The DayChrist Died BY VANCE FERRELL FROM 163 B.C. TO A.D. 135 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL, GEOGRAPHICAL, AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST Pilgrims Books PB–821 The Day that Christ Died by Vance Ferrell Published by Pilgrims Books Beersheba Springs, TN 37305 USA Printed in the United States of America Cover and Text Copyright © 1999 by Pilgrims Books “It would be well for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in contemplation of the life of Christ. We should take it point by point, and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones. As we thus dwell upon His great sacrifice for us, our confidence in Him will be more constant, our love will be quickened, and we shall be more deeply imbued with His spirit. If we would be saved at last, we must learn the lesson of penitence and humiliation at the foot of the cross.” —Desire of Ages, 83 FOR ADDITIONAL COPIES: One copy - $6.50, plus $1.50 p&h / Two copies - $6.25 each, plus $2.00 p&h / Ten copies - $6.00 each, plus $5.00 p&h / In Tennessee, add 8.25% of cost of books / Foreign: add 20% of cost of books. 3 Contents Before The Day that Day Christ Died TWELVE KEY PEOPLE AND EVENTS TWELVE KEY EVENTS 1 - The Conquest by Pompey 1 - The Final Instructions 16 5 2 - The Gethsemane Experience 2 - The Reign of Herod the 18 Great 6 3 - The Arrest and Betrayal 19 3 - The Census of 4 B.C. 8 4 - The Hearing before Annas 4 - The Birth of Christ 8 21 5 - The Flight into Egypt 9 5 - The First Trial before the 6 - The Slaughter after Herod’s Caiaphas 23 Death 10 6 - The Second Trial before the 7 - A Home in Nazareth 11 Sanhedrin 27 8 - Events During Jesus’ Youth 7 - The First Trial before Pilate 12 34 9 - Sepphoris: Jesus’ Next Door 8 - The Trial before Herod 39 Neighbor 12 9 - The Second Trial before 10 - The Final Journey to Jerusa- Pilate 40 lem 13 10 - The Journey to Calvary 44 11 - A View of the Temple 14 11 - The Crucifixion 46 12 - The Final Week 15 12 - The Burial 54 — CONCLUDED ON THE NEXT PAGE 4 The Day Christ Died 8 - What Happened to Agrippa After II? 61 9 - What Happened to Felix? that Day 61 TWELVE KEY PEOPLE AND EVENTS 10 - What Happened to Drusilla? 61 1 - What Happened to the Dis- 11 - What Happened to Festus? ciples? 57 62 2 - What Happened to Pilate? 12 - What Happened to Jerusa- 58 lem? 62 3 - What Happened to Annas? 60 4 - What Happened to What Others Caiaphas? 60 5 - What Happened to Herod Have Said Antipas? 60 ANCIENT AND MODERN 6 - What Happened to Salome? 61 1 - Ancient Writers 73 7 - What Happened to Agrippa 2 - Modern Writers 76 I? 61 “When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him, they led Him away, and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor.” —Matthew 27:1-2 Before that Day 5 Chapter One Before that Day mark event for the Jewish people. One that would greatly affect them for centuries to come. And so we shall begin this incredible story at that point. Cnaeus Pompey (148-106 B.C.) was a veteran of Tw e l v e Ke y many Roman military campaigns who hungered for more power. Through general bribery, he had been made consul in 70 B.C. by the Roman sen- People ate. There was no question about his self-control and courage in battle. Gradually, the Romans had conquered more and Events and more territory in the East. Finally, in 63 B.C., Pompey arrived before the gates of Jerusalem. He was only 42-years-old at the time. Pompey had It is impossible to properly understand the just taken Syria and Palestine; now he had ar- world into which Jesus Christ was born, lived, rived at Jerusalem, and was about to take it and and died, without understanding the relation of all Palestine. Upon departing, he would conquer the Jewish nation to the Roman Empire. In this Egypt and Persia. chapter, we will overview events and people in As one might expect, this was a major crisis. earlier years—that will help explain the back- Should the Jews yield to Roman domination or ground in which Christ’s death occurred. should they resist? All Judaea split into two groups. Some Jews were determined to resist to the end. But there were others who valued their 1 - The Conquest lives more than independence. Quietly, one night, they opened the gates of Jerusalem—and Pompey’s army marched in. He at once besieged the inner by Pompey part of the city where the opposition group had fortified themselves. The turmoil of first