<h2>The People in the Lord's Land</h2><div class="chaptertitle">CHAPTER 2</div>
<div class='cap'>NEARLY ALL the people living in Palestine in the
time of Jesus were of the Jewish race. Two
thousand years before Jesus came, a great man
was living in that land, named Abraham. To this man,
God gave a promise that his children and their children
after them for many ages should live in that land and
own it. Abraham's son was named Isaac, and Isaac's
son was named Jacob. All the people of Palestine had
sprung from the family of Jacob, and by the time Jesus
came, these descendants of Jacob, as they were called,
were in number many millions, and were to be found in
other lands besides Palestine; although more of them
lived in Palestine than in any other land.</div>
<p>Jacob, Abraham's grandson, was also named Israel;
and on that account all the people sprung from him
were called the Israelites. Jacob or Israel had twelve
sons, from whom came the twelve tribes of Israel. But
one son, named Judah, had more descendants or people
springing from him than any other; and as most of
the people in Palestine were of Judah's family, all of
them were spoken of as Jews, a word which means
sprung or descended from Judah. So the people to
whom Jesus belonged were sometimes called Israelites,
but more often Jews. They had another name,
"Hebrews," but that was not used as often as the two
names, Israelites and Jews.</p>
<p>For many years, long before Jesus came, the Jews
were rulers in the land of Palestine, with kings of their
own race, as David and Solomon in the early times,<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</SPAN></span>
and King Jeroboam and King Hezekiah later. But in
the time of Jesus, the Jews were no longer rulers in
their own land. Palestine was then a small part of
the vast Roman Empire, which ruled all the lands around
the Mediterranean Sea. Its chief was an emperor, who
lived at Rome in Italy. At the time when Jesus was
born the emperor was Augustus. He was then an old
man, and died very soon after the birth of Jesus. The
emperor who followed him was named Tiberius, and
he ruled most of the years that Jesus was living in
Palestine.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-033.jpg" width-obs="556" height-obs="387" alt="photo: Tiberias" /> <span class="caption">Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, where Herod lived</span></div>
<p>But there was another king ruling the land of
Palestine under the Roman emperor, at the time when
Jesus came. His name was Herod, and because he
was a very wise and strong man, although a very wicked
man, he was called Herod the Great. He ruled the
land of Palestine, but in his turn obeyed the orders of<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</SPAN></span>
the emperor Augustus at Rome. Herod also was a
very old man at the time of Jesus' birth, and died soon
afterward.</p>
<p>When Herod the Great died, his kingdom was
divided into four parts. Each of these parts had a
king of its own, and three of these kings were Herod's
sons. Herod Antipas ruled over Galilee in the northwest,
and Perea in the southeast; Herod Philip was
over the country in the northeast; and Herod Archelaus
ruled the largest portion, in the south. None of these
little kings were good men. They had their father's
wickedness, but did not have his ability to rule. One
of them, Archelaus, was so bad that all the people asked
the emperor at Rome to take his rule away. This the
emperor did, and sent a man from Rome to govern the
land in his place. You have heard of the Roman governor
who was over this part of the land while Jesus
was teaching. His name was Pontius Pilate; and he
it was, you remember, who sent Jesus to die upon the
cross.</p>
<p>The land of Palestine at that time was divided into
five parts, which were called "provinces." The largest
of these provinces was Judea, the one on the south,
between the Dead Sea and the river Jordan on the
east, and the Mediterranean Sea on the west. North
of Judea was a small province called Samaria, where
lived a people who were not Jews but Samaritans. The
Jews hated the Samaritans, and the Samaritans, in
turn, hated the Jews. Samaria was governed as a
part of Judea, not with a separate ruler. These were
the two provinces at first under Archelaus and then
under the Roman governor.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-035.jpg" width-obs="324" height-obs="500" alt="Saul being annointed" /> <span class="caption">Samuel anointing Saul to be the first king of Israel</span></div>
<p>In the north of Palestine, west of the river Jordan
and the Sea of Galilee, was the province of Galilee, a
country full of mountains, where Jesus dwelt for nearly<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</SPAN></span>
all his life. The ruler of this province was Herod
Antipas. He lived most of the time at a city which
he had built
beside the Sea
of Galilee, and
had named
Tiberias, after
the Roman
emperor Tiberius.</p>
<p>Across
the Jordan, on
the east, opposite
to Galilee
was another
province.
