Chapter Three – The Ancient World

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When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of the forbidden fruit, they symbolically declared that they and their descendants would reject God—His laws, judgments, instruction and direction—and decide for themselves how to live. Subsequently, man has devised every imaginable form of government, from dictatorships to democratic republics, and varying systems of education, religion, financial institutions, among others—all failing miserably, to one degree or another.

“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walks to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23).

“There is a way that seems right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death” (Prov. 16:25).

Only one government, only one administration of laws and judgment can be fairly executed with perfect impartiality: the kingdom of God, which is the supreme government of God ruled and administered by Jesus Christ and those who will have qualified, in this lifetime, to rule under Him.

Upon His First Coming, Jesus was to live a perfect, sinless life as a flesh-and-blood human being, thus becoming the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of the world. And Christ was to use His earthly ministry to preach the gospel—good news—of the kingdom of God, for which He had to qualify, represent the kingdom to the masses, and then build His Church of future leaders and teachers for when God’s government would be established to rule all nations.

The world of professing Christianity—of which the overwhelming majority has been saturated with pagan symbols, beliefs, customs and traditions, which Jesus called, “the commandments” and “tradition of men” (Mark 7:6-9)—focuses also exclusively on Jesus’ role as Saviour, yet does not comprehend the magnitude of, and therefore ignores, Christ’s other pivotal role: that of conquering King of God’s soon-coming government.

Jesus was born into an ancient world of tyranny and political upheaval, widespread religious confusion and superstition, social injustices, pagan cultural influences and endless philosophies. God chose the precise timing of Jesus’ First Coming for a specific purpose, which this chapter will make clear.

A Brief History of Palestine

Let’s get the “big picture” of the world into which Jesus was born. We will start with a brief history of Palestine.

Back in the time of Moses, God delivered the ancient Israelites from slavery in Egypt and brought them into Canaan, the Promised Land. Nearly all people think the Jews and Israelites were the same. In reality, all Jews are Israelites, but not all Israelites are Jews. In fact, most are not. Similarly, all Pennsylvanians are Americans, but not all Americans are Pennsylvanians.

The nation of Israel consisted of 13 tribes, each of which had its own territory in the Promised Land (except for Levi, a tribe of priests and tabernacle workers, to whom God gave a certain number of cities, instead of farmland; these Levitical cities were scattered throughout Israel). From the time of Joshua, who succeeded Moses, to the reign of King Solomon, son of David and Israel’s third king, the 13 tribes were united in one kingdom.

But this changed soon after Solomon’s death. Ten of the tribes broke away and formed their own kingdom: the house of Israel, with Samaria as its capital. The remaining tribes—Judah, Benjamin and largely Levi, with remnants of Simeon and others—formed the house of Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem.

Both Israel and Judah had their own kings and their own religions, though Judah sometimes followed its sister nation’s proclivity to worship the false gods of the surrounding nations. At times, Israel and Judah were at war—in fact, the first time the phrase “the Jews” is mentioned in Scripture, God’s Word records that the Israelites (allied with the Assyrians) were at war with them (II Kings 16:5-6). At other times, Israel and Judah either worked together toward a common goal, or stayed out of each other’s affairs altogether. They were separate nations, yet the peoples of both kingdoms were Israelites.

After centuries of tolerating an endless cycle of national obedience, then disobedience, followed by divine punishment, in turn followed by repentance, back to obedience, and then disobedience, God’s patience wore out. He used the ancient Assyrians—an empire infamous for waging war and committing the severest acts of brutality—to invade and conquer the house of Israel. The Assyrians enslaved Israel and deported the people en masse to Assyria and other foreign lands. The ten tribes of Israel lost their national identity and melted into the pages of history. To this day, their modern descendants mistakenly believe they are Gentiles, not realizing that the abundant national wealth, prosperity and international influence they have long enjoyed are the result of God fulfilling His promise to Abraham (Gen. 17:1-8).

Judah No Different

For the most part, the house of Judah did not learn the lesson of Israel’s spiritual unfaithfulness. The ancient Jews went back and forth, from worshipping God to serving idols, and back again. Theirs was a religious mixture of seemingly pious worship toward the Creator, yet underneath the façade was every abomination imaginable. It was religious hypocrisy and self-righteousness at its worst.

And so, 134 years after the overthrow of the kingdom of Israel, God sent a special punishing tool for Judah: Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire. In 587 B.C., the Babylonians overthrew Jerusalem, plundered Solomon’s Temple—originally a grand house of worship for the true God—and carried the people into captivity to Babylon, where the Jews remained for the next 70 years.

They were eventually permitted to return to their homeland and rebuild a second Temple at Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1-4). After this restoration period, the Jews were ruled by Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah, and then by high priests, assisted by the Sanhedrin (a council of priests, scribes and elders).

Upon his death in 323 B.C., Alexander the Great’s vast empire was divided between his four generals. Egypt, Arabia, Palestine (formerly Canaan) and Coele-Syria came to be controlled by Ptolemy Lagus, who carried away nearly 100,000 of Jerusalem’s inhabitants into Egypt. Though Ptolemy allowed the Jews certain privileges, they suffered cruelty and oppression from Polemy’s successors, and later from the successive rulers of Syria.

This led to a revolt under the Maccabees (163 B.C.), who reclaimed Jerusalem and the Second Temple (which the Hellenistic Syrians used to worship Zeus), and eventually gained national independence for the Jews.

But their national freedom and self-government came to an end in 68 B.C., when Pompey the Great seized Palestine and turned it into a province of the burgeoning Roman Empire. About 25 years later, the Jews revolted against the Roman yoke, only to be taken over by Herod the Great, who served Rome. At around 20 B.C., Herod began a mass renovation project, rebuilding Jerusalem and restoring and expanding the Temple. Under Herod’s rule and with Rome’s approval, Palestine was divided into four provinces: Judea (in the south), Samaria (in the middle region), Galilee (the north) and Perea (which lay east of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea).

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