Biblical Geography and History Part 12

=Battle of Beth-zacharias.= Judas's desperate attempt to capture the hostile garrison in Jerusalem led the Syrians to send for help to Antiochus Eupator, who had succeeded to the throne of Syria on the death of his father. A vast army was gathered, consisting of a hundred thousand infantry and twenty thousand hors.e.m.e.n. Thirty-two elephants also accompanied the army and played an important part in the final battle. Again the approach to the Judean heights was made through the Valley of Elah and up along the Wady es-Sur to Bethsura. Instead of meeting the Syrians at this point Judas retired along the northern road to Beth-zacharias, which lay on the right of the highway a few miles southwest of Bethlehem. Here Judas gave battle to the huge Syrian army, which was drawn up on two wings, one on the heights and the other on the low ground. The elephants, with towers of wood on their backs, were placed in the front of the line of battle. Each elephant was supported by a thousand men armed with coat of mail, and five hundred hors.e.m.e.n. Judas and his followers made a courageous attack upon this huge and imposing host, but they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. The elephants also were effective in turning the tide of battle. Eleazer, one of Judas's brothers, with the spirit that characterized the family, broke through one of the phalanxes and, creeping under what he supposed to be the royal elephant, pierced it with his spear from beneath and perished under the beast as it fell to the earth. None others were found, however, in the Jewish ranks to follow his courageous example. Judas retired to Jerusalem, where he was besieged by Lysias, the leader of the Syrian forces. Fortunately for the Jewish cause, conditions in the Syrian capital made it necessary for Lysias to retire. He accordingly made a treaty with the Jews in which their religious freedom was fully a.s.sured on condition that they would recognize the authority of the Syrian kingdom.

=Fortunes of Judas's Party.= After securing religious freedom a strong party of the Jews, known as the Hasideans, the forerunners of the later party of the Pharisees, were inclined to accept peace at any cost. The result was that from this time on Judas lost many of his followers. Even the apostate Alcimus, appointed high priest by the Syrian king, was at first accepted by the Hasideans. His deceptions and persecution of the faithful, however, soon drove many back into the ranks of those who, like Judas, were struggling to gain not merely religious freedom, but also complete political independence. In response to the demands of the Syrian party in Judea, a certain Nicanor, formerly master of the elephants in the Syrian army, was sent to check the growing power of Judas and his followers. An engagement was fought at Caphersalama, evidently somewhere near Jerusalem. Many of the Syrian soldiers were slain and the rest fled to the City of David, which had been, from the days of the great Hebrew king, the designation of the hill of Ophel, in the southeastern part of the city. It is exceedingly probable, therefore, that Caphersalama is to be identified with the modern Kefr Silwan,^{(98)} the little village on the eastern side of the Kidron, just across the valley from the City of David.

=Victory Over Nicanor.= Alarmed by this victory, Nicanor sent for another Syrian army, which he met at Beth-horon. Thence he took the main road that leads over the pa.s.s toward Jerusalem. Judas, with his followers, had taken his position near the village of Adasa, at the point where the Beth-horon road joins the central highway southward to Jerusalem. Nicanor fell in the first charge, and his army was so demoralized by the loss of its leader that they threw away their weapons and fled back along the highway toward Gazara, the ancient Gezer. The Jews in the villages along the way attacked the fleeing Syrians with the result that none of them escaped. Profiting by this signal victory, Judas sent an emba.s.sy to Rome. His aim was to secure in his unequal contest with the Syrian kingdom the aid of this power, which already was beginning to dominate the politics of the eastern Mediterranean; but before he could receive a reply from Rome, the Jewish champion fought his last fatal battle.