In the
Old Testament
times,
this land had
been called
Bashan, which
means "woodland,"
because
it was a land
of many forests.
In the
New Testament
time it
was generally
spoken of as
"Philip's province," because its ruler was Herod Philip,
the best of Herod's sons, and none too good, either.</p>
<p>South of Philip's province, and east of the river
Jordan, was a province named Perea, a word meaning<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</SPAN></span>
"beyond," because this region was beyond or across the
river Jordan. At the time of Jesus' life, Perea was
like Galilee, ruled by Herod Antipas. Once at least
Jesus visited this province;
and here he told the Parable
of the Prodigal Son,
which everybody has
heard.</p>
<p>Although the mighty
Roman empire gave to
the Jews in Palestine a
government that was just
and fair, it was not a Jewish
rule; and the Jews were
not contented under the
power of foreigners. They
felt that they more than
other nations were the
people of God, and that
they had a right to rule
themselves, under kings of
their own race. Also they
read in their Bible the
promises of the prophets
that from Israel should
come forth a king, out of
David's line, who should
rule the world.</p>
<div class="figright"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-036.jpg" width-obs="229" height-obs="500" alt="carved idol" /> <span class="caption">A heathen idol</span></div>
<p>This great King, whom
the Jews hoped for and
looked for, they called
"Messiah," a word in the Jews' language meaning the
same as the word "Christ," which is a Greek word,
meaning "the Anointed One," that is, "the King." You
remember that in the Old Testament story the prophet<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</SPAN></span>
Samuel anointed Saul to be the first king of Israel, that
is, he poured oil on his head; and that afterward he
chose the boy David to be the next king by the same
sign. When we say "Jesus Christ," Jesus is his name
and "Christ" is his title; and we mean "Jesus the King."</p>
<p>We know that this promised King whom the Jews
called Messiah was Jesus Christ who rules over the
hearts of men everywhere;
but the Jews
thought that it meant
a king like Herod or
the emperor Tiberius,
only better and wiser,
who should live in a
palace at Jerusalem,
their chief city, and
make all lands obey
his will. This hope
made the Jews very
restless and unhappy
under the Roman
power. They were
always looking for the
coming of this mighty
King of the Jews, who
should lead them to
conquer the earth.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-037.jpg" width-obs="295" height-obs="400" alt="photo synagogue" /> <span class="caption">Interior of Jewish synagogue in Palestine</span></div>
<p>In their worship
the Jews were different from all the rest of the world.
Every other people had gods of wood and stone, images
before which they bowed and to which they gave offerings.
In all the cities of that world were temples and
altars to these idols, made by the hands of men. But
in the land of the Jews were no images, no idol-temples,
and no offerings to man-made gods. The Jews, whether<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</SPAN></span>
in Palestine or in other lands, worshipped the One God
who was unseen, the God to whom we also pray. In
their chief city, Jerusalem, was a splendid temple where
God was worshipped; and in every Jewish city and town
were churches, where the people met to read the Bible,
to sing the psalms of David, to offer prayer to God,
and to talk together about God's laws. These churches
were called "synagogues," and wherever Jews lived,
synagogues were to be found. The Jews looked with
great contempt upon the idol-worship of other nations,
and were proud of the fact that ever since the days of
their father Abraham, they had worshipped only the
Lord God.</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus-038.jpg" width-obs="267" height-obs="400" alt="photo synagogue Kefr" /> <span class="caption">Ruins of ancient synagogue at Kefr Birim, in Galilee</span></div>
<hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</SPAN></span></p>
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