1

favour of the oppressor. Yet, through the influence of the empress Poppea,2 who is supposed to have been a Jewish proselyte, we find Nero hereafter occasionally disposed to favour the oppressed.3

Jos. Ant. xx. 8. 9. Now when Porcius Festus was sent as successor to Felix by Nero, the principal of the Jewish inhabitants of Cæsarea went up to Rome to accuse Felix, and he had certainly been brought to punishment unless Nero had yielded to the importunate solicitations of his brother Pallas, who was at that time had in the greatest honour by him.'

6

2 Poppea was a woman who knew how to assume an air of modesty, and yet pursue lascivious pleasures; in her deportment decent; in her heart a libertine.' (Tac. Ann. xiii. 45.)

3 Vide Jos. xx. 8. 11. During the procuratorship of Festus, Agrippa jun. made certain fresh arrangements in his royal palace at Jerusalem, which enabled him to view the proceedings of the priests in the temple courts. This so displeased the Jews, that they erected a wall upon the uppermost building which belonged to the inner court of the temple, in order to intercept the prospect of the dining-room in the palace, and also of the western cloisters that belonged to the outer court of the temple, where the Roman guards were stationed at the festivals. At these doings both King Agrippa, and principally Festus, the procurator, were much displeased, and Festus ordered them to pull the wall down again.' But, at the special entreaty of the Jews, eleven chosen from amongst themselves, accompanied by Ismael, the high priest, were permitted to lay the matter before the emperor. 'And when Nero heard what they had to say, he not only forgave them what they had already done, but also gave them leave to let the wall they had built to stand. This was granted them in order to gratify Poppea, Nero's wife, who was a religious (?) woman, and had requested the favour of Nero, and who gave order to the ambassadors to go their way home; but retained Helcias and Ismael as hostages with herself.'

GENEALOGICAL TABLE,

20

'When the time came for the Romans to embrace the whole of the Mediterranean within the circle of their power, the coast line of Judea was the last remote portion which was needed to complete the fated circumference.'. . . 'In the spring of B.C. 63, Pompey the Great came down from Damascus by the valley of the Jordan, his Roman soldiers occupied the ford where Joshua had crossed over, and from the Mount

of Olives he looked down upon Jerusalem.

From that day Judea was

virtually under the government of Rome.' (Conybeare and Howson.)

STATE OF JUDEA.

Preliminary Remarks.-On the death of Herod the Great, which happened a few months after the birth of Christ,' his kingdom was divided by will among three of his surviving sons, named Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip.3

The districts allotted to Archelaus were Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; to Herod Antipas, Galilee and Peræa; and to Philip, Trachonitis and the neighbouring region of Ituræa.4

As our Saviour was born four years before the common era, this event would appear as occurring B.C. 3. The tenth year of Archelaus, according to our common chronology, would therefore be accurately represented by A.D. 7 or 8; but in reality, when Archelaus was banished, and his kingdom reduced to a Roman province under Cyrenius, our Lord was just 12 years old. This important event in the history of the Herodian family must therefore have happened about the very time that our Saviour is said to have visited the temple, and astonished the Jewish doctors by his superior wisdom.

The eclipse of the moon mentioned by Josephus (Ant. xvii. 6. 4) 'is of the greatest consequence for the determination of the time for the death of Herod, and for the birth and entire chronology of Jesus Christ. It happened March 13, in the year of the Julian period 4710 and the fourth before the Christian era. (Note, Whiston's Josephus.)

Subject to the approval of Cæsar.

3 Archelaus and Antipas were the sons of Herod the Great by Malthace, a Samaritan; Herod and Philip the tetrarch by Cleopatra of Jerusalem. He had also another son named Herod by Mariamne, the daughter of Simon the high priest. In the New Testament this latter is named Philip (comp. Matt. xiv. 3 with Jos. Ant. xviii. 5. 4).

He (Herod) appointed Antipas, to whom he had before left the kingdom, to be tetrarch of Galilee and Berea, and granted the kingdom to Archelaus. He also gave Gaulonitis and Trachonitis and Paneas to Philip by the name of a tetrarchy.' (Jos. Ant. xvii. 8. 1.)

Ant. xvii. 11. 4. 'He (Augustus) appointed Archelaus, not indeed to be king of the whole country, but ethnarch of one half of that which had been subject to Herod, and promised to give him the royal

Of the Wars, ii. 6. 3. He (Augustus) gave the one half of Herod's kingdom to Archelaus by the name of ethnarch, and promised to make him king also afterward, if he rendered himself worthy of that

After cruelly oppressing his Jewish subjects for nine years, Archelaus was formally accused before Cæsar, and as a punishment for his misdeeds was banished to Vienne, a city of Gaul.' Cyrenius was appointed president of Syria, and was authorised to reduce the forfeited possessions of Archelaus into the form of a Roman province, and Coponius was nominated to hold a subordinate authority under him in Judea with the title of procurator.2

'The power of life and death was now taken out of the hands of the Jews, and taxes were from this time paid imme

dignity hereafter, if he governed
his part virtuously. But as for
the other half he divided it into
two parts, and gave it to two other
of Herod's sons-to Philip and to
Antipas
To the latter it
was that Perea and Galilee paid
their tribute, while Batanea, with
Trachonitis as well as Auranitis,
with a part of what was called the
House of Zenodorus* paid the tri-
bute to Philip; but Idumea and
Judea, and the country of Samaria
paid tribute to Archelaus. There
were also certain of the cities which
paid tribute to Archelaus, viz.:
Strato's Tower and Sebaste, with
Joppa and Jerusalem; for as to
Gaza, Gadara, and Hippos, they
were Grecian cities, which Cæsar
separated from his government, and
added them to the province of
Syria.'

dignity; but as to the other half
he divided it into two tetrarchies,
and gave them to two other sons
of Herod, the one of them to Philip,
and the other to that Antipas who
contested the kingdom with Arche-
laus. Under the last was Perea
and Galilee
but Batanea
and Trachonitis and Auranitis and
certain parts of Zeno's house about
Jamnia
were made sub-
ject to Philip: while Idumea and
all Judea and Samaria were parts
of the ethnarchy of Archelaus.

He also made subject to him the following cities, viz. Strato's Tower and Sebaste and Joppa and Jerusalem; but as to the Grecian cities Gaza and Gadara and Hippos, he cut them off from the kingdom, and added them to Syria.'

'Jos. Ant. xvii. 13. 2 and 3; Of the Wars, ii. 7. 3.

NOTE.-Archelaus forfeited his possessions in the reign of Augustus. Herod Philip maintained his honourable position until death, which happened in the reign of Tiberius; and Herod Antipas realised the fate of Archelaus in the reign of Caligula.

xviii. 1. 1.

man senator

2 Vide Jos. Ant. xvii. 13. 5 and Now Cyrenius, a Rocame at this time into Syria, with a few others, being sent by Cæsar to be a judge of that nation, and to take an ac

Of the Wars, ii. 8. 1. And now Archelaus' part of Judea was reduced into a province, and Coponius, one of the equestrian order among the Romans, was sent as a procurator, having the power of

* Or possession of Zenodorus, viz., Abilene. belonged to Lysanias.

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