ABOUT the year B.C. 5, when the bloodstained reign of Herod was approaching its close, there lived in Judæa, either at the little village of Juttah, or the time-honoured city of Hebron185, an aged priest named Zacharias. His wife Elisabeth was also of the priestly family (Lk. i. 5), and both enjoyed a high reputation for piety and uprightness of life, being alike righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (Lk. i. 6). One great sorrow, however, cast a deep shadow over their daily life. They were now old and well-stricken in age, but no child had ever gladdened their humble home.
In the time of Solomon the priests were divided into twenty-four “courses,” each of which served at the Temple in weekly rotation (1 Chr. xxiv. 1–19). Of these, four only returned from the captivity, but they were again divided into twenty-four, and received the same names as the original courses. The course, to which Zacharias belonged, was the eighth, known as that of Abiah or Abijah (1 Chr. xxiv. 10), and in process of time, in accordance with the prescribed arrangement, it devolved on him to go up to the Holy City. Of all the services at the Temple (which to avoid contention were uniformly decided by lot), none was deemed more honourable than that of entering into the Holy Place and offering incense on the Golden Altar186. This was done twice every day, before the morning and evening sacrifice, i.e. at 9 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. The sound of a small bell announced the priests’ entrance for this purpose, and on hearing it the Priests and Levites took up their position before the Altar of Burnt-offering, the space between the Porch and the Altar was cleared, and the people in the different courts stood and prayed in solemn silence (Rev. viii. 1) so long as he remained within the Holy Place. As soon, however, as he reappeared, they laid the sacrifice on the altar, and the Levites, amidst the full burst of the Temple music, commenced the sacred Psalmody187.
Such was the august office which now fell to the lot of Zacharias. Bearing the incense in a large vessel of gold, he entered into the Holy Place, and was kindling it on the Golden Altar, when he was accosted by an Angel standing at the right side of the Altar. This sudden apparition startled and affrighted him. But the Angel calmed his fears, and announced that the prayers he had offered to God in secret were heard. Though Elisabeth was stricken in years, she should yet become the mother of a son, who was to be named John188. From the first hour of his existence this child should be filled with the Holy Ghost, and drinking neither wine nor strong drink, in accordance with the Nazarite’s vow, should be great in the sight of the Lord. As the second Elijah, to whom the finger of prophecy had pointed (Isai. xl. 3; Mal. iii. 1), he should be the immediate forerunner of the long-expected Messiah, and make ready a people prepared for him (Lk. i. 12–17).
Astounded by so sudden an announcement, the aged priest sought some assurance of the promised blessing. On this the Angel, who announced himself as no other than he that had appeared many years before to the prophet Daniel under the name of Gabriel (Dan. viii. 16; ix. 21), replied, that such an assurance would be vouchsafed, but, because of his unbelief, it should be in the shape of a judgment. He should be dumb, and not able to speak, till the day that these things should be performed (Lk. i. 20).
While Zacharias was receiving this mysterious intimation within the Sanctuary, the people189, who crowded the Temple-courts, were anxiously expecting his return, and marvelled at his unusual delay. At length he reappeared. But his strange aspect shewed that something had occurred. When questioned he could not return any answer, and intimated by signs that he had seen a vision in the Sacred Place. Then at the close of his week of ministration he returned to his own house, where, in accordance with the announcement of the Angel, Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself for five months in quiet and peaceful retirement (Lk. i. 24).
Six months after his appearance in the Temple, the same Angel was sent from God to Nazareth190, a secluded village unknown and unnamed in the Old Testament, hidden away amongst the hills of Galilee, and within the limits of the ancient tribe of Zebulun. At this village there lived a lowly Virgin named Mary, or Miriam. She belonged to the royal tribe of Judah, and the lineage of David (Lk. i. 32; Rom. i. 3), and was connected by marriage with Elisabeth (Lk. i. 27), who belonged to the tribe of Levi. Moreover, she was at this time betrothed to Joseph, who occupied a humble position as a carpenter at Nazareth, but like herself was of the lineage of David (Lk. i. 27; ii. 4).
