in Cesarea. Those in Parthia, on the Euphrates, were rich.2 Strabo, as quoted by Josephus, remarks upon their wealth and prosperity" in every city in the habitable earth." 3 In Crete, Melos, and Rome, their wealth is spoken of. Vast sums from all parts of the world flowed into the Temple at Jerusalem. In B.C. 54 Crassus took from the Temple upwards of ten thousand talents in gold and silver, and one huge ingot of gold besides. In several other instances, the Temple was robbed by the grasping Roman governors or generals. Herod the Great was one of the best financiers the world has ever seen. He was always ready with money or provisions, in case any one was in need. He was a capital provider for his own family and kingdom. Measuring his revenue by his expenses, his kingdom must have been managed. with great ability to have yielded so much. He was never in debt, always remarkably prompt in his payments, frequently assisting others who were in need of money; and from the outset of his governorship of Galilee, at the age of twenty-five, to his death, was constantly making valuable presents to various cities or persons. But we must confine our attention to Galilee. Its material prosperity has been hinted at in our notice of the industries of the province. Its numerous and flourishing cities and villages some of which were elegantly built-indicate the very opposite of poverty and limited means. The "opulent" citizens of Gischala are spoken of. John of Gischala was a man of wealth, and unusually shrewd and capable in business. The people of Sepphoris are spoken of as possessed of "ample means." The tithes collected in Galilee 1 Wars, 2. 13. 7; Ant. 20. 8. 7. 2 Ant. 15. 2. 4. 4 Wars, 2. 7. 1. See Milman, 2. 20. The bier and bed and other furnishings at Herod's funeral indicate great wealth, Wars, 1. 33. 9; compare Wars, 2. 1. 1. The great wealth of King Agrippa I. is spoken of, Wars, 2. 11. 6; men went to Judea for adventure and speculation, Wars, 1. 26. 1; rich articles of gold and silver, and costly carpets, and vestments were sometimes bought in Rome for Judea, Wars, 1. 31. 2. The Romans in general had exaggerated ideas of the wealth of Judea; it was to them a sort of gold mine; just the place for greedy Roman politicians. 7 Wars, 2. 21. 2. Wars, 2. 20. 6; 2. 21. 2. 9 Wars, 2. 20. 6. are mentioned as amounting to "a large sum of money.' The treasure stored in the palace of Antipas at Tiberias was a large amount, and the furnishings of the palace were astonishingly rich and elegant.2 Several times Galilee had to support a portion of the Roman army in winter quarters.3 The Talmud mentions three cities of Galilee which had "sent enormous treasures to Jerusalem - Sichin, Caboul, and Magdala."4 Zebedee, it is supposed, was a man of wealth and influence. Capernaum, as a centre of news, business, and commerce, was a place of luxury. It is a significant fact that Christ chose this very city as his residence. The fact that Christ was called a "gluttonous man and a winebibber" shows that a style of living prevailed here which was distasteful to certain ascetics of the time. Perhaps, in Christ's reproach of Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Capernaum, there may be a hint as to the wealth and luxury and consequent worldliness of these places.8 Along their "way of the sea" the rich fabrics, spices, and other products of Babylon and farther Asia would be carried, on their way to Egypt or to Rome, by rich merchants, seeking goodly pearls. Galilee would be benefited by the traffic carried on at the trading stations along this route of commerce.10 The contribution sent from Antioch, in A.D. 44, was for the brethren in Judea, or perhaps for "the poor saints in Jerusalem," as if no assistance was needed by the brethren in Galilee. In B.C. 43, four years after Herod was appointed governor of Galilee, 1 Life, 12. 2 Life, 12, 13. * Under Silo, Ant. 14. 15. 3; Wars, 1. 15. 6; under Vespasian, Wars, 4. 2. 1, in Scythopolis, and in other cases. Neubauer, 217, and refs. Smith's Dict. Bib. 2. 1420, col. 2, Art. "John the Apostle." * Keim, 1. 597. 'Matt. xi. 19; páyos kal divowóτns, Luke vii. 34; see Matt. ix. 10; Hausrath, 1. 352. 8 * Keim, 1. 597, who states the matter strongly; Matt. xi. 2–24. Matt. xiii. 45, 46; Hausrath, 1. 351. 10 Trading stations, see Ewald, Hist. Isr. 3. 261, and 216 note; Capernaum was an important station, and had partly by this means become a place of luxury. 11 Acts xi. 29; Rom. xv. 26. Cassius came into Syria for the purpose of raising men and money. For the latter object there was, in his view, no richer gold-mine than Judea. The enormous sum which Crassus (B.c. 54) had taken from the Temple at Jerusalem convinced him of that. He imposed a tribute on Judea (the whole province) of seven hundred talents (7000? See note). Antipater (Herod the Great's father) distributes this among several persons, that it may be raised with all possible despatch.2 Herod, as governor of Galilee, was the first to bring in his share, which was one hundred talents, and thus he gained the favor of Cassius, who bestowed upon him the governorship of Coelo-Syria.3 As to mines, in Judea, as distinguished from Galilee and Samaria, there were none. The iron mountain" of Josephus was east of the Jordan.4 Extensive copper-mines are found in the Sinaitic peninsula. Traces of a mine have been found on the south border of the plain of Esdraelon, which would be on the border of Galilee. The north part of Galilee, at least the Lebanon region, was rich in mines. The copper-mines of Cyprus were extensive, and Herod got 1 Graetz, 3. 185. 2 Wars, 1. 11. 