The Voice and the Word: A Historical Novel of the Times and Relations of Jesus and John, based upon Holy Scripture

By Michael Herbers

No man in all of human history has so affected the course of civilizations as has the life, teaching, and death of Jesus of Nazareth, proclaimed as the Christ, the promised messiah. Whether in response to or in reaction from this man, men and nations have risen or fallen, but none has been indifferent.

So great has been the magnification of Jesus that the circumstances and lives of persons surrounding him have been alternately diminished, stereotyped, scorned, or simply enveloped and swept along in the aura of the Jesus story. One such historical personage is that of John the Baptist, he who was given the heaven-sent mission—responsibility—to “make straight the way of the Lord.”

These two men were cousins, John being the elder by six months. Both men lived in obscurity for thirty years until John dramatically stepped forth to preach repentance and preparation for the coming messiah, followed by Jesus a few months later. Recent scholarship and archeological discovery have shed some light on the cultural milieu of their era but has not, however, been able to inquire into the fundamental questions of their relationship.

This book’s title embodies the well-known titles ascribed to these cousins: “The Voice” who is John and “The Word” who is Jesus. These men and their heaven-sent missions are as indissolubly linked as are the linked functionality of their monikers. Therefore, it is especially important that this relationship be explored and historical clarity established.

Almost 400 Bible references help in developing an understanding of the relationship between Jesus and John, their religious antecedents, and their missions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781644686188

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The Voice

 and 

the Word

A Historical Novel of the Times

and Relations of Jesus and John,

Based upon Holy Scripture

Michael Herbers

ISBN 978-1-64468-617-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64468-618-8 (Digital)

Copyright © 2021 Michael Herbers

All rights reserved

First Edition

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Covenant Books, Inc.

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www.covenantbooks.com

Table of Contents

Preface

The Preparation for the Coming of the Messiah

The Betrothal

The Birth of John the Baptist

The Birth of Yeshua

Growth of the Two Boys

Yeshua Prepares for His Public Mission

John Prepares for His Public Mission

Make Straight the Way of the Lord

The Baptism

Yeshua Begins His Ministry

Separation of the Two Ministries

Death of the Baptist

Change of Messianic Direction

The Final Pesach

Preparing for the Pentecost

Other Books by Michael Herbers

Thistles Among the Flowers, an Anthology of Religious Freedom

This Generation of the Latter Days, Volume 1: Dispensationalism and God’s Purpose of Creation

This Generation of the Latter Days, Volume 2: God’s Providence of Salvation from Adam to the Latter Days

This Generation of the Latter Days, Volume 3: The Preparatory Latter Days Faiths

Martin Luther: Apologetics and Historical Fruits

Subsidence Underlying the Pillars of Protestant Certainty

Preface

No man in all of human history has so affected the course of civilization as has the life, teaching, and death of Jesus of Nazareth proclaimed as the Christ, the promised messiah. Whether in response to or in reaction from this man, men and nations have risen or fallen, but none has been indifferent.

So great has been the magnification of Jesus that the circumstances and lives of persons surrounding him have been alternately diminished, stereotyped, scorned, or simply enveloped and swept along in the aura of the Jesus story. One such historical personage is that of John the Baptist, he who was given the heaven-sent mission—responsibility—to make straight the way of the Lord. Only thirty-seven unduplicated New Testament verses speak of this man who was more than a prophet…and greatest among those born of women to whom God gave the second most critical mission in history. Few words have been written since.

These two men were cousins, John being the elder by six months. Both men lived in obscurity for thirty years until John dramatically stepped forth to preach repentance and preparation for the coming messiah, followed by Jesus a few months later. Recent scholarship and archeological discovery have shed some light on the cultural milieu of their era but has not, however, been able to inquire into the fundamental questions of their relationship.

This book’s title embodies the well-known titles ascribed to these cousins: The Voice who is John, and The Word who is Jesus. These men and their heaven-sent missions are as indissolubly linked as are the linked functionality of their monikers. Therefore, it is especially important that this relationship be explored and historical clarity established.

This is a historical novel, which has tried to create as true as possible a picture of life in those times, including weather, flora, fauna, and geology; custom and dress and language; history, politics, and commerce. Some Christian-inspired popular third world images and Bible stories of those times will be exploded as I explore real answers to the sources of Jesus’s education—the hidden years—and the real-life situations he faced.

