What "Recovery"? LSM's Major Myth Debunked - TOMES

[aron]

Originally Posted by Tomes

39. N. T. Wright, JERUSALEM IN THE NEW TESTAMENT (Originally published in Jerusalem Past and Present in the Purposes of God. P. W. L. Walker, ed., pp. 53–77 (2nd ed. 1994) The quote in context reads: “The exiles had returned, but the exile was not over. That paradox dominated the self-perception of many first-century Jews. As we see clearly in the Scrolls, but equally in various other writings of the period, there was a common sense that the destruction of Babylon had not, after all, been the end of exile, the fulfilment of the great promises of what Israel’s God would do for his people in the end. New ‘Babylons’ had arisen: Persia, Egypt, Syria. Another false dawn had come and gone in the Maccabean uprising, the Hasmonean dynasty (the last independent Jewish state before 1948). Now, since Pompey in 63 BC, the Romans had taken the place of the traditional enemy. And, at a local level, the Herodian dynasty simply projected the ambiguity of Israel’s situation on to a monarchical screen...”

I have recently been more understanding of the post-exilic Jews' continued feeling of oppression and occupation in Jerusalem. Note that the Herodian "king" of Israel was an Edomite. Horrors!

No wonder they asked, "Lord, are you at this time restoring the kingdom of Israel?" (Acts 1:6) The people viewed Jesus as the liberator because they were still oppressed, even though they were "on the proper ground".

Also note that in the Synoptic gospels Jesus (briefly) answered the Roman governor Pilate but would not engage the Idumean Herod, "not even a word" (Luke 23:9). In John account of the trial Jesus engaged Pilate a little more (18:34,36,37; 19:11) and yet Herod wasn't even mentioned!

I would go further than N.T. Wright and say that there was no "ambiguity" at all about the Herodian dynasty. The Jews feared, hated, and despised them. Look at what Herod's grandfather, Herod the Great, had done -- how many had he butchered at whim. And his heirs were no better. When Jesus entered Jerusalem and the crowds chanted “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” there is no doubt in my mind at what they meant (Mark 11:10). It was political. They felt themselves a captive people, whose land was occupied and oppressed by foreign powers. In their eyes, the rightful ruler (see Matt. 21:9) was now entering Jerusalem.