The Passover is less than a month away. On that date, we gather in order to remember the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ to redeem us from our sins.
At Passover, we are reminded of Christ’s body that was broken by scourging and His crucifixion which led to his death at the point of a Roman spear.
The question we might ask: What does the death of a Jewish man by crucifixion in a backwater Roman province have to do with geopolitics? The answer is that without the necessary geopolitical alignment Christ would never have been crucified.
Going back to the time of Alexander the Great and the generals who succeeded him, the land of Judea was a geopolitical football. Judea was a first dominated by the Ptolemies of Egypt. Next it came under the dominion of the Seleucid Empire. In the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, Judea gained some degree of independence.
In time a third power, the Romans, entered the power struggle for the land of Judea. In the time when Augustus Caesar was gaining control over the Roman Empire, a man we known historically as Herod the Great rose to power. He through his own financing and military prowess took possession of the province of Judea and was able to rule that territory as a client king from 37 BC to approximately 4 BC. During this time, Jewish law governed and death sentences were carried out according the Jewish regulations. If one were condemned to death, the sentence would not have been crucifixion.
With Herod’s death around 4 BC, he was succeeded by his son, Herod Archelaus. He was approved as ruler by the Romans, but they did not rule directly. They gave Archelaus the lion’s share of the Herod the Great’s territory. They gave him Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. They also allowed him to enjoy the title of ethnarch of Judea with the idea if he proved his capabilities and loyalty they would allow him to be called king of Judea later.
Unfortunately for Archelaus, he did not do well and the Romans removed him from power and exiled him to Lyon in what we know today as France.
With the removal of Archelaus the area that Archelaus had ruled became a Roman province. It was known as the Roman province of Judea. The only part of Herod the Great’s territory that came under Roman rule was the part ruled by Archelaus.
This change in the political situation was crucial. It was crucial because the change was necessary to fulfill prophecy. Without Archelaus losing control of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, prophecy could not have been fulfilled. Judea remained a Roman province from 6 AD to 41 AD
We might ask, “Why is it important that Judea was a Roman province between 6 AD and 41 AD? In what way did it pave the way for prophecy to be fulfilled?”
If Archelaus had been an independent ruler of Judea, then Christ would not have been crucified. He would have died in some other way: either by stoning, beheading, or some other fashion favored by the Jews. The most likely form of execution would have been stoning.
What’s the problem with stoning? Stoning would have violated the prophetic word found in Psalms 34:20, “He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken.” The Apostle John refers to Psalm 34 to buttress the fact that Jesus was the Messiah in John 19:35-36, “And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, "Not one of His bones shall be broken."
If Judea had been under rule by any of the descendants of Herod, he would have been most probably executed by stoning. The problem with stoning is that during the execution Christ would have suffered multiple broken bones. If executed by decapitation, bones would have been broken.
It was necessary to fulfill prophecy for Jesus to be crucified. A crucifixion would only have taken place if Judea had been a Roman province at the time of the Messiah’s death.
Geopolitical events insured that at the time when the death of the Messiah became necessary he would die by the uniquely Roman form of execution, crucifixion.
We can rejoice that Christ died on our behalf and we can be reassured that Christ’s crucifixion fulfilled the prophetic word.
Have a most enjoyable Sabbath.
Gary Smith
No comments:
Post a Comment