|
|
October 25th, 2001
Received by H.R.
Cuenca, Ecuador
Hello, my dear brother.
I see you have followed my suggestion and read a little about the
tax revolt. But before considering this topic, we need to analyze
briefly the situation in Galilee in those times.
As you know, Joseph, Mary, and their children had returned from
Egypt. In Galilee, they found guaranteed prosperity, mainly due
to the construction activity of the regent, the tetrarch Antipas,
who took great pleasure in calling himself King Herod Antipas. It
is the same Herod, who is also mentioned in the Bible, because he
had John the Baptist killed, and Pilate had sent Jesus to him for
his interrogation, when he found out that Jesus was a Galilean.
Galilee's capital Sepphoris had been destroyed, and the reconstruction
gave employment to many people, and among them was Joseph. Joseph
had also thoroughly studied the Hebrew Scriptures, because the events
in Bethlehem, where Antipas' father, Herod the Great, had murdered
the children, had led him to the conviction that his first-born
son would be the true Messiah for the Hebrew people.
Joseph's understanding and his nationalism, which was part of Jewish
culture in those days, blinded his eyes to many hints in the Scriptures
of the Messiah's true nature. To him, like to the great majority
of the people, to almost all of them, the Messiah was to be a political
and military leader who would expel those hateful foreigners, who
dominated the country, and he would re-establish Israel's ancient
glory. Many even thought that the Messiah would make Israel the
ruling nation over the whole world.
That is why Joseph, in a sincere intent and without bad intentions,
tried to instruct his son, to guide him in his development and in
his vision of the world. But he found some unexpected resistance.
Jesus didn't react as meekly as Joseph had anticipated. Jesus was
still a boy, but in spite of it, he could already feel, although
he could not understand, that his father was mistaken. This led
to a serious conflict. He was a very obedient boy, but although
he was still of a very young age, something within him prevented
him from accepting and sharing his father's opinions.
Instinctively Jesus withdrew a little from his family. Frequently
he retired to the adjacent hills, and in the ancient forests of
Galilee he meditated and meditated. His mother called this his "mysticism",
but in fact, Jesus was already receiving teachings and instructions.
Another very important issue is that Herod the Great certainly
had depended on Rome, but at least, he had been a king, and nominally
independent. He was not a Jew, but an Idumean, but that did not
matter so much, since the Idumeans were legally considered the equals of the Jews.
But with his death the king's title had been lost. Instead of a
king, now a tetrarch reigned, Rome's puppet, a vassal who officially
was a subject of the Roman Empire, a citizen of a foreign empire.
In Judea, the situation was even worse, according to Jewish opinion.
There, the ethnarch Archelaus had been exiled by the emperor, because
of his obvious inability to govern the country. But the Romans had
not replaced him with another member of the Jewish nobility, but instead
had subjected the country to direct administration by Rome. Now
the foreign sovereignty was openly demonstrated.
It seems to be part of human nature to prefer a bad government
by members of one's own people over a good government by foreign
people. But if this foreign government is not better than the domestic
one, or is even worse in its brutality, if it also expresses their
scorn openly against the people, a type of racism, although this
word is not exactly correct, because racism is a more modern invention,
then the dissatisfaction of the people knows no limits.
Galilee had always been a hotbed of revolutionaries, and of course,
of bandits also. It was sometimes very difficult to distinguish
between crime and politics, you can understand this very well, as
the same problem persists today. And in the year 6 A.D., an event
took place, which exceeded the patience of many.
The emperor had decreed a tax census to be carried out in Palestine.
That region was under the supervision of the Roman legate in Syria,
and in the year 6 A.D., Augustus named Publius Sulpicius Quirinius
governor of Syria, and he put him in charge of the census. And so,
this was the census, which the Gospel
of Luke refers to. As you see, it happened many years after
Jesus' birth.
Augustus had chosen Quirinius, because he was a very capable military
commander, and also because he knew the area. Many years before
- he had commanded the Roman armies in Syria, when Sentius
Saturninus and later Quinctilius Varus were the governors of this
important Roman province, the border bastion against those feared
Parthians. But at that time, Quirinius carried out military operations
in what is today's Anatolia in Turkey, breaking the resistance of
the nomads there. But in those days he did not perform any census.
