The Short Reign of Archelaus. At his death Herod the Great left his kingly title to his son, Archelaus. Archelaus, however, showed himself so tyrannical and tactless in dealing with the Jews that Augustus did not confirm his title to the kingship, but instead made him ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea. During his tumultuous reign of ten years he developed the fertile plains about Jericho by means of aqueducts, which brought water for irrigation from the western hills, and also built the city of Archelais on the western side of the Jordan valley, not far from the Maccabean castle of Alexandrium. His rule in the end proved so hateful to the Jews that they sent a deputation of their leading men to Rome to present charges against him. As a result, Archelaus was banished.

The Roman Province of Judea. Inasmuch as Judea was one of the border provinces and had repeatedly proved itself turbulent and rebellious, it was placed under the immediate direction of the emperor and was ruled by a procurator of equestrian rank. The duties of the procurator were primarily to maintain order, to direct the collection of taxes, and decide the more important legal questions. He alone could inflict capital punishment, and to him or his representatives were naturally referred all cases in which Roman citizens were involved. Otherwise, in Judea the administration of the civil as well as of the ceremonial laws was in charge of the Jewish courts, at the head of which stood the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem.

Territory and Character of Herod Antipas. To his son, Herod Antipas, Herod the Great left Galilee and Perea. Galilee at this time extended on the south to the River Kishon on the Plain of Esdraelon. Its western boundaries were the plains of Acre and Tyre. On the north it extended to the River Litany, while its eastern boundary was the Jordan and the Sea of Galilee. Perea was the east-Jordan territory, extending from the territory about the Greek city of Pella in the north to the River Arnon in the south. On the east it was bounded by the territory belonging to the Greek cities of Philadelphia and Gerasa. This region had been formerly occupied by the heathen, but after conquering it the later Maccabean rulers had settled it with Jewish colonists, so that in the Mishna it is reckoned with Judea and Galilee as Jewish territory. Herod Antipas, to whom these fertile provinces were assigned, inherited the lust, the unscrupulous methods, and the building ambitions of his father. In comparison with that of Herod the Great, his long reign was peaceful, and while he taxed his subjects heavily he did not interfere with their personal freedom. Sepphoris, which was situated on a fertile hill on the southern side of the rich plain of Buttauf, in central Galilee, was by Herod surrounded with a wall and raised to the level of an imperial city. Later he built Tiberias on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, transferring thither the seat of government. It was built after the usual plan followed in Greek cities and adorned with splendid public buildings.

Philip's Territory. The northeastern part of Herod the Great's territory, from the foot of Mount Hermon to the upper waters of the Yarmuk, and from the Jordan to the desert, was given to Philip, who ruled under the title of tetrarch. He was by far the best of Herod's sons and he devoted himself to developing the resources of the barren territory over which he ruled. The ancient Paneion, on the southern side of Mount Hermon, was rebuilt and transformed into a GrÆco-Roman city and made the capital of Philip's possessions. In honor of Augustus he named it CÆsarea, and to distinguish it from the city of the same name, built by his father, it was known as CÆsarea Philippi. He also transformed the fishing town of Bethsaida, on the northern side of the Sea of Galilee, into a city, naming it Julias, in honor of the emperor's daughter.

The Decapolis. One result of the Roman conquest of Palestine was the rebuilding of the Greek cities along the Jordan valley and eastward. Their common origin, civilization, and interests bound them closely together, and they were known as the Decapolis. From the days of Pompey they enjoyed special privileges, but it is not clear that they were brought into political union before the death of Herod in 4 B.C. At this time these cities and the territory which they controlled were set aside from the kingdom of Herod and made responsible simply to the Roman governor of Syria. Scythopolis, commanding the great highway from western Palestine to Gilead and the desert, was the capital of this confederacy, although it was the only city of the Decapolis west of the Jordan. According to Pliny, the other cities were Hippos, Gadara, and Pella on the eastern side of the Jordan valley, Dium, Gerasa,⁽⁴⁵⁾ the modern Jerash, Raphana, south of the Yarmuk, and Kanatha on the eastern side of the Hauran. Here the road from Scythopolis joins the great highway from Arabia northward to Damascus, which was the northernmost city of the Decapolis. Later, other cities, such as Arbela, Kanata, and Kapitolias, just south of the Yarmuk, were added to the Decapolis until, according to Ptolemy, there were eighteen cities thus bound together. The influence of these flourishing, enterprising centres of Greek civilization upon the life and thought of Galilee, and even upon Judea, cannot be overestimated.

