HOW DID JEWS REACT TO ROMAN RULE?
Romans took over Judah and they began to rule through Jewish kings. Then Emperor Augustus turned Judah into a Roman Province called Judea. Instead of a king, a Roman governor called a Procurator ruled the new province. Some Jews favored working with the Romans. Others opposed this idea and turned their backs on the Romans. They settled in isolated areas and shared their belongings.
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WERE JEWISH REBELS SUCCESSFUL?
Some Jews wanted to fight the Romans in order to take back their kingdom. These people called zealots convinced many Jews to take up arms against the Romans in 66 AD. The rebellion was brutally crushed. The Romans destroyed the temple and killed thousands of Jews. The Jews rebelled again in 132 AD and were again defeated. This time the Romans forced all Jews to leave and banned them from ever coming back. By 700, the Jews had set up communities as far west as Spain and as far east as central Asia. Later they would come to Europe and Americas.
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WHAT HAPPENED DURING THE LIFE OF JESUS?
Many Jews hoped that God would send a messiah, in order to gain back their freedom. Most Jews expected the messiah to be a great king, like David. A few decades before the first Jewish revolt against Rome, a jew by the name of Jesus began -preaching. Crowds would gather to hear him preach and he soon assembled a small group of 12 close followers called disciples.
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WHAT DID JESUS TEACH?
Jesus preached that God was coming soon to rule the world and that they should not turn away from their sins. Also, that it is more important to have a relationship with God, his father, than to follow Jewish religious laws. Jesus made it clear that you had to love and forgive and not just go through the motions of following him. In order to get the message of his teachings across he often used parables.
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