=Death of Judas.= After the defeat and death of Nicanor, the Syrian king, Demetrius, sent another army into Judah. It entered the land by the way that leads to Gilgal, which was probably either the Gilgal on the Plain of Sharon, north of Antipatris, or else the better-known Gilgal near the ancient s.h.i.+loh. In either case the army appears to have reached the central plateau by the road which runs through the valley somewhat north of the Valley of Ajalon and therefore through territory under the control of Syria. Thence the Syrians approached Judea and Jerusalem directly from the north. Meantime, Judas was intrenched not far from his home at Modein. The decisive battle was fought at Elasa, or Eleasa, a half mile north of the steep descent from Upper to Lower Beth-horon.^{(84)} Terrified by the overwhelming numbers of the Syrian army, Judas's small force of three thousand men was soon reduced by desertion to only eight hundred. The courageous Jewish leader made the grave mistake of venturing a battle under these conditions. Even as it was, he was apparently on the eve of victory when he fell slain within the sight of the field on which he had won his first great battle. With his fall the battle was lost and the Syrians were left for a time in almost undisputed possession of Judea.

With great lamentation and mourning his followers buried him in the tomb of his fathers at Modein, chanting in modified form the words of David's lamentation over Saul:

How is the hero fallen, The saviour of Israel.

=Judas's Character and Work.= There are many a.n.a.logies between the character and work of Saul and of Judas. Both were devoted patriots and courageous warriors. Both laid the foundations for a kingdom, but fell on the battle-field before their task was completed. Both inspired their people with the ambition for independence and taught them how to fight effectively in securing it. Of the two, Judas appears to have been the more balanced and unselfish character. In view of the obstacles with which he contended, he was unquestionably the greatest general that Israel ever produced. The peculiar topography of Judea enabled him to contend successfully with strong armies, but in a prolonged struggle with the Syrian kingdom the advantages were all with the latter. The barren, limited territory of Judea was incapable of supporting a large people or of furnis.h.i.+ng the resources for a protracted war. On the other hand, Antioch, which had as its base the great plain between the Lebanons, possessed almost unlimited resources and was the natural centre from which to rule both Syria and Palestine. Judas was able to win his victories not merely because of his dauntless courage and leaders.h.i.+p, but because the Syrian kingdom was fatally weakened by the moral corruption and constant dissensions of its rulers. These two elements, courageous and able leaders.h.i.+p on the side of the Jews and corruption and inefficiency in the Syrian kingdom, enabled Judas's followers in time to overcome geographical conditions and to build up, as in the days of David, a large and independent kingdom.

XXII

THE MACCABEAN AND HERODIAN AGE

=Jonathan's Policy.= Jonathan, who succeeded his brother, Judas, in the leaders.h.i.+p of the Jewish rebellion, combined great skill and energy with a certain craftiness, which enabled him to profit by every turn in the tortuous politics of Syria. It was an exceedingly corrupt age, and Jonathan adopted the standards and methods of his day. The secure hiding-places in Palestine enabled him to elude the Syrians and to recover from the shock which his cause had received as a result of the death of Judas. Jonathan and his followers took refuge first in the wilderness of Judea^{(24)} and the dry, barren wadies that lead down to the Dead Sea, and later in the jungle of the lower Jordan.^{(36)} Into this thicket of reeds and bushes the Syrian general pursued them. On this strange battle-field Jonathan and his followers were defeated, but by swimming across the Jordan succeeded in escaping pursuit. At another time he was shut up in the fortress of Beth-basi, which Josephus identifies with Beth-hoglah, in the midst of the Jordan valley, a little southeast of Jericho. It is more probably to be identified with some one of the many natural strongholds along the Wady el-Ba.s.sah, which leads through the eastern part of the wilderness of Tekoa down toward the Dead Sea.

=Basis of Agreement With the Syrians.= Finding that pursuit was futile, the Syrian general made a treaty with Jonathan, according to which he was allowed to establish his head-quarters at the ancient fortress of Michmash^{(85)} on the northern borders of Judah and to rule in peace as a local chieftain. He in turn was to refrain from attack upon the Syrians, who were intrenched in certain strategic strongholds. Jericho guarded the eastern bounds of Judah. The border fortresses on the north included Beth-horon, the ancient sanctuary of Bethel, Timnath, north of Beth-horon, Pharathon, which is without much doubt to be identified with Farata, southwest of Shechem, and Tephon, which probably represents the ancient Tappuah, a little west of the main highway that leads southward from Shechem. The western border fortresses were Gazara in the northwest and Bethsura, the ancient Bethzur,^{(114)} in the southwest.

