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Course 7 · Lesson 1.3

Rome, the Herods and the province of Judea

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 7 outline

Module 1: The World of the New Testament

  1. Second Temple Judaism in the time of Jesus
  2. Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes and other movements
  3. Rome, the Herods and the province of Judea
  4. Hopes, protest and revolt in Jewish political life

Module 2: Jesus in History

  1. Sources for Jesus: Christian, Jewish and Roman
  2. The quests for the historical Jesus and their methods
  3. Criteria of authenticity and their limits
  4. Historical results and Christian confession

Module 3: The Gospels as Books

  1. The gospels and ancient biography
  2. Traditions of authorship and the arguments about them
  3. The synoptic problem: the evidence of agreement and difference
  4. Solutions: Markan priority, Q, Matthean priority and others
  5. Four portraits of Jesus: the distinct emphasis of each gospel

Module 4: Acts and the Spread of the Church

  1. Pentecost and the Jerusalem church
  2. The mission to the Gentiles and the council at Jerusalem
  3. Paul in Acts and in his own letters
  4. Acts as history and as theology

Module 5: Pauline Theology

  1. Paul and his letters: occasion, authorship and order
  2. Gospel, faith and righteousness in Romans and Galatians
  3. Christ, the Spirit and the body of Christ
  4. Reading Paul: traditional, new perspective and other approaches

Module 6: Johannine Theology

  1. The Gospel, the three letters and Revelation: authorship questions
  2. Word, light, life and love in the Gospel of John
  3. The signs and the I am sayings
  4. The Spirit, the community and the Johannine letters

Module 7: Hope, Authority and Church Order

  1. The kingdom of God and last things in Jesus and the apostles
  2. Ways of reading New Testament eschatology
  3. What an apostle was and how apostolic authority worked
  4. Offices and order in the first churches
  5. How Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches read the evidence

Module 8: The Testaments Together

  1. Fulfilment and continuity: how the New Testament uses the Old
  2. Law and covenant across the Testaments
  3. Comparing Paul and John: a method
  4. Shared convictions and meaningful differences

All courses

Program / Course 7: New Testament Theology and History / Lesson 1.3

What you will learn

  • Trace how Rome came to rule the Jewish homeland and how it governed through client kings and governors.
  • Name Herod the Great, his sons, and Pontius Pilate, and place them in the gospel story.
  • Describe the burdens of taxation and occupation on ordinary people.
  • Explain how the high priest and the Sanhedrin related to Roman power.

The big idea

Jesus was born and died under Roman rule. Rome took control of the Jewish homeland in 63 BC. It then ruled through client kings such as Herod the Great, and after 6 AD it governed Judea directly through prefects such as Pontius Pilate. Ordinary people paid taxes to Rome and to the Temple. The high priest, appointed with Roman approval, had to keep order. This political setting explains the fears, hopes and dangers around Jesus’ ministry, trial and execution.

Key terms

Client king
A local ruler who held power with Rome’s approval and served Roman interests, as Herod the Great did.
Tetrarch
A word meaning ruler of a fourth part. It named a lesser ruler over part of a territory, as Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea.
Prefect
A Roman military governor. Pontius Pilate held this office in Judea. The New Testament uses the more general Greek word for governor.
Province
A territory under direct Roman administration, with taxes collected for Rome.
Tribute
A tax paid to a ruling power. In Judea it included a land tax and a tax on persons, along with customs duties and tolls.
Procurator
A Roman official in charge of finance and, in some provinces, of administration. Later governors of Judea held this title.
Emperor cult
Honors given to the Roman emperor, including temples, festivals and titles such as Lord and Savior, which Jews and Christians found troubling.

Background

Rome’s involvement began when the Hasmonean brothers quarreled over the throne and appealed to the Roman general Pompey. In 63 BC Pompey took Jerusalem, entered even the Holy of Holies according to Josephus, and made the land subject to Rome. The Hasmonean family kept a reduced role for a time. In 40 BC the Roman senate named Herod, a man from Idumea who had risen through his support of Rome, king of the Jews, and in 37 BC he took Jerusalem.

Herod the Great ruled until his death in 4 BC. He was an able, ruthless builder. He enlarged the Temple, built the port city of Caesarea and the fortress at Masada, and also built temples to the emperor in non-Jewish cities. Many Jews resented him as an outsider who had killed rivals, and Matthew’s story of the killing of the children of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16) fits what Josephus tells of his cruelty, although no other ancient source mentions that event.

