A fourth option-armed revolt-grew steadily in the first century A.D., culminating in the First Revolt (66-70 A.D.). The interpretations to this single incident range from divine punishment through the hands of gentiles (Psalms of Solomon) to approval of Pompey’s virtue in refraining from plundering the Temple (Josephus), with the middling position held by the Hasmonean high priest willing to accommodate and work with the Roman Senate and generals. A contemporary psalm laments this event, and concludes that Pompey’s victory was judgment for the sins committed by the sons and daughters of Jerusalem: “Gentile foreigners went up to your place of sacrifice they arrogantly trampled with their sandals” (Psalms of Solomon 2:2). Indeed, he had the priests cleanse the Temple the following day since his presence had rendered the Temple unclean. Pompey noted its golden table, candlestick, pouring vessels, spices, and 2,000 talents of sacred money, but he did not take anything. Jewish historian, Josephus, tells us that Pompey entered the Holy Place of the Temple, a place reserved only for the high priests. With this action, Rome defeated the Jewish dynasty of the Hasmoneans, but retained as high priest the former Hasmonean king, John Hyrcanus II. In 63 B.C., the Roman general Pompey took Jerusalem and the Temple after a short battle. To understand Jesus’s teachings in light of first century politics, we must sketch briefly the previous hundred years of Jewish history. The Thai pastor’s message raised in a new way the issues surrounding politics and religion in Jesus’s day, and how to make sense of them in our own. I realized that I had never seriously thought of monarchy as better than democratic governance even more, I had unwittingly transposed that assumption onto other Christians today. This ruler is good to the Thai people, he affirmed, while the politicians are leading the country in unhelpful directions. In a parenthetical remark during his exposition of Scripture, he noted how highly he valued Thailand’s king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, an upright man. I reflected recently on these questions while listening to a sermon by a Thai pastor. Perhaps the disciples reflect this attitude in their question to Jesus: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6) But what does it mean to be free? How did Jesus’s words and actions about the Kingdom of God define and shape the apostolic response to the Roman Empire? How might American Christians today define freedom? A similar motto might have rallied many first century Jews against the Roman imperial expansion.
“Live free or die,” declared John Stark, general in the Revolutionary War and native of New Hampshire.
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