Palestine of Jesus' time, and Its People

As mentioned earlier, Palestine was the name given to the whole area that was traditionally the land of Israel. First it was divided into the 12 tribes, then the 2 kingdoms, then into 4 regions. (The Romans did the region thing, it helped them to manage all their territories...cuz they had so much! They would appoint a Roman leader to manage the area, kind of like a State Governor I suppose).

The 4 regions were as follows:

1) Galilee  (yellow)
2) Samaria (purple)
3) Perea (middle green)
4) Judea (bottom pink)

We will give the regions of Syria (upper green) and Decopolis (middle pink) an honorable mention, because they are not necessarily considered to be a part of Palestine, they are still areas that are mentioned in the Bible.

 Take a minute to remember where the different regions lie, it will help you to follow along better as we get more into the ministry of Jesus and where he traveled. Jesus spent most of his time in the two regions of Galilee and Judea. Galilee encompassed the city of Nazareth where Jesus grew up, and Jerusalem was in Judea.

Galilee:

• Fertile land with lots of gardens, vineyards, and olive groves
• Lots of big cities
• Biggest population of Gentiles
• The greater diversity created a more friendly and accepting people
• Jesus was a Galilean

Judea:

• Dry, more desert like
• Many of the ancient cities were in ruins
• More orthodox Jews
• The Judean was proud, haughty, and reserved.
• Few Gentiles lived in this region

Now that we have a general working knowledge of the area and the people that Jesus was working with, we are going to look a little deeper into the Jewish religious system. This will give you a much better understanding of why Jesus met some of the resistance he did from the different religious leaders. I will approach this more like a vocab lesson (since as we recall, history and me don't really get along all that well!)

Synagogue (meeting place)- created after the Babylonians destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, these were places for Jews to meet and pray.

Pharisee - arose sometime during the intertestamental period (the 400 years of quiet time between the old and new testament) of  as a response to the Greek invasion and subsequent Hellenism (spreading of the Greek culture). Some Jews were concerned that their people would again turn from God's law, so a group of men took it upon themselves to help keep their Jewish brethren on the right path. While the motives were good and pure at the beginning, over time the Pharisees got a little caught up with themselves. They were middle class laymen, not priests. To become a Pharisee one needed to be approved by the other Pharisees. These were the most popular group of religious leaders, somewhat in part to their average middle class status, and that they did their business in they synagogues all over Palestine, not in the temple. And last but not least I need to mention the Pharisees passion for the Law; and not just the written Law of God (you know, the one they were developed to protect!) but over time as they grew more arrogant they put much emphasis on oral tradition. In fact they thought that the oral teachings (or in other words their interpretation of the law) was just as important as the written Law. Matthew 15:8-9 captures this problem well.
   (ok, so that was a long vocab lesson...sorry!)
One more thing...the Pharisees were the foundation for Judaism in later centuries. Ok, now I'm moving on!

Sadducees -

• Surfaced during the intertestamental period
• Wealthy class
• The overwhelming majority of them were priests
• More focused on political gain than upholding the Law
• Accepted Hellenism (they didn't want to go against the current Roman reign, the peace that came with Roman rule protected their privileged lifestyle.)
• Worked mostly out of the Temple.
• Closed society, you were born into it.
• Not as popular as the Pharisees
• Only accepted the written Law (although again, they were more focused on politics)

(see, I can be short and to the point!)

Zealots -

• Arose in the early years of the Roman rule
• Crazy passionate about the Law, even more so than the Pharisees
• Strongly opposed the Roman government
• Would use violence to achieve their goals, and were unrestrained in their vengeance.
• Roman efforts to suppress this group only resulted in a stronger backlash.
• Viewed themselves as agents of God's judgment
• The Roman-Jewish war that resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD was largely a result of the Zealots.
• Luke 6:15...see, Jesus really can use anyone for His ministry!

Scribes -

• Professional group, not religious group (but oh so important none the less!)
• Mentioned in both Old and New Testaments
• The duties of the Scribe evolved over time from secretarial duties to interpreters and teachers.
• Old Testament Scribes were often priests, not the case during Christ's time.
• Experts on the Law
• Their word on matters of the Law was final.
• Highly respected

Sanhedrin - the institution from which the Jews governed themselves. The "Council" or "Court".

• Two levels
• Smaller councils associated with Synagogues
• Supreme Court level associated with the Temple (I will call them the Great Sanhedrin)
• The Great Sanhedrin consisted of 71 men representing the 3 groups. (Saducees, Pharisees, Scribes). Most were Saducees, the High Priest (or leader of the pack) was always a Saducees.
• The Great Sanhedrin's authority was limited to Judea, but they were still the most powerful body of Jews in Palestine.
• These were the people that condemned Jesus to death. (booooo) Although they condemned Jesus to death, they didn't have the power to actually carry the execution out. Rome maintained that authority. That's why Jesus was brought before Pilate (and then Herod, and then back to Pilate! Luke 23) to be executed.

WAHOOO!!!

Well done, we are now through the History and background part, and now we will move onto the Man of the hour, Jesus!

We will pause here for a happy dance moment :)