Page 56 - Bible Geography and Near East Studies

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up,
take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the
child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But
when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go
there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived
in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be
called a Nazarene.
- Matthew 2:19-23, with historical and geographical information highlighted

The importance of such details in Matthew’s account may not be evident at first glance. But as is
consistently the case throughout the Bible, the geographic details and the information about the
current political environment coincide perfectly with the actual land and history recorded in other
sources. It’s yet another case of affirming the Bible’s accurate record of history. No other religious book
comes close to matching the Bible in these areas.

Scholars struggled with the historicity of Pontius Pilate for many years. Though he is
mentioned prominently in the Gospels as the man who condemned Jesus to the cross,
outside sources were scant regarding him. Then, in 1961, a limestone block was found near
the theater at Caesarea. The inscription on the stone indicates that a structure had been
dedicated to the emperor Tiberius by “Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea.”

When the Romans removed Archelaus from power in Jerusalem, he was replaced with military
governors. These governors were referred to as Procurators, or Prefects. Pontius Pilate was the fifth of
these governors posted to the province of Judea, ruling from 26-36 AD. Pilate, of course, was the Roman
governor who ordered that Jesus be crucified.

At the time of Christ, the Sanhedrin, a group of 71 Jewish religious leaders, was given religious, civil, and
criminal jurisdiction on behalf of Rome. The Sanhedrin was composed of Sadducees, Pharisees, heads of
prominent families, plus scribes and lawyers. The Sanhedrin was a kind of Supreme Court in Judea with
the high priest as its head. Rome assigned to this group a cohort of legionnaires to keep civil control.
One of their few limitations was not being allowed to hand out death penalties to convicted criminals.
For capital offenses, the Romans would have to become involved in their cases.

53