To this lowly Virgin the Angel Gabriel now appeared, and announced that by virtue of the operation of the Holy Ghost, she should become the mother of a Son, whom she was to call Jesus191 (God the Saviour). He should be great, and should be called the Son of the Highest, should sit on the throne of His father David, and reign over the house of Jacob for ever (Lk. i. 30–33). Though at first startled at the sudden address of an angelic visitant (Lk. i. 29), the Virgin received his announcement with implicit faith, and prayed that it might be with her according to his word (Lk. i. 38), and being informed of what had occurred to her relative Elisabeth, arose with haste to seek out her home amidst the Judæan hills. The journey of four or five days192 accomplished, she reached the humble abode, and had no sooner crossed the threshold, and saluted the aged wife of Zacharias, than the other addressed her as the mother of her Lord, and fully confirmed the words of the angel. Thus assured of the certainty of the mighty event about to happen, the lowly virgin, like Hannah at the birth of Samuel, burst forth into words of holy praise and exultation, and gave utterance to the inspired hymn, which under the name of the Magnificat, remains one of the most precious treasures of the Church, and the most familiar of her hymns (Lk. i. 46–56).
After a sojourn of about three months with Elisabeth, Mary returned to Nazareth, and Joseph perceived that she was with child. Being a just man, he resolved on privately giving her a bill of divorcement, instead of making her a public example (Mtt. i. 19). But as in deep perplexity he pondered on these things, he too was visited by an Angel in a dream, and bidden not to be afraid to take to him Mary as his wife. That which was conceived in her was not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the Holy Ghost, and the Son, to whom she would give birth, he was to name Jesus, for He should save His people from their sins (Mtt. i. 21).
Meanwhile the event announced in the Temple to the aged Zacharias had taken place, and Elisabeth brought forth a son. Such an event in the East is always an occasion of unbounded joy. In the present instance it would be still more so, and the relatives and neighbours of Elisabeth came together with no ordinary feelings to rejoice with her. On the eighth day, the child was brought to the priest for circumcision, and the relatives proposed that it should be named after his father, but Elisabeth demurred, and declared that it should be called John (the grace of God). Marvelling at her wishing for a name, which had no precedent in the family, they appealed by signs to the speechless Zacharias. The aged priest called for a writing tablet, and wrote His name is John, and then, while all were lost in astonishment, his mouth, which had been closed for nine months, was opened, and he too burst forth into an inspired Psalm of exultant thanksgiving, in which he acknowledged the faithfulness of God in the birth of his son, and foretold his future greatness as the forerunner of the Messiah (Lk. i. 61–79).
Born as one out of due time the child grew, waxed strong in spirit (Lk. i. 80), and, in accordance with the words of the Angel, adhered steadfastly to the Nazarite vow193. Like Samson, like Samuel, no razor was suffered to come near his head. Drinking neither wine nor strong drink, he systematically denied himself all the pleasures and indulgences of ordinary life. The son of a priest, he doubtless received a strict religious education, and at some period, though when we are not told, retired to the dreary deserts west of the Dead Sea. Here, like Moses in Midian, he prepared himself by solitary communion with God for his high emprise, assumed the garb of one of the old prophets, the robe of camel’s hair fastened round the body by a leathern girdle (2 K. i. 8), and subsisted on such fare as the desert afforded, eating locusts194 and wild honey (Mtt. iii. 4).
THE voice of Prophecy (Mic. v. 2) had declared that the Messiah should be born at Bethlehem of Judæa, a spot endeared to every Jew as the birth-place of the son of Jesse. Though Mary was now living at Nazareth, a circumstance apparently fortuitous, under the superintending hand of Divine Providence, brought about a fulfilment of the prediction.
At this particular period there was peace throughout the dominions of the Roman empire. The Temple of Janus was shut195. The fierce contests, which for so many years had been carried on with such relentless persistence, which had drenched with blood the fairest fields in the dominions of Augustus, had ceased, and the din of battles was hushed. As that monarch revolved in his mind the most suitable means for the administration of his numerous dependencies, it occurred to him that it would be well to carry out a general registration196 of all his subjects, with a view to some fixed scale of taxation. He issued, therefore, a decree that all the world, which owned his sway, should be taxed197 (Lk. ii. 1). Judæa was not indeed at this time a Roman “province,” but its reduction to that condition sooner or later was already determined198. The imperial edict, therefore, declaring the will of his master was placed in the hands of the Idumæan Herod as in those of other rulers, and he would naturally ordain that while the Roman orders were obeyed, the customs and traditions of the country should not be entirely overridden199.
