Seminar 1: "Between the Testaments"

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Part 3: POLITICS OF ROME
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GOVERNMENT BY PROXY
The Roman Empire was a chain of conquered kingdoms that stretched from
the Euphrates to Spain, and from Africa to Europe. Rome would conquer
a people and leave a puppet ruler in place. Sometimes that ruler was
the normal monarch, other times not. The general principle was to
establish a chain of command loyal to Caesar.

GOVERNOR - known as proconsul (deputy) administered by the Senate but
chosen by Caesar. Governors are frequently mentioned in New Testament
Scriptures. There were three main responsibilities of Governors
1) Military security and public order, 2) Taxation and Revenues, and
3) Jurisdiction of the court system.

PROCURATOR -
Roman Imperial administrator as financial officer of a province.
Procurators were in third class provinces also the governor. Three in
Scripture are Pontus Pilate, Felix, and Festus. They generally had
troops at their disposal and were responsible for the military, and for
the financial administration of the province.

KING -
Such as Herod the Great, King of the Jews, was also procurator of
Judea appointed by Julius Caesar 47 B.C. Later after much struggle and
infighting, he was again conferred the title by Augustus (Octavian).
He appointed his son Herod to be military prefect of Galilee.

TETRARCH -
A Tetrarch was any ruler of a fourth part of a nation. Romans gave
this Greek title to any ruler of part of an Oriental province. Thus
Herod the Great's (died 4 B.C.) sons disputed their father's will and
were given parts of the realm.


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Part 1: ROMAN CULTURE
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Rome was a massive city of over a million people at the time of
Christ.  It was the largest and most magnificent city of its day.  It
was called "Urbs Septicollis",(City of the Seven Hills) because of the
seven hills upon which it was built.

The city featured more than 400 temples dedicated to the worship of
pagan gods.   It was noted for its political FORUM, the Coliseum where
Olympic games were played, its public baths, buildings, aqueducts,
arches, and roads.  In one generation the city of brick became a
marble garden. Half of the population were slaves, the rest were
either freedmen or foreigners.

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FREEDMEN:
Freedmen often purchased their liberty by disreputable means. Once
only those born in Rome were Roman citizens, but in time anyone born
in a Roman Province was a citizen. Hence the Apostle Paul claimed his
Roman citizenship and rights for he was born in Tarsus.

Many free citizens were supported almost entirely by the State (some
200,000 of them!) and had nothing on their hands but time and lust to
burn.  They were idle and sunken in dissipation.  Their thoughts were
chiefly of their own pleasures and how to gratify their carnal
desires. They lived for the Theater and the Arena.

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PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS:

The Coliseum where Olympic games were played, public baths, theaters,
and the Arena for entertainment of the masses were but a few of the
worldly enticements of the city of Rome.  Romans observed more than
100 holidays a year many of which featured public entertainment paid
for by the government.  Even the poorer classes enjoyed the free
entertainment of Rome. One of their poets described the poor as having
only two needs, bread and circuses.

Chariot races were a favorite entertainment as people bet on their
charioteers.  The races were held in huge oblong areas called a
"circus."  The Roman Circus Maximus seated more than 300,000 people!

At the Coliseum gladiators fought each other, or wild beasts in an
a huge amphitheater for the delight of the blood thirsty Romans.
Condemned prisoners and often Christians were thrown to the wild
animals.  The floor of the amphitheater was wooden under which slaves
worked machines that raised and lowered animals into the arena.

The theater was a popular entertainment of the masses where they
enjoyed Greek and Roman plays and pantomimes.

Much of the people spent a good deal of time at the public baths.
These were huge public malls housing pools, hot and cold baths,
gymnasiums, art galleries and libraries.


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POOR:

The poor and destitute crowded the Roman city. There were no
provisions for the poor, they were for the most part as miserable as
the slave.  There were no hospitals.  Brotherly love and charity to
the less fortunate were unknown virtues in Roman society.  The giving
of charity was disdained as a questionable act of kindness which
simply prolonged their useless existence.  Any manual labor, except
for farming, was abhorrent to the Roman citizen.

