Transcript Scripture Studies Chapter 16 The World of the New

Scripture Studies
Chapter 16
The World of the New Testament
The World of the New Testament
“The land of Zebulun and the land
of Napthali, toward the sea,
across the Jordan, Galilee of the
Gentiles – the people who sat in
darkness have seen a great light, .
. . ” (Matthew 4:15-16)
The World of the New Testament
 This
chapter introduces us to the
state of the world at the time Jesus
chose to enter it
 The major religious players at this
time were the Pharisees and the
Sadducees, both of whom rejected
the Samaritans
The World of the New Testament
 Each
of these three groups believed
that they were the true believers
 After the triumph of Pompey in 63
BC, the Jewish people were ruled by
Herod’s line, who played vassals to
the Romans
 Generally, it was a time of great
abundance and prosperity
The World of the New Testament
 The
amazing success of the
Maccabees revealed the power of
God
 Once again there was an
independent Israel with Jerusalem
as its capital
The World of the New Testament
 The
Temple had been purified and
restored, and the worship of the one
true God could go on again as it was
prescribed in the Law of Moses
 The High Priest was also the secular
ruler of the people, so once again
the state and the church became
one
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 The
family line of the Maccabees
was continued by Mattathias’ son
Simon
 Simon ruled until the Romans
arrived in 63 BC
 John Hyrcanus (ruled 134-104 BC)
extended his power into northern
Galilee
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 When
John Hyrcanus became High
Priest, he decided to take the next
step
 He would purify the whole country of
pagan influences
 Everyone in the country had a
choice: be circumcised or leave
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 Being
circumcised also meant taking
on the whole Law of Moses with all
its rules and regulations and rituals
and requirements
 The whole country was “Judaized” –
made Jewish – almost overnight
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 Hyrcanus
also destroyed the temple
of the Samaritans on Mount Gerizim
 This earned him the undying hatred
of the Samaritans
 As a military leader, Hyrcanus
conquered almost all of the
territories that had belonged to the
Davidic kingdom
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 In
106 BC, John Hyrcanus died
 Aristobulus became High Priest and
proclaimed himself king
 It seemed that the prophecies had
been fulfilled
 Israel was united, and a king reigned
in Jerusalem
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 But
Aristobulus was a Levite, and
was not a descendant of the line of
David
 The prophets had promised that the
Lord’s Anointed would be from the
tribe of Judah and the line of David
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 Aristobulus
ruled for only a year
 His brother Alexander Janneus then
became king and High Priest
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 But
soon Israel became deeply
divided between the Pharisees and
the Sadducees
 There were other minor factions
such as the Essenes and the
Zealots
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 Judah
was a small province of a
huge pagan empire
 One faction thought the only way to
remain pure was to build a wall
around themselves and keep the
Gentiles out
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 The
Pharisees were a lay movement
that became very influential around
this time
 They strictly interpreted the Ten
Commandments and added 613
other laws and regulations
 They were a small group, probably
never more than about six thousand
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 They
were called “the separated,” or
“Perushim” in Hebrew
 This is where we get the word
“Pharisee”
 The Pharisees thought that the Law
alone wasn’t enough
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 Ordinary
Jewish families should
imitate the complicated and ritualistic
purity of the priests in Jerusalem
 More and more customs and oral
traditions were legislated
 Washing hands before meals is an
example
The World of the New Testament
They washed not to get rid of dirt, but to
make themselves ritually pure
 The Pharisees refused to associate with
Gentiles
 Even visiting a Gentile’s house made
them ritually impure
 They emphasized and exaggerated their
distinctly Jewish customs

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 It’s
easy to see why they believed
what they believed
 They knew that Israel’s history
showed that associating with pagans
had always led to trouble
 But the Pharisees made the Law an
intolerable burden
The World of the New Testament
 More
and more, they emphasized
the external signs of separation
 Some exaggerated the details of
Jewish national dress, wearing big
phylacteries and conspicuous
fringes
 They strictly interpreted dietary laws
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
Yet they were capable of evading the law when
it suited them, by inventing interpretations that
helped them cheat the poor, or even their own
parents
“They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and ly them on
men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them
with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by men:
for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long,
and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats
in the synagogues, and salutations in the market place, and
being called rabbi by men.” (Jesus, in Mt 25:6-7
The World of the New Testament
 The
Sadducees originated with the
priest Zadok, and also became
influential around this time
 They were priestly and aristocratic,
and sought to preserve their
privileges against those claimed by
the Pharisees
The World of the New Testament
 They
ran the government and often
held the position of High Priest
 They were almost the opposite of the
Pharisees
 The Pharisees believed in the afterlife
and the resurrection of the body
 The Sadducees did not
The World of the New Testament
 The
Pharisees believed that pious
Jews had to distance themselves
from the Gentiles to preserve their
faith
 The Sadducees deeply invested
