SECTION I
Chapter 3. Jewish Revolts and Wars During the times of Jesus

  Centuries of revolts and wars had taken its toll on Palestine during the
times of Jesus.  Even after the Jews had successfully revolted against the
Seleucid Greeks, peace did not come to the region as there was still local
fighting between rival Jewish groups under the Hasmonean kings who were
vying for power.  Roughly a century and a half later, the Romans forcibly
took control over the region, later installing local governors (such as
Pilate) to maintain order.

  The Romans, were well-known for their BRUTALITY in conquering new
territories--for example burning cities to the ground and forcing entire
city populations into slavery, for being even "late" for tribute.  During
this time, the Jews were overtaxed, and many were forced off their land
from the continued devastation of wars.

  As a result, Palestine was a very poor province within the ancient world.
The historian Josephus complained bitterly about the increase in banditry
beginning around the time of Herod the Great (4 B.C.E.) Some Jewish bandits
robbed and looted for the sake of plunder. Other Jews banded together as
freedom fighters to organize revolts against the hated Romans.  Their
hideouts were situated in the Judean hills and caves, where they could not
be easily discovered by Roman troops.

Increase in the Jewish Messianic Expectations for a POLITICAL Leader

  The declining economic/social situation in Palestine was made even less
tolerable by the introduction of tribute (taxes) to be paid to the hated
pagan Roman Empire.  Not only was this "tribute" a further drain on the local
economy, leaving more people in debt--but it was viewed as a sacrilege!--ie
religious Jews were giving resources/treasures from the Holy Land to infidels.
The current Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were suspiciously viewed as
"conspiring" with the hated Romans to maintain their privileged status as
administrators of the Roman province.

  Studies of societies have shown that during social-political upheavals,
as people become more desperate, people are drawn more to political
and/or religious movements. In this case, most people realized that a
military victory was not possible, and thus the only solution would be to
hope for a miracle from God Himself. In this way, many people turned even
more strongly to their religious beliefs to guide them out of their unbearable
situation.

  The texts of the Old Testament were heavily studied for clues in
inaugurating the promised new Kingdom. Within these texts, the belief in
a Jewish messiah was frequently interwoven with themes and events from
their great biblical past.-- Ever since the mid sixth century B.C.E., the
ancient memory and tradition of the Exodus--whereby the Israelites were
punished for forty years in the Wilderness before reaching the Promised
Land, was seen as a MODEL for understanding God's plan and redemption
of the Jews in their current situation.  That is, religious Jews would
attempt to interpret current events as a repeat of their history during
the times of Moses.(BANDITS, PROPHETS AND MESSIAHS, p 150-1)

   An example of this is seen in the famous verse "in the wilderness prepare
the way of Yahweh" (Isaiah 40:3-5) whose theme was used both by the Essenes
at Qumran, as well as to the early Christians' understanding of the role
played by John the Baptist.

  When one prophesized date for the coming of the messiah would come and go,
the mystics would go back to their texts to calculate out what had gone wrong,
and come up with a "new" date.

  As we have already seen, Daniel contained numerous references that could
be used for clues to dating the initiation of the New Kingdom. For example,
Daniel's verses 9:24-5, stated that a new kingdom of everlasting righteousness
would be inaugurated some "seventy weeks" dating from King Cyrus of Persia's
decree to "restore and to build Jerusalem".) Some messianic hopefuls would
calculate the new date, interpreting each "day" as symbolic of a year.
(Such symbolic interpretations were common in divining the true meaning of
prophecies. After all, the prophet Ezekiel was believed to have sanctioned
this interpretation when he wrote the words "I count one day for every year.")
(Ezekiel 4:6).

  By the time of Jesus' birth some thirty years later, the whole area of
Palestine was still brimming with messianic fervor. The messiah was believed
to not only free the people from their current oppression and misery under the
Romans, but to introduce a new Golden Age of world peace, as prophesied by
Isaiah and the other Old Testament prophets.

  Some Jews were looking for a POLITICAL messiah that would deliver the
people from foreign, heathen domination following the model of Moses,
Joshua, and David himself.  Others looked for a religious or PROPHET-like
messiah in the style of an Elijah or Elisha. Interestingly, the Essenes
sect believed there would be TWO separate messiahs--a priestly messiah
in the model of Aaron, and a kingly messiah fitting the model of David!

  Thus around the time when Jesus was born, a social-political crisis
had been building up for the previous two hundred years. The whole
area was brimming with messianic fervor and hope.  Against this background,
many "false" prophets would rise up to fulfill these prophecies.