century A.D. Judaism, into Camping with his army inside the city, on the which Jesus was born and lived, began over a north side of the Temple area wall, Pompey century before with the Maccabean Revolt (168 brought his battering rams against that wall. B.C.) by the Jews against the tyranny of Antiochus These gigantic hammers made thunder as they Epiphanes, king of Syria. It would result in nearly struck the wall, and soon caused the greatest of a century of fighting against the Syrians and the Temple towers to collapse, taking with it a among themselves. But then, in 63 B.C., a new part of the wall of the Temple. A great slaughter power from the West marched into Palestine: a of Jews followed, and over 12,000 fell that day. Roman army under the leadership of General However, in respect to the religion of the Jews Cnaeus Pompey. while Pompey took some other things, he did not The arrival of the Roman eagles was a land- touch the sacred vessels of the temple. 6 The Day Christ Died All the intrigue and warfare of that turbulent century would erelong lead to the rise of an Edomite who, under Roman authority, would be- come ruler of the Jews—and cast a shadow of 2 - The Reign influence over them for more than a century: Herod the Great. of Herod the Great When Pompey first marched into Palestine, several Jews had been warring with one another But then tragedy struck. On March 15, 44 for control of the nation. But upon his arrival, B.C., Julius Caesar, ruler of the Roman Empire, only the faction led by John Hyrcanus II sided was assassinated in the Senate chamber by with him. In addition, the Edomite governor of Brutus and Cassius, two of his closest friends. Idumaea—Antipater—also supported Pompey. Af- The next year (43 B.C.), Antipater, the procura- ter Pompey’s siege of Jerusalem, which took three tor of Judaea, was poisoned by a rival. It was months, he appointed John Hyrcanus II both high that same year that Longinus, governor of Syria, priest and ethnarch (political leader) of Judaea, put down the Jewish revolt and sold 30,000 Jews and retained Antipater as governor of Idumaea. into slavery. But, amid all the turmoil in Pales- Then Pompey left. Judaea was now a Roman prov- tine, one of Antipater’s four sons, Herod, re- ince. mained solidly loyal to Rome. Crassus was not as kind as Pompey. Nine The same year that the Jewish revolt was years later, in 54 B.C., Marcus Crassus (115-53 terminated, Parthians swept across the desert B.C.), governor of Syria, while on his way to into Judaea and occupied the land. They set up Otesiphon, stopped by Jerusalem and looted the as their puppet king, Antigonus, the last of the Temple of some 10,000 talents. The next year, Hasmoneans (the Jewish Maccabean family learning that Crassus had been defeated and slain which had led out in warfare against Syria over in battle, the Jews rebelled against the Romans. a century earlier). In 41 B.C., Antony and But Longinus, Crassus’ successor as governor of Octavian jointly agreed to make Herod tetrarch Syria, fought the Jews for 11 years and put down (ruler) of Judaea, and finance his Jewish army the revolt in 43 B.C. But throughout that time, with Roman funds. Herod successfully drove out both Hyrcanus and Antipater remained loyal to the Parthians, and sent Antigonus to Antony for Rome. execution. By this time, the Mediterranean and its bor- As a reward for his faithfulness, in 37 B.C. dering provinces had become a Roman lake. In- Herod was crowned “king” of Judaea (although, deed, the Romans called the Mediterranean Mare in actuality, he still remained in subservience to Nostrum—“Our Sea.” But there still were two ri- Rome). The Jews hated the fact that an Edomite val powers in control of the Roman Empire: was their “king.” Henceforth, Herod had almost Pompey was supreme in the East and Julius Cae- unlimited control of Judaea. On the death of sar was rising in the West. Sooner or later their Julius Caesar, a “triumvirate” of three men had legions would clash in combat. In 48 B.C., in the been set up to rule the territory controlled by Battle of Pharsalus, Pompey was defeated by Rome: Octavian in the West; Mark Antony in the Julius Caesar. East; and Lepidus in North Africa. Upon hearing the news, both John Hyrcanus During this period, taxes were greatly in- II and Antipater Immediately switched their loy- creased throughout the empire, and many prov- alty to Julius Caesar.