At the same time, this book is faithful to the Bible in developing an understanding of the relationship between Jesus and John, their religious antecedents, and their missions. Accordingly, I take the unprecedented step for a novel by making copious use of footnotes so the reader can check the Bible himself as well as to furnish bookmarks for further reading for those unfamiliar with the Jewish books of history and the prophets.

—Michael Herbers

Historical Prologue:

The Preparation for the Coming of the Messiah

Gal. 4:4 When the time had fully come, God sent forth His son.

In what way was the time a full two thousand years ago that any other time was less than full? Man is both spirit and flesh—or internal nature and external form—closer to God or farther from God. For the time to be full means that the historical environment into which God’s son was to come had to be a receptive—prepared, full—environment so that he could be, would be, received.

What was the nature of that environment into which Jesus was born? What was life like in Judea during the first half of the Roman domination from 64–4 BCE. The celebrated Christian historian, Williston Walker, tells us that the general world perspective at this time saw:

[t]he lands which surrounded the Mediterranean in the possession of Rome. To a degree never before equaled and unapproachable in modern times, these vast territories, which embraced all that common men knew of civilized life, were under the sway of a single type of culture. The Roman Empire and the world of civilized men were coextensive. All was held together by allegiance to a single Emperor, and by a common military system subject to him. Under the peace, commerce flourished and communication was made easy by excellent roads and by sea…a common language, that of Greece, facilitated the interchange of thought. It secured a rough justice such as the world had never before seen…Yet with all of its unity of imperial authority and military control, Rome was far from crushing local institutions. In domestic matters the inhabitants of the provinces were largely self-governing.

The world was possessed by a certain unifying spirit, culture, law, and organization, despite local diversities. Externally, there were the Greek culture and Roman rule of law and network of communication ready to carry God’s Word throughout the known world, and then beyond. It was a time when God could work his providence for the denouement of human history.

Thus, in Judea also, the historical focus of his providence, the process of external physical preparation, was advancing. Situated in the strategic crossroads of civilization, Palestine grew wealthy with commerce, and she influenced the nations with her righteous religious ideals. Under Herod the Great, the Jews had regained a great part of their lands and even expanded, and they enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy under Rome. Israel grew to impressive splendor both within and outside Judea; the beauty of her buildings and restored lands were well-known throughout the world

At the same time, as this external worldly preparation was advancing, an internal spiritual preparation or division of good from evil was transpiring among the people, among the religious groups and parties, and in the political sphere. The Jewish people who had the prophecy of the coming messiah had a quest for a deeper freedom than a Roman sovereign could give. They rejected the material aspects of Hellenism and sought the spirit, some going off into the desert into ascetic communities, or they prayed and waited and followed holy men like John the Baptist.

They began to divide within their hearts the meaning of God and the Laws in which they had been instructed. It had been 400 years since the return from exile, and they had been faithful to their God. Their hopes began to rise spontaneously, and apocalyptic writings appeared, and messianic hopes flourished. This must be the time of deliverance, they thought. A similar spiritual yearning prevailed in far-flung pagan religions as well.

For each person, on all social levels, this generation was that time of deliverance, for this was the division of heart which God was seeking, soon to be elevated onto the world level, which stood already externally prepared. But God does not work in a social vacuum. If God brings a message of salvation, then people must be prepared to be looking for and desiring the message. Let us look to see what the world was like when Christ came into our midst. Real people live in a real world of influences that propel them either toward God or away from God,

Christianity entered no empty world…Christianity could not build on virgin soil… [Christ] came in the fullness of time in a much larger sense than was formerly thought; and no one who believes in an overruling providence of God will deny the fundamental importance of this mighty preparation…

I. The Mediterranean-Asian World

Greece: The Internal Aspect of Hellenism

The triumph of Roman rule and culture in the Mediterranean world, including Palestine, was based upon the foundation of Greek civilization, so it is to the Greek contribution we must first turn.

The Greeks had a passion for beauty and goodness, for ideal form and proportion. They were youthful in heart and energetic, loving life. City dwelling was their domain, they loved discussion, comradeship, and sociality. Inquisitive as children, they continually questioned, investigated, speculated, and systematized. They were a people of originality, precise thinking, and logic, with a confidence bordering on conceit. They were also careful hard workers who paid attention to details.

