Program / Course 7: New Testament Theology and History / Lesson 1.4
What you will learn
- Describe the range of Jewish responses to Roman rule: cooperation, protest, withdrawal, prophecy and armed revolt.
- Name the main messianic and prophetic movements that Josephus and the New Testament report.
- Summarize the Great Revolt of 66 to 70 AD and the destruction of the Temple.
- Explain why the question of messiahship was politically charged in Jesus’ day.
The big idea
Under Roman rule, Jews did not respond in one way. The priestly aristocracy cooperated, many people protested peacefully, some groups withdrew, and others followed prophets or would-be kings who promised deliverance. Several movements ended in bloodshed. In 66 AD a full revolt began, and in 70 AD Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. Against this background, talk of a messiah or of God’s kingdom could be heard as dangerous, and Jesus’ ministry has to be read inside it.
Key terms
- Messianic movement
- A group that gathered around a leader believed to be, or acting as, God’s anointed agent to free or restore Israel.
- Sign prophet
- A name scholars use for leaders who promised that God would show a sign of deliverance, such as the Egyptian prophet or Theudas in Josephus.
- Sicarii
- A word from Latin meaning dagger men. Josephus uses it for assassins who killed Jews seen as collaborators during the years before and during the revolt.
- Apocalyptic
- A kind of Jewish writing and thinking, from a Greek word for unveiling, that describes God’s coming judgment and the end of the present age, often through visions.
- Great Revolt
- The Jewish war against Rome that began in 66 AD and led to the fall of Jerusalem and the burning of the Temple in 70 AD.
- Bar Kokhba revolt
- A second major Jewish revolt, from 132 to 135 AD, led by Simon bar Kokhba, which Rome crushed.
- Passive resistance
- Non-violent protest, such as the crowds who lay down before Pilate rather than accept images in Jerusalem, according to Josephus.
Background
The sources show an unsettled land. The Hebrew prophets had promised that God would restore Israel, and the memory of the Maccabees showed that foreign rulers could be driven out. Many Jews believed that the present arrangement could not last. How the end of it would come, and how they should act in the meantime, was disputed.
Several writings of the period give a sense of these hopes. The Psalms of Solomon, written probably in the first century BC, pray for a righteous king from David’s line who will purge Jerusalem of Gentiles and rule in justice. The Dead Sea Scrolls expect a final war between the sons of light and darkness. Other writers hoped that God would act without any human king at all. These expectations are known from the texts, but historians caution that they do not show what ordinary Galileans believed.
The main narrative source for the revolts is Josephus, who fought in the first part of the war as a Jewish commander in Galilee and then went over to the Romans. He had reasons to blame extremist groups for the disaster and to present himself and the Roman side favorably, so he is read as a valuable but interested witness.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Protest and refusal
Josephus reports that when Pilate brought military standards with the emperor’s image into Jerusalem, crowds went to Caesarea and stayed for days, offering to die rather than allow it, and Pilate gave way. Protests also followed his use of Temple money for an aqueduct, with less happy results. Around 39 to 41 AD the emperor Caligula ordered a statue of himself placed in the Temple, and a vast petition movement helped delay the order before his death ended the crisis.
These episodes show a people ready to resist what they saw as idolatry, while avoiding open war. They are part of the setting for the gospel scenes of crowds and for Jewish anxiety about the Temple.
Step 2: Prophets and would-be kings
Josephus describes leaders who gathered followers with promises of deliverance. Judas the Galilean led resistance to the census of 6 AD, and Acts 5:37 mentions him. Theudas promised that the Jordan would part (Acts 5:36 names a Theudas, though Josephus places his Theudas in the 40s AD, and scholars debate whether these are the same man). An Egyptian prophet led followers to the Mount of Olives to see Jerusalem’s walls fall, and a Roman tribune later asks Paul whether he is that man (Acts 21:38).
After Herod’s death in 4 BC, several men claimed royal power, including Judas son of Hezekiah in Galilee and Simon in Perea. Roman forces put them down. Crucifixion of rebels was common.
Step 3: The road to the Great Revolt
Tensions rose through the 40s, 50s and 60s AD under a series of governors, some of them corrupt. Violence between Jews and Gentiles in cities, tax grievances, and the actions of the Sicarii all added fuel. In 66 AD, after the governor Florus took money from the Temple treasury, revolt broke out. The priests who ceased the daily sacrifice offered for the emperor made the break with Rome clear.
The Roman general Vespasian led the campaign, and when he became emperor in 69 AD, his son Titus finished it. Jerusalem fell in 70 AD, and the Temple was burned. The fortress of Masada held out until 73 or 74 AD. Many were killed or enslaved. The Temple was never rebuilt, and Jewish life reorganized around Torah study and synagogue, under the Pharisaic heirs known as the rabbis.
Step 4: Jesus in this world
Jesus announced the kingdom of God, was addressed as son of David, and was crucified as ‘King of the Jews’ (Mark 15:26). To outsiders his movement could look like others of its time. Yet the gospels also say that he refused the way of the sword (Matthew 26:52), and that his followers were not gathered as an army.
Scholars disagree about how political Jesus’ ministry was. Some argue that his message was mainly religious and spiritual, others that it carried a direct challenge to Rome and the Temple leadership, and others that he refused the either-or. The question returns in the lessons on the historical Jesus.
- Why would some Jews have chosen cooperation with Rome, and what did they risk?
- How do the non-violent protests described by Josephus differ from the movements of sign prophets?
- Why does the label ‘King of the Jews’ on the cross matter in this context?