There are historians who suppose that the presence of Quirinius
in Syria or in that region in the year when Jesus was born, indicates
that the New Testament is right, and that Joseph and Mary's journey
is in fact due to a census, but this is not true. I have already stated
this. We will continue now with the revolt.
A census meant the registration of people and of their estates
for imposing taxes upon each and every one, and also for the recruitment
of soldiers. Both things were not, and are not, very popular. And
a fierce resentment arose against Rome, like a spark in a powder-house,
and the people rose in rebellion.
The leader of this revolution was Judas the Galilean, but this
name is not correct. He was not from Galilee, but from Gamala, a
Gaulonite from of the Golan Heights, an area that didn't belong
to the Antipas' territory, but rather was under Philip's domain.
But of course, this town was only seven miles from the Lake of Genesaret.
He found support in a popular character called Tsaduk or Zadduc,
a member of the House of Shammai, a powerful house of the Pharisees.
In fact it is a nickname, "Zaddik", meaning "the
Righteous One." The historian Josephus explains that then the
fourth sect or fourth force of Judaism was born, the zealots, but
this is not true. In fact these radical forces already existed,
and they were always ready to fight against foreign oppression from
a long time before Rome came, as in the case of the resistance against
Antiochus Epiphanes. What really was new was that part of the Pharisees
joined the extremists and fought shoulder to shoulder against the
legions. And they lost. There were mass slaughters, destruction,
misery, in short an experience which left deep marks on Jesus. If
previously he was perhaps unsure of himself in his appreciation
of a peaceful Messiahship, he now had no more doubts.
This rebellion also caused certain cracks in Joseph's family. Joseph
was a peaceful man, but in those days he wondered if he should join
the Pharisee movement officially, the House of Hillel. Although
he had some sympathy for the terrorists, he didn't support them
actively. His children, except for Jesus, called out in favor of the
zealots, as most of the Galilean Jews did, but Jesus expressed his
opposition. His role as the future Messiah became ever more uncertain (in their eyes),
and his brothers even made fun of him. They were youths, or rather
still children, without adult perceptions. They didn't understand
him, but they would understand him in the future.
Both the leaders, Judas and Zadduc, died in the confrontation with
Rome. The two legions which came from Syria, decimated without mercy
the ranks of the rebels. Two thousand zealots were crucified; and
six thousand young people from Galilee were sold as slaves in order
to serve in the western parts of the empire.
The Romans had put an end to the rebellion, they had even killed
the leaders. But the chapter didn't end there. The sons of Judas
would have a decisive impact in future revolts, dying on the cross,
and other descendants inscribed their names with blood in the history
of Masada.
The zealots were like today's terrorists, religious fanatics, whose
ideology mixed religious fundamentalism with political ambitions.
There was the terrible empire, which they saw as the source of all
evil, and whose destruction was justified by any means. There was
the harsh reaction, and the death of the terrorist leaders.
In the historic past, the zealots became "assassins", men hiding
daggers in their clothing and secretly murdering their enemies. They
sowed terror amongst the whole population, they abused their power,
even murdering people who had nothing to do with their objectives,
but simply to benefit themselves. And now, it is not daggers anymore
that serve this purpose.
The severe reaction of Rome didn't solve the situation, it hardly
mitigated it. Rebellions broke out repeatedly, because in reality,
nothing had changed. Finally it led to the destruction of the Hebrew
society in Palestine.
There is much to learn from history. But it seems that men prefer
to learn from their own errors, repeating what their ancestors have
already lived through and suffered.
But we won't turn this message into a sermon on politics. I am
glad that you have followed my advice, updating yourself on the
historical facts as they are known. It has made it much easier for
me to deliver this message.
With this, I will say good-bye. I pray that God may shed all His
blessings over you and over all those, who wish to receive them.
And always count on me.
Your brother in the spirit,
Judas
|
|