They converted everything into an art. They found the confusion of Eastern warfare, and they evolved tactics; they found the Egyptians measuring fields and they built up geometry and mathematics; they learned writing from the Phoenicians, but they wrote; they found men compiling chronicles, and they made it history; out of conflicting methods of social cohesion, they made politics; from theories of conduct and undefined right and wrong, they made ethics; they found men arriving at conclusions, and they invented logic; lastly, they turned the content of the Gospel into a theology.

Blind faith, reverence, and submission were alien to the Greek mind. They had no holy of holies, no sacred cows; their view of life was man-centered, and the rationality of man was their highest and, indeed, only authority. As one result of this, they were susceptible to fits of popular emotion, to moods and restlessness. They could kill a Socrates on one day and repent and deeply mourn on the next. The Greeks shook the old world out of its ruts.

Greek Contributions

The political growth began with Philip of Macedonia uniting the Greeks in the fourth century, BCE, and then his son, Alexander the Great, continuing his work by creating an empire of conquest that stretched from Egypt to Northern India. Due to Alexander’s enlightened attitude concerning this expansion, interchanges between nations and cultures of the east and west were facilitated and encouraged for the first time in history. Alexander made no distinctions between conquerors and conquered; international marriages became common, national barriers were thrown down, and racial differences were disregarded. It was the beginning of cosmopolitanism. Through Alexander’s triumphs, the core of Greek civilization was protected from any eastern encroachment, and it became the dominant culture of the known world.

During this period, Greek became the language of the Western World, and its importance as a vehicle for the interchange of thought cannot be overstated. People of cultures and civilizations isolated for hundreds or thousands of years could now begin to have give and take. Greek became the language which popularized the Scriptures known as the Old Testament through the Septuagint translation, and it was the language which gave birth to the books of the New Testament. In this way, the Greek language facilitated the rapid expansion of Christianity. Without the unifying effect of the Greek language, God’s providence would have been stifled.

Ideological Side of Hellenism

The Greek mind created philosophy and, upon that foundation, science, because the earliest philosophers were interested primarily in knowledge of the physical world in scientific knowledge.

The earliest group, the Milesian school, in the sixth century BCE, pondered the essential substance of the universe, postulating that it is water, air, or some boundless indeterminate. Heraclitus of Ephesus (490 BCE) saw the universe, including man’s soul, as being fashioned upon a principle of change exemplified by fire, which functions in a reasonable way, according to what he termed logos.

Socrates (470–399 BCE) dwelt more upon man’s nature, investigating morals, and arriving at four principal virtues: prudence, self-control, courage, and justice. He stated that right action, the action which leads to happiness, is based upon knowledge.

Plato (427-347 BCE), a student of Socrates, saw ultimate reality in the transcendent sphere of ideas with the highest value ideas being truth, beauty, and goodness. He believed that the idea of goodness is the form ruling the world. Here we begin to see a philosophical basis for a glimmer of a belief in a personal God.

Aristotle (384–322 BCE), a student of Plato, reasoned that all phenomena is due the interaction of the idea of something with the substance of the thing itself. His view included man as containing body, soul, and spirit (logos). The logos, or the idea of perfect man is, according to Aristotle, the connection between man and God. His view was more scientific and materialistic than was Plato’s.

One other major philosophical movement originating in Greece was Stoicism. Founded in Greece by Zeno (325–265 BCE), Cleanthes, and Chrysippus, this philosophy was taught and practiced in Rome through Seneca (3 BCE–65 CE), Epictetus (50–138 CE), and Marcus Aurelius (121–180 CE); it had many teachings very close to what was to become Christianity. It was, incidentally, strong in Tarsus, the native home of Saul, who became the missionary-apostle, Paul.

God, in the Stoic view, is a vital warmth, an intelligent self-conscious world soul possessing logos. Since God is indwelling in each person, we are all brothers under one rule of conduct. The highest good is to follow reason at whatever station in life one finds one’s self, whether rich man or slave. Such a viewpoint, when adopted by the ruling class, helped ameliorate the situation of slaves in the Roman Empire and strengthened justice and democratic ideals. The Stoics felt the kingdom of God to be possible if each individual follows his God-given conscience, thus becoming the image of divine reason and perfection. Such a sentiment was echoed by Jesus when he said, The kingdom of God is within you (Lk 7:21).

