could. By and large, they seem to have distrusted the aristocratic
Sadducees and to have admired the strict religious observance of the
Pharisees. The vast majority were very poor, and had to spend most
of their time working for a living. A small upper class controlled
most of the wealth. Ordinary farmers and craftsmen were able to put
food on the table and clothes on their backs by working hard, but a
crop failure or a political disturbance could wipe them out.
Medicine was primitive, and painful and disabling illnesses were
common. Opportunities for education, recreation, or a secure old age
scarcely existed.
Palestine was also the home of many Gentiles (non-Jews). There were
Roman soldiers, Greek settlers, and indigenous Middle Eastern people,
some of whom had adopted Greek ways. There were also Samaritans, a
group centered in Samaria, a district north of Jerusalem. The
Samaritans had the same law as the Jews, but they sacrificed on
Mount Gerizim rather than in Jerusalem. Apparently descended from
the people of the old northern Kingdom, the Samaritans claimed to be
the real heirs of ancient Israel. The Jews believed that relations
with members of these groups might make them unclean in the eyes of
God (disqualified from participating in worship), and there was much
tension between groups.
The Roman government was an oppressive military dictatorship and
taxed its subjects heavily. The Romans didn't always rule directly.
From 37 B.C. to 4 B.C. Herod the Great reigned as king of the Jews
under Roman overlordship. Descended from an Edomite family recently
converted to Judaism, the talented and cruel Herod rebuilt the
Temple. But he was an admirer of Greek civilization, too, and a
faithful ally of Rome. In A.D. 6, Rome took direct control of Judea,
the area around Jerusalem, although it continued to rule other parts
of Palestine--such as Galilee, in the north--through members of
Herod's family. The political situation changed rapidly, but one
thing was certain: the Romans, who held the power, had little
respect for the Jewish religion and tolerated it only grudgingly.
The Jews believed that God had freed them from foreign domination
before--from slavery in Egypt and from exile in Mesopotamia. Many
Jews believed that God would liberate them again. This hope centered
around a figure called the Messiah (meaning anointed--Israelite
kings and priests had been anointed with oil as a sign of their
sacred functions). Now Jews believed that God would send a Messiah
to free them from the oppression and insecurity in which they lived.
Some thought the Messiah would be a supernatural being who would re-
create society and establish justice. Others expected a military
leader who would defeat the Romans with God's help. Like the
Pharisee belief in the resurrection of the dead and the Essene
belief in a final struggle between good and evil, the belief in the
coming of the Messiah was based on the idea that the existing order
of things would come to a sudden end. Beliefs of this kind