2. The amount named in Josephus, 700 talents, seems small measured by other sums which were raised at other times, and by the great distress caused by forcing the collection of this money. Cassius needed money. He had wild ideas of the wealth of the country. Certain sections are slow in making their payments, and four cities are reduced to slavery which alone, on any reasonable computation, would yield a sum equal to, or greater than the whole amount required; cities reduced to slavery were Lydda, Thamna, Gophna, and Emmaus, Ant. 14. 11. 2; Wars, 1. 11. 2; Cassius has pressing need of money, Ant. 14. 11. 2. Herod, after being made King, subdues the robbers in Galilee, and upon the few places which they occupied levies a tribute of 100 talents for their good behaviour, Ant. 14. 15. 6. We conclude that Cassius was not so urgent for money as is represented, and consequently his levy was small, or else that the text should read 7000 instead of 700, as at present. Whiston, in his Josephus, has a note on this point, Wars, 1. 11. 2. 8 Ant. 14. 11. 4. 4 Wars, 4. 8. 2. See Ewald, Hist. Isr. 4. 192, and refs. to Old Testament; Lightfoot, 1. 189; Ritter, 2. 189; Smith's Dict. Bib. 3. 1911, col. 1. Art. "Metals," speaks of mines still worked in the Lebanon region; see ibid. Art. "Mines," p. 1937. See passage, too long to quote, on the metals and minerals of the Lebanon region in Capt. Burton's Unexplored Syria, 1. 31; also, vol. 2. 27; see Arnaud, 368 sq. half the revenue from them and the care of the other half.1 And if his honesty had not exceeded the honesty of some modern public men, there would have been little revenue left for the Roman government. XVII. WAS GALILEE REGARDED WITH CONTEMPT BY THE PEOPLE OF JERUSALEM, AS IS SO OFTEN ALLEGED? There is a very general impression that the Jews of Jerusalem regarded with contempt the people of Galilee, and even the province itself. And of this contempt Nazareth received perhaps the largest share. Supposing such contempt to have existed, all that we have hitherto said is a protest against the justice of it. In its climate, its fertile soil, and its charming scenery; in the abundance of its waters and the beauty of its lakes; in its numerous and often elegant cities and villages; in its hardy, industrious, and intelligent population; in the interest of its people in the law, in the Temple and its services, in the great national feasts, and in the general welfare of the nation; in its wealth and material prosperity, its various thriving industries, and in the unexampled patriotism and bravery of its sons, what ground is there why the people of Jerusalem should regard Galilee or the Galileans with contempt? In order to show how universally it is taken for granted that this feeling existed, it is necessary to quote a few statements; including now Nazareth with Galilee: "Peter was a Galilean fisherman, brought up in the rudest district of an obscure province." 2 "In this despised region, his home [Nazareth] was the most despised spot." "An obscure village of despised Galilee," 4 - when the very Greek text which Dr. Wordsworth was editing says, "city" (mós, not wμm)! "The roughness of its population." 5 "Nazareth, an outlying village," which "had a bad reputation," whose people were of "a somewhat depraved type." 996 "To be known to belong to 1 Ant. 16. 4. 5. 8 Delitzsch, Jesus u. Hillel, p. 13. Stanley, S. and P. 358. 2 Conybeare and Howson, St. Paul, 1. 115. Wordsworth, Com. on Matt. ii. 23. • Stoppford A. Brooke, Sermons (Boston, ed. 1869), p. 120. "4 that country was of itself sufficient to prejudice Pilate against him "1 (entirely gratuitous; Pilate was Christ's friend). "The very villagers themselves spoke with a rude and uncouth provincialism that marked them at once as Nazarenes." 2 (The dialect of any person from Nazareth is never alluded to; Peter, certainly, was not from Nazareth; on what possible ground is the statement just quoted based ?) "That obscure Galilean village." "8 One who went from the Sea of Galilee to Judea "war ein Stichblatt des Witzes der dortigen Stammgenossen." 4 (How does Hausrath know that such a person became "a butt of ridicule "?) "A little country town of proverbial insignificance," "the darkest district of Palestine." 995 "The old scorn which rested upon the Galileans in Joshua's day." These statements show the popular impression and teaching in regard to Galilee and Nazareth. And further, in regard to the "poverty poverty" and " " and "abject meanness" of Christ's earthly condition, and the nearly "destitute circumstances" of Joseph and Mary, and the "ignorance" and even "immorality" of the people of Nazareth, we read a great deal in books, and hear by far too much in sermons from the pulpit.7 Abundance of quotations to this effect could be given, if necessary. But are these representations true? These statements, appearing everywhere, and so sweeping and positive withal, ought to have some foundation, for which we propose to look. First, as to the contempt for the Galileans on the ground of dialect, or difference of pronunciation. The passages in both Talmuds referring to this point are but few in number. Buxtorf, 1 McClintock and Strong, Cyclopaedia, 3. 717, col. 1. Art. "Galilean." 2 Recovery of Jerusalem, p. 354, in paper by Lieut. Anderson, R. E. 8 Plumptre, Christ and Christendom, 95. 4 Hausrath, 1. 11. Schaff, Person of Christ, 34. 6 Ritter, 4. 332. 7 See a frightfully distressing picture of Christ's circumstances in early life, and during his earthly life in general, in Isaac Barrow's Sermon on Patience; Text 1 Pet. ii. 21, in vol. 1, p. 467 (New York, ed. 1845). Dr. Schaff, in the place just noticed, is bad enough. Meyer, Com. on John i. 47, makes ȧyalóv imply immorality! |