=Concessions to Jonathan.= As a result of the rivalry between the different claimants for the Syrian throne, Jonathan was suddenly raised from his position of comparative unimportance to the virtual rulers.h.i.+p of all southern Palestine. A certain Alexander Balas, who claimed to be the son of Antiochus Epiphanes, the arch persecutor of the Jews, finally gave Jonathan the t.i.tle of high priest and the control not only of Judea, but of the Philistine coast. Jonathan, by the sword, quickly made valid these concessions. Joppa, the natural seaport of Jerusalem, was first seized. Then Azotus, the ancient Ashdod, was captured after a Syrian army had been defeated on the plain before its walls, and the famous temple of Dagon was burned.

=Jonathan's Conquests.= When Jonathan's patron, Alexander Balas, was overthrown by a Ptolemy of Egypt, the Jewish leader readily transferred his allegiance to the Syrian king, Demetrius II. Ignoring the fact that he himself was struggling for freedom, Jonathan disgraced the Jewish cause by sending troops to aid this tyrant in carrying through a great ma.s.sacre of his subjects in the streets of Antioch. Already personal ambitions were beginning to obscure the n.o.bler patriotic ideals that had at first actuated the warlike sons of the old priest, Mattathias. In a short time a son of Alexander Balas appeared on the political horizon and won the allegiance of Jonathan by granting him control of the entire coast land from the Ladder of Tyre to the border of Egypt. The Jewish leader improved this opportunity to complete the conquest of the Philistine cities and to capture the stronghold of Bethsura. An army of Demetrius II was also defeated on the Plain of Hazor, west of Lake Huleh. A little later Jonathan led an army into the country of Hamath, between the Lebanons, but met with no serious opposition. Returning to Jerusalem, he tore down a part of the eastern wall opposite the citadel and with the stones built a high rampart in order to cut off the heathen garrison from all contact with the rest of the city. Jonathan, however, soon fell a prey to craft and treachery, which he himself had repeatedly used. Lured into the city of Ptolemais by an ambitious general, who had placed on the Syrian throne the young son of Alexander Balas, Jonathan was captured and later put to death.

=Simon's Achievements.= By this act Simon, the oldest and most judicious of the five famous brothers, was called to the leaders.h.i.+p of the Jewish people. Profiting by the weakness of Syria, he devoted himself to expanding and strengthening his kingdom. The strong western border fortress of Gazara^{(61)} was captured after a short but energetic defence. The heathen population was expelled and Jewish colonies were settled both here and at Joppa. Thus Simon established a direct line of communication between Jerusalem and the Mediterranean trade routes, and opened the way for that foreign commerce which soon brought great wealth to the Jewish kingdom. At last, for the first time in centuries, the citadel at Jerusalem was captured and held by the Jews. The temple mount beside the citadel was made stronger than before and the Jews at last felt that sense of security which came from complete possession of their land and of its fortified outposts.

=His Strong and Prosperous Rule.= Simon's reign was one of comparative peace and prosperity. A Syrian army invaded the Philistine Plain and took their position at Kidron, which is probably to be identified with Katrah, three and one-half miles southwest of Ekron. Simon sent a strong army against the invaders, under the leaders.h.i.+p of his two oldest sons, Judas and John. The battle was fought in the plain between Kidron and Modein. Boldly advancing to the attack the Jewish army put the Syrians to flight, pursuing them to Kidron and the towers near Azotus, which they quickly captured. In grat.i.tude for his patriotic services and beneficient rule, the Jews confirmed Simon in the t.i.tle of high priest, general, and governor. His rule and that of his son who succeeded him were the fruitage of the earlier struggles and the calm before the storm of foreign invasion that before long again swept Palestine. Like his other brothers, Simon died a violent death. He was the victim of the treachery of one of his sons-in-law, who slew him at the little stronghold of Dok, in the Jordan valley, on the edge of the western hills about three miles north of Jericho.