But at the same time, the Stoics bowed to the inevitable hand of fate in control of life, and for a man to unite gracefully with the dictates of fate was the ultimate Stoic ideal, not unlike some Christian predestination theories.

The ultimate shortcomings in Stoicism, as in all philosophies of the pagan world, were:

The lack of the authority of God’s revelation, which resulted in a lack of true certainty and security; and

The lack of a feeling of loyalty to a central figure, a true representative of God.

Masses of people thought that they had found the fulfillment of these philosophical deficiencies in the Mystery Religions, but those hopes were based upon illusions. It was not until the advent of Christ that the Greek ideals were finally fulfilled.

Rome: The External Superstructure of Civilization

The very character traits that made the Greeks suited to their mission made it impossible for the Greeks themselves to actually establish and maintain a stable empire for use by God. The task of building the external foundation, based upon the intellectual accomplishments of Greece, came to the Romans.

The Romans were distinguished for gravitas, a combination of dignity and self-confidence, and for constantia, a doggedness and steadfastness of character. Their thinking was not subtle, speculative, and metaphysical like the Greek, nor intuitive like the eastern, but docile and concrete.

They were conservatives, sacrificially patriotic, and brilliant in organizational ability. Valuing self-discipline, they held in high esteem the institution of marriage and the purity of women. But at the same time, they were quite greedy and materialistic. Their use of religion was utilitarian, and the same indifference to bloodshed, which made them invincible on the battlefield, likewise made them indifferent to the screams of hundreds of thousands of human victims in their coliseums and amphitheaters.

The Romans were a popularizing, imitative people, not really comprehending the essence and value of what they were copying. They lived in an age of change and upheaval with the sudden breaking up of old systems and the establishing of new ones accompanied by the collapse of ancient faiths and lifestyles. People were desperately searching for stability and new hope. The dissolution of the city state and of eastern despotism left people adrift in a confusion of purpose, a future-shock where change was happening too fast for people to assimilate. This prompted a turning inward of the spirit.

The material wealth of the Roman Empire brought with it the temptations of Hedonism, complete abandonment of reason for physical pleasures, which reached distasteful extremes. Accompanying this trend was a prevalent sense of sin, guilt, and self-examination. This, in turn, led to the ascetic practices endorsed by the Mystery Religions and Christianity.

Striking contrasts were juxtaposed: great liberty and an enormous slave population, great art and tasteless imitation and destruction of art, high morals and tremendous corruption and disregard for the value of life, and glorification of the family unit amid common practices of abortion, infanticide, and child abuse. The good and evil sides of humanity were both reaching out at man with their greatest possible power

Transportation and communication systems were advanced, and travel was easy and common for business, education, and pleasure. Upper-class Romans had their sons educated in Greece. Cities had sewage systems akin to our own, indoor heating, parks and public baths, sidewalks, libraries, and theaters. The Romans built for all time. Their buildings were massive, and their roads and public works systems were durable; some remain to this day. People possessed leisure; in fact, there was a problem of unemployment. The position of women was elevated in the life of the empire. The exchange of goods and ideas over a wide cultural expanse brought their attention to such things as fashion, art collection, and acting. The social life was stimulating, dinner hour was late, and the swirl of gossip and slander brought lower and lower the standards of morals and taste.

Rome created the first global village. Christ was born during the two centuries of Pax Romana, peace under the authority of Roman military rule. The mission of Rome was multi-dimensional. The empire united and protected east and west; it protected and uplifted the politics and culture of Greece. Through the Pax Romana, the known world was consolidated and organized into one vigorous unity; Rome served as a bridge between the ancient and modern worlds. She introduced elements of civilization to Western Europe all the way to Britain, preparing the world to receive Christ, and she created a stable system of law, communication, transportation, and technology for use by God through Christianity.

The revelation and internal authority of Judaism (which provided the forms and stimulant of the Mystery Religions) and the external, rational, scientific intelligence, and art of Greece were all brought together and organized through Rome for God’s providential purpose. If Christ indeed had become the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and Everlasting Father during his lifetime in this ancient world, Rome never would have fallen but would have been digested by the advance of the internal Hebraic vertical standard and continued to advance outwardly while rejuvenating its internal spiritual core by adopting monotheism and other paternal moral values.

