitis to which he gave the name of Tiberias, and a third 
in Perea with the name Juliada. In this way he simultaneously honored 
Tiberius and Julia, daughter of Augustus, whom Tiberius had married. He 
also married {N}Salome{/}, daughter of {N}Herodias{/}, and left the memory of a 
peaceful rule. He died without heirs in 34 BC and his tetrarchy was 
annexed to the Province of Syria.
During the period of Solomon's reign several of these territories were 
subject to him and thereafter to the kings of Samaria, nevertheless the 
majority of the inhabitants were pagans. They participated only 
indirectly in the events taking place in Palestine.
{K}HEROD ANTIPAS{/}

The tetrarch established himself at first in Sepphoris as capital of 
Galilee. However, he found the city in terrible condition. It had been 
the scene of an insurrection after the death of Herod the Great which 
Varus then quelled with repression. Herod Antipas decided to make a new 
beginning with a new capital. He ordered the construction of a palace on 
the west bank of the lake and around that palace he would build 
{N}Tiberias{/} named in honor of the present emperor.
Everything looked as if Antipas would have a trouble free reign. His 
half-brother, Herod Philip, however, had married his cousin, {N}Herodias{/}, 
who would change that. {N}Philip{/} himself remained prudently on the margin 
of political life, but not so his ambitious wife. The intriguing Herodias 
was not content to live with a man without ambition. She connived with 
Antipas, who also was her cousin, to the point where he repudiated his 
wife in order to marry Herodias. The consequences were disastrous. The 
father of his former wife, King Aretas of Nabatea, marched against 
Antipas to avenge his daughter. The Roman legate of Syria, Vitellius, 
refused to come to Antipas' aid, and he was defeated in 36 AD. 
Nevertheless, Herodias continued her intrigues, this time to gain the 
royal crown for her new husband who was only tetrarch. The Emperor 
Caligula (37-41) was not swayed by Herodias since he already planned to 
give the honor to his close friend, {N}Herod Agrippa I{/}. Moreover, Caligula 
angrily reacted to Herodias' interventions by deposing Antipas (39) and 
exiling both him and her. She refused the imperial favor to follow him.
{K}AGRIPPA{/}

Emperor Caligula had already manifested his favoritism for Herod Agrippa, 
grandson of Herod the Great and Mariamme, by appointing him king of the 
ancient tetrarchy of Philip (37). In 39 he expanded his tetrarchy to 
include Galilee which he took from Antipas. Then when Caligula was 
assassinated in 41, the new Emperor Claudius granted Agrippa the ancient 
territory of Archelaus, that is, Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. During his 
brief but prosperous and peaceful reign, Agrippa knew how to combine his 
appreciation for Hellenism with his respect for Judaism.
In this way the kingdom of Herod the Great was reunited under the crown 
of one of his grandsons, but only for a short period. When Agrippa died 
in 44, his son was still a youth. Claudius used this excuse to place the 
kingdom under the rule of Roman procurators.
{K}INCREASED TENSION{/}

Caligula, during his brief reign, had ordered that his statue should be 
erected in the Temple of Jerusalem. He did this as a reprisal against the 
Jews who had destroyed an altar that had been built in his honor in 
Jamnia. The legate had the wisdom of delaying the execution of this 
imperial order. In the meantime, Agrippa had gone to Rome where he used 
all his influence to have the order rescinded. The assassination of 
Caligula was fortunate for the legate who had been advised that he should 
commit suicide for insubordination.
Peace seemed to have been restored and continued under the rule of the 
following procurators. However, under his successor, Cumanus, the 
arrogance of a Roman soldier twice provoked mutinies, brutal repression, 
and complaints to the governor who finally gave in to the accusations of 
the Jews. However, when another dispute arose between Samaritans and 
Jews, Cumanus decided in favor of the Samaritans. Two instigators incited 
Jewish crowds in Samaria to assassinate their enemies and burn the 
cities. Jewish leaders managed with great difficulty to calm the 
protesters, but the Samaritans presented their complaints to the legate 
in Syria. He sent the disputing parties to present their case before 
Emperor Claudius in Rome. There Agrippa, who was on good terms with 
Claudius, interceded for the Jews whose situation once more turned out 
favorably. In the meantime, Cumanus was exiled and replaced by {N}Felix{/} 
who was known for his arbitrary nature and his notoriously bad conduct. 
At this time Claudius died, leaving the empire to his son, {N}Nero{/}, by his 
wife Agrippina.
Jerusalem had become a turmoil of mutinous groups, and assassinations 
were frequent. The procurators responded with increased repression which 
only further incited the Zealots to seek revenge. A revolt broke out in 
Caesarea where Felix had his capital. His successor {N}Festus{/}, who is 
mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles in relation with Paul's process in 
Caesarea, did everything possible to put an end to the banditry and 
violence. However, under a succession of corrupt procurators the 
situation only grew worse.
{K}"THE FIRST REVOLT"{/}

