THE PROPHETIC SPIRIT HAD NOT YET DIED OUT AMONG THE JEWS,FOR DURING THE DAYS OF JESUS’YOUTH,A MAN BY THE NAME OF JOHN (OR JOHN THE BAPTIST,AS WE CAME TO KNOW HIM)WAS WARNING THE PEOPLE IN A THUNDEROUS VOICE TO REPENT OF THEIR CRIMES AND OF THEIR SINS.THE JEWS HAD NO IDEA OF CHANGING THEIR WAYS.WHEN JOHN CONTINUED TO BOTHER THE PEOPLE OF JUDAEA WITH HIS SERMONS AND EXHORTATIONS,HEROD THE KING ORDERED HIM TO BE KILLED
Herod was dead and Augustus was dead,and Jesus had grown to manhood and was living peacefully in Nazareth.
Much had happened since the days of his childhood.
The division of the many possessions of Herod,who had been married ten times,had caused very considerable difficulty.
Originally,the number of his children had been very large,but murder and execution had brought down the number of possible candidates to just four.
The Romans,however,had refused to listen to the rival claims of the ambitious heirs.
They had divided the domains of Herod into three unequal parts and had given these to such candidates as best suited the momentary political need of the Empire.
The largest share,almost one-half,including Judaea,had gone to Archelaus,the oldest son.Galilee and most of the northern territory had been given to Herod Antipas,who was a brother of Archelaus by the same Samaritan mother.What remained,a very negligible strip of land,had gone to a certain Philip who does not seem to have been a relative of Herod at all,but who happened to enjoy the particular favour of the Romans.On account of his name,which was very common in those days,he has caused the historians a great deal of trouble.
And to make matters worse,there was another Philip,usually called Philip Herod after his father,who was married to a certain Herodias,the daughter of the first Herod's halfbrother Aristobulus.Herodias in turn became the mother of a girl called Salome,and this same Salome eventually seems to have married that Philip who ruled the country towards the north of the Sea of Galilee.
A few years afterwards,all these Philips and Herods were to play leading rles in a most atrocious family scandal which indirectly caused the untimely death of John the Baptist.That is the only reason why they are mentioned here at all.
To make this long and complicated Chapter as short as possible,the spoils of old Herod had been divided,the ever patient subjects had welcomed their new masters,and Tiberius,the Emperor,had given instructions to his procurator in Judaea to keep a discreet but watchful eye upon all further developments within this turbulent bailiwick.
The name of that procurator has come down to us.
He was called Pontius Pilatus (or Pilate,as we say)and he was the personal representative of the Emperor in one of those provinces which paid their taxes directly to His Majesty and not to the Senate.
It is difficult to describe the position of Pilate in terms which mean anything to modern people.
But a condition similar to that in Judaea still prevails in several parts of the British and the Dutch colonies.Many districts in the Indies continue to be ruled by so-called independent sultans and chieftains,who go through the formality of commanding their body-guards and promulgating laws,although they are deprived of all actual power and are completely at the mercy of their foreign masters.
For reasons of policy it has seemed expedient not to annex such territories and they have been left an outward semblance of self-government.But a “governor”or a “resident”or a “consul-general”is maintained in the capital of the national sovereign.He superintends the acts of the King and those of his ministers.As long as the latter follow his tactful suggestions,they are allowed to continue to hold office.But Heaven help them if they forget that they are subordinate officers of an invisible but ever watchful power.His Excellency the Governor,in unmistakable terms,gives expression to his respectful discontent.And if he has reason to feel that his first warning has fallen upon deaf ears,there is a sudden stir in the dock-yards of the home country,and soon afterwards a lonely,dark-skinned exile is rowed to the silent shore of a distant island.
Pontius Pilate was the unfortunate official whose duty it was to exercise such hidden but ever evident authority among the Jews.His territory was quite large,and only once each year (and sometimes less)did he find occasion to leave Caesarea on the coast and come to Jerusalem.He timed his visits in such a way that he should be present at the great Jewish festival.He could then meet all the district leaders without wasting his time travelling from one village to another.He could hear their complaints and could offer his suggestions and in case of trouble (which was always possible among the highly excitable masses of the old capital)he could personally superintend those measures which had to be taken to reestablish order.
The procurator had no palace of his own in the capital.Whenever he came to town,he occupied one wing of the royal palace.The owner of that ancient edifice probably did not like this arrangement,but the austere and abrupt Roman official was no more interested in the private views of a Jewish king than the Governor General of India is disturbed by the personal preferences of an humble Mohammedan prince who thus far has escaped direct annexation at the hands of the British.
Besides,Herod knew exactly how he could get rid of his unwelcome guest in the shortest possible time.
Provided that all the taxes had been duly paid up and that the roads had been kept free from robbers and that the personal differences of the religious leaders in the great council had not led to civil war,the procurator was more than willing to leave the capital almost as soon as he had entered it.