Page 25 - The Glad Tidings of the Messiah

A picture depicting the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world.

Even under Roman rule, the Sanhedrin could prosecute and
punish a Jew according to Jewish law. The Roman governors ap-
pointed to rule the area suppressed all rebellions with an iron fist
and showed no leniency when collecting taxes. For this reason,
they tolerated the collaborating Jewish leadership and ruthlessly
punished any rebellion against them.
The small Jewish nation in which the Prophet Jesus (pbuh)
lived bordered the great empires of the ancient world, which were
always at war with one another: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia,
and Syria. It did not survive for long as an independent nation,
and from the expulsion of Babylon (586-38 bce) onwards, the Jews
3
lived under foreign rule. In the Hellenistic era, they first came
under Egyptian, then Syrian, and finally Roman rule. Only once
were they able to establish a Jewish kingdom. The Maccabees, a