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SLAVES:

The slave was the backbone of Roman society. The slave was any
non-citizen who had been captured in war or enslaved for any number
of other transgressions. The slave was whole unprotected. Males and
females were exposed to horrible cruelties.  At best they were used as
disposable entertainment in the arenas either being thrown to wild
beasts or fighting as gladiators. At worst they were confined to the
hold of a ship chained for life to an oar until strength or hope was
gone.

Roman slaves included prisoners of war, people who had been captured
by pirates at sea and sold as slaves, children that were sold by their
parents, and condemned criminals.  Slaves came from all levels of
society from educated Greek teachers to farmers and miners.  Slaves
were often used to work the mines confined to subterranean prisons
until they died.

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LANGUAGE

The language of Rome was officially Latin, while Greek was still the
lingua franca, or the trade language known by most in order to conduct
trade or to travel.  In Palestine the common language was Aramaic,
though Greek was the language spoken as the common denominator between
cultures. Hebrew continued to be used among the more religious and
noble classes in Palestine.  Thus, when Jesus was crucified by Roman
soldiers, Luke and John recorded that a title was placed on the cross
written in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, "THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS."
(Luke 23:38, John 19:19)




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Part 5: OCCUPATION OF PALESTINE
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It is into this cesspool of debase characters, devoid even of the
basic knowledge of the ten commandments that we find the land of
Palestine plunged.  Is it any wonder that the Jews hated the Romans.
Not only were they the foreign conquerors, but they were pagan
idolaters without morality as well.

Roman soldiers patrolled the streets of every nation including
Palestine. Roman flags could be seen over all their barracks and often
the Roman Emblem, the Eagle, would be prominently placed in the city
to show who was in charge. The Roman Governor and his emissaries made
it eminently clear who was the conqueror, and who were the
conquered.

They were the invading army, a foreign military power occupying the
proud land of Palestine. It is not surprising that the Jews hated
having to put up with these Roman soldiers in their country. Is it any
wonder their hopes on a Messiah, promised in the Old Testament, were
at a fevered pitch?

The Jews' unhappiness was even greater because they also had to pay
taxes to their Roman conquerors.  These taxes were paid with foreign
currency in the form of Roman coins, called DENARIUS, which carried
the imprint of the image of Caesar Augustus on it. (Matthew 22:20-21)
(This was idolatry!) You can imagine your own feelings of hatred
toward invading armies to which you had to pay tribute. 

THE DENARII (denarius, singular) was the Roman coin on which Augustus
Caesar's image was minted. It is not remarkable then that this proud
deified emperor should mandate that all the world should be taxed.
After all it was his denarii.

Matthew 22:20, Mark 12:16, Luke 20:24 all tell of that coin and its
all important superscription. "Whose image and inscription is on the
coin?  They said to Him, 'Caesar!'  Render therefore to Caesar the
things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's."

It is interesting that it was because of Roman taxes (the denarii)
that the baby Jesus' mother is forced to return to Bethlehem, the city
of David, where the King was to be born.  And it was because of Roman
soldiers, and a cruel betrayal of thirty pieces of silver (possibly
denarii as well) that Jesus was forcibly nailed to the cross.  Truly
God had His hand on the events surrounding the birth of our Savior.



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Conclusion: CONCLUSION OF "BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS"
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"But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son..."
Galatians 4:4

Through these studies you have been privileged to peek into a part of
history often ignored by the Church.  It is vital to understand the
ferment of activities surrounding the first coming of Christ. Without
this historical and Jewish view of the life and times into which Jesus
came we would miss some of the feelings and opinions of the day.
Having seen the hand of God is broader strokes than can be imagined we
now have a better vantage point in which to contextualize the Life and
Times of Jesus the Messiah.

This ends the six part series of the Intertestamental Period. You
should do this week's test then begin preparing for the final exam.



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READING ASSIGNMENTS: 
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1. Read about the Roman Empire in a recent issue of National
Geographic Magazine, July and August, 1997.  You can find it in your
town library.