Toilsome, therefore, as was the journey, and not altogether free from danger, the Virgin left the place of her usual abode, and set out for the village of Bethlehem accompanied by Joseph. This he would have done as her natural protector, but the Jewish law required his presence in the town of his forefathers, because he, like Mary, was of the house and lineage of David (Lk. ii. 4)200. Accordingly, in the society, probably, of others bound on the same errand as themselves, they proceeded on their southward journey, either through Samaria or across the Jordan through Peræa201, and after probably visiting and passing through Jerusalem, surmounted the long ascent leading to the village of Bethlehem, and sought shelter in the inn or khan, which the inhabitants had provided for the reception of strangers.
But they had reached it too late. Every guest-chamber was already full, and crowded with strangers, who, like themselves, had come up to be taxed. They were constrained, therefore, to seek shelter amongst the cattle and beasts of burden of the wayfarers, and so it was, that while they were there, the days were accomplished that the lowly Virgin should be delivered, and she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in one of the mangers by her side (Lk. ii. 6, 7).
Such was the first Advent of the Saviour “in great humility.” Thus did He who was with the Father before all worlds, by whom all things were made, and without whom was not any thing made that was made (Jn. i. 1–3), deign to take upon Him our nature. Unimportant, however, as appeared the event that had just taken place in that crowded inn, unknown to the Idumæan Herod, unknown to his imperial master in the City of the Cæsars, signs were not wanting that it had moved all heaven to its centre, and was there hailed with rapturous acclaim. On the bleak downs of Bethlehem shepherds were that night keeping watch over their flocks, when suddenly there came upon them a light brighter than the brightest of the countless stars that spangled the midnight sky, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them (Lk. ii. 9). Sore afraid, they would have fled in dismay. But a Voice came to them which calmed their fears. An Angel addressed them, and announced the Glad Tidings that in the city of David had that day been born to them a Saviour, even Christ the Lord, whom they would find wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger (Lk. ii. 11, 12). He ceased, and then a multitude of the heavenly host brake the silence of the night, and sang Glory to God in the highest, and on earth Peace, Goodwill towards men. Such an announcement roused all the wonder of the simple, humble men who heard it. Hastily leaving their flocks they repaired to Bethlehem, where they found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in the manger, and recounted all that they had heard from the heavenly visitants concerning the Child. Great was the astonishment of those who listened to their tale, but the holy Virgin treasured their words in her heart, and the shepherds returned to their lowly occupation, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard (Lk. ii. 16–20).
Born under the Law (Gal. iv. 4) the Saviour was to submit to all its ordinances. Accordingly on the eighth day after His birth He was circumcised, like any other Jewish child, and received the name of Jesus. Moreover on the fortieth day after His birth, the Virgin repaired to the Temple, and presented her humble offering of a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons (Lev. xii. 2, 6, 8), according to the law of her purification. Without pomp or earthly circumstance, the infant Saviour, the Messenger of the Covenant, came to His temple (Mal. iii. 1), and might have left it equally unnoticed. But two humble worshippers, who had long been waiting for the consolation of Israel (Lk. ii. 25), recognized “in helpless infancy and clad in mortal flesh” the long-expected Messiah.
There was living at Jerusalem a just and devout man named Symeon. Though far advanced in years, he had received divine intimation that he should not see death till his eyes had rested on the Lord’s Christ. He was now present at the national sanctuary, when His parents brought in the Child to do for Him after the custom of the Law (Lk. ii. 27), and no sooner did he behold the Child, than he saw that the long-promised hour was come. He took Him up in his arms, and blessed God that at length his eyes had been permitted to see His Salvation, the Light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of His people Israel (Lk. ii. 32). Then while Joseph and Mary were marvelling at his words, the aged seer, already on the verge of the eternal world, blessed them also, and addressing the Virgin Mother declared that her Child was appointed for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and that a sword should in days to come pierce through her own heart. At the same time there came forward an aged woman, a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel. Seven years had she lived with her husband after quitting her maiden state, and since his death had remained in widowhood upwards of 84 years. Though the territories of the tribe of Asher, to which she belonged (Lk. ii. 36), were at a great distance from the Holy City, yet there she had taken up her abode, and was constant in every act of worship and in her attendance at every sacred service. She too drew near while the Holy Child was being brought into His Father’s house, and, like the aged Symeon, gave thanks to God, and spake of Him to all those that were looking for redemption in Jerusalem (Lk. ii. 38).
