WHEN GOD SENT hIS SON
The
condition of the Jewish nation at the time of the incarnation
Writers of the T’nach, the Jewish Scriptures, prophesied
the coming of a deliverer, an anointed one, a Messiah; an individual who would
be of the seed of woman; and descended from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah
and David. Moses said he would be an
anointed prophet,[1] David
said he would be a priest of the order of Melchizedek,[2]
Micah said he would rule Israel.[3] Jesus
of Nazareth claimed to be that Messiah.
Moreover, beyond His work as Messiah, He claimed to be God incarnate,
deity clothed in flesh. Evidence in
support of these claims was mostly in the area of the miraculous.
At the time of His unveiling, Israel was in
captivity both nationally and spiritually.
The land, promised to Abraham and his seed, was enemy held territory.
The Political Climate
Rome/Pilate
The standards, symbols and activities
of Rome, the
unlawful occupants, were everywhere. The
Jewish Temple, for all its great height, was itself overlooked by the towers of
the Antonia fortress. This was a physical illustration of the plight of the
nation. This monstrosity, which housed the Roman garrison, abutted the Herodian
extensions of the Temple at the north-western
corner of the Temple
mount. The physical might of the Roman army enforced the payment of taxes
levied on the Jewish people, and compelled their obedience to Roman law. Jesus alludes to the subservience of Jewish
citizens to Roman citizens in the sermon on the Mount when He said, ‘whoever
compels you to go one mile …’.[4]
At the time of the ministry and death
of Christ, Pilate was the occupying forces highest authority in Israel, and had charge of as many as 5,000
infantry, who were stationed in Caesarea and Jerusalem, as well as approximately 120
cavalry. He appointed the High Priests
and controlled the Temple
and its funds. The High Priest’s
vestments were in his keeping and he only released them for festivals, at which
time he re-enforced the garrison in Jerusalem.
The
Herods
Under Rome,
there was a period when the secular rulers of the nation were the Herods. There are seven of them mentioned in the New
Testament. The first was Herod the
Great, the king of the nation at the time of the birth of Jesus. He was not of
David’s line, not even of Jacob’s line, therefore not of ‘Israel’. He was
an Idumean, a descendent of Esau, and a Jewish proselyte. Under Rome, he ruled over an
area the size of which rivalled that of Solomon. He thought of himself as a new
Solomon, building the Temple
while overcoming all obstacles. He obtained the title, ‘King of the Jews’ and
some of the Herodian party considered him a Messiah. However, he was evil, a
murderer. To gain power he had murdered
his masters and those of the Sanhedrin that opposed him. When in power, motivated
by jealousy he murdered Hyrcanus, the grandfather of his favourite wife
Mariamne; then Mariamne herself, to whom he was passionately attached. He also murdered her two sons, Alexander and
Aristobulus, and, only five days before his death, his oldest son, Antipater. Furthermore,
in his last moments, he gave orders for the execution of a number of his nobles,
so that at his death universal mourning might shroud the land. Against this backdrop, his infamous act, the massacre
of the innocents of Bethlehem,
can chillingly be seen as not out of character. In his will, he bequeathed the
kingdom to three of his sons, Archelaus, Antipas and Philip.
It was fear of Archelaus, another
wicked king, which caused Joseph and Mary to take Jesus and settle out of his
jurisdiction in Galilee.[5]
Because of his repressive rule, the Jews went to Rome to have him deposed. It is from this time that procurators[6] governed
Judea.
Herod Antipas, a son of Herod the
Great by his Samaritan wife Malthace, was tetrarch of Galilee
and Peraea during the whole period of the Messiah’s life on earth.[7] He
was a frivolous and vain prince, chargeable with many infamous crimes.[8] He
was the one to imprison and execute Messiah’s forerunner, John[9] at
the instigation of Herodias, his half-brother Herod-Philip’s wife, whom he had
married. He had a brief encounter with Jesus,[10] and was denounced as a plotter by Herod Agrippa,
(the grandson of Herod the Great). He was deposed, and spent the rest of his
life in exile.
Herod Philip I, was the son of
Herod the Great, by Mariamne, the daughter of Simon, the high priest. He lived
in Rome with
his wife Herodias and his daughter Salome. This is the Philip mentioned in Mark
6.17.
Herod Philip II, the son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra
of Jerusalem, was ‘tetrarch’ of Batanea, Iturea, Trachonitis, and Auranitis. He
rebuilt the city of Caesarea Philippi, calling
it by his own name to distinguish it from the Caesarea
on the seacoast, which was the seat of the Roman government. He married Salome,
the daughter of Herodias. This is the Philip mentioned in Luke 3.1.