A quarrel between Greeks and Jews nearby a synagogue lit the fire. The 
conflict quickly spread to the cities and to Jerusalem. By November 66 
the whole country was in tumult with more than 50,000 men in combat. The 
Syrian Legate, Cestius Gallus, came from Antioch to Caesarea which he 
pillaged and burned. Then he dispatched the XII legion to Galilee. He 
appeared to have restored calm to the northern part of the country. The 
Romans marched to Jerusalem and surrounded it. However, Cestius, badly 
informed, raised the siege and withdrew. The Jews took advantage of his 
retreat to cut the Romans to pieces. Emperor Nero immediately reacted by 
sending Vespasian, whom Tacitus described as "that indefatigable 
warrior." Vespasian personally took command of the XV legion. His son, 
Titus, brought another two legions from Egypt. These, together with the 
legion already stationed in Palestine, gave the Roman general an army of 
about 60,000 soldiers.
Vespasian lay siege to one city after another: Jotapata, Tiberias, and 
Gamala, making him master of Galilee. In the following spring, with the 
borders of the Jordan clear, he took control of Jericho and thus 
controlled the greater part of Judea. He stationed his legions in Emmaus.
{K}VESPASIAN, EMPEROR{/}

While this campaign was going on, Nero set Rome into turmoil. His 
generals revolted and {N}Nero{/} committed suicide to avoid being tortured. 
With the emperor's death, social order broke down. Military anarchy 
occurred followed by civil wars. Finally the provinces of the East 
imposed order and proclaimed Vespasian emperor. He sent troops to prepare 
for his arrival in Rome, but before leaving Palestine he placed his son 
in charge with orders to crush the Jewish rebellion. This task had become 
even more urgent since the turmoil in Rome had given the Jewish 
insurgents time to regroup.
{K}SIEGE OF JERUSALEM{/}

The new commander in chief encamped at Guibea, five kilometers from 
Jerusalem. Although he had a formidable army, the city was difficult to 
attack and its defenders were resolved to defend it to the end. 
Unfortunately for them, they were not united. Moreover they were tired of 
the despotism of John of Gischala who had ruled Jerusalem since the year 
67. They gladly welcomed a new leader, Simon bar Giora. John and his 
Zealots took refuge in the patio of the Temple. The Jews turned on one 
another with betrayals and conflagrations. Titus, having failed in an 
attempt to enter the city by force, lay siege to it. At the end of May 
70, the northeast wall of the city fell. The troops took control of the 
intervening territory up to the second wall, which then also fell. 
Finally the Fortress Antonia was captured in July, and then on the 29 th 
of July the {N}Temple{/} was entered and razed. (That was the same month of 
Ab in which Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Jerusalem.) In September the 
last defenders, emaciated by terrible hunger, were driven out of the 
upper city where they had regrouped. This was the last blow. Jerusalem 
lay in ruins.
{K}END OF THE REBELLION{/}

Those who escaped death were added in the slave market to their 
compatriots who had been captured in the battles of Galilee and Judea. A 
few groups of Zealots, entrenched in Herod's old fortresses, continued to 
resist by carrying out a war of harassment. Titus decided to finish off 
these pockets of resistance. Herodium and Machaerus were the first to 
fall. Finally after a six months siege, Masada fell in the spring of 73.
Emperor Vespasian made Palestine an imperial province with the name of 
{N}Judea{/}. Since the Temple lay in ruins, the temple tax was collected for 
the treasury of Jupiter Capitolinus, but Judaism retained the status of a 
recognized religion.
With the loss of political independence and the destruction of the 
Temple, the Sanhedrin was quickly restructured in favor of the Pharisee 
Doctors of the Law. They gathered in Jamnia under the leadership of 
Yohanan ben Zakkai. Within a short time the Sanhedrin imposed itself as 
the religious authority of Judaism both in Palestine and in the Diaspora. 
Its president was given the honorary title of "Chief Ruler," Ha Nasi.
{K}UNREST UNDER TRAJAN{/}

As can be imagined, the Jews had little sympathy fo either Vespasian or 
his son Titus. The third member of the dynasty, Domitian, had a 
tyrannical character which hardly disposed him to respect a religious 
worship opposed to all the other religions. Accordingly, in the long 
persecution against the Christians in 95, many Jews also suffered, 
including even members of the imperial family who had converted to 
Judaism.
Trajan came to power in 98. Dreaming of recreating the exploits of 
Alexander in the East, he decided to crush the Parthian enemy. He invaded 
Armenia in 114, then launched a campaign into Mesopotamia, leading his 
legions to the very shores of the Persian Gulf. At that time the Persians 
counterattacked, forcing Trajan to abandon Assyria and lower Mesopotamia.
Trajan's campaigns exhausted the state treasury. The Emperor increased 
taxes. The Jewish communities of the empire refused to put up with this 
continual increase in taxation. In Cyrene, Egypt, and Cypress resistance 
movements developed, and the rich communities of Mesopotamia joined them. 
It is probable that this movement may have taken root at least partially 
in Judea.
{K}BAR KOCHBA{/}