=Growth of the Two Rival Parties.= Simon was followed by his son, John Hyrca.n.u.s, who drove his father's a.s.sa.s.sin from the land. With the military skill of his ill.u.s.trious father and uncles he combined a strong personal ambition. This is shown not only by his conquests, but also by his employment of foreign mercenaries. His long reign of thirty-one years witnessed the development of the two great parties in Judaism, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They were the expression of the conflicting ideas and ideals ever present in Jewish life, but now brought into clear relief. The party of the Sadducees comprised the high priestly n.o.bles, whose rank, wealth, and ambitions made them conservatives and led them to support the political ambitions of the Maccabean kings. The Pharisees, on the other hand, were the party of the people. They were the strenuous champions of the law. While the question of freedom of wors.h.i.+p was at issue, they had upheld Judas, but they cared little for political glory and preferred to submit to foreign rulers rather than to fight for their independence. They also considered it a sacrilege that warriors like John Hyrca.n.u.s should perform the sacred high-priestly functions. Hence from the days of John Hyrca.n.u.s the history of the Judean kingdom was that of a house divided against itself.

=Wars and Conquests of John Hyrca.n.u.s.= During the early part of John's reign Judea was again invaded by the Syrians. Jerusalem was besieged and the Jews were again obliged to recognize the old suzerainty.

Fortunately for them the Syrian king was intent upon invading Parthia and, therefore, in order to secure the support of John Hyrca.n.u.s, left him in possession of his kingdom. After the death of Antiochus Sidetes in this eastern campaign, John was free to complete the conquest of the ancient foes of his race. His first campaign was east of the Dead Sea and resulted in the capture of the old Moabite city of Medeba. He then marched against Shechem and Mount Gerizim, the home of the Samaritans. Their temple was left in ruins and their territory was joined to the Jewish kingdom. The Idumean stronghold, Marissa,^{(108)} on the borders of the Philistine Plain, and Dora, or Adora, a few miles southwest of Hebron, were captured and the Idumeans were completely subdued. These close kinsmen and hereditary foes of the Jews were compelled to submit to the right of circ.u.mcision and to accept the Hebrew laws. Thus at the point of the sword was brought into the Jewish nation an element which was destined in the end to prove its undoing. Last of all, Hyrca.n.u.s conquered, by means of a protracted siege, the then Greek city of Samaria. The Syrian army sent to its relief was vanquished and the city completely demolished.

=Reign of Aristobulus I.= Notwithstanding its independence and political strength, the Jewish kingdom was at this time largely h.e.l.lenized. Aristobulus I, the son of John Hyrca.n.u.s, was, as his name indicates, a man strongly influenced by the Greek culture and ideas that were pressing into Palestine from every side. Following the example of the Greek states, he a.s.sumed in 104 B.C. the t.i.tle of king.

His brief reign was characterized by great brutality. His mother he allowed to starve to death in prison, and through his insane jealousy he slew his favorite brother. By far the most significant event of his reign was the conquest of Galilee. Its Iturean or half-Arabian population was a.s.similated to Judaism and the foundations laid for that freer, more virile life which was the background of early Christian history.

=The Cruel Rule of Alexander Janneus.= Alexander Janneus, the brother who succeeded Aristobulus, was known among the Jews as "the Thracian,"

and he well deserved the t.i.tle. His chief interests were war and revelry. By his rash attacks upon the neighboring peoples he repeatedly brought disaster upon his kingdom. He succeeded in alienating his subjects so completely that they called in the king of Damascus to free them from this inhuman monster. In the hour of their success, however, they repented of their action, brought Janneus back from the mountains whither he had fled, and restored him to the throne. Instead of showing grat.i.tude he hung upon crosses eight hundred of the Pharisees who had opposed him, first slaying their wives and children before their eyes. Notwithstanding his rashness and his unmeasured excesses, he succeeded by sheer persistency in extending the bounds of his kingdom, so that at his death his authority was paramount along the Mediterranean coast from Mount Carmel to the borders of Egypt, in central Palestine from upper Galilee to the South Country, and in the east-Jordan land from east of the Sea of Galilee to the Arnon. The outlying Greek cities which he conquered were many of them laid in ruins and the land given up to bands of robbers. At the moment when the Maccabean kingdom reached its widest bounds its decay had already begun and distress was the lot of most of its citizens.