The Mystery Religions

Mystery Religions were the external religious development of the age. The major movements were that of the Great Mother (Cybele) from Asia Minor, Isis and Serapis from Egypt, and Mithras from Persia. In addition, the Eleusinian and Dionysian religions of Greece, which later evolved into the Orphic religion, and Zoroastrianism, or Parsiism (Mazdeism) from Persia (now Iran), exerted influence upon the world.

The Mystery Religions followed a pattern of development beginning from primitive nature worship in an agricultural society. The incessant waves of conquest that were sweeping the eastern world caused these religions to become practiced only by the surviving substratum of natives of the older culture. These then developed into fertility cults and ritualistic brotherhoods, which eventually resurfaced and were popularized in the empire. They were brought from east to west by slaves, recruited soldiers, merchants and traders, bankers, and exporters, and foreign-born wives.

All these religions had in common certain characteristics, including the following:

The use of nature-derived symbolism, mystical experience, magic, and rebirth and regeneration rituals;

They were religions of redemption, of forgiveness of sin, and the reconciliation of man with his creator, God;

They emphasized the beauty of divine knowledge, visions of God, and sensations of extrasensory light and sound;

The appeal to emotions through psychic events of sacramental drama;

The answer to the mystery of the grave with the promise of immortality and a joyful hereafter;

They were personal religions; and

They had cosmic vision and viewpoint.

We can see God’s preparation of the Mediterranean-Asian mind to receive Christianity through many customs peculiar to the various Mystery Religions. These include the practice of baptism, prolonged fasting, continence, self-mortification, confession of sin, communion, the idea of divine indwelling—God dwelling within—sacred marriage, recognition of a God of the heart that is a deeply personal experience with God, divine services, sacramental meals, and much prayer. Of course, not all of these practices were meant to become part of Christ’s ministry to the world.

The effect of these movements, upon Judaism, mainly included only the reemphasis supplied by Mazdeism upon already existing knowledge of Satan and the world of angels and demons. By the time of Jesus, this had manifested to the extent that every ailment, which could not be otherwise explained, was attributed to possession by demons. Even Jesus was accused of being possessed by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, and his role as an exorcist is predominant in the Gospels.

Purpose of the Mystery Religions

These religions were the external preparation of the spiritual heart of the world. They bore the same relationship to Christianity as do a thousand art students to the master Da Vinci. School drawings are relatively worthless, The Last Supper is priceless. The Mystery Religions acted as a plow, turning over fresh soil for Christianity to implant God’s truths and heart. Once their task was accomplished, their providential mission was terminated, and the influence of the Mysteries quickly faded with their inherent weaknesses becoming apparent:

They could never quite outgrow crude naturalism and nature worship;

They were linked to, and dependent upon, a pseudoscience (astrology) and a pseudo-religion (magic);

They were extremist and not practically suited to the demands of human life in general;

They were too vague, and their dependence upon emotionalism produced a cramping tradition; and

They were too individualistic; there was no larger community purpose such as was practiced by the Jews and later by the Christians.

Actually, the strongest eastern religion was not a Mystery Religion but was Judaism itself. The Diaspora of Jewish presence was much stronger in the lands of the east than in the western empire. Therefore, the most accessible cultures into which a unified Israel could have expanded would have been these nations of Babylonia, Persia, Egypt, and Asia Minor. This conquest would have been a totally spiritual ideological development as would have been the development within Israel itself, accomplished through the spirit and truth of the Lord. One must remember that a large portion of these people were ancient brothers of the Israelites, descended through the lineages of Ishmael, Esau, and at least part of the Ten Lost Tribes and the earlier exile and dispersion.

This, then, would have been a strong spiritual and physical base for Christ’s task of building the kingdom of heaven on earth through the material-based Greco-Roman civilization.

II. The Palestine Environment

The Historical Maelstrom Preparing Jesus’s Coming.

As will be demonstrated in this study of Jesus and John, God’s providential process involves dividing and separating out those individuals and groups who are more closely aligned with him, from those who are not, to find a person of faith and responsive action who can stand as his central figure at God’s inflection point through whom to advance his plan. Scripture tells us that the chosen people were sent into exile in Babylon in 586 BCE as a result of their sins and lack of loyalty to God. After seventy years, the first waves were permitted by Cyrus to migrate back to Palestine. Upon their return, they found the land inhabited by a hodgepodge of other tribes as well as remnants of Jews who had not been taken to Babylon. The prophet leaders of the returning Jews convinced the returnees of their sin and to rededicate themselves to the God of Abraham without fail, even to the extent of sending away any foreign wives they had taken while in exile. The prophets refocused the people on their mission to receive the messiah; in particular, the final prophet, Malachi (400 BCE), gave them some markers so the people would be able to recognize him.

