Frequently within the Christian churches, the Romans in the gospels are portrayed as vicious bad guys on the order of the faceless Stormtroopers from Star Wars. But not once have I ever heard in a church how the Romans came to occupy Judea to begin with, or when. It’s always assumed in sermons and religious media that they came as brutal invaders.
The truth is that they were asked to come to settle a civil war, and restore order. From a certain point of view, they came and stayed as an ancient equivalent of the modern day United Nations Peacekeeping Forces. The Romans were big on what they saw as bringing Roman law and order to the world. They dealt with pirates in the Mediterranean, establishing safe trade routes. They also interfered in the politics of other kingdoms where there might be a potential threat to that Roman order, though when a kingdom was brought into the empire as a client state, they were generally left to run their own affairs, worship their own gods, and attend to their own business as long as there was peace and they posed no problems for Rome.
In the 60s BCE, There was a violent and vicious civil war in Judea between the two potential heirs of the Hasmonean dynasty established by the Maccabees as to who would take the throne and the high priesthood. This civil war had raged across Judea, and was destroying it. The Hasmonean queen, Alexandra-Salome, had died leaving two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus who both claimed the right to the throne and the high priesthood. The Sadducees sided with Aristobulus and the Pharisees sided with Hyrcanus. Things weren’t going well for Aristobulus and the Sadducees as Hyrcanus and his forces had pushed them back to the Temple, where they were holed up. Aristobulus sent a message to Pompey’s representative in Syria, Aemilius, begging for help. He then promised Aemilius 8000 kg of silver if he would back him. Aemilius did, and Hyrcanus was routed. Then Aristobulus sent a message to Pompey claiming that Aemilius had extorted 8000 kg of silver from him. Pompey came to see what was going on for himself. Pompey arrested Aristobulus for his treachery and supported Hyrcanus. Hyrcanus gave Pompey access t0 the lower city, but things got worse as Aristobulus’ followers, the Sadducees, holed themselves up in the Temple. Then Pompey led his forces to siege the upper city and take the Temple, killing Aristobulus’ remaining defenders. This was when Pompey entered the Temple and the Holy of Holies. He saw everything which was in the Temple, and then left, ordering the Temple cleansed for normal worship the day after, setting up Hyrcanus as High Priest and thus ruler of Judea as a client kingdom under Rome’s jurisdiction, redistricting it so that only Galilee in the north and Judea in the south were under direct “Judean” rule. Samaria, the coastline, and the part of the kingdom on the other side of the Jordan were all placed under direct Roman oversight under the Legate of Syria.
For the next hundred years or so, from the time of the Siege of Jerusalem in 63 BCE to the crucifixion of Christ in 33 CE, there were constant insurrections and rebellions by the Judeans against the Romans. It’s almost certain that a great many of these insurrections were political rather than truly religious in nature stemming from the original civil war between the Pharisees and the Sadducees which brought the Romans in the first place. These insurrections were violent. Roman soldiers were killed just doing their jobs over and over again.
All of these events provide the historical and political context for what we see happening in Judea and Galilee in the Gospels.
Consider the modern day analogy of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. These soldiers were sent to bring threats to the United States to justice, and restore and maintain order within these countries. Almost twenty years later, those soldiers are still there trying to maintain order and rebuild those countries with religious terrorists continuously attempting to murder them and tear down everything they try to do to establish order and a lasting peace. Soldiers who manage to come home from these countries are often deeply scarred emotionally and psychologically, and many are very bitter against the very people they were trying to help. The same was true of the situation in Vietnam where, after so many years of terrorist attacks, American soldiers couldn’t tell friends from foes any longer.
What didn’t and still doesn’t seem to be understood, is that had the Judeans done what Jesus taught towards the Romans, they would have drawn down their forces and left Judea to its own devices as a self-governing province. Had they quit trying to rebel, had they turned the other cheek, had they loved their “enemies” and gone the extra mile, the Romans would have had no need to keep so many troops stationed there. The crucifixions would have stopped. The only reason the Romans grew increasingly more brutal was because of the constant insurrections and murders. Jesus was literally telling those listening to Him, Pharisees and Sadducees alike no less, how to restore the kingdom and they preferred rebellion and murder, continuing their civil war by other means. Had they listened to Him, had they listened to what their God Himself was telling them to do, they would have virtually been given their nation back by the Romans. They refused to do it. The reason why the Romans came and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 CE was because of another insurrection, and Rome was done with them. They wanted order and they were going to make certain of it.
Notice also that Jesus never once speaks ill of the Romans or the Roman occupation. He never once condemned them, spoke against them, or encouraged rebellion in any way even when they were nailing Him to the cross. I would venture to say that He knew perfectly well why the Romans were there, why they were acting the way they were, and that they didn't really want to be in Judea any more than the Judeans wanted them there. By the time we meet the Romans in the Gospels, they had been there for less than a hundred years, and had been dealing with insurrectionists and religious terrorists the entire time. It occurs to me that, contrary to popular opinion, the Roman occupation of Judea was a kind of temporary reprieve or mercy from God towards the people there. If they hadn’t established control over the region, the Judeans would have destroyed themselves with their civil war.
Here should also be mentioned the Gospel portrayal of Pontius Pilatus, the Roman governor who sentenced Jesus to death. It’s clear from the Gospel accounts he wanted nothing to do with it. He had no desire to intervene in questions about their religion. He really didn’t want to risk starting yet another insurrection. He actively sought a way to find a compromise to where Jesus wouldn’t be sentenced to death. He knew it was because of the same group of people who were still embroiled in their own political conflict that Jesus was brought before Him, and he wasn’t going to take the bait if he could help it. The Romans also considered justice a virtue, and Pilatus knew that this wasn’t about justice. The only reason, according to Scripture, he gave Jesus over to be crucified was to avoid another insurrection at the hands of the High Priests, Pharisees, and Sadducees, and he himself squarely placed the responsibility for His execution on their heads, literally washing his hands of it.
It’s difficult to look at it this way, but there was also a reason why the Roman soldiers were so cruel to Him in the Praetorium. They had spent who knows how long being terrorized by Judean insurrectionists, watching friends die at their hands. Now, they have a prisoner whose charge is being "King of the Judeans." In other words, an insurrectionist leader. They called out the cohort to enjoy torturing Him as a way to avenge themselves by proxy on those insurrectionists. You see a similar psychology at work with soldiers today when they lose buddies to terrorists and IEDs. You see something similar with police officers too when they lose a comrade and then catch the killer. Mercy is not on their minds. Jesus knew this, and knew it wasn't about Him. "Father forgive them, they don't know what they're doing!"
There are always two sides to a story. Roman involvement in Judea during the time of the Gospels has always been told from a very one sided point of view, and history is always more complicated than just bad guys versus good guys. The Romans weren't always good guys, no. They were just as complicated as American soldiers and mercenaries are. But like those American soldiers and mercenaries in Afghanistan and elsewhere, they weren't always the bad guys either.
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