=The Rivalry of Parties Under Alexandra.= Alexander Janneus was succeeded by his wife Alexandra. The only other woman who had sat on an Israelite throne was Athaliah of Judah, although reigning queens were not uncommon in oriental history. She reversed the policy of her husband and placed the Pharisees, the party of the people, in control.

They made the great mistake, however, of using their power to take b.l.o.o.d.y revenge upon their Sadducean rivals. The result was that the fatal breach between the two parties was broadened rather than healed.

The Sadducean and military party rallied about Aristobulus, while the Pharisees upheld the cause of Alexandra's older son, Hyrca.n.u.s. Both of her sons were lacking in kingly qualities. Hyrca.n.u.s was inefficient and without ambition, more eager to enjoy a quiet life than to a.s.sume the responsibilities of government; Aristobulus was imperious and greedy of power.

=The Influence of Antipater.= At the death of Alexandra, Hyrca.n.u.s was made high priest while Aristobulus II a.s.sumed the kings.h.i.+p. The division was wise and equable, although in the circ.u.mstances a permanent truce between the rival parties was impossible. It was at this crisis that Antipater, the father of Herod the Great, became a power in Jewish politics. Antipas, his father, an Idumean, had been made governor of Idumea by Alexander Janneus. Antipater was suspicious of Aristobulus and eager to secure power at any cost. In the weak Hyrca.n.u.s he recognized a tool adapted to his aim. Accordingly he persuaded the high priest to flee from Jerusalem, and enlisting the support of his friend, Aretas, the powerful Nabatean king whose capital was at Petra, he advanced to Jerusalem with a large army, in order to wrest the kingdom from Aristobulus and to make Hyrca.n.u.s nominal king. In the first engagement Aretas defeated Aristobulus, who then took refuge with his army in the temple.

=Advance of Rome.= It was at this juncture that Rome advanced to the conquest of the lands along the eastern Mediterranean. Already this growing world-power had gained possession of Egypt and a foothold in eastern Asia Minor. In 66 B.C. Pompey was sent to crush the allied rival powers of Pontus and Armenia. After accomplis.h.i.+ng this mission he advanced southward toward Damascus. Already his lieutenant had ordered the Nabatean army to leave Judea. The contest between the two brothers, Hyrca.n.u.s and Aristobulus, gave Rome, which had already acted as a patron toward the Judean kingdom, the desired opportunity to step in and a.s.sume control of the much coveted territory. Again Palestine and Syria were the bone of contention between two great world-powers.

The political horizon, however, had broadened and now the rivals were Rome in the distant west, and Parthia, the successor of the ancient Persian empire in the east.

=The Appeal to Pompey.= The Jews had long been aware of the importance of Rome's influence in the territory lying along the eastern Mediterranean. It was natural, therefore, that the claimants for the Jewish throne should refer their case to Pompey. At Damascus representatives of the two factions pleaded their case before him.

More indicative still of the spirit of the Jewish race was an emba.s.sy representing the people and especially the Pharisaic party, demanding that the claims of both the rivals be set aside, so that the Jews might be allowed in quiet to wors.h.i.+p their G.o.d in accordance with their sacred laws, under the protecting rule of a foreign power.

Pompey reserved his decision until he arrived at Jerusalem. His line of approach was apparently along the Jordan valley past Bethshean, then known as Scythopolis, to Korea, which Josephus describes as the "first entrance into Judea when one pa.s.ses over the midland countries." This is probably to be identified with the modern Karawa, on the southwestern side of the beautiful plain through which the Wady el-Farah finds its way to the Jordan. Through this wady the highway runs westward to what was at that time the northern boundary of Judea.