The Rise of "FALSE" Prophets and Messiahs in Palestine.

   During these times, there were several apocalyptic prophets, who claiming
divine revelation, led the people to abandon their work and homes and to
follow them into the wilderness to experience God's miracles. The most
detailed accounts of these prophetic movements were written by the Jewish
historian, Josephus-- who wrote of the clashes that occurred between the
Roman authorities and Jewish resistance groups during this time.

  Sometimes, disturbances were created by Jewish individuals, whom Josephus
referred to as "magicians" or "wonder-workers", who promised their followers
some miracle of salvation.  Typically these "wonder-workers" followed the
model of an earlier miracle worked by of the great Jewish prophets.

   That these Jewish groups were willing to confront the power of Rome,
despite overwhelming odds, points to the strong religious apocalyptic faith
of the people.--For their actions show that they believed once they had
begun the struggle, God would intercede on their behalf and finish the
battle for them.

  Josephus was (at the time of his writings) decidedly pro-Roman.  He
thus speaks bitterly on these religiously inspired movements--as his
perspective was that they were "deceiving" and misguiding his fellow Jews
into a hopeless revolution that could only lead to failure, and general ruin
to the countryside of Palestine. In Josephus' words:

  "Imposters and demagogues, under the guise of divine inspiration,
  provoked revolutionary actions and impelled the masses to act like madmen.
  They led them out into wilderness so that there God would show them
  signs of imminent liberation."(J.W. 2.259)  ".. they said that they would
  display unmistakable signs and wonders done according to God's plan."
  (ANTIQUITIES 20.168)

  Josephus wrote on three large apocalyptic movements that occurred around the
time of Jesus. The first of these movements was in Samaria during the term of
Pontius Pilate's rule as governor. According to Josephus' account,
Pilate was a TOUGH-MINDED governor who acted quickly to stamp out rebellion:

  "Nor was the Samaritan nation free from disturbance.  For a man who had
  no qualms about deceit, and freely used it to sway the crowds, commanded
  them to go with him as a group to Mount Gerizim, which is for them the
  most sacred mountain.  He promised to show them, when they got there, the
  holy vessels buried at the spot where Moses had put them.  Those who
  thought his speech convincing came with arms and stationed themselves at
  a village called Tirathana.  There they welcomed late-comers so that they
  might make the climb up the mountain in a great throng.  But Pilate was
  quick to prevent their ascent with a contingent of cavalry and armed
  infantry.  They attacked those who had assembled beforehand in the village,
  killed some, routed others, and took many into captivity.  From this group,
  Pilate executed the ringleaders as well as the most able among the
  fugitives. (ANTIQUITIES, 18.85-87)

   The second major prophetic movement described by Josephus, occurred during
Fadus' term as Roman procurator, (probably around 45 C.E.) when Theudas took
a large following to cross the Jordan River. Again, per Josephus' account:

  "When Fadus was governor of Judea, a charlatan named Theudas persuaded
  most of the common people to take their possessions and follow him to the
  Jordan river.  He said he was a prophet, and that at his command the river
  would be divided and allow them an easy crossing.  Through such words he
  deceived many.  But Fadus hardly let them consummate such foolishness.  He
  sent out a cavalry unit against them, which killed many in a surprise
  attack, though they also took many alive.  Having captured Theudas himself,
  they cut off his head and carried it off to Jerusalem." (ANT 20.97-8)

(Note, the book of Acts also refers to a "Theudas" movement, quoting
through the distinguished Pharisee rabbi Gamaliel in Acts 5:33-42.
Historical scholars have pointed out that the Theudas movement is
presented in Acts as occurring before the Judas revolt, but the former took
place in roughly 45 C.E. and the latter was known to have occurred in 4 C.E.,
some forty years later.  One way out of the dilemma is to assume that
perhaps there was another movement whose charismatic leader coincidently
happened to be named either Theudas or Judas.)

  It is interesting to ponder what Theudas was trying to accomplish in
taking his group out to the Jordan River.  One possibility is that he
was trying to lead his group back into the wilderness in order to purify
themselves and prepare the way of the Lord. Perhaps he was trying to part
the waters of the Jordan, as Moses had parted the Red Sea during the
Exodus, in obtaining their freedom from the Egyptian soldiers who were
following them.  Another possibility is that he was trying to recreate the
miracles of Elijah when he parted the waters of the Jordan before being
taken up into heaven in a "chariot of fire".

