Quote:From what we know of first century Palestine it was an occupied land with hostility between occupiers and occupied,
Not to quibble, C-S, but you need to be more specific. The first 37% of the First Century was taken up by the reigns of Augustus and Tiberius. During that time Jews were exempt from certain taxes as well as the requirement to worship Roman state gods. Herod's building projects and later Roman projects had provided work for the poor while Herod's erection of the port at Caesarea had greatly enriched the region by permitting it to participate in sea-based trade. When the Jews wanted to be rid of Herod's son, Archelaus, as king, Augustus granted their petition and made them a prefecture. The Roman Prefect resided in Caesarea which meant that day-to-day matters in Jerusalem were handled by the Sanhedrin thus assuring a fair amount of home rule. If there was ever a time when the Jews did not need a deliverer it was the first third of the first century....and this is when xtians choose to set the story of their godboy!
To be sure, things changed. Tiberius died in 37 and was succeeded by Caligula. The first anti-semitic riots took place in Alexandria, Egypt where the local Greek population objected to special treatment given to the Jewish community there. Caligula decided the rioters had a point and ordered his governor of Syria, Petronius, to install statues of Roman gods in the Temple. Petronius, at the risk of his own life, delayed carrying out this order and thereby assured that the Great Revolt did not take place in 40 AD but later. Caligula was assassinated and the crisis passed but the fuse had been lit on a cycle of provocation/reaction which would explode into open revolt in 66.
But...if jesus ever existed he was long dead by the time any of this happened.
