Over the cross of Jesus, Pontius Pilate, the Roman Prefect, ordered the title: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. The three languages stood for the three distinct and intersecting worlds in which Jesus lived and conducted his mission.
Formation And Struggles: The Birth of the Church Ad 33-200, by Veselin Kesich
Kesich begins his history by setting the stage – not beginning with Jesus, but to the centuries before in Palestine. In 538 BC, the Babylonian captivity of the Jews was brought to an end by the Persian king Cyrus. Returning to Jerusalem, the Jews could restore Solomon’s temple – which was earlier destroyed by the Babylonians.
The Persians were replaced by the Greeks – Alexander the Great, in the late fourth century BC. He and his successors forced the Hellenization of Palestine, and by around 200 BC Palestine passed under the rule of the Seleucids, successors of Alexander’s general Seleucus.
Clashes grew more common between pious Jews and their Hellenist overlords. When the Jews were pressed to worship Zeus and were not allowed to celebrate the Sabbath and were required to sacrifice to the Greek gods, they rebelled......
......Conclusion
The world into which Jesus was born and carried on his public ministry emerged out of the Jewish struggle against Hellenization, the breakup of the religious unity, and the appearance of groups within Judaism, as well as the conquest of Palestine by the Romans.
Certainly not a calm and relaxed situation.