Aristobulus, antic.i.p.ating that Pompey's decision would be adverse to him, had shut himself up in the fortress of Alexandrium, built by his father, Alexander Janneus. Apparently this famous fortress stood on the height of Karn Sartabeh, which rises over two thousand two hundred feet above the Jordan valley, just south of Korea and opposite the point where the Wady Farah enters the river. Its top is strewn to-day with large, rough-dressed blocks of stone, which probably belonged to the ancient castle.

=Pompey's Capture of the Temple.= Aristobulus surrendered when ordered to do so by Pompey, but his followers refused to lay down arms when the Romans approached Jerusalem. Instead, they intrenched themselves on the temple hill. Pompey, aided by Hyrca.n.u.s and Antipater, attacked this inner fortress from the north. The deep ravine which led up from the Kidron and the deep cutting across the northern extension of the temple hill made the approach, even at this, the most vulnerable point, exceedingly difficult. By filling in the great rock-cut fosse Pompey was able at last to bring up his battering rams and to surmount the high walls and fortresses that were ma.s.sed at this point.

=Palestine Under the Rule of Rome.= In the settlement which followed the capture of Jerusalem, Pompey condemned Aristobulus to follow the chariot as a captive in the great triumphal procession at Rome.

Hyrca.n.u.s was stripped of all political power, but was allowed to retain his position as high priest. Many of the Greek cities, both along the coast of the Mediterranean and east of the Jordan, were rebuilt. All of them were separated from Judea and placed under the immediate direction of the Roman governor of Syria. Galilee, Judea, and Idumea were annexed to the Roman empire, but governed together as a sub-province. Under Gabinius, who carried out the policy of Pompey, they were divided into five administrative districts, with centres at Jerusalem in the south, Jericho, Amathus, and Gadara along the Jordan valley, and Sepphoris in Galilee.

=Rebellions Led by Aristobulus and His Sons.= The peace of Palestine was repeatedly disturbed by the attempts of the survivors of the Maccabean house to recover their kingdom. The first rebellion, in 57 B.C., was led by Alexander, son of the deposed king, Aristobulus II, about whom the Sadducean n.o.bility and the military cla.s.s in Judea quickly rallied. He rebuilt the fortress of Alexandrium, but his followers were defeated by a Roman army before its walls and he was taken prisoner. The next year Aristobulus, with his son Antigonus, escaped from Rome and rallied his followers again at Alexandrium. He soon, however, abandoned this stronghold for the more inaccessible fortress of Machaerus, built by his father, Janneus, on a hill in the middle of a deep ravine which led up on the eastern side of the Dead Sea.^{(38)} Being far away from the majority of their followers and without proper equipment for a long siege, the rebels were soon obliged to capitulate. The third rebellion, again led by Alexander, was quickly put down as the result of a decisive battle near Mount Tabor. For years after, bands of robbers and rebels kept central Galilee in a constant state of unrest, until finally the Roman general, Ca.s.sius, subdued the country and sold thirty thousand of them into slavery.

=Antipater's Services to Rome.= During the two decades that followed the Roman conquest of Palestine, Judea was deeply affected by the great convulsions through which Rome pa.s.sed in its transition from a republican to an imperial form of government. During this turbulent and dramatic era Antipater, the Idumean, remained the ruling power in Judea and profited by each change of ruler. His policy was to retain the friends.h.i.+p of Rome at any cost and to ally himself with the man of the hour. His chief aim was to further his own personal interests. He was influenced by no patriotic zeal or racial prejudices. At the same time he showed great skill in steering his course amidst the storms that swept the Roman world during these tempestuous years. When Pompey was defeated at the battle of Pharsalia in 49 B.C. Antipater actively allied himself with the cause of Julius Caesar. When an army of the victor marched to the conquest of Egypt he sent Jewish auxiliaries and fought valiantly at their head, both in the siege of Pelusium and that of Memphis. He also at a critical moment influenced the Nabateans and the Jews of Egypt to ally themselves with the cause of Caesar.