themselves with the secular or pagan
powers to maintain their priestly
privileges and worship at the Temple
The World of the New Testament
 The
Roman General Pompey
entered Palestine in 64-63 BC
 He settled a dispute in the
Hasmonean line for the throne
 Israel became part of the Roman
Empire
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 The
Herodian family line became the
rulers of the Jewish people, as
vassals of the Romans
 Herod the Great (rules 37-4 BC) was
a shrewd politician
 By ingratiating himself with Octavian
(Emperor Augustus), he became
king of Israel
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 Herod
could be a ruthless murderer
in order to further his goals
 Once he had eliminated his political
enemies, he attempted to win the
support of the Jews by engaging in a
broad construction program
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 The
reconstruction of the Second
Temple was one of his chief
accomplishments
 His construction programs brought
great wealth to Israel
 But he never succeeded in winning
the favor of the Jews
The World of the New Testament
 Herod
was an Edomite, and the
Jews regarded him as only half
Jewish
 He was also a Hellenist
 His last years were marked by
intense strife within his family
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 He
repudiated some of his ten wives
 He ordered the execution of some of
his sons
 His last years were marked by
brutality
 Only force or the threat of force kept
the Jewish people in line
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 All
things considered, it would
probably not be inaccurate to
describe Herod as a brutal
psychopath
 But the Romans didn’t care how
many people he murdered as long
as he kept the tribute money flowing
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 As
long as he kept the money
flowing to Rome, and the money
flowing to the Temple priesthood, he
stayed in power
“The Romans did not build a great
empire by having meetings. They
did it by killing those who
opposed them.”
The World of the New Testament
 Still,
Herod had a talent for building
magnificent palaces, fortresses, and
other public buildings, and for
restoring the Temple in glorious style
 Pilgrims came from all over the
known world to see it
 And they spent money in Jerusalem
while they were there
The World of the New Testament
 Roman
peace, worldwide trade, nd
Herod’s extensive building program
brought an economic boom like
nothing Israel had seen before
 It seemed that the prophecies had at
last been fulfilled
The World of the New Testament
 “Herod
the Great” was great not
because he was good or admired,
but because his reign was so
prosperous
 When Herod died, the Romans
divided his kingdom among his four
sons
The World of the New Testament
 One
of them, Herod Antipas, ruled
over Galilee during the time of Jesus
 The Pax Romana (“Roman Peace”)
established by Caesar Augustus
lasted into the fifth century AD
 Wars were fought only on the far
borders of the empire
The World of the New Testament
 Cities
had clean water, sewer
systems, theaters and public baths
 The wealth gathered from the
conquest of Egypt was a major
contribution
The World of the New Testament
 This
stability contributed to the rapid
spread of Christianity despite
intermittent persecutions that began
under Nero
 Roman religion was not based on
faith like Judaism and Christianity
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 It
was based on the idea of “covering
all bases” to win the favor of the
gods, whoever they might be
 Conquered people were usually free
to worship their own gods and
practice their own religious traditions
The World of the New Testament
 By
the beginning of the Christian
era, many Romans no longer
believed in the traditional Roman
gods
 By the end of Herod’s reign, many
Jews were still expecting the
Messiah
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 Others
believed that Herod’s Temple
represented the fulfillment of the
prophecies
 Despite occasional infighting and
terrorist raids, Herod kept the peace,
with Rome’s backing
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
This was the world into which Jesus was
born, in the fullness of time
“But when the time had fully come,
God sent forth his Son, born of
woman, born under the law, to redeem
those who were under the law, so that
we might receive adoption as sons.”
(Galatians 4:4-5)
The World of the New Testament
 The
political state of the world was
largely stable
 Most of the civilized world was under
the power of the great Roman
empire
 The Pax Romana would last
hundreds of years
The World of the New Testament
 Caesar
Augustus had become sole
ruler of most of the known world
 Travel was relatively easy with no
national borders to cross
 Conditions were right for Christianity
to spread to the farthest ends of the
empire in relative peace
The World of the New Testament
 There
was one great empire, one
currency, one set of laws, no
borders to cross
 The Roman political situation was
stable, but Roman religion had
begun to crumble into irrelevance
The World of the New Testament
 Roman
religious practice was like a
business transaction
 If you performed the right
ceremonies for the right gods, at the
right times, with the right words, then
you expected that the gods would be
happy with you, and everything
would go well in your life
The World of the New Testament
 Any
deeper involvement with the
gods would be considered
superstition
 The Romans even paid tribute to
local non-Roman gods
 Caesar Augustus even had
sacrifices offered for himself in the
Temple in Jerusalem
The World of the New Testament
 The
god of the Jews was just one
more god to be appeased
 Many philosophers of the time didn’t
believe in the traditional gods at all
 Some thought there were gods, but
that they did not care about human
affairs
The World of the New Testament
 Some
believed in a philosophical,
theoretical god as a “first cause”
 They came to monotheism through
pure reason
 But they could never know God
without revelation
The World of the New Testament
 They
helped prepare the way for
God’s revelation when it came
through Jesus
 People were searching for answers
 How can I have eternal life?