In 323 BCE, Palestine was conquered by the Greek, Alexander the Great, whose death and partitioning of the empire led to it being controlled by Syria. In 167 BCE, the Syrian ruler Antiochus IV made a sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple of pig’s blood—the abomination of abominations—inflaming the priest Mattathias Hasmon. He was driven to call for an uprising which was brought to successful conclusion by his sons, the Maccabees (the Hammers).

Judas Maccabee (r165–160 BCE), as ad hoc general, made alliance with Rome to defeat the Greek-Syrian armies and was able to recapture, cleanse, and rededicate the Temple. Upon his death, his youngest brother, Jonathan Maccabee (r 160–142 BCE) continued the fight and was appointed high priest in 152 BCE. Upon Jonathan’s death, his brother, Simon Maccabee (r 142–134 BCE) finally brought victory over the Syrians in 142 BCE. As the only son of Mattathias having male heirs, he is the true founder of the Hasmonean dynasty. Judean coins accorded him the titles of High Priest, General, and Ruler of the Jews.

The youngest son of Simon, John Hyrcanus (r 134–104 BCE), became high priest and king. These men ruled righteously and evenhandedly over the nation. It was John who destroyed the rival temple in Shechem in Samaria and forced the Idumeans, who were direct descendants of Esau, to convert to Judaism. But he also had a preference for Greek culture that gradually became the rolling millstone of future fratricidal conflict.

It was during the time of the Maccabean revolt and the subsequent reformative years that the future parties of Jesus’s time—Sadducees (Temple priests and social elite), Pharisees (pious laymen,) Zealots (fighters against the foreigners), and Essenes (pious monastics rejecting society) arose. Furthermore, even though the Maccabees had won the right to self-rule, the overshadowing menace of Syrian power and enticement to cultural Hellenism was constantly the borderline of everyone’s political positioning.

During the reign of John Hyrcanus, the chief Pharisee, Eleazar, criticized Hyrcanus that because he had blood on his hands, he was not worthy to be high priest; this so angered Hyrcanus that he threw all his support to the Sadducees, and therefore with the Hellenizers, and began to persecute the Pharisees. Upon Hyrcanus’ death, his son, Aristobulus (r 104–103 BCE), claimed both titles of high priest and king and imprisoned his own family.

After his death due to some excruciating ailment, his brother, Alexander Janneus (r 103–76 BCE) was released from prison and married Aristobulus’ wife, Alexandra (r 76–67 BCE), who appointed him to be high priest while she maintained political control. Janneus was thoroughly Hellenized which provoked conservative Jews leading to his massacre of 6,000 Pharisees in 94 BCE, which led to a six-year civil war with the Pharisees. After Janneus’ death, Alexandra appointed her elder son, Hyrcanus II (r 76–39 BCE), to high priest and then reversed course to support the Pharisees who, in turn, waged a war of revenge against Janneus’ supporters and Sadducees.

Upon Queen Alexandra’s death in 76 BCE, her younger son, Aristobulus II, deposed Hyrcanus II and proclaimed himself both high priest and king. Both brothers claimed allegiance of the Sadducees and fought back and forth, and both appealed to the Roman general, Pompey, for support. This was further complicated by a delegation of Pharisees who also appealed to Rome to enter Palestine to abolish the Judean monarchy and return it to a theocracy with Rome governing political affairs in order to end the civil war.

Pompey supported Hyrcanus II who then appointed Antipater II (r 63–43 BCE), grandson of an Idumean convert to Judaism, as administrator while he himself maintained the titles of high priest and king. Antipater’s support of Rome gained his family Roman citizenship, and he was able to appoint his sons as governors over parts of Palestine, in particular, Herod over Galilee at the age of fifteen in 47 BCE.

After Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44 BCE and Antipater’s the following year, Herod’s deft alliances with Antony and Octavian led to the Roman Senate appointing him King of the Jews in 39 BCE. Herod had Hyrcanus II executed in 30 BCE.