Place of Jesus' Birth. Up to this period, most of the events of biblical history took place in southern Palestine. Not more than a dozen cities north of the Plain of Esdraelon were mentioned in the preceding thousand years of Hebrew history. Now, however, the background of biblical history is transferred from south to north. Judah, with its narrow, rocky valleys and shut-in views, is left behind, and Galilee, with its lofty hills, its broad open plains, and its far-extending vistas, becomes the scene of the most important chapter in human history. It is true that early Christian tradition points to Bethlehem⁽⁸⁶⁾ as the birthplace of Jesus. This tradition is confirmed by Justin Martyr, who describes the scene of the birth as in a cave near Bethlehem. Many such cave-stables are still in use throughout the land of Palestine. For three centuries Bethlehem lay in ruins, so that at last, when Constantine reared the basilica which still marks the traditional site, it is doubtful whether there was any means of determining the actual birthplace. Beneath the church in the eastern part of the present town there are caves, one of which may have been the scene of the familiar story, but the misguided zeal of later generations of Christians has surrounded it with marble and tinsel, destroying the original simple setting.

Situation of Nazareth. For twenty-seven or eight years Nazareth was Jesus' home. Here he received those varied influences which are reflected in his life and teaching. The town of Nazareth⁽¹¹⁶⁾ lies about one thousand five hundred feet above the level of the sea and fully a thousand above the Plain of Esdraelon to the south. The town itself is one hundred and forty feet below and a mile and a half back of the southern front of the range of hills on which it rests. It stands in the midst of an upland hollow, facing eastward. In the spring the fields in front are green with grain, while olive trees are scattered along the hillside up which the town climbs. The encircling hills, however, are gray and rocky, with only meagre suggestions of verdure, and are at present entirely denuded of trees. Here the shepherd and the tiller of the soil lived and worked side by side.

Its Central Position. Nazareth, in ancient times, was by no means a small, secluded town. It stood in the very heart of lower Galilee. Nearby the great highways radiated in all directions. From Esdraelon came one branch of the great central highway of Palestine. Across the same plain came the main caravan route from the east-Jordan land, from the Desert of Arabia, and beyond. Southward past Nazareth ran two great highways, which connected with the coast roads through Philistia to Egypt. Westward ran a road directly to the southern end of the Plain of Acre, following in part the line of the present carriage road from Nazareth to Haifa. To the northwest ran another well-travelled road, connecting at Ptolemais with the coast road to Phoenicia and the north. To the northeast, by way of the Sea of Galilee and Capernaum, a branch of the main central highway ran to Damascus. The quiet upland city, Nazareth, was therefore peculiarly open to each of the many varied influences that emanated from the cities and lands of the eastern Mediterranean and from the great GrÆco-Roman world across the sea.

View from the Heights Above the City. Probably the ancient city extended farther to the west, possibly climbing the heights that overshadow the town and rise to the height of one thousand six hundred feet above the level of the sea. Here was spread out before the eye of the young boy of Nazareth one of the most beautiful and significant views in all Palestine. To the west was the Bay of Haifa and the long line of Mount Carmel running out to the blue Mediterranean. On the southeastern end of this massive plateau was the Place of Burning, where Elijah appealed to the dull conscience of his nation. Below, on the farther side of the Plain of Esdraelon, was the huge ruin of Megiddo, beside which had been fought so many decisive battles in Canaan's history. Directly south lay the hills of Samaria, with the lofty height of Mount Ebal in the distance. Standing out boldly to the southeast was the battle-field of Gilboa. Behind it was the deep gorge of the Jordan and beyond the lofty hills of Gilead. In the immediate foreground lay Little Hermon, with the town of Nain on its northwestern side,⁽⁹⁾ looking out upon the Plain of Esdraelon. Eastward, in the immediate foreground from Nazareth, was the rounded, tree-clad top of Mount Tabor. Over the hills to the northeast ran the road to Cana and Capernaum. On the north rose the lofty plateau of upper Galilee, and on its summit Safed, "the city set on a hill that could not be hid." Beyond rose the cold, snowy top of Mount Hermon. To the northwest, only five miles away, was Sepphoris, Herod's earlier capital, the chief stronghold of his kingdom.

