Biblical Context: First Century Judea

[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God and the firstborn of all creation. Everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones, lordships, leaders, or powers, everything was created through him and for him. He’s before everything and everything is held together in him. He’s also the head of the body, the church. And he’s the beginning, the firstborn from death, so he’ll come to have the first place in everything. Because it was his good idea for all fullness to live in him and to transfer everything back to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross and through [God], whether this on earth or that in heaven.

– The Story of Jesus

[Adapted from Col 1:15-20]

Israel’s history all started with one man: Abram. The Bible records that God told him to leave his home, promising to give him his own land and make him into a great nation. This promised land was Canaan, a fertile green belt bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Jordan River to the east. After arriving there, Abram was renamed Abraham and had a son by his previously barren wife, Sarah. His son, Isaac, fathered twins. The younger twin, Jacob, deceptively received the blessing and inheritance of the firstborn. Jacob was renamed Israel and had twelve sons, who, with their descendants, would become the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob was forced to relocate away from Canaan to Egypt due to a seven-year famine. In Egypt, Jacob’s family of seventy grew into a nation, and over time Israel’s population became so large that the Egyptian Pharaoh feared revolt and subsequently oppressed them as slaves. Then, four hundred years after arriving in Egypt, Moses led the entire nation back to the land promised to them by God. 

Under Joshua, Moses’ successor, the people of Israel drove out the residents of Canaan and were established as a kingdom of their own right. Successive judges ruled Israel after their settlement in Canaan, frequently rescuing them from neighboring nations, until Saul was established as Israel’s first king. However, a shepherd-turned-warrior named David was the one to truly lead Israel, becoming Israel’s second king after Saul’s death. 

During the reign of David and his son Solomon, Israel reached the peak of its power, becoming the richest nation in the Middle East at the time, according to the Bible. But it didn’t last long. Crumbling morality, heavy taxation, and labor conscription led to Israel’s division. Around 950 BC, under David’s grandson Rehoboam, the nation split into the southern kingdom of Judah, which maintained the Davidic dynasty, and the northern kingdom of Israel, which adopted a new king, Jeroboam. Various kings rose and fell in Israel and Judah as they warred with each other and with their neighbors. Then around 720 BC, the Assyrians conquered Israel, taking much of its population into exile. Judah was also conquered, this time in two campaigns by the Babylonians in 597 and 587 BC, who captured Jerusalem and similarly exiled many of the survivors. The Persians later conquered Babylon, taking over their massive empire, but they allowed groups of Jewish exiles to return to their homeland. In 333 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Persia, gaining control of Israel and the rest of the Middle East and establishing Greek culture and language throughout. After his death, Alexander’s generals divided his empire between themselves, but subsequent revolts re-established an independent Jewish nation in 164 BC under the Hasmonean dynasty. However, Jerusalem was again captured, with Judea becoming a province of the Roman Empire in 63 BC. Herod the Great ruled the Jews as a client-king under Rome and was the current ruler at the time of Jesus’ birth in 4 BC. 

Throughout Israel’s tumultuous history, various prophets (messengers from God) encouraged the Jews and warned them to repent and return to God and follow the laws given to them during their exodus from Egypt to Canaan. The prophets frequently stressed that Israel’s rebellion away from God had led to their downfall, and that turning back to him would lead to freedom and blessing. However, any religious reformation soon reverted back to immorality and subsequent oppression.

Despite the dire circumstances of Israel’s national identity, Jews lived in constant expectation of the Messiah, which means “anointed one” in Hebrew. The Greek equivalent, christos, is where the term “Christ” comes from. The Jews understood the Messiah to be a powerful king who would defeat their enemies and bring prosperity and peace. Although many messiahs temporarily delivered Israel throughout its history, none fulfilled all the requirements, as detailed by various prophets’ contributions to Scripture.

So this was the situation in Judea during the first century: Israel was living under Roman rule; revolts were common, but were swiftly and brutally subdued; religious reform had expanded Moses’ Law into thousands of rules and rituals about cleanliness; and the Jews were waiting for their Messiah, a mighty king who would sit on David’s throne and establish an empire.

It was into this world that Jesus was born.

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