Formation of the Religious Parties Coming Out of the Maelstrom

The Sadducees

In concert with the traditional liberality of interpretation for the Haggadah, there were formed from the partisans of various beliefs several organizations during the Hellenistic and Roman period. Religiously, politically, and economically, each played a vital role in the unfolding of events.

The exact date of the emergence of the Sadducees—or even the derivation of their name—is obscure, but by the time of John Hyrcanus (r 134–104 BCE), both the Sadducees and the Pharisees seem to already have been established parties. The Sadducees were composed of the aristocratic and wealthy, including the more powerful priests, and especially the High Priest. They were loyal to the traditionally defined Aaronic cult of the Temple. Because of their close association with the Temple, this made them the official interpreters of the written law, a prerogative that they closely guarded; likewise, they emphasized observance of the Temple ritual and sought the status quo.

They denied resurrection, immortality, and retribution in a future life. For them, neither angels nor demons existed, and life was lived without the impinging power of fate; man had total free choice. They were strongly influenced by the Greek culture in taste and fashion and were adept at gaining the favor of any monarch who might at the time be in control of Palestine. Their compromise with pagan authority, though ostensibly for the preservation of Israel, which it indeed accomplished as long as it was in effect, brought upon the Sadducees great disfavor of the people of Israel. Josephus considered them to be powerful but of little consequence for practical life, and their views were largely unaccepted by the people.

Being the controllers of the Temple cult, the Sadducees were inevitably the political leaders, able to set laws and judgments and make negotiations with foreign powers; they probably had control over the fiscal system of Judea as well. Politically, then, they were conservative and sympathizers with Hellenism; the Sadducees tried to maintain even relations with Rome for the state as a whole, but especially to ensure the maintenance of the Temple cult. Thus, for political reasons, the Sadducees sought to discredit messianic attempts which would incur disfavor from their Roman masters. With the destruction of the Temple and ending of Temple sacrifices in 70 CE, the Sadducees, party of the Temple priests, disappeared.

The Pharisees

The Pharisees emerged about the same time as the Sadducees. As the Sadducees were priests and aristocrats; the Pharisees were largely laymen; as the Sadducees were conservative, the Pharisees were progressive. The Pharisees were primarily a religious party and very zealous, even to the extent of proselytizing the Gentiles (Matt. 23:15). The major point of contention between the two parties lay in what was to be considered canon.

The Pharisees went beyond the Torah and accepted the prophets and writings as valid for instruction as well as interpreting the Torah itself. They were a fraternity of multiple levels of purification observance organized for the purpose of keeping the Law with ever greater exactitude and of imposing it on others. Furthermore, they had developed a long tradition of practical oral laws for daily guidance. These laws were flexible in contrast to the rigid priestly and Temple-ritual laws of the Sadducees. The historian, Josephus, states that they had the respect of the people and a considerable amount of influence over them.

Likewise, in doctrinal interpretation, there were differences: The Pharisees ascribed all events to fate and to God; they believed souls to be imperishable, and that the souls of the good migrate into other bodies. They loved and exalted the Torah and proclaimed resurrection and a future life of rewards for the righteous law abiders. They strongly promoted the imminence of the earthly kingdom of God and believed in a God of loving compassion, a protective Father who adapted his Law to the changing needs and circumstances of his Israelite children.

Like the American pilgrim fathers, the Pharisees believed political independence was a necessity for the establishment of religious freedom. They remained neutral but did not discourage political activism. They were an academic, scholarly class who ultimately preferred to talk about the messianic kingdom rather than risk their lives in support of the possibility of it being realized. It is possible that they viewed Jesus as being a rebellious elder, a transgression for which the priest codex of Deuteronomy prescribed the death penalty. The Pharisees’ attachment to maintenance of the Law blinded them to its potential transcendence.

Josephus saw their piety as being the source for high esteem among the people. Accordingly, the Pharisees were able to wield political power in opposition to the Sadducees and held firmly to the hope for the coming of a Davidic messiah, though not particularly militant.

The Zealots

In the Zealots, we have a contrast to the Pharisees. Akin to the Pharisaic beliefs concerning God, especially in the strong Messianic hope, they approached the problem of Roman rule in an active manner, causing violent rebellions which culminated in the total destruction of Jerusalem by Roman forces in 70 CE. They expected, as did the majority of Jews, that God would send a great military and political leader as Messiah (they later believed they had found their man in a certain Bar Kochba who led them but was defeated in 110 CE).

It was the