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The Jewish World
The Romans allowed the Jews to practise their own religion and so the Jews had their own religious government, which was established in Jerusalem. The Jewish Council, headed by the High Priest, was called the Sanhedrin.
The Sanhedrin had authority and power to punish wrong-doers. However, they were not permitted to carry out the death penalty.
Jewish Groups
Within the Jewish religion and society, there were various groups:
- The Sadducees
- These were the descendants of the priestly line who, to maintain some hold on power, maintained religious authority through agreement with the Romans. They accepted only the Torah as from God and, therefore, authoritative.
The Torah is the Law which God gave to Moses, the first five books of the Bible.
- The Pharisees
- They were very meticulous in keeping all the laws of God. Many in the New Testament seem to be very self-righteous. They believed that they should live separate (that is in the meaning of the name 'Pharisee') and,
accordingly, had nothing to do with Gentiles (non-Jews).
- The Zealots
- The Zealots were the revolutionaries of the day. Depending on your point of view, they would have been seen as freedom fighters or terrorists. They believed that it was right to fight against the Romans in an attempt to drive them out of the country.
- The Essenes
- The Essenes were a small, religious group, who lived away from the main, areas of habitation. Often they had a commune-style life in the wilderness or desert. The most famous group for us is the Qumran community by the Dead Sea, whose sacred scrolls, discovered in 1947, are now known as The Dead Sea Scrolls.
They wanted to keep their Jewish religion pure from wrong influences.
Jesus was brought up in Nazareth, in the North of the country, amongst ordinary working men and women. Joseph was a carpenter, a number of Jesus' disciples were fishermen and others of his acquaintances farmed,
kept vineyards or olive groves. Many others, depised then and today, found that Jesus had time for them: beggars, lepers, harlots, tax-collectors (and, thus, collaborators with the Romans) thieves as well as the sick and infirm.
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There were, of course, many religious people. The High Priest who presided over the Sanhedrin, the priests who performed the sacrificial rites in the Temple at Jerusalem, the Levites who performed other service in the Temple,
and rabbis who led local communities at the synagogues throughout the land.
Many, were hypocritical. Many, out of envy, tried to trick Jesus by cunning questions. On one such occasion, they asked Jesus whether or not it was lawful to pay tribute (tax) to Caesar. Jesus asked for a Roman coin. "Whose head and inscription is on it?" he asked. "Caesar's!" yelled the crowd. "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."
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