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| SAINT PAUL |
Saint Paul’s World
Saul was born between A.D. 2 and 5 in Tarsus in the Roman Province of
Cilicia. It stood opposite the north coast of the island of Cyprus and
the west coast of Syria. Rome then controlled almost the entire
Mediterranean coast from Spain along the north coast to the eastern
extremity, and then along the African coast to Numidia.
Caesar Augustus then 65-68 years old, would have been the only Emperor
Saul’s parents had known. When they had been growing up stories of the
conquests of Pompey Magnus in the region including, significantly for
them as Jews, the conquest of Jerusalem in 63 BC, would have been
commonplace.
Augustus’ rule had brought steadily increasing prosperity and order to
the Empire and consequently to the lives of Saul’s parents. They were
Roman citizens, the prized status of the ancient world, a status Saul
inherited. How they had gained that status we do not know, but Philo of
Alexandria tells us that Augustus made it possible for the Jews of Rome
to become Roman citizens, so perhaps Saul’s grandparents had originally
gained that status. There were many paths to citizenship, some requiring
lengthy and arduous service (e.g. in the army or some public service).
As orthodox Jews they could at times have faced difficulties in relation
to public acts of piety to the Roman Gods, although more normally Jews
benefitted from surprising concessions.
In A.D. 4 Augustus legally adopted Tiberius, the son of his wife Livia, and named him as his successor.
Historical records of the region and time are rich, not only because of
Roman historians, but especially because of the writings of the
Romanised Jewish prince/priest/historian Flavius Josephus (A.D. wwwwwwwwwww37 – 95? ). Stories of the recurring strife in Judea would have regularly
reached the Jewish communities of the region and so would have been well
known to Saul and his family. Pompey’s conquest had not brought lasting
peace, but merely a new lid to the Judean political cauldron.
The Romans installed as King of Judea the infamous Herod “the Great”.
Unlike the Hasmodean kings who preceded him, he did not claim the High
Priesthood, to which he had no right in any case. Instead he appointed
his youthful (scarcely 18) brother-in-law Aristobulus who was a member
of a legitimate Jewish royal family, unlike Herod. Unhappily for Herod
and also Aristobulus, the young man became exceptionally popular with
the masses. He was drowned in the palace pool in Jericho. The people
blamed Herod for this first of a series of murders.
Henceforth Herod appointed common priests with no right to it, to the
High Priesthood. Their only qualification was docility. Herod’s briefly
ruling successor Archelaus did the same.
The High Priesthood became ever more decadent – an office bought and
sold – the source of violent competition between four families ranged
against each other and even degenerating into stone-throwing battles.
There were as many as 28 High Priests in 107 years, whereas there had
been only 93 since the time of Aaron in the 13th century BC. The Jewish
Talmud sums it up: “For they are High Priests, their sons are
treasurers, their sons-in-law administrators and their servants beat the
people with rods.” (Pesahim 57a).
Poisoned by his wife Livia, Augustus died in A.D. 14 and was succeeded by
Tiberius. Saul was about ten years old. Five years later his parents
sent him to Jerusalem to further his religious studies. At the feet of
the great Pharisee doctor of the Jewish law, Gamaliel, a leader of the
Sanhedrin, Saul studied for five years until 20 AD. During this period
Gamaliel, who is well-known to history, would have been in his prime. We
know that he died 32 years later. It was Gamaliel who convinced the
Sanhedrin to release the apostles (after 39 strokes of the rod) when
they were arrested for preaching the Word.
The Pharisees (the word comes from “parash”/”perush” –
“separate”/”separatist”) had their origins around the second century BC
in a group known as the “Hasidim” – pious and devout men of Israel – who
opposed the then current Hellenistic tendencies and adhered strictly to
the Law of God. In 167 BC they had become politically active in
resisting the ruler Antiochus Epiphanes. But after the re-dedication of
the Temple in 164 BC and the restoration of Jewish religious practice,
they became more and more concentrated on strict religious practice.
Josephus describes them as one of the three mainstreams of Jewish
religious practice at the time, the others being the Sadducees and the
Essenes (of Dead Sea Scroll fame).
Nevertheless, the religious rigorism of the Pharisees led them back into
the political sphere around 128 BC. One of their number openly cast
doubt on the legitimacy of the birth of the High Priest Hyrcanus and his
right to hold office. The Pharisees closed ranks around their brother
and Hyrcanus and the rulers from then on promoted the interests of the
Sadducees. Despite them, popular support went increasingly with the
Pharisees. So much so, that by the time of Herod “the Great” the
Pharisees needed to be dealt with most carefully, even though they seem
to have numbered only 5% of the population. Around 20 BC Herod required
all citizens to swear an oath of loyalty to him. The 6,000 Pharisees
refused but instead of being executed, they were simply fined.
In Saul’s early twenties in A.D. 26 , the new Roman Procurator Pontius
Pilate took up his position. The Romans had reverted to direct rule
after the death of Archelaus, Herod’s successor. As Procurator, Pilate
was the Emperor Tiberius’ personal representative. When Our Lord was
crucified in A.D. 30. Saul was in his mid-twenties. Procurator Pilate’s
principal roles were to collect the taxes, keep the peace and administer
justice He was based at Caesarea and had at his disposal only 3,000
troops. In the event of any serious trouble he would be obliged to call
on the Governor of Syria who had four legions at his disposal, including
the Legio X Fretensis which would much later be transferred to Judea.
