Bible talk:

(1.) What marked the onset of the Roman Period in Judea, and approximately when did that happen?

(2.) Who was in power in Judea at the time of the onset of the Roman Period? Was there intrigue going on in Jerusalem at that time? Explain.

(3.) What became of Judea at the onset of the Roman Period? Discuss the providence of God in this.

Our Answers

(1.) After the Roman General and official Pompey’s victorious conclusion of the Third Mithridatic War, he seized Jerusalem in 63 BC. The latter and its date mark the onset of the Roman Period in Judea.

(2.) The Hasmonean dynasty held the throne in Jerusalem per the successful Jewish Maccabean independence struggle (167-141 BC) against the prevailing Seleucid oppression. This struggle was led by the Hasidim priest Mattathias the Hasmonean, and successfully effected by his sons Judas, Jonathan, Simon, and fellow Hasidim freedom-fighters. Intrigue played a role in Pompey’s and hence Rome’s presence in Judea, at whose hands our Savior Jesus would be crucified per the Roman custom (Rome learned of crucifixion from others though). The Hasmonean brothers Aristobulus II and Hyrcanus II were vying for succession to the Hasmonean throne, and escalating conflicts and attendant unrest prompted Rome via Pompey to discern the scope of the matter, specifically in Jerusalem. He found the Pharisees aligned with Hyrcanus, and the Sadducees with Aristobulus. Each brother tried to gain Pompey’s favor in effort to thwart the other; each gave gifts (gold/silver) to Pompey to gain his favor. In the end, Pompey sided with Hyrcanus, and straightaway he and his Pharisee followers gave Pompey entrance into Jerusalem, whilst Aristobulus and the Sadducees defied and resisted Pompey’s decision and held out in the Temple. But Pompey broke through the wall of the Temple and gained control of it (blaspheming the Holy of Holies by way of their entry into it), and that marked the end of the intrigue, but the cost was high, not least because it marked the end of the nation’s independence, as the Roman Eagle henceforth swooped down upon Judea, nevertheless setting into motion the wheels of God’s providence that would ultimately put Jesus on a Roman cross as Redeemer and Savior of humankind.

(3.) Judea became a client kingdom of the Roman Republic, that is, it came under heavy economic, military, and political control by Rome-enter the Roman puppet procurators, not least Pontius Pilate. Moreover, it marked the end of Jewish independence realized after the Maccabean Revolt. From eternity past then, did Father God intend to put Jesus on specifically a Roman cross? Yes. But why? One cannot say, God knows. Pax Romana, the person and heart of the first disciples and Paul in their day, Koine Greek…perhaps our Savior was born for a time such as this to best satisfy our God’s long-term goal of building a Church unto His Name (“Early Christendom“). Thus, it would have been inevitable that our Lord suffered vicariously on specifically a Roman cross. See also “Palestine, the Intertestamental Chronology.”

Praised be your Name great savior God. Amen.