Jesus was born in Bethlehem, went to Egypt when he was just a baby, grew up in Joseph's native town of Nazareth (North Palestine), and he was worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem.

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Claremont High School         Nehal Chudasama – 9.3SV        Ms Choo                                                                                                  

RE Coursework – Essay 1

Jesus was born in Bethlehem, went to Egypt when he was just a baby, grew up in Joseph’s native town of Nazareth (North Palestine), and he was worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem. The distance between Nazareth and Jerusalem is sixty-five miles. Most of Jesus’, his family’s and his disciples’ traveling was done on foot.

Most of the people in the Bible stories usually lived in or around a country that was called Palestine. Palestine was a country in the Middle East, which is now a part of the modern state of Israel. Palestine was mostly made up of Jews and whoever was not a Jew living in Palestine was called a Gentile.

(In Hebrew, Gentile means non- Jew)                                       Palestinian Flag

There are many things that make Palestine different from what it used to be

Like in the time of Jesus. There have been very many changes of the

Political setting, many changes in the Economic Setting and also changes in

The Cultural Setting/Daily life of the Palestinian people.

During Jesus’ time, there were many political groups that had different statuses. There were three main political parties. The Pharisees, the Sadduces and the Zealots.These parties were more or less running the country. We shall now look into these parties in slightly more detail.

The Pharisees

In the time of Jesus, the Pharisees were the popular party. They were extremely accurate and minute in all matters appertaining to the law of Moses. (Torah)

There was much that was sound in their creed, yet their system of religion was a form and nothing more. Theirs was a very tolerant morality. On the first notice of them in the New Testament (Matt. 3:7), they are ranked by John the Baptist with the Sadducees as a "generation of vipers." They were noted for their self-righteousness and their pride. They were frequently rebuked by Jesus.

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From the very beginning of his ministry, the Pharisees showed themselves bitter and persistent enemies of Jesus. They could not bear his doctrines, and they sought by every means to destroy his influence among the people.

The Sadduces

A politico-religious sect of the Jews during the late post-Exile and New Testament period. The old origin of the name from tsaddiqim, i.e. the righteous; with assumed reference to the devotion of the Sadducees to the letter of the Law as opposed to the attention to the superadded "traditions of the elders", is now generally questioned mainly on certain grounds and the ...

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