Herod Agrippa ruled over an area as
great as his grandfather’s kingdom and was known for his attack on the
apostles.[11] Luke
recorded his sudden death.[12]
These Herods, who were on the stage of
Israel during the period of the incarnation and the first years of the early
church, all proved themselves enemies of what was right and good, and enemies
of God’s Messiah and His disciples. Israel was not safe while Rome and the Herods remained the major
political players.
The Spiritual Climate
More serious than Israel’s political state was its
spiritual state.
Priests and Sadducees
During the ministry of Jesus, a corrupt priesthood ran the Temple. The man who held
the greatest authority was Annas, a High Priest who had been deposed by Rome, but who retained
power by controlling whoever was the titular High Priest. Caiaphas, his son-in-law,
was the High Priest who officiated at the trials of Jesus and manipulated a
guilty verdict on an innocent man.
The commercial enterprises of the priesthood exposed their
corruption. On the Temple mount, items essential for ritual
offerings were sold at exorbitant prices. The great religious festivals, when Jerusalem was filled with pilgrims from other parts of the
Roman empire as well as the faithful in Israel, were used to collect vast
amounts of money. For example the annual
Temple-tribute was collected at the season of Passover when the nation’s
population was greatly increased with pilgrims.
Prior to the influx of pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem, the tax gatherers gave their
attention to the resident population. A
month before 14th Nissan, on 15th Adar, stalls of money-changers were opened in
every town in Israel. All Jews and proselytes (except women, slaves
and children) were liable for the tax. The Temple-tribute had to be paid in
exact half shekels of the Sanctuary. Since the coins in circulation were
Persian, Tyrean, Syrian, Egyptian, Roman, Grecian and Galilean, you can imagine
how much trade these money changers had. Those that did not pay the tribute
could have their goods confiscated. These
Temple tax
collectors were permitted to charge a fee for their services. However, if an
individual did not have the right money to change for the tribute, the money-changer
would charge a second fee for providing change. The revenue extracted by these tax-collectors/money
changers was immense.
On the 25th Adar they moved their stalls to Jerusalem. Then the first pilgrims would be arriving for
the feast, and the Temple tax collectors set up
in the Temple
precincts. They extracted the tribute
money from all visitors and charged each their additional fee. Pilgrims visiting from other nations took the
opportunity to change their coin into Temple
currency, not only to pay the tribute, but also to obtain currency to purchase
things needful for the feast, i.e. sacrifices and offerings. These ancient ‘bureaux de change’, set their
own exchange rates. The Temple, controlled by Annas and Caiaphas,
profited greatly from this trade.
The dealings of these servants of Mammon[13]
and Annas involved the weighing of coins, with deductions for the loss of weight,
and the subsequent arguments and disputes.
It is not out of the question to suggest that in such circumstances some
of these money-changers would resort to false and deceptive balances.[14] There
was cheating, lying and sometimes violence.
When Jesus Himself called them ‘a den of thieves’,[15]
He had Himself weighed them in a balance and found them wanting.[16]
Since these people were in a close business relationship
with Annas and Caiaphas, they were examples of the character of the leaders of
the nation, which is borne out by the fact that the Messiah used the same word
of Annas, Caiaphas and the Chief Priests as He did of these corrupt financiers. ‘All who came before Me are thieves and
robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.’[17] The Sadducean High Priest, who should have
been a shepherd to Israel,
was branded by the Messiah as a thief. The
Temple ‘market’
in Rabbinical writings is referred to as ‘the Bazaars of the Sons of Annas’ (Chanuyoth
beney Chanan). The priests were
running a monopoly and worshippers were fleeced like the sheep they sacrificed!
Edersheim quotes Josephus and other
sources in painting a picture where Annas is described as ‘a great hoarder up
of money, very rich’[18]. He
despoiled the common priests of their official revenues. The Talmud records the curse that a Rabbi of
Jerusalem (Rabbi Abba Shaul) pronounced on the High Priestly families (including
that of Annas) who were ‘themselves High Priests , their sons treasurers, their
sons-in-law assistant treasurers, while their servants beat the people with
sticks’.[19]
There were 24 groups or courses
of priests officiating in the Temple,[20] a
chief priest at the head of each. Most
of the priests were Sadducees. According
to early Christian writers (Hippolytus, Origen, and Jerome) the Sadducees accepted
only the first five books of the T’nach, (the Pentateuch), as inspired text. The remainder of the T’nach (the Prophets and
the Writings), while not rejected outright, were considered redundant for
doctrinal purposes. For example, they did
not believe in a resurrection since it was not in the Pentateuch.[21] This is why Jesus took His proof text from the
most well known passage in the Pentateuch to confound them on the subject.[22] Josephus asserted their rejection of “the
immortal duration of the soul, and the punishments and rewards in Hades”.[23]
“Souls die with the bodies” was what they said.[24] The practical effect of this doctrine was
‘eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die’.