But as she was thus proclaiming to the faithful in the Holy City the Advent of their King, pilgrims and worshippers were drawing near from far different and far distant lands. A short time after Joseph and Mary had returned to Bethlehem, there appeared certain travel-stained pilgrims, whose arrival stirred Jerusalem to its very centre. In their native home in Arabia or Persia, their attention had been directed to a luminous body in the sky, which had guided them to Palestine, and they now enquired where was He that was born King of the Jews202, and declared that they had seen His star in the East, and had come to worship Him. The arrival of these Magi203, as they were called in their own land, was quickly announced to Herod, and the enquiry respecting an hereditary King of the Jews roused the alarm and suspicion of one so jealous for the integrity of his own dynasty204. Hastily convening a formal assembly of the Chief Priests and Scribes, he enquired where, according to the prophetical books, the long-expected Messiah was to be born. Without the least hesitation they pointed to the words of the prophet Micah (v. 2), which declared Bethlehem in Judæa to be the favoured place. On this the monarch sought a private interview with the Magi (Mtt. ii. 7), and made diligent enquiries respecting the time of the appearance of the Star, and then bade them repair to Bethlehem and seek diligently for the young Child, declaring his intention, if they found Him, to come himself and lay his honours at the feet of the heir of David’s throne.
Thus advised the Magi set out, when lo! the Star, which they had seen in their far-off eastern home appeared before them, and guided their feet to the lowly abode where lay the object of their search. With great joy (Mtt. ii. 10) they entered the house, and seeing the young child and Mary His mother fell down and worshipped Him, and opening their treasures brought forth costly gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh205. Then warned in a dream not to return to the perfidious tyrant, they made their way to their own land by another route. Thus He, who had been “manifested” to the shepherds, to the faithful Symeon and Anna, was manifested also to these His first Gentile worshippers from the distant East.
But that same night Joseph was also warned in a dream, of peril awaiting the young Child. Herod was watching his opportunity to put Him to death, and it was necessary that he should fly. So Joseph arose, and taking the Infant and His mother, went down into Egypt, where He and they were to remain till they received further intimations respecting their course.
Their departure had not been too soon. Perceiving that the strange visitors to his capital had not returned, and that his design against the young Child’s life had been frustrated, with a reckless ferocity, which, we have seen, he too often displayed, Herod sent and slew every male child in Bethlehem from two years old and under, to make sure that he had included the Object of his terrible vengeance. His cruel edict was carried out, and filled many a home in Bethlehem with sorrow and mourning206. The voice of lamentation and weeping arose in Ramah, of which an inspired Prophet (Jer. xxxi. 15) had spoken 400 years before, and which the Jewish historian Josephus does not record, even if he knew of it, as though it was a matter of little moment compared with other atrocities207 of the same monarch, who could butcher on one occasion well-nigh every member of the Sanhedrin208, and on the very eve of his death meditate the wholesale slaughter of the chiefs of the Jews in the Hippodrome209 at Jericho.
THIS ferocious action was one of the last crimes in the bloodthirsty career of this guilty monarch. Very shortly afterwards he died under circumstances already related210 at Jericho A.U.C 750. This event was made known to Joseph by an Angel in a dream (Mtt. ii. 19), and he was bidden to arise and return with the young Child and His mother into the land of Israel. Accordingly he set out, but hearing that the tyrant’s son Archelaus211, who enjoyed a reputation worthy of his father, was reigning in his stead, he was afraid to continue his journey, and was only encouraged to proceed by another supernatural intimation. The place whither he was to go had not before been distinctly specified, and he might have supposed that Bethlehem, the city of David, was the proper place to rear the Son of David, so near to Jerusalem, the most religious, the most sacred part of Palestine212. But now he was directed to repair to the safer obscurity of his former residence in Galilee, and accordingly went down from the highlands of Judæa to Nazareth, and there the Holy Child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him (Lk. ii. 40).
From this time till the commencement of His public ministry a thick veil conceals from us all details of the Saviour’s life. The Evangelists pass this period by with a solemn reserve. One event, and one only, emerges from the obscurity that enshrouds it.