After Herod, Rome split the kingdom among his sons. Archelaus received Judea and Samaria, but was removed in 6 AD after complaints. Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea until 39 AD and is the Herod who had John the Baptist killed and who questioned Jesus (Luke 23:7 to 12). Philip ruled districts to the northeast. After 6 AD, Judea was ruled by Roman prefects, whose seat was at Caesarea on the coast. Pontius Pilate held the office from about 26 to 36 AD.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: What Roman rule meant day to day

Roman rule was not constant surveillance in every village. Rome kept a small force in the region and relied on local elites to keep order and collect taxes. Troops stayed in Caesarea and were stationed in Jerusalem, especially at festival times, when crowds and tensions grew. Roman power nonetheless showed itself in crucifixions, which were used as a public warning, and in the demand that people pay taxes and tolls.

Taxes fell hard on farmers. A land tax and a tax on persons went to Rome, local rulers took their own share, and Jews also paid a tithe to the priests and a Temple tax. Debts could cost a family its land. Tax collectors, called publicans in the King James Version, worked a system that often involved extra charges, and the gospels show them as despised (Luke 19:1 to 10). Historians continue to debate how heavy the total burden was and how it differed from region to region.

Step 2: The Herods in the gospels

Herod the Great is a figure in the birth stories of Matthew and Luke (Luke 1:5). His son Herod Antipas appears in the gospels as the ruler of Galilee who imprisoned and killed John the Baptist (Mark 6:17 to 29). Jesus once calls him ‘that fox’ (Luke 13:32). In Luke’s account of the passion, Pilate sends Jesus to Antipas, who happened to be in Jerusalem for the feast.

Later in the New Testament, Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, has James killed and imprisons Peter (Acts 12). Agrippa II hears Paul’s defense (Acts 25 and 26). The Herodian family therefore touches the story from its start to its later chapters.

Step 3: Pilate and the high priest

The Roman prefect also controlled the appointment of the high priest, and the high priest stood between the people and Rome. Caiaphas, the high priest from about 18 to 36 AD, held office for most of Pilate’s term. The gospels say that the chief priests handed Jesus to Pilate, and that Pilate ordered the crucifixion.

Pilate is also known outside the New Testament. Josephus and the philosopher Philo record that he offended Jewish feeling more than once, and the Roman historian Tacitus, writing around 116 AD, says that Christ was executed under Pilate in the reign of Tiberius. A stone found at Caesarea in 1961 carries Pilate’s name and title. Historians often judge that the gospels, which present Pilate as reluctant to execute Jesus, give a softer picture of him than the other sources do, and they debate the reasons.

Step 4: Living with Rome

Jews answered Roman rule in different ways. Some, like the high priestly families, cooperated. Some withdrew into purity movements. Some hoped for God to act. Others turned to armed rebellion. The next lesson takes up those responses.

The question put to Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar (Mark 12:13 to 17) belongs in this setting. A coin bearing the emperor’s image and title was a daily reminder of Rome. Scholars disagree on how to read Jesus’ reply, and the different churches draw different conclusions about the relation between church and state from it.

  1. How did client kings and local elites make Roman rule cheaper and easier for Rome?
  2. Why might Herod the Great have been both admired as a builder and hated as a ruler?
  3. What does it mean that the high priest depended on the Roman prefect for office?
  4. Why does the gospel portrait of Pilate differ from the portrait in Josephus and Philo, and how might a historian weigh the two?
  5. How would a tax on persons, a land tax and the Temple tax together have affected a small farm?
  6. What does this lesson change in your reading of Jesus’ answer about paying taxes to Caesar?

Examples

Pilate’s inscription

In 1961 archaeologists at Caesarea found a stone that mentions Pontius Pilate as prefect of Judea. It is the only physical evidence from his lifetime naming him, and it supports the title that the New Testament and other writers attach to him.

A farmer in debt

A farmer in Galilee borrows against his harvest to pay taxes after a poor year. When the harvest fails again, he loses the land and becomes a hired laborer. (A constructed example. Many scholars think that this pattern of indebtedness stands behind several of Jesus’ parables.)