(It should be noted here that the “Pilate Stone” discovered in 1976
actually shows his title as “Prefect” but we have maintained the
customary reference “Procurator”).
As always (even today) Judea was in ferment. The Roman puppet kings
Herod Agrippa in Galilee, his brother Phillip in Ituraea and Lysanias in
Abilene had uneasy relations with the Procurator Pilate. The High
Priest Annas had been succeeded by his son-in-law Caiphas and the
religious governing Council the Sanhedrin was tensely split between the
parties of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. To add further to the
general air of tension Pilate himself was constantly uncertain of his
relations with the Emperor after Tiberius had given him only qualified
support in an earlier trial of strength with the Jews which had been
appealed to the Emperor.
Saul’s conversion – giving us the Apostle Paul – is generally dated
around A. D.33 or A.D. 34 . He was then between 28 and 32 years old.
Around A.D. 36 Herod Agrippa, whilst visiting Rome, was overheard
venturing the opinion that it would be better if Tiberius were dead.
This promptly landed him in prison. Prior to this he had been a
favourite of Tiberius and a boon companion of the vilely corrupt young
Caligula. Tiberius did in fact die in A.D. 37 . Caligula succeeded him and
made his friend Herod Agrippa King of Judea, restoring the unity of the
regions last seen under Archelaus.
Caligula, whose excesses and insanity proved too much even for decadent
Rome, was murdered in A.D. 41 . Improbably he was succeeded by the lame,
stuttering but shrewd and effective Emperor Claudius. When Herod Agrippa
died under horrible circumstances (recounted in the Acts of the
Apostles) in A.D. 44 Claudius did not replace him, but reverted to direct
Roman rule of Judea by Procurators. He also reserved to himself the
right to decide who should appoint the High Priests.
By this time Paul had been a Christian and an Apostle for about ten
years. He had spent an extended period in Arabia and visited Damascus
and Jerusalem. In Jerusalem his preaching was so powerful that his
safety was feared for (Acts 9:30) and he returned to Tarsus for four or
more years. But around A.D. 46 Barnabus sought Paul, asking him to come to
Antioch to assist with already successful preaching of the Word there,
which he did for one year, “and in Antioch the disciples were for the
first time called Christians” (Acts 11.26).
In A.D. 49 – Saul was between 44 and 47 years old – Claudius expelled the
Jews from Rome on account of “Chrestus”. The consensus seems to be that
this is not a garbled reference to Christ or Christians on the part of
the historian Suetonius as the name “Chrestus” appears to have been
current at the time. The Jewish community in Rome is thought to have
totalled about 40,000. Some of those expelled were, or became,
Christians and had contact with Paul as in the case of Aquila and his
wife Priscilla at Corinth (Acts 18.1-2).
Claudius was poisoned by his wife in A.D. 54 and succeeded by Nero. By
this time Paul was on his third missionary journey and aged 49 – 52
years. In A.D. 59 when Paul was arrested, tried and appealed his case to
Rome, Nero was busy arranging the murder of his reputedly vicious and
manipulative mother Agrippina. The attempt degenerated into farce when
she swam ashore from the boat designed to collapse and drown her. Not to
be denied, her son despatched assassins who produced the desired
result.
In A.D. 62 Paul was released from his Roman imprisonment and in A.D. 64 aged
59-62 years he was on further missionary journeys when Rome was
destroyed by fire. The Romans blamed Nero, who for his part sought to
shift the blame onto the Christians and instituted a terrible
persecution.
Between A.D. 64 and A.D. 66 Paul continued preaching the Word and wrote the
second Epistle to Timothy. Nero constructed his new palace the Domus
Aurea (Golden House).
InA.D. 66 Paul was arrested again, imprisoned and executed by beheading.
In Judea the revolt against Roman rule began. This was to lead to the
destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70 under the Roman General
Titus, son of the Emperor Vespasian who had succeeded in A.D. 69 after
Nero committed suicide in A.D. 68 .
(The historically certain date of the destruction of Jerusalem confirms
for us that St John’s Gospel was written prior to A.D. 70 for he says,
“Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool …” etc (John 5.2).
The ruin of the five porticoed pool was identified by archaeologists in
2007.)
The man chosen by Jesus to be named “Paul” was born into an
“interesting” time. Archbishop Alban Goodier SJ says of the Nativity,
“It was the fullness of time …” God’s plan for the salvation of Man
began to unfold. And out of the maelstrom of war, intrigue, cruelty,
murder and corruption that surrounded him, Paul, sustained by Divine
Grace, responded to the call with Faith in Jesus of Nazareth the son of
God, the Messiah, and never lost sight of Him.
“… it is no longer I who live,
but Christ Who lives in me …”
(Galatians 2.20)
TONY DIXON
Copyright This article first appeared in the June, 2008 issue of FOUNDATION.
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