It was the custom of Joseph, and even of Mary213, to go up year after year to attend the celebration of the great festival of the Passover at Jerusalem (Lk. ii. 41). When He had attained the age of twelve years, A.U.C. 762, the Holy Child accompanied them, having attained to that period of life when Jewish children were required to attend the feasts and began to be instructed in the Law. At the close of the Festival, and probably on the eighth day, His parents, in company with other pilgrims (Lk. ii. 44), set out on their return to Galilee. On reaching, however, their resting-place on the first evening214, they found their Son was missing, and, full of trouble and anxiety, returned a day’s journey, and sought Him amongst their kinsfolk and acquaintance, and the travelling companies hastening homewards from the Holy City. But they found Him not. Still another day was spent in searching for Him in the city itself, but with the same result. At length on the third day215 they found Him in the precincts of the Temple, probably in one of the chambers where the Rabbis were wont to give instruction during the festivals216, sitting in the midst of learned Masters of Israel, not only listening to their words, but asking them questions. While all present were marvelling at the understanding He displayed, His parents drew near, and were amazed to find their Son in the midst of so august an assemblage, and the holy Mother expostulated with Him on the anxiety His absence had caused. To this He replied in artless but mysterious words, How is it that ye sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about My Father’s business? proving that even already He was aware of His heavenly origin. Then, while they understood not the saying, which nevertheless His Mother kept and treasured in her heart, He went down with them to the lowly home in despised Galilee. There in meek subjection He abode beneath their humble roof, and probably shared217 in His reputed father’s earthly labours, growing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man (Lk. ii. 52; Mk. vi. 3).
While thus in silence and seclusion the Holy One was advancing towards man’s estate, great changes were taking place in the fortunes of the Jewish nation, which now demand our attention.
After the death of Herod some considerable delay took place before the confirmation of his will by Augustus arrived from Rome, and Jerusalem was the scene of tumult and violence. At length that emperor was pleased to announce his approval, and Archelaus was appointed to the government of Judæa218, Idumæa, and Samaria, with the title of ethnarch; Herod Antipas obtained Galilee219 and Peræa220; Herod Philip, Auranitis221, Gaulanitis222, Trachonitis223, Batanæa224 and Ituræa225; while Salome was declared mistress of Jamnia, Azotus, and Phasaëlis, with a palace at Askelon and a revenue of 60 talents226. The emperor promised to Archelaus the title of king, if he proved worthy of it. But his government was marked by such gross cruelty and injustice both towards the Jews and Samaritans that complaints were lodged against him before the emperor. After a reign, therefore, of nine years he was summoned to Rome, and his cause having been formally heard, sentenced to be banished to Vienne in Gaul227, and to forfeit his estates228, A.D. 6.
And now in truth the sceptre departed from Judah (Gen. xlix. 10), and the kingdom of David and Solomon, of the famous Asmonean house and of Herod, sank into the form of a Roman province229, and was annexed to the prefecture of Syria. This office was now conferred on P. Sulpicius Quirinus, but the immediate government of Judæa and Samaria was given to a procurator, Coponius230, a man of equestrian rank, who had a body231 of troops at his command, and was entrusted in certain cases with the power of life and death232.
Quirinus, as we have seen above233, had in all probability been already governor of Syria, and in this capacity had conducted the preliminary enrolment of names preparatory to a general census. This census he was now entrusted to carry out234, and with it a levying of imposts and rates in money. This was regarded by the Jews as the last and most degrading mark of their subjection to a foreign power. The whole country was in a ferment, and though the energy of the high-priest Joazar235 repressed any actual outbreak at Jerusalem, the popular feeling could not be restrained in the provinces. At the head of the disaffected appeared one Judas of Gamala236 in Gaulanitis.
A man of energy, eloquence, and undaunted courage, he quickly gathered around him a body of adventurers, and aided by a confederate Sadoc, of the Pharisaic faction, unfurled the banner of resistance to foreign dominion, and especially to foreign tribute. For a time the country was at the mercy of the fierce and lawless throng, which flocked to his standard, but the effort was utterly fruitless. Nothing could withstand the terrible Roman legions; Judas himself was slain (Acts v. 37), and his followers were dispersed, but his work lived after him, and the Zealots and Sicarii or Assassins, who drank deeply of his fierce and independent spirit, long kept alive the popular discontent under a foreign sway.