- How might the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD have shaped the way Christians and rabbis each told their story?
- What are the limits of Josephus as a witness, and how can a historian compensate?
- Why would it be unwise to assume that all first-century Jews expected the same kind of deliverer?
Examples
The crowd at Caesarea
According to Josephus, a crowd of Jews followed Pilate to Caesarea and for five days begged him to remove the standards. When he threatened them with soldiers, they bared their necks. Pilate then relented. The story shows both his willingness to use force and the strength of non-violent refusal.
The census of 6 AD
When Rome counted property for taxation in Judea, Judas the Galilean called it slavery and urged resistance, according to Josephus. His movement is a reminder that taxation was a religious as well as an economic question for some Jews.
The fall of Jerusalem
Titus laid siege to the city in 70 AD and the Temple burned. The Arch of Titus in Rome, still standing, shows soldiers carrying the Temple’s menorah in a triumphal procession. It is a Roman monument to the same event Jewish and Christian writers mourned.
Different perspectives
Scholarly consensus and debate
Historians agree on the revolts and their outcome. They differ on whether the sign prophets and brigands should be seen as one type of movement, how central messianic hope was to the revolt, and whether Jesus should be placed among such leaders or apart from them.
Jewish view
Jewish tradition remembers the fall of the Temple as a catastrophe, marked on the ninth of Av. Rabbinic accounts reflect on its causes and, in some texts, criticize both reckless revolt and internal hatred. They record the rebuilding of Jewish life afterward as an act of faithfulness.
Catholic and Orthodox views
Both traditions read Jesus’ prophecies of the Temple’s fall (Mark 13) as true prediction and as a sign of judgment on a particular generation, and both teach that Christ’s kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36) while still bearing on human justice.
Protestant view
Protestants differ widely. Some read the fall of Jerusalem as the fulfilment of Jesus’ warnings about that generation, others as a foreshadowing of final events. Many stress the refusal of violence in Jesus’ teaching, while Reformed and Lutheran traditions have also defended just war and lawful government.
Why it matters
The politics of the first century are not a side issue in the New Testament. Words like Messiah, Son of God, Lord, gospel and kingdom had meanings that touched the Roman emperor and Israel’s hopes. Knowing the range of Jewish responses helps a reader see what was new in Jesus’ message and why it provoked such strong reactions.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: All Jews were waiting for a military Messiah.
Correction: The texts show many hopes, and only some involve a warrior king. Many Jews did not expect any messiah, and those who did described different figures.
Misunderstanding: Jesus was a political revolutionary like the Zealots.
Correction: This is one scholarly proposal, and most historians reject it as stated, since the evidence shows no armed band. Still, Jesus’ preaching had public and political effects, and the question is better asked in terms of how his message touched power.
Misunderstanding: The Temple was destroyed because the Jews rejected Jesus, and so the Jews are punished.
Correction: Historians explain the destruction by the revolt and the Roman response. Some Christian writers have read it as divine judgment, but the churches today firmly reject using it to blame or persecute Jewish people.
Misunderstanding: Josephus is a neutral reporter.
Correction: He was a participant with his own motives. His reports are valuable and must be checked against other evidence where possible.
Knowledge check
Name three ways Jews responded to Roman rule.
Some cooperated, like the high priestly families. Some protested without violence, as in the crowd at Caesarea. Some withdrew into communities like the Essenes, some followed prophets promising deliverance, and some took up arms, as in the Great Revolt.
What happened in 70 AD?
After the Jewish revolt that began in 66 AD, Roman forces under Titus captured Jerusalem and burned the Temple. The event ended Temple worship and reshaped Jewish and Christian life. Masada fell a few years later.
Who was Josephus, and why must his accounts be read with care?
He was a Jewish priest and commander in Galilee who surrendered to Rome and wrote histories under Roman patronage. He is the chief source for the period, yet he had reasons to blame extremists, defend himself and please Roman readers.
What do the sign prophets show?
They show that many Jews expected God to act soon, and that some leaders gathered followings by promising a new exodus or a fall of walls. Rome treated such movements as threats and often killed their leaders.
Why was the charge ‘King of the Jews’ dangerous?
Only Rome could grant kingship. A claim to be king of the Jews challenged Roman authority, so it fit a Roman charge of rebellion. The gospels report it on the cross, while presenting Jesus’ kingship as of a different kind.
Think it through
- Which of the responses to Rome in this lesson seems most understandable to you, and which most troubling?
- How does the memory of failed movements help explain the caution of some Jewish leaders toward Jesus?
- What difference does it make that Jesus’ followers expected a kingdom without raising an army?
- How should believers today judge the use of religion to justify political violence in light of this history?
Independent assignment
Three movements compared
In your own notebook, write 300 to 450 words. Choose three movements or events from this lesson, such as the protest at Caesarea, the sign prophets and the Great Revolt. For each, state who led it, what it asked, how Rome responded and what source reports it. Close with a short paragraph on how Jesus’ ministry looks similar to and different from the three. Do not send this to anyone.
Further study
- N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God Read the chapters on Jewish hopes and see how the author places the early Christian claim among them.
- F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? Read selectively for the historical setting of the gospels.
- Jewish Publication Society, The Hebrew Bible in English (JPS translation) Read Daniel 7 and 9, which shaped many first-century hopes.
- Acts 5:36 Gamaliel mentions Theudas and Judas the Galilean.
- Acts 21:38 A tribune asks Paul whether he is the Egyptian who led out four thousand men.
- Mark 13:2 Jesus speaks of the Temple’s fall.
- John 18:36 Jesus says his kingdom is not of this world.