They were called the Epicureans of the Jews. Since their theological
position did not include reward or retribution after death, they were left with
no restraint in the present.
The
Pharisees
The priests exercised a great deal of
power through the Sanhedrin, the highest court in Israel, where they held 24 of the 70
seats. The High Priest occupied an extra seat, reserved for the leader of the
court. Alongside the priests in the Sanhedrin were elders and others of Israel who largely
held to the doctrine of the Pharisees. These
considered themselves the descendents of Ezra, the father of Jewish legalism,
and of the Hasidim, who had so heroically resisted the Hellenisation of the
Jews. The Hasidim were those Jews who had resisted to the death, the attacks on
the Jewishness of the Hebrew nation by Antiochus Epiphanes and the
Seleucids. This history had left its
mark, so they defended with vigour any weakening of their traditional position.
The Pharisees, in contrast to the
Sadducees, accepted the whole of the T’nach, (the Law, the Writings and the Prophets);
and added other regulations which they sought to impose on the population. These other laws and regulations were called
the ‘tradition of the elders’; and revolved around the practical application of
the T’nach. The Pharisees worked hand in
hand with the interpreters of these traditions, the Scribes, but Jesus
condemned both Scribes and Pharisees for hypocrisy. They pretended spirituality, they pretended
integrity, they pretended they were following the light of the Word of God, but
Jesus said, they were, like the Sadducees, corrupt, extortioners, exploiting
the people, devouring widows’ houses.[25] Described as blind leaders of the blind, they
were a generation of vipers.
Historically,
these ‘rulers of Israel’, (Sadducean priests and Pharisaic elders and lawyers),
met in the house of polished stones in the Temple compound, but at the time of
the ministry of the Messiah they were meeting in the end chamber of the royal
porch, located on the southern wall of the Temple mount.[26]
Satan
The population itself was largely in a state of
unbelief, and ripe for the activities of the Adversary. When Jesus began His ministry, one of His first
tasks was as a medical missionary to the demon possessed. This condition
revealed itself in many ways, with some deaf, some blind, some mute, some
paralysed, some lunatic and some spastic. Many in Israel had been ‘bound by Satan’
for a considerable period. Lightfoot
expresses it in his exercitations on Matthew 10: ‘When I consider with myself
that numberless number of demoniacs which the evangelists mention, the like to
which no history affords, and the Old Testament produces hardly one or two
examples, I cannot but suspect …that the Jewish people, now arriving to the
very top of that impiety, now also arrived to the very top of those curses
which are recited in Leviticus chapter 26 and Deuteronomy chapter 28’.[27] Then there were those who, while not
possessed, were oppressed of the devil. Luke refers to it when he reported, ‘Jesus
of Nazareth … went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the
devil, for God was with Him.’[28] It
appears that Jesus first had to cleanse the nation of demonic activity before
they could have the freedom to consider His claims of office. Jesus likened the
nation to a man possessed of an unclean demon.[29]
The gospel writers themselves give eye-witness
descriptions of this activity: ‘They brought to Him many who were
demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who
were sick’;[30] and, ‘He
was preaching in their synagogues throughout all Galilee,
and casting out demons’.[31] His disciples who joined Him in this ministry
said, ‘Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name’;[32] and they
too, ‘cast out many demons’.[33]
The activity and influence of Satan was so strong at this time that the Messiah
made a general statement to say of those that opposed Him that they were
children of the devil.[34] Significantly, their riposte was that Jesus Himself
was demon-possessed, a charge patently untrue and which Jesus denied.[35]
Then Israel’s Messiah Arrived!
To such a people, oppressed by Rome, and in captivity to Satan, and ruled by
a corrupt Sanhedrin, God’s Messiah came.
He was their only hope. He came and
offered a kingdom. His message to the
nation was, ‘the kingdom of heaven is at hand’,[36] a
message previously ministered by His herald, John,[37]
and later given to His disciples to preach.[38] What
was this kingdom? What exactly was He offering?
As Messiah He offered a kingdom headed by Himself, that is the Messianic
kingdom, the kingdom of peace. Great
David’s greater Son would banish Satan and occupy David’s throne. It would be a
time of prosperity for all. The animals will be subject to man, as in the
garden of Eden and the government at Jerusalem
would dispense justice righteously. Truth and holiness would characterise many
of its citizens and people would plant, harvest, and build. Righteousness would
be the prevailing characteristic of this kingdom.[39] The old order would give way to a new order,
‘new wine in new bottles’.