Having completed the confiscation of the property of Archelaus, Quirinus deposed Joazar from the high-priesthood, and substituted in his place Annas, the son of Seth237, the ablest friend of Rome. He then returned to Syria, and Coponius having planted a small garrison on Zion and a guard at the Temple-gate, took up his abode at Cæsarea on the sea.
So long as Augustus filled the imperial throne the procurators in Judæa held their commands for a very limited number of years, and were rapidly changed. Thus Coponius, whose supremacy began in A.D. 6, was succeeded after four years, in A.D. 10, by Marcus Ambivius238. In three years Marcus Ambivius handed over the reins of power to Annius Rufus, who in the following year made way for Valerius Gratus. But in A.D. 14 Augustus died, and Tiberius resolved that such rapid changes should be discontinued239. Gratus, therefore, held his command till A.D. 26. He deposed the high-priest Annas, and set up Ishmael, son of Phabi, but a furious uproar ensuing he deposed Ishmael, and elevated Eleazar, a son of Annas, to the pontificate, permitting the latter, under the name of Sagan, or deputy, to discharge the spiritual functions of his office and conduct the ceremonial rites. But this appointment was of no long duration. Deeming Annas to possess too much influence the procurator deposed Eleazar, and set up Simon, son of Kamith, who held the office for less than a year, and then made way for Joseph Caiaphas, the Sagan’s son-in law240. These rapid changes shew how entirely the high-priesthood was at this time at the mercy of the Roman governors.
Valerius Gratus was succeeded in A.D. 26241 by Pontius Pilate242. He brought with him his wife, and a Roman household, established himself at Cæsarea, but repaired oftener than any of his predecessors to Jerusalem. Resolved to keep on good terms with the noble families, and to unite with himself as many as possible who were likely to help him to preserve the public peace, he suffered the Jewish priests to manage their own affairs. So Annas remained Sagan, and Caiaphas high-priest.
But one of his first acts roused the furious animosity of his new subjects. He resolved to transport the head-quarters of the army from Cæsarea to Jerusalem. With the soldiers, followed, as a matter of course, the standards, bearing the image of Cæsar; but as they were introduced in the night-time they did not at first attract attention243. No sooner, however, was the fact observed, than there were no bounds to the rage of the people. They resorted in crowds to his residence at Cæsarea, and besought him to remove the obnoxious emblems. For five days they beset his palace, and at length he gave the signal to his troops to put them to death, unless they desisted from troubling him. Thereupon the petitioners flung themselves upon the ground, and declared their willingness to meet death in any shape, rather than see their city polluted with heathen symbols. Their undaunted bearing had its effect. The procurator deemed it best to concede the point, and the standards were brought back to Cæsarea.
In spite, however, of this warning, he on another occasion had a clear proof of the refractory spirit of the people. Anxious to signalise his reign in Judæa by erecting a noble aqueduct, which was to bring a supply of water to the city from a distance of twenty-five miles, and wanting funds, he appropriated the Corban244, or the money laid up in the Temple and dedicated to God. This act roused the Jews to madness. They gathered in thousands and tens of thousands before his palace-gates, obstructed the works, and demanded that the sacred treasures should be restored245. Resolved not to be thwarted, Pilate ordered a company of the legionaries, carrying daggers under their garments, to surround and disperse them. The soldiers carried out his orders with greater cruelty than he had intended, charged the rioters, chased them into the Temple-courts, slew great numbers, and wounded many more, so that their blood was mingled with the blood of the victims on the altar.
Such was the man who now presided over the province of Judæa. Under his rule, and that of his predecessors, the Roman yoke cut more and more deeply into the heart of the nation. Finding no hope from their own chiefs, who all sided with the Romans, the people prayed with increased earnestness that the Messiah, the Deliverer, would come. The Galilæans in the North, the Separatists in the South waxed hotter and hotter in their hatred of their heathen rulers246. Many claiming the title of Messiah appeared, and gathered numbers of excited followers. But their careers were soon cut short, and they were swept away before the Roman legions.
But before Pilate had been many months in power, all Jerusalem and Judæa was roused by the appearance of a strange Preacher on the banks of the Jordan247, announcing the advent of a very different Messiah from that expected by the nation, and the speedy establishment of a kingdom not of earth but of heaven.