In the year 117 Trajan died suddenly in Selinus in Cilicia. It appears 
that disturbances within Jewish communities had subsided. Shortly after 
assuming the throne, Adrian visited Jerusalem in the year 130 and found 
it more or less in the same condition of devastation in which the Romans 
had left it after the first rebellion. He decided to build a new city on 
its ruins, Aelia Capitolina, and to erect on the very site of the Temple 
a shrine in honor of Jupiter Capitolino. On the other hand, it appears 
that he forbade circumcision at this time, which for Romans was as bad as 
castration. Whichever the cause, what is certain is that as soon as the 
emperor left the East in the year 132, a certain Simon Kosiba, also 
called Bar Kochba, "the Son of the Star," began leading an insurrection.
One of the most illustrious rabbis of the time, Rabbi Aqiba, supported by 
the priest Eleazar, recognized Simon as the Messiah. Simon extended his 
movement throughout the country. At first the Romans were taken by 
surprise and withdrew beyond the borders, leaving the country to the 
rebels. Jerusalem was liberated; money was coined; worship was 
reestablished; but all this was but a wild fancy. The legions 
counterattacked and the movement was suppressed even more viciously than 
in the days of Titus. At the beginning of the year 134 Jerusalem was 
again crushed by the Romans. Some resistance groups sought refuge in 
caves excavated in the hillsides overlooking the desert of Judah on the 
Dead Sea. In a short time the Romans dislodged and massacred them. Bar 
Kochba died in the final battle. Rome took possession of the country, 
eradicating all signs of the past. Judea would henceforth be Palestine.
{K}JEWISH REORGANIZATION{/}

The Jewish population of Palestine was no more than a shadow of what it 
had been. A great number had been killed and even more of those who were 
captured had been sold into slavery. Nevertheless, this "small remnant" 
would carry out the considerable work planned in Jamnia between the two 
rebellions and continued tirelessly in rabbinical schools in several 
cities of Palestine. Synagogues experienced a great development 
especially in Galilee which would become the future home of the 
Sanhedrin.
The Emperor Antonius Pius (138-161) was an honorable and consciencious 
man. His contemporaries did not spare praises about his simplicity and 
equanimity. Respectful of the cultural diversity of his subjects, he 
again allowed Jews the right to practice circumcision, but only on 
persons born of Jewish fathers. These concessions by Rome were not 
without a purpose. The Parthian threat still existed on the eastern 
frontier of the empire. The powerful Jewish communities in Mesopotamia 
always had the potential of becoming an enemy. Rome did not hesitate in 
strengthening the powers of the Sanhedrin by conferring on its president 
the title of Patriarch of the Jews.
{K}CHRISTIANS IN PALESTINE{/}

In its first period, the Christian community of Jerusalem was composed of 
Jews from Palestine. Formed as they were in the school of the prophets, 
nourished by the words of the prophets, especially by texts of Isaiah 
about the Servant of Yahweh, they recognized Jesus of Nazareth as the 
Messiah announced by their fathers. {C}"We have found the one that Moses 
wrote about in the Law, and the prophets as well: he is Jesus, son of 
Joseph, from Nazareth,"{/} as Philip would say to Nathanael [Jn_1,45].
For the "Christians of the circumcision," as they were called in order to 
distinguish them from Christians of pagan origin, the Law had not be 
abrogated, but transformed. Even though they did not neglect the 
prescriptions demanded by the Torah, their faith in Christ made them 
suspect in the eyes of the rest of the Jews, giving rise to frequent 
conflicts. It is interesting to note that when the first Jewish rebellion 
occurred, the Jewish Christians of Judea took refuge first in Samaria and 
then in Pella in Transjordan [Mk_13,14], distancing themselves in this 
way from the hostilities of the Jews against Rome.
Nevertheless, the Jewish rebellions had the effect of increasing 
diversity within the population of Palestine. Greeks, Syrians and persons 
that had come from all countries of  the Orient, rubbed shoulders with 
the Jewish survivors of the massacres and exiles. Jewish Christians 
existed among the Jews, who did not trust them, and among Christians who 
came from other peoples. This situation contributed to the dissolution of 
the mixed Jewish group.
Some recognized Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah Son of God made man, 
whereas others limited their belief in him to being the Messiah. Between 
these two groups there were still many more variations of belief. In the 
middle of the second century, Hegesuooys, a chronicler of the Church of 
Palestine, named a dozen Jewish-Christian sects which had not bonded to 
the large Church made up mostly of faithful of pagan origin. These small, 
individual communities were divided among themselves and existed by their 
own support, and so gradually died out. When a census was taken of the 
bishops attending the Council of Nicea in the year 325 who represented 
communities from Palestine, it was noticed that not a single one of them 
had a Jewish name.
Before the Jewish-Christian communities disappeared they left abundant 
literature. These works vary greatly in importance among which we can 
mention the following: the Gospel according to the Hebrews, the Gospel of 
Peter, the History of the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God, and the 
History of Joseph the Carpenter. None of these was accepted into the 
Canon of Scripture.