God gave the nation a choice, to receive or
reject His Deliverer. But, as the
ministry of Jesus developed, it became clear that embracing the new order would
mean the leadership of the nation would be greatly affected:
(a)
The Romans would, of necessity, be compelled to yield
the government of Israel. In addition, they would stand trial on
charges of anti-Semitism.[40]
(b)
In a similar manner, Herod would lose both his
political power and wealth, and face trial.
(c)
The Sadducean leadership would lose their position in
the Mosaic hierarchy, and in consequence, lose also their income and their
influence over the nation. The fortunes
of Annas and Caiaphas would be forfeit.
(d)
The Pharisees’ place on Israel’s stage would be over, since
Messiah branded them as hypocrites, and refused to endorse their traditions. They too, would lose their position, power,
and source of income.
However, Satan exerted a powerful influence on
all levels of society, and ultimately the nation, led by the Sanhedrin, rejected
the Messianic claims of Jesus. Since they knew that He was their Messiah, their
actions made them culpable. But why did
they reject Him? John answered this
question. ‘This is the condemnation,
that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the
light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.’[41]
It is not as if the rejection was unexpected by
God and His Messiah. While the offer of the Messianic kingdom was genuine, the
rejection of the Messiah meant the rejection of the kingdom. The Messianic
kingdom would have to be postponed until a generation could be found to call
for Jesus Messiah, and embrace the principles of the kingdom - judgement, mercy
and faith.[42] Israel would have
to wait for a time when the nation’s leadership would call for the return of the
Messiah they previously rejected. Jesus
said, ‘I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’[43]
Was
there any expectation of a Messiah in the Jewish nation at the time of the
incarnation?
Students of the T’nach were familiar with those times when God
had provided a prophetic indicator of great deliverances. For example, because of His words to Abraham, Israel
might have anticipated a Moses after 400 years in Egypt.[44] Certainly,
Daniel was able to mark the end of the Babylonian captivity after 70 years,
because of the prophecy of Jeremiah.[45] Therefore, those who poured over the pages of
the T’nach at the beginning of the Christian era would have been aware of
Daniel’s prophecy which spoke of a period of 69 ‘sevens’ of years, that is 483
years, from the edict for the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile
to the coming of ‘Messiah the Prince’.[46] These scholars looked for any indications of
the unveiling of the Messiah.
And for those that had eyes to see, there
were signs that the time of Messiah had come. There had been that incident[47]
when an elderly priest had testified that during the ceremony of the burning of
the incense, he had seen an angel in the Temple,
who had brought a message of the coming of the Messiah. The angel was the very
same Gabriel who had been instrumental in giving the timetable of Messiah’s
coming to Daniel.[48]
Events surrounding the angelic visit helped to confirm the veracity of the
message. The old priest was struck dumb and a son was miraculously born to the
old couple, on whose birth the old priest was able to talk again. Friends and neighbours spread the news
throughout Judea.[49]
Six months after the birth of the son of the priest, the
‘light and glory of God’[50] shone
above the hills around Bethlehem. This light, the Shekinah of God, had been
visible, even in Babylonia, where the eastern
stargazers marked it and understood its significance.[51] Temple
shepherds, who had witnessed the Shekinah glory, reported further angelic
messages of the birth of the Messiah.[52]
Then there was the testimony of those who
were recognised to be under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Some six weeks after the shepherds had seen
the Shekinah glory of God, the parents of the baby identified by heaven as the
Messiah, went up to the Temple to fulfil their obligations - the offering of
sacrifice for the purification of the mother, and the payment of money for the
redemption of the first-born. Following the priestly benediction on the infant,
a godly man, Simeon, entered the court of prayer, held the child in His arms
and declared the baby to be God’s Messiah.[53] This man was not only a student of the
Scriptures and therefore aware of the timing of the coming of the Messiah, but
also a godly man who had received an indication from God that he would not die
until he saw the ‘Consolation of Israel’.[54] The prophetess, Anna, likewise declared Him to
be her Messiah.[55]
Nearly two years after these events, the
eastern stargazers, who had seen from afar the Shekinah glory over the hills of
Bethlehem, arrived in Jerusalem on a visit and ‘troubled’ both Herod and
Jerusalem with the question, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?’[56] Herod, clearly aware of the Messianic
expectations of the nation at that time, called some of the Sanhedrin and asked
where the Messiah was to be born.[57] They identified Bethlehem, which village suffered a great
tragedy some time later when Herodian soldiers slaughtered all of the children younger
than twenty-five months. It was Herod’s
attempt, no doubt prompted by a higher, evil, power, to kill the young Messiah.[58]
As the years passed, anticipation first waned and
then increased again when tokens of God’s favour occurred. The pool at Bethesda had healing power at certain
seasons,[59] and
Jewish exorcists were casting out demons.[60] These
very significant and unprecedented events were tokens that God was beginning to
loosen Satan’s grip on the ancient people of God. There was another power at work in Israel. The
population of Jerusalem
had increased year-by-year, having been led by Daniel’s prophecy and the
agreeableness of the time, to live there, in expectation of the Messiah. Accordingly, many of the people were waiting
for the kingdom
of God,[61]
among them some who held eminent positions like Counsellor Joseph of
Arimathaea, an honourable man.[62] At this time, John, the son of the old priest,
Zacharias, began His prophesied ministry.