=Rewards for His Services.= As a reward for his services Antipater was made procurator of Judea. His elder son, Phasael was appointed governor of Jerusalem and his younger son, Herod, of Galilee. Hyrca.n.u.s was given the t.i.tle of ethnarch. Joppa, which opened the trade of the Mediterranean to Judea, was added to the province. The rights of the Jews in foreign countries were also guarded by Caesar, who always showed himself a patron and friend of the race. His a.s.sa.s.sination in 44 B.C., and the murder of Antipater by an ambitious Jewish n.o.ble one year later, did not undermine the influence of the Idumean house.

Mark Antony, who was then Rome's representative in the east, at once appointed Herod and Phasael civil rulers of Judea to succeed their father.

=The Parthian Conquest.= In 40 B.C., however, the Parthians for a brief time pushed the boundaries of their empire westward to the Mediterranean and placed Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, on the throne of his fathers. Phasael was treacherously put to death by the Parthians. Hyrca.n.u.s's ears were cut off and he was carried captive to Babylon, and the Sadducean n.o.bles who rallied about Antigonus either slew or drove from the land the followers of their former Idumean rulers.

=Herod Made King of the Jews.= Herod, after many adventures, finally escaped to Rome, where he was given the then empty t.i.tle of "King of the Jews" at the recommendation of Mark Antony and Octavius. After two years of active campaigning, Herod finally captured Jerusalem, and Antigonus, the last Maccabean king, was promptly put to death by the Romans. In 37 B.C. Herod began his reign as king of the Jews. His dominant policy, like that of his father, was loyalty at all times and at any cost to the ruling Roman faction. Notwithstanding faults, he proved a valuable servant of Rome. The kingdom over which he ruled was the natural eastern boundary of the empire. It contained many elements hostile to each other. The Jews had proved by many rebellions how little their loyalty to Rome could be trusted; and yet it was essential for the integrity of the empire that the peace and strength of this outlying province should be maintained. This task Herod was able to accomplish. Hence, when Augustus, at the battle of Actium in 31 B.C., became master of the Roman empire, he confirmed Herod in the authority which he had hitherto held. Subsequently Augustus added new territory to Herod's kingdom until, with the exception of certain Greek cities on the coast and others east of the Jordan, he ruled over all Palestine from the sea to the desert and from the foot of Mount Hermon to the wilderness in the south.

=His Policy.= Herod was a tyrant, merciless in putting to death all rivals. He loaded his people with heavy taxes, but he did give them much desired peace. Naturally in this Greek age the son of an Idumean father and an Arabian mother was an ardent advocate of the prevailing h.e.l.lenistic culture; yet, with occasional lapses, Herod proved also a defender of the Jewish race and religion.

=His Work as a City Builder.= As a builder Herod made a deep impression upon the Palestine of his age. After the battle of Actium the city of Samaria had been presented to him by Augustus. Herod transformed it into a Graeco-Roman city of the most magnificent type.

Its name was changed to Sebaste, the Greek for Augusta, in honor of his patron. On the top of the hill was built the huge Roman temple, the ruins of which have recently been laid bare by American excavators.^{(59)} The city was encircled by a colonnade, twenty yards wide and over a mile long, with pillars sixteen feet in height. A beautiful natural theatre was built on the northern slope of the hill, overlooking the fertile plain. Splendid public buildings made it one of the glories of Herod's kingdom. He also transformed Straton's Tower on the Mediterranean coast into a Graeco-Roman metropolis and named it Caesarea,^{(115)} in honor of the emperor. On a comparatively level plain rose a temple, theatre, amphitheatre, and palaces of marble.

Since it was intended to be the seaport of both Samaria and Judea, a great breakwater two hundred feet wide was constructed out of huge stones. The harbor opened to the north, thus protecting s.h.i.+ps from the prevailing southwest winds. At strategic points throughout his kingdom he fortified natural strongholds, such as the high conical hill east of Bethlehem known as the Herodium.^{(86)} In Athens and in other cities outside his kingdom Herod reared magnificent public buildings.

=Herod's Temple.= In many ways the crowning achievement of Herod's zeal for building was the great temple which he reared in Jerusalem.

