When the Roman general, Pompey, set out to conquer what had once been the empires of the descendants of Alexander the Great, he found the Jewish kingdom an easy prey in 63 B.C. A vicious power struggle was going on between members of the ruling family and between the Sadducees and Pharisees. Loyalties in Jerusalem were completely divided and one group of Jews opened the city gates to the Roman army while another group barricaded themselves in the Temple area and prepared to fight the Romans. The Roman army defeated the Jews who had tried to resist and massacred a large number of the people of Jerusalem. Pompey aroused intense anger in the Jews by entering the Temple, even going into the Holy of Holies. Pompey incorporated what had been the Jewish kingdom into a new Roman province of Syria. He appointed a new Jewish High Priest, a man who was willing to cooperate with Romans, and gave him the title of 'ethnarch', meaning 'ruler of t people'. The High Priest was seen by the Romans as the ruler of a religious sect and personally responsible to the Roman governor for law a order in that sect. The Jews had to pay annual tax or tribute to the Roman and this was the responsibility of the High Priest. The Romans did n interfere further in Jewish life or religion but the Jews were very unhappy about having a High Priest appointed by their new pagan conquerors once again the Temple was the centre of political tensions.

In 40 B.C. the High Priest fell from power and the Romans appointed the man to whom very unflattering references are made in the second chapter of the gospel of Matthew, to rule over the Jews. Herod, later called 'The Great', was made a vassal king over the Jewish homeland. He was an Idumaean by race, a follower of the externals of the Jewish religion, in cultural sympathies a Greek and a political ally of the Romans Herod was a descendant of the Idumaeans whose territory had be captured by the descendants of Simon and who had been forced to accept the Jewish religion and customs. He was a man of strong personality ambitious and unscrupulous, cruel and ruthless to his opponents. The area over which he was given authority to rule by the Romans stretched nearly to Damascus in the north and down to the Egyptian border in the south. He showed his cruel strength after Rome had named him as the new ruler of the Jews by fighting a hard and ruthless war to take possession of his new kingdom where a nephew of the deposed Hi Priest had seized power without the approval of Rome. Herod, aided by a Roman army, was forced to besiege Jerusalem and a great massacre of Jews resulted. It was not until 37 B.C. that Herod was master of his new kingdom but he kept his grip on the Jews until his death in 4 B.C.

He was hated by the Jews who despised him because he was not a Jew by race and feared him because of his ruthlessness. But Herod retained the backing of Rome and set out to try to placate his subjects in various ways. As time went on, he set up an administrative bureaucracy in which he placed Jews who stood to gain in wealth and power from their new positions. He made concessions to the Pharisees, respecting their religious sensitivity even if this was politically motivated on his part, to keep peace in the community. He deliberately weakened the power 0, those who had used the Temple and its priesthood to gain political ends: he made himself responsible for appointing the High Priest who was then under the king's control. Herod himself did not risk trying to take over the High Priesthood because he was not a Jew by birth; such a step would have resulted in a fury of opposition from the Jews.

In the second half of his reign, Herod was able to reduce the burden of taxation in the country and also established a standing army to secure the safety of the kingdom; but perhaps the reason for his being remembered in history as 'The Great' is his enormous building programme which went on for many years and transformed not only Jerusalem but many other places in the kingdom. He built entire new cities in the Greek style. In city after city, there were built theatres, stadiums, gymnasiums, expansive market places, public baths and elegant wide streets lined with ornamental columns. He built new fortresses around the borders of his kingdom. He transformed a small coastal town into a fine new port and the new administrative centre of Caesarea. He rebuilt, the ancient ruined city of Samaria, putting up magnificent buildings,• some of the ruins of which can still be seen today. But the climax of his great programme was seen in Jerusalem. Not only did he build two great palaces which were strongly fortified, but he decided that a total reconstruction of the Temple was needed, by which great building he would always be remembered. He went to great trouble to avoid offending the Jews during the rebuilding; a thousand priests were specially trained as masons and carpenters and everything possible was done to avoid accidental desecration of the holy site. The accounts which have come down to us of the reconstructed Temple describe a marvelous place, built on its hill site and dominating the city. It was planned so that the Temple house itself was approached through great courtyards. The stone and the timber selected were of the best, chosen for their beauty; the great gates were covered in gold and silver, which was also used lavishly for decoration. The pilgrim approaching the city gazed in astonishment at the great white and golden structure dominating the Temple hill. In Luke 21:5, we read this, 'Some of the disciples were talking about the Temple, how beautiful it looked with its fine stones and the gifts offered to God.' Herod's plan was in fact so ambitious that the rebuilding of the Temple continued long after his lifetime, until A.D. 63.

But Herod did not only rebuild the Jewish Temple, he also built temples to pagan gods when it seemed appropriate to do so. He never overlooked the necessity of pleasing his Roman masters and amongst the other temples he built there was one, at Samaria, dedicated to the Roman Emperor Augustus (Luke 2: I). The ruins are still there today.

Ruins of the temple dedicated to Emperor Augustus

When Herod died in 4 B.C. the Jews were glad, in spite of the marvelous Temple Herod had built them and in spite of the stability that had been enforced in his kingdom. The centre of Herod's interests had preservation of his own power and advancement of his own ambition he was a willing vassal of Rome because of what he could gain from Underneath the outward peace of the Jewish homeland there was sub merged opposition to Rome and smoldering discontent.