 How can I know God?
 Roman religion had no answers for
these questions
The World of the New Testament
 The
Diaspora (the dispersion of the
Jews) also set the stage for the
coming of Christ
 Many Jews had not returned to
Israel after the conquest
 Many expanded to all parts of
Alexander’s empire
The World of the New Testament
 When
Rome took over, the
dispersed Jews continued to settle
everywhere
 There was hardly a town in the
Roman empire without a Jewish
section
 They probably made up about 7% of
the population of the Empire
The World of the New Testament
 Rome
had a significant Jewish
population
 Alexandria was probably about 25%
Jewish
 By now, the Hebrew Scriptures had
been translated into Greek, the
vernacular of the eastern part of the
Empire
The World of the New Testament
 Synagogues
appeared during the
exile because the dispersed Jews
could no longer go to the Temple in
Jerusalem to worship
 When the faithful met once a week,
their worship service was very much
like our Liturgy of the Word
The World of the New Testament
 They
would hear a couple of
readings from the Hebrew
Scriptures, and a sermon
 They still expected the coming of the
Messiah
 We keep a similar liturgy, but for us,
the Messiah has come
The World of the New Testament
 Judaism
appealed to many Gentiles
in the Roman Empire
 Some converts didn’t follow the
entire prescription (circumcision,
dietary laws, ritual purity laws, etc.)
 But they did attach themselves to
Jewish communities and study the
Scriptures
The World of the New Testament
 They
were called “Proselytes of the
Gate”
 They were waiting for the Messiah
and expected a share in the
kingdom
 Some recognized Jesus as the
Messiah and were fertile ground for
conversion to Christianity
The World of the New Testament
 Palestine
was a troublesome corner
of the Roman Empire
 There were rebels who would stage
occasional uprisings against the
Romans
 Sometimes one of them would claim
to be the Christ and the Roman
army would have to restore order
The World of the New Testament
 Some
Jews settled in Galilee, in
what had been the Northern
Kingdom
 The Jews in Jerusalem regarded
them as peasants
 Apparently Jews from Galilee were
easily recognized in Jerusalem by
their accents
The World of the New Testament
Romans usually left a local king in
charge
 But of course he had to answer to the
Roman governor
 When Jesus was born, Herod the
Great killed all the male children under
two years of age in an attempt to kill
Jesus

The World of the New Testament
 The
Samaritans lived in what had
been the Northern Kingdom,
between Jerusalem and Galilee
 They
had intermarried with the
Assyrians during the exile
 Samaritans and Jews had a long
history of antagonism for each other
The World of the New Testament
 Samaritans
were viewed as
foreigner to Jewish worship and
practice and were to be ignored or
avoided
 The Samaritans opposed the
rebuilding of the Temple
 They opposed Nehemiah’s
rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem
The World of the New Testament
 The
Samaritans established their
own Temple to Yahweh on Mount
Gerezim
 They supported the Seleucid forces
during the Maccabean revolt
 They worshipped the one true God,
but in a different way from the Jews
The World of the New Testament
 They
only accept the Torah as
scripture
 They were regarded as heretics by
the Jews
 There are still a few hundred
Samaritans living in Palestine today
The World of the New Testament
 In
Jesus’ time, being a Samaritan
was worse than being a prostitute or
a tax collector, barely human
 In choosing to speak to a Samaritan
woman, Jesus repudiated one of the
strongest stigmas of the day
The World of the New Testament
The Pharisees lived strict, simple lives
 They believed that everything happened
according to God’s plan, though man was
still free to act virtuously or viciously
 They also believed in eternal reward or
punishment after death and the
resurrection of the body

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 Pharisees
were praised for their
virtuous conduct in their actions and
their teachings
 It is good to get to know Christ by
reading the New Testament
 The Gospels tell us about Christ’s
life in his teachings and actions
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 The
letters expound on Christ’s
teaching and relate the early history
of the Church
 The letters also help in discovering
what Christ’s Person and work mean
for people today