The temple area was first extended to the south so that it was double its former size.^{(99)} A viaduct and four gates connected it with the central and western part of the city. Two large gateways also led up from the ancient City of David on the south. The entire temple area was encircled with a double row of huge marble columns. On the south side of the court were four rows of lofty columns with Corinthian capitals. The sanctuary itself, which stood on its original site in the northern part of the temple area on a platform of native rock, was surrounded by an inner group of elaborate buildings, approached by splendid gateways on the north, east, and south. In front of the comparatively small temple structure was reared a large porch, one hundred cubits high and one hundred cubits broad, which brought it into harmony with Herod's huge constructions. The work on the temple was begun about 20 B.C. Provisions were made so that it continued uninterruptedly after Herod's death. The temple was completed only a few years before the final destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

=The Tragedies of His Family Life.= The saddest chapter in Herod's tempestuous career is that of his family life. He was a man of strong and ungoverned pa.s.sions, in whom intense love, jealousy, and vindictiveness played a prominent role. He was also the victim of the intrigues and rivalries characteristic of an oriental harem. The story of the murder of his wife, Mariamne, the Maccabean princess whom he truly loved, and of his two favorite sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, as a result of the plots of his sister, Salome, and of his treacherous son, Antipater, is one of the familiar and most tragic chapters in history. Conscious at last that his wife and sons had been innocent of the base charges which led him to murder them, betrayed by his nearest kinsmen, hated by most of his subjects, and regarded coldly by the royal patron whom he had served so slavishly, Herod the Great was the most pathetic figure in all his wide kingdom.

=The Popular Hopes of the Jews.= The victories and glories of the Maccabean era, followed by the double tyranny of Rome and Herod, made a profound impression upon the faith and hopes of the Jewish race.

Many of them turned with loathing from the bloodshed and the selfish victories of the later Maccabean rulers to the law and the wors.h.i.+p at the temple as their chief joy and consolation. In the minds of others these triumphs recalled the glories of the days of David and kindled anew their ambition to see a world-wide kingdom with Jerusalem as its centre and a descendant of David on the throne, who should reign, not as the corrupt, selfish Maccabean kings, but with justice and regard for the welfare of all his subjects. Others, more spiritually minded, like the author of chapters 37 to 70 of the book of Enoch, looked for The Elect One, The Anointed, The Son of Man, who would come to put an end to the reign of the wicked, to purify the earth of all evil, to gather together the faithful, and to establish a universal rule of righteousness. The more bitter the tyranny of Herod and the more galling the yoke of Rome the more ardently they hoped for the speedy realization of these expectations, which were the solace and inspiration of the great body of the Jewish nation. About 4 B.C., while at Jericho the tyrant lay dying who for a third of a century had held the Jewish race powerless in his strong grasp, a few miles away there was born one who was destined to realize, in a manner more glorious than the most enlightened of Israel's prophets had proclaimed, Jehovah's gracious purpose for mankind.

XXIII

THE BACKGROUND OF JESUS' CHILDHOOD AND YOUNG MANHOOD

=The Short Reign of Archelaus.= At his death Herod the Great left his kingly t.i.tle to his son, Archelaus. Archelaus, however, showed himself so tyrannical and tactless in dealing with the Jews that Augustus did not confirm his t.i.tle to the kings.h.i.+p, but instead made him ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea. During his tumultuous reign of ten years he developed the fertile plains about Jericho by means of aqueducts, which brought water for irrigation from the western hills, and also built the city of Archelais on the western side of the Jordan valley, not far from the Maccabean castle of Alexandrium. His rule in the end proved so hateful to the Jews that they sent a deputation of their leading men to Rome to present charges against him. As a result, Archelaus was banished.

=The Roman Province of Judea.= Inasmuch as Judea was one of the border provinces and had repeatedly proved itself turbulent and rebellious, it was placed under the immediate direction of the emperor and was ruled by a procurator of equestrian rank. The duties of the procurator were primarily to maintain order, to direct the collection of taxes, and decide the more important legal questions. He alone could inflict capital punishment, and to him or his representatives were naturally referred all cases in which Roman citizens were involved. Otherwise, in Judea the administration of the civil as well as of the ceremonial laws was in charge of the Jewish courts, at the head of which stood the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem.