Judaism in the Time of Jesus, Continued

Two more topics I wish to add to the discussion on Judaism in the time of Jesus are the role of Herod and the role of the Jerusalem Temple.

Herod the Great:
Herod was called Herod the Great because of his magnificent building projects. But he was not a great guy. After he killed his wife Mariamne and her sons (because she fell out of favor and Herod did not want any of her sons to inherit the throne) it was said that it was safer to be Herod's pig than his son (because he refrained from eating pork so that his subjects would think him more Jewish than he actually was).

The Temple:
The biggest industry in Palestine at this time is the Temple in Jerusalem. Some have estimated that it took 1,000 people to run the whole operation. The Gospel of Luke likes to portray the Temple as a place of prayer, but in reality its primary function was as a major slaughterhouse, with the high priestly families keeping the majority of the profits for themselves.

Here is how it worked: ordinary Joe Jew wants to offer a sacrifice at the temple, but it has to be a perfect animal (without blemish). He might own a perfect animal (sheep or goat) suitable for the occasion, but if he walks it all the way to Jerusalem, it might not be perfect when he arrives there, and it is too hot and difficult to carry such an animal. So, a better route (but costlier) is to purchase an already approved animal on the site.

But if you carried Roman government coinage you may have to exchange your coinage for the correct currency for temple purchases (for a small fee). Then you have to purchase the animal suitable for the sacrifice, which would be a lot more expensive than market rates. (Now you know the background of the story of Jesus upsetting the tables of the money-changers and letting the animals out of their pens in the temple outer courtyard). By the time Joe has purchased his animal and led it to the priests for sacrifice (one quick upward slice into the jugular to make sure all the blood drains out), he has quite an investment in this animal. But after the sacrificial ritual Joe only receives a portion of the meat in return to share and eat with his family. The priests keep the majority, but they can eat only so much, so they sell the rest to the local butcher shops.

The temple in Jerusalem was a religious monopoly, and the high priestly families worked it to their advantage, and produced significant profits that they then invested in purchasing farm land around Palestine. So the average person suffered economically from this religious arrangement. The high priestly family served at the pleasure of the Roman governor, so they had to be on good terms with Romans and do nothing to upset the Roman authorities.

But the imperial Roman government based in Rome exacted high taxes from the lands they occupied and Palestine was no exception, and these high taxes and the underlying resentment of them by the average person is the background for the question to Jesus about paying taxes to Caesar, in wanting to see if Jesus would advocate tax resistance. But the fact that his questioners had a Roman coin in their possession showed which side of that debate they were on.

The high taxation also was a major factor in the revolt that took place in 66 CE. To enforce their rule and put down revolts the Romans garrisoned troops in Palestine, and this was another sore point with the average person. Most people were happy to stay clear of any Romans. To the average rural Galilean, life was trying to scratch an agricultural living out of rocky soil on land that the person did not even own.

The high rate of taxation was a major sore point with the working class people. No wonder tax collectors were despised by the local population, in addition to the fact that such people often over-stated the taxes due and pocketed the difference for themselves (thus the economic/moral significance of the Zacchaeus story). But the smoldering resentment brought on by the economic and political oppression did not result in a multitude of overt acts of violent resistance during Jesus' time, but only became organized much later into an armed revolt (year 66 CE). Scholars are divided on exactly how much of a role this oppression-resentment factor actually plays in understanding the life of Jesus, even if it was part of the social background. One thing is for sure, the Romans were brutal in enforcing their control on the land of Palestine and everyone knew it.