  The third movement mentioned by Josephus was headed by an "Egyptian" Jew
who, in imitation of Joshua, commanded the walls of Jerusalem to fall down
so as to defeat the Romans. Josephus gives two different accounts of this
movement, one in his ANTIQUITIES and the other in his JEWISH WARS.  I have
taken excerpts from both and combined them here:

  "The Egyptian false prophet… when he arrived in the countryside, though an
  imposter, made himself credible as a prophet and rallied about thirty
  thousand dupes and took them around through the wilderness to the Mount of
  Olives." " He said that from there he wanted to show them at his command the
  walls of Jerusalem would fall down and they could then make an entry into
  the city.  But when Felix [the current Roman governor] learned of these
  things, he commanded his soldiers to take up their weapons.  Marching
  from Jerusalem with many horsemen and foot-soldiers and his followers, he
  attacked the Egyptian and his followers, killed four hundred of them and
  took two hundred alive.  The Egyptian himself fled the battle and vanished
  without a trace." (See J.W. 2.261-63, and ANT 20.169-71)

  The "Egyptian" revolutionary was, possibly attempting to re-enact
the scene of Joshua at the Battle of Jericho where--after the people
surrounded the city and the priests sounded the trumpets--the walls of
Jericho fell down and the people conquered the city. (see Joshua 6:15-20)

  The Mount of Olives is just outside the city of Jerusalem.  The prophet
Zechariah predicted the "day of the Lord" would come when God would battle
against the foreign occupiers in Jerusalem and the kingdom of God would be
established on the earth: "(O)n that day his feet shall stand on the Mount
of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east (Zech 14:1-4,9)

  Interesting the apostle Paul was reportedly mistaken for this prophet
when he was arrested in Jerusalem.  The book of Acts states that Paul
was asked "Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest
an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that
were murderers?"  (Acts 21:38)

  All of these spectacular, messianic-inspired movements were quickly put down
by the Romans, but were symptomatic of the wave of popular fanaticism that
was fanned by the general hatred of the Romans.

Nature of the Messiah

  During the times of Jesus, a claim to be messiah was NOT generally
understood to be a claim to be a god! Instead, a messiah to the Jews
traditionally referred to a HUMAN being who was 'anointed' (messiah means
"anointed") or blessed by God to fight off oppressive regimes and lead the
people towards building a great nation dedicated to the worship of Yahweh.
King David was explicitly referred to as the "messiah". Kings Jehu and
Jehoahaz were also anointed as "messiah". The prophet Saul was called "the
Lord's anointed" (1 Samuel 24:6) In the psalms (See Psalms 2;18;20;45;132)
the term "anointed of Yahweh" was used to refer to the descendents of the
royal family of David.

   The Jews believed that God would rise up a righteous descendant of David
to restore Israel as a great kingdom (on earth) under the direction of
God himself. An example of this belief can be found in the Psalms of Solomon
chapter 17 which focuses on a king from the lineage if David:

  "Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their king, the son of David, at
  the time in which Thou seest, O God, that he may reign over Israel Thy
  servant.  And gird him with strength, that he may shatter unrighteous
  rulers, and that he may purge Jerusalem from nations that trample (her)
  down to destruction .. He shall be a righteous king taught of God.. He
  will rebuke rulers and remove sinners by the might of his word."

  The kings following God's laws were also referred to as "son"(s) of God
(ie a term commonly used by the gospel writers as referring to Jesus)
whereby the ruler was understood to be divinely adopted by God himself.
This tradition had been established when God promised King Solomon (son
of King David) that to his descendants:

  "I will be his father, and he shall be my son.  If he commit iniquity,
  I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the
  children of men." (II Samuel 7:14)

  As we saw earlier, some religious Jews would read biblical texts, and
attempt to apply these to their own (seemingly terrible) situation. Thus,
when they would read, for example, references to the "anointed" one
(or Messiah)--since the line of Davidic kings no longer existed,
some would interpret these passages allegorically to mean some "future" king.
This king, or Messiah, it was believed, would be sanctioned by God Himself,
and as the situation became increasingly desperate-- would be imparted with
divine powers in order to fight off the enemies of God.

  As we have seen, during the times of Jesus, there were several messianic/
prophetic movements.  The presence of these movements was not unknown to the
gospel writers.  For example, according to the gospel of Matthew, Jesus
reportedly warns his followers against these false leaders:

 "Then if any man shall say unto you. Lo here is Christ, or there; believe
  it not.  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall
  shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible they shall
  deceive the very elect.. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he
  is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers;
  believe it not." (Matthew 24:23-6).