pe of insuring a greater measure of national
protection, the Jews entered into an unequal alliance with the Romans
and eventually became tributary to them, in which condition the Jewish
nation continued throughout the period of our Lord's ministry. In the
meridian of time Rome was virtually mistress of the world. When Christ
was born Augustus Caesar[158] was emperor of Rome, and the Idumean,
Herod,[159] surnamed the Great, was the vassal king of Judea.

Some semblance of national autonomy was maintained by the Jews under
Roman dominion, and their religious ceremonials were not seriously
interfered with. The established orders in the priesthood were
recognized, and the official acts of the national council, or
Sanhedrin,[160] were held to be binding by Roman law; though the
judicial powers of this body did not extend to the infliction of capital
punishment without the sanction of the imperial executive. It was the
established policy of Rome to allow to her tributary and vassal peoples
freedom in worship so long as the mythological deities, dear to the
Romans, were not maligned nor their altars desecrated.[161]

Needless to say, the Jews took not kindly to alien domination, though
for many generations they had been trained in that experience, their
reduced status having ranged from nominal vassalage to servile bondage.
They were already largely a dispersed people. All the Jews in Palestine
at the time of Christ's birth constituted but a small remnant of the
great Davidic nation. The Ten Tribes, distinctively the aforetime
kingdom of Israel, had then long been lost to history, and the people of
Judah had been widely scattered among the nations.

In their relations with other peoples the Jews generally endeavored to
maintain a haughty exclusiveness, which brought upon them Gentile
ridicule. Under Mosaic law Israel had been required to keep apart from
other nations; they attached supreme importance to their Abrahamic
lineage as children of the covenant, "an holy people unto the Lord,"
whom He had chosen "to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth".[162] Judah had experienced
the woful effects of dalliance with pagan nations, and, at the time we
are now considering, a Jew who permitted himself unnecessary association
with a Gentile became an unclean being requiring ceremonial cleansing to
free him from defilement. Only in strict isolation did the leaders find
hope of insuring t