Judea under Greek and Roman Rule, David A deSilva. Oxford University Press (ISBN: 9780190263256) 2024.

Summary: Covers the period from 334 BCE to 135 CE, Hellenizing reforms, revolts, Herods, and Roman domination.

At the conclusion of the Old Testament, the Jews are under Persian rule, with a remnant having re-settled in and around Jerusalem. By the time of Jesus, Galilee, Samaria, and Judea are directly or indirectly under Roman rule. During his life, Jesus foretold the disastrous fall of Jerusalem and the temple, which came to pass in 70 CE. We won’t find what happened during these years in our Bibles, but momentous changes took place that shaped the life and ministry of Jesus, gave context to the concluding events of his life, and to the early church in Jerusalem and Judea.

David A. deSilva, a New Testament scholar has published a New Testament Introduction and numerous works on the intertestamental period and cultural context of the New Testament. In this work, deSilva chronicles the period from 334 BCE through 135 CE. He begins with the conquests of Alexander the Great and the division of his empire after his untimely death. The narrative concludes with the second Jewish revolt against Rome in 135 CE, and the subsequent transition to rabbinic Judaism.

Initially, Galilee, Judea, and Samaritis (deSilva’s preferred usage) fell under Ptolemaic control. While control of these lands shifted from the Ptolemies to the Seleucids, a constant was the Hellenizing influence and the tension between accommodating Hellenistic commerce, culture, and taxation, and maintaining religious purity. The author shows how the decision by Antiochus IV to enter the temple to seize funds was viewed as a desecration, leading to the Maccabean revolt at a time of relatively weak Seleucid control and a hundred year Hasmonean dynasty that enjoyed relative independence. We also understand how, at the end, Herod Antipater maneuvers shrewdly to gain power as a client king under Rome. Equally shrewdly, we see the influence he had with building projects that pleased his Roman overlords as well as Jews, in his renovation and expansion of the temple complex in Jerusalem.

As with the Hasmoneans, succession was the challenge facing this family. With Antipater’s death, Rome divided territory among three sons. Archelaus, in Judea was the least successful opening the way for direct Roman control. Antipas in Galilee and Peraea and Philip in the Gentile territories are abler. Galilee, which saw an influx of Jews under the Hellenizing reforms now became an object of development under Antipas, hardly the backwater it is sometimes portrayed as.

Meanwhile, Judea, from 6 CE on is under the control of Roman prefects. Until Pilate, they managed to collect tax for Rome without inciting the population. However Pilate minted coins with offensive Roman religious images and used military standards with images of the emperor. He was much less effective in keeping the peace, undermining his position with Rome and giving the Jews leverage.

The latter part of the book covers later Roman governors. This leads to the deterioration of conditions under Gessius Florus resulting in the first revolt in 67, the brief hopes crushed with the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE and the subsequent heroic but futile defense of Masada. I was struck that Rome was far stronger than the Seleucids. This led to an even more calamitous ending to the second revolt in 135 CE under Simon Bar Kochba. Rome had moved ahead with plans to restore Jerusalem as a Roman colony, the Colonia Aelia Capitolina. Judea was devastated, with many surviving Jews fleeing to Galilee.

The concluding pages cover the rise of rabbinic Judaism. The author describes the compiling of the Mishnah that served to constitute Rabbinic Judaism. They also initiated a new Greek translation of scripture. Losing Judea, they maintained their identity, forging structures that would shape Judaism to the present.

Jewish Christianity receives little attention and one gets a sense that this body led an increasingly marginal existence, especially after the death of James. The effort to remain observant Jews and followers of Jesus did not gain traction with other Jews and led to increasing separation from Gentile Christians.

The strength of this book is the historical narrative that incorporated and critiqued available sources, notably Josephus. The book also explicates well the opportunities and challenges of Hellenization, and later Roman rule. Timelines and maps would have been helpful in keeping track of successive rulers and geography. These resources are available elsewhere and the reader would do well to have these at hand. This book explicates the cultural and political milieu in Judea during the period of Christian origins. It fills in the unwritten history between the testaments. Thus, it serves as a crucial aid to biblical understanding.