The Spring at Nazareth. Nazareth has but one spring, situated on the side hill, in the eastern part of the town, probably outside the ancient city. It leaps from the native rock a little north of the Church of the Ascension. Thence it is conducted to the famous Mary's Well,⁽¹¹⁷⁾ where the water spouts from the wall under a covered stone arch and thence is conducted into a great square stone trough. Here the women and children gather to draw water to-day as they gathered in the days of Jesus. About this ancient spring, as well as in his home, the keen, thoughtful boy of Nazareth was able to study human life, so that it was unnecessary that he be told what was in the heart of man. Nazareth was so small that the character and deeds of each of its inhabitants were like an open book, and yet it was large and central enough to feel the pulsations of all the great world movements.

Roads to Jerusalem. From Nazareth three or four pilgrim roads led to Jerusalem. One, apparently little used, led westward along the eastern side of the Plain of Sharon, and thence over the famous passes of Beth-horon to Jerusalem. The direct but more arduous and dangerous road led due south across the Plain of Esdraelon past Jezreel and Ginea, the ancient En-Gannim, which stood at the point where the great plain penetrates the Samaritan hills. Thence the main road turned a little westward, running through Samaria and Shechem. A more direct branch ran due south, past Sychar, joining the other branch just east of Mount Gerizim. It was while journeying northward along this road that Jesus paused at Jacob's Well,^{(17, 18)} on the eastern side of the fertile plain that opens to the northeast of Mount Gerizim, and conversed with the woman of Sychar, who perhaps had been working in the fields near by. The third pilgrim road from Nazareth ran from Jezreel eastward along the plain to the Jordan valley. From there it was possible either to take the more direct route on the west side of the valley or to cross the river at the famous fords opposite Scythopolis and thence to follow the highway along the eastern side of the Jordan. This eastern route was on the whole more attractive and lay in the territory of Antipas, beyond the reach of the hostile Samaritans. From Jericho a road led through the barren, waterless, robber-infested wilderness of Judea, that suggested to the Great Teacher his parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus' Educational Opportunities. Along the central or the east-Jordan route travelled the young boy of twelve to participate for the first time in the worship of the temple and to ask of the great teachers of his race the eager questions which aroused their wonderment. Luke has told in clear and graphic words the history of these earlier years: "The child grew, and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon him." The light that comes from the study of Jesus' geographical environment richly supplements the meagre biblical narrative. Every year his parents made the journey to Jerusalem and Jesus doubtless went with them. The same highways frequently brought to Nazareth itinerant scribes and teachers of the law. Ample opportunities were also offered to secure copies of the scriptures of his race and thus to acquire that intimate knowledge of their contents which Jesus showed throughout all his ministry. Above all, Nazareth was in close touch with the outside world and revealed to Jesus the crying needs of the "lost sheep of the House of Israel," which ultimately drew him from the seclusion of his home to undertake his great life work.

Scene of John the Baptist's Early Life. John the Baptist is one of the most meteoric characters in biblical history. Only one scene in his life can be identified with certainty, and that is the grim castle beside the Dead Sea, where he fell a victim to Herod's passion and fear. Apparently a large part of his early life was spent at or near Jerusalem, where his father ministered as priest and where he was able to observe the crimes of the people, against which he later so vehemently and effectively protested. The wild, treeless wilderness that runs up from the Dead Sea almost to the gates of Jerusalem furnished a fitting setting for this stern prophet of righteousness, this herald of a new order. Here, undisturbed by the distracting life of the city, he could effectively deliver his message to the thoughtful ones who sought him in his solitude.⁽²⁴⁾⁾ Here also dwelt that peculiar Jewish sect, the Essenes, whose ascetic life and strict ceremonial rÉgime were an extreme protest against the corrupt Hellenizing tendencies of the day.

Field of His Activity. Like the early Hebrew prophets, whom John so closely resembled, he also sought out the places where men could be found in great numbers. The later Maccabean rulers and Herod transformed the hitherto comparatively deserted valley of the lower Jordan into fruitful fields, irrigated by the brooks from the hillside, studded with prosperous villages and guarded with mighty strongholds. The Jordan valley, which touched all the Jewish parts of Palestine—Judea itself, Perea, Samaria, and Galilee—was the chief field of John's work. Bethabara (House of the Ford) has been generally identified with the famous ford called Abarah, opposite Scythopolis. The best Greek manuscripts, however, read "Bethany beyond the Jordan." It is doubtful whether John's work extended so far north as the Decapolis. It is exceedingly probable that the variant readings are due to a confusion of the original, which read Beth Nimrah, which is represented by Tell Nimrin beyond the Jordan northeast of Jericho, at the point where the Wady Nimrin breaks through the Gileadite hills. It was evidently an important town, commanding the road which leads inland from this point and was within the field of John's activity.

