ABSTRACT
. The Palestine of 10 B. c. was virtually the Palestine of our Lord’s ministry. Its material glory, its wide-reaching material interests, its foreign admixtures, its intensified hopes and fears, — all these were what they were because of the tireless ambition of the brilliant, barbaric king who then ruled Judea. The hopeless task, which Herod undertook, of trying to make the Jews an integral part of the Græco-Roman world brought him only bitterness of soul and the people immeasurable misery. His splendid buildings and large-minded plans for national prosperity, nay, more, his rigorous, stern administration, could not overcome the indomitable spirit of Judaism. Could he have ended his career when the loud hosannas of the day of the temple’s consecration expressed the joy and thanksgiving of the people, the harshness of his selfish life might have been softened, but, alas! he lived on to do dark deeds and at last to put the impress of his blood-stained hands upon the opening page of the world’s gospel.
