The Zealots were Jewish people who wanted rid of the Romans, for the obvious reasons – they made them pay tax, they took their land and they did not allow them to practise their religion fully/properly. They tried to make life hard for the Romans and they were violent. Through doing this there was a constant Roman army presence. I think that the Zealots had a right to rebel, because I would not be happy if my country was taken over by another country, and then the other country expected me to pay tax to fund them.
The next group of people were called the Pharisees, their main aim was to try to live strictly by the laws of God (i.e. the Torah). The Pharisees believed in angels, resurrection and an after life. Most of them were good sincere men trying to do good, but some (the ones Jesus criticised were practising the religion in a showy way – doing it for attention and to win praise (hypocrites). Half of the Jewish ruling council (the Sanhedrin) were Pharisees and they voted for Jesus’ death. They disliked other religions and tried to keep away from them and be purely Jewish (the name Pharisee means separate one). This lot would have presumably disliked Roman rule and so, as you can see many of the people at that time disliked the Romans.
Another group was called the Sadducees; these were priests who served in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Sadducees were very rich and powerful, so to stay that way, they were friendly with the Romans, just as they had been with the Greeks. In addition, their leader was seen by the Romans as the Jewish leader. Their religious difference to the Pharisees was that the Sadducees did not believe in angels, resurrection or the after life. They lived off the tithes and Temple tax that was paid by all Jews. Although some of the Sadducees may had been, at first reluctant to Roman rule, they saw that they could benefit from it so they did not rebel. The fact that they didn’t rebel can be seen from two angles, one (the positive) that they were being smart – there was no way they could defeat them so – “If you can’t beat them, join them” they could have thought, or you could see it as being unfaithful, a traitor to the Jewish people and religion.
Finally, the last group was “The people”. Just the ordinary every day people who lived hard simple lives, growing crops, herding sheep or working as potters or weavers – just the working class people. These people, although not able to express their opinions and be taken as seriously as other groups had thoughts at that time. They saw the Romans making them pay more money, of the little that they had to fund the Roman army and such like. All they wanted was deliverance from the lives they were living. One of their only hopes was, as promised in the bible, a Messiah or Christ to come and deliver them from the pain and work of every day life.
All these different viewpoints are all relevant and all contributed to the events that followed as Jesus began his teachings. Because the Romans had invaded, they split up the society into these groups, each with their different viewpoints. The biggest issue was probably religion and the differences it created. Even within Judaism, there were large differences, such as between the Sadducees and the Pharisees, the whole concept of an after life, resurrection and angels.
I think that the ordinary Jewish people would have been the worst off and the most unhappy. They earned little money already and had to pay a tithe (which is ten percent of your income) to the Temple, as well as Temple tax and then when the Romans came they had to shell out more money so the Romans could make powerful armies. The Jewish religion was changing rapidly with new ‘oral laws’ coming into place these laws made the ordinary people nervous because they were afraid to break a new law they had not heard of.
Because the Sadducees wanted to look after themselves, I think many people would dislike them. Also the Zealots, although fighting for a noble cause were going a bit over the top. It should have been a united effort from the Jewish people to stop the Romans, but then again it could have all ended horribly with thousands of deaths. The Romans were not really liked by any of the groups, the Sadducees only pretended to like them.
The differences needed to be sorted out – by answers, so when Jesus came people would want answers, but they would have already made up their minds on what they wanted the answers to be. If they were not what they wanted them to be, then there was a dislike instantly towards Jesus.
Overall, no one liked the Romans, the Sadducees were being selfish and looking after themselves – so people disliked them. The Pharisees only wanted to be Jewish and nothing else – they did not want the Romans interfering with their religion. The Zealots hated the Romans and were constantly trying to attack them, because their land was being stolen from them and they could not worship properly. The Romans wanted to take over peacefully, collect money from the people in the country and every one to obey them – which made every one hate them. Finally the people who only wanted to have more comfortable lives, all they wanted was the Messiah that God had promised them. I think the ordinary people would have disliked to some extent the Temple because it was costing them money and before Jesus cam, no benefit to them.
The implications of each group’s feelings meant that eventually, sooner rather than later something was going to happen. Overall, I think Jesus would either be loved, and seen as saving them, or hated, and all of the people’s bad feelings took out on him.