The Herodian building program

Herod the Great raised the Temple platform, built Caesarea and Masada, and rebuilt cities. Visitors today can see the huge stones of the Temple platform’s western wall. The buildings show both his wealth and his dependence on Rome.

Different perspectives

Scholarly consensus

Historians agree on the broad outline: Pompey in 63 BC, Herod as client king, division after 4 BC, direct rule from 6 AD, and Pilate as prefect. They debate the weight of the tax burden, how violent Roman rule was in Galilee, and the date and nature of the census mentioned in Luke 2.

Catholic and Orthodox views

Both traditions affirm that Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, as the creeds say. They have also honored saints and martyrs who suffered under later Roman emperors, and both have developed teaching about respect for lawful authority alongside the duty to obey God first.

Protestant view

Protestants hold that the creedal phrase ‘under Pontius Pilate’ fixes the gospel in history. Lutheran, Reformed and Anabaptist traditions read Romans 13 and Jesus’ answer about Caesar differently, producing differing views on the relation between church and state.

Jewish view

Jewish historians of the period treat Roman occupation as the key context for the revolts and for the destruction of the Temple. Many note that crucifixion was a Roman punishment, and that Jewish teachers of the age did not act as a single body in regard to Jesus.

Why it matters

The Roman setting explains why a movement proclaiming a kingdom of God could be seen as dangerous, why the leaders in Jerusalem were anxious, and why Jesus was executed by a Roman method. It also guards against reading the gospels as if they took place in a politically neutral world.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: The Romans had no role in the death of Jesus.

Correction: Crucifixion was a Roman punishment, and only the Roman prefect could order it. The gospels also say that some Jewish leaders handed Jesus over. Responsibility is shared among individuals and authorities, and not assigned to a whole people.

Misunderstanding: Herod the Great ruled the whole land of Jesus’ time.

Correction: He died in 4 BC, so the rulers during Jesus’ ministry were Antipas in Galilee and Pilate in Judea.

Misunderstanding: The date of Jesus’ birth is certain.

Correction: Because Herod died in 4 BC, and Matthew places Jesus’ birth before Herod’s death, most scholars date the birth between about 6 and 4 BC. The usual calendar count was fixed centuries later and is off by a few years.

Misunderstanding: Roman rule was a constant military occupation.

Correction: Rome relied heavily on local elites. Troops were few in most areas, but the threat of force was always present, and festivals brought extra soldiers.

Knowledge check

Who was Herod the Great, and what did he do?

He was a client king appointed by Rome who ruled from 37 to 4 BC. He rebuilt the Jerusalem Temple, founded Caesarea, and built fortresses such as Masada. Many Jews resented him as an outsider and a ruthless ruler. He is the king in the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke.

What changed in 6 AD?

Rome removed Archelaus, son of Herod, from Judea and began to rule it directly through prefects. This brought a census for taxation and put Roman governors in charge, who then appointed the high priest. Galilee stayed under Herod Antipas.

What is known about Pilate outside the New Testament?

Josephus and Philo record conflicts between Pilate and the Jews, Tacitus says Christ was executed under him, and a stone from Caesarea names him as prefect. Together they confirm his office and period.

How did taxation affect ordinary people?

They paid taxes to Rome, dues to local rulers, tolls on goods, and religious tithes and the Temple tax. In a bad year a family could fall into debt and lose its land. Historians debate how heavy the total burden was.

Why was the high priest’s position delicate?

The high priest led the Temple and the Sanhedrin, but held office by the Roman governor’s favor. He was expected to keep order and prevent unrest, and risked removal if he failed.

Think it through

  1. How does it change your reading of the trial of Jesus to know the political pressures on Caiaphas and Pilate?
  2. Which details of the Herodian story did you know already, and which are new?
  3. What gives a historian confidence in a fact such as Pilate’s term of office?
  4. How should Christians speak of Pilate and the Jewish leaders in a way that is accurate and avoids blame of a whole people?

Independent assignment

A timeline of rulers

In your own notebook, write 250 to 400 words. Make a timeline from 63 BC to 70 AD that includes Pompey, Herod the Great, Archelaus, Antipas, Pilate and Caiaphas, and mark where you think each of the following gospel events fits: the birth of Jesus, the death of John the Baptist, and the crucifixion. Add a paragraph on one date you are unsure of and how you would check it. Do not send this to anyone.

Further study