Those who were anticipating the coming of Israel’s Deliverer,[63]
flocked to hear him and be baptised.
Indeed, the question as to whether John was the predicted Messiah was
constantly raised.[64] Jesus Himself was subjected to the same
questioning by those who had been alerted by Daniel’s prophecy.[65] The woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria voiced precisely the intelligence
that was circulating, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called
Christ).”[66]
From such incidents, it is concluded that the nation was
expecting the unveiling of a national Messiah.
Let us examine the gospel narratives to explore the way Jesus
of Nazareth presented Himself to the population and how they reacted to Him. We
will identify His claims and His confirming evidence. We will further identify
their response and the motives for their actions.
The following questions are phrased to guide our research
into the relevant areas, to be able to assess the relationship of the people of
Israel
with their Messiah, during the period of the incarnation.
What claims did Jesus of Nazareth make?
Did He claim to be Israel’s
Messiah? (Chapter 2)
What evidence was the Messiah expected
to provide to support his claim? (Chapter 3)
What evidence did Jesus of Nazareth
provide? (Chapters 4 to 6)
How did the nation’s leaders
investigate His claims, and what did they decide? (Chapters 7 and 8)
How did Jesus respond to their
decision? (Chapter 9)
How did it all end? (Chapters 10)
[1]
Deut.19.15
[2] Ps.110.4
[3] Mic.5.2
[4]
Matt.5.41
[5]
Matt.2.22
[6] Personal
agents of the Emperor
[7] Luke
23.7
[8] Mark
8.15; Lk.3.19; 13.31
[9]
Mt.14.1-12
[10] Luke
23.7 ff
[11] Acts
12.2
[12] Acts
12.20
[13]
Matt.6.24
[14] Amos
8.5; Mic.6.11
[15]
Matt.21.13
[16]
Dan.5.27
[17] John
10.8 (see also Matt.6.19)
[18] Life
& Times of Jesus the Messiah (Book 3; Chapter 5; p256)
[19] Talmud
Pes.57a
[20] 1
Chron.23.6
[21] Luke
20.27; cf. Acts 4.1,2; Acts 23.6-8
[22] Mark
12.26; Luke 20.37
[23] War
2.8,14
[24]
Antiquities 18.1.4
[25] Mark
12.40; Luke 20.47
[26]
Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 15a; Rosh Hashabbah 31a, Abodah Zara 8b
[27] Comm.
on N.T. from the Talmud and Hebraica, Vol.2.p177
[28] Acts
10.38
[29]
Matt.12.43,44
[30]Matt. 8.16
[31]Mark 1.39
[32] Luke
10.17
[33] Mark
6.13
[34] John
8.44
[35] John
8.48, 52
[36] Matt
4.17
[37]
Matt.3.2
[38]
Matt.10.7
[39] Heb.1.8
[40]
cf.Matt.25.31-46
[41] John
3.19,20
[42]
Matt.23.23
[43]
Matt.23.39
[44]
Gen.15.13
[45] Dan.9.2
[46]
Dan.9.25
[47] Luke
1.5ff
[48] Dan.8.16, 9.21; Luke 1.19,26
[49] Luke 1.64,65
[50] Luke 2.9
[51] Matt.2.2
[52] Luke
2.8ff
[53] Luke
2.25,26
[54] Luke
2.25 ff
[55] Luke
2.38
[56]
Matt.2.2
[57]
Matt.2.4
[58]
Matt.2.16-18
[59] John
5.4
[60]
Matt.12.27
[61] Luke
19.11
[62] Mark
15.43
[63] Luke
3.15
[64] John
1.19; cf. John 3.28
[65] John
10.24
[66] John
4:25