The Baptism of Jesus. If so, the ford where Jesus met and was baptized by John was probably a little northeast of Jericho, just below the point where the Wady Nimrin joins the Jordan, rather than farther south at the traditional scene of the baptism.⁽¹¹⁸⁾ In any case, it is easy to picture the coffee-colored stream pausing in its tempestuous course just before it enters the Dead Sea. A thicket of bushes and overhanging trees shut in the view on either side, making a strange but fitting sanctuary for the meeting of the fearless prophet and the disciple from distant Nazareth, who had doubtless come, attracted by the rumors regarding his work and words. Whether John knew it or not, that moment marked the culmination of his own life task. To Jesus it meant the consecration of himself not only to that for which John stood, but also to that vastly larger, broader task that had been revealed to him in the quiet years at Nazareth. His act, simple yet profoundly significant, brought to Jesus a full divine assurance of God's approval. He was yet to find the place, men, and means with which to work, but henceforth he was completely committed to his task. The biblical narrative implies that after this wonderful meeting with John there came to Jesus, as at frequent times in his ministry, a great reaction. He was led to seek the solitude of the wilderness west of the Jordan, there to battle with the temptations that assailed him, there to win the surpassing peace and poise that characterized his acts and words in all the great crises of his ministry.

MachÆrus Where John Was Beheaded. The Synoptic Gospels, as well as the Fourth, imply that for a brief period Jesus took up the message and adopted the methods of John, preaching with great success among the country villages of Judah. His work appears to have been brought to a sudden end by the arrest of John, whose fearless denunciation of Herod's crime in putting away his own wife, the daughter of Aretas, had aroused the resentful hatred of Herod and of Herodias, the partner in his guilt. In keeping with the methods of the age, John was seized and imprisoned at Herod's most distant fortress, MachÆrus,⁽³⁸⁾ which lay three thousand and seventy feet above the sea, on the top of a long flat ridge running for more than a mile from east to west. According to Pliny, it was, next to Jerusalem, the strongest fortress in the land. It had been reared by Herod the Great in the place of the old Maccabean stronghold. In the centre of it was an impregnable citadel. The encircling wall, one hundred yards in diameter, can still be traced. The interior is singularly bare, but a very deep well and two dark dungeons remain. Apparently Herod the Great also built a strong Roman city at the head of this valley. It rested like a swallow's nest on the lofty edge of the Moabite plateau. Acres of hewn stone with crumbling walls testify to its size and strength. In the centre are the ruins of a huge palace or castle about two hundred feet long and a hundred and fifty feet wide, with traces of rounded towers. Several passages lead to underground cisterns and dungeons, suggesting that this may have been the castle of Herod Antipas, beneath which John the Baptist was confined. Either here or in the citadel farther down the valley the intrepid prophet spent his last days. In this sinister spot, associated as it was with Alexander Janneus, Herod the Great, and his son Antipas, John the Baptist was beheaded.

Effect of John's Imprisonment Upon Jesus. The news of John's imprisonment evidently made a deep impression upon Jesus. It led him to change the scene and method of his work. He left Judea, with its harsh scenery and narrow life, and returned to the simpler and more joyous scenes in Galilee. He still continued in part to preach, but more and more he devoted himself to the task of the teacher and sought to draw from the multitudes that gathered about him certain disciples who would stand in closest personal touch with him and embody in their lives and teachings the message which he wished to impart to his race.

Jesus' Appearance. The gospels record the inner spiritual growth of the divine Son of God; but the environment amidst which he lived suggests the nature of his physical development. Nazareth is still famous for its attractive, wholesome type of men and women. Its wholesome surroundings, soil, and air all make for perfect health. The artists of the Middle Ages had no basis other than their morbid religious fancies in painting their grotesque pictures of the Christ. Constant exposure to the hot oriental suns meant that his complexion was deeply browned. The out-door life among the Galilean hills meant that he was probably tall in stature; his labors and long journeys reveal great strength of muscle. He probably had the thin nostrils and lustrous eyes that still characterize the pure Semitic type. The impression which he made at first glance upon all whom he met indicates that his was a perfect physical development. Had he permitted the enthusiastic multitudes that followed him to proclaim him king he would indeed have graced a throne. Through his mien and bearing was revealed the serene heart, in perfect harmony with the Divine Father and throbbing in sympathy with the needs and aspirations of all mankind. Thus there is every reason to believe that Jesus was in body, as well as in mind and in soul, the supreme and culminating product of God's creative work.