close to two hundred years since the voice of a living
prophet had been heard. Tradition had taken its place. It took the form:
Moses hath said; It has been said of old; The prophet hath said. The
scribe was the keeper of the ecclesiastical law. The lawyer was its
interpreter.

The Pharisees had gradually elevated themselves into an ecclesiastical
hierarchy who were the custodians of the law and religion. They had come
to regard themselves as especially favoured, a privileged class--not
only the custodians but the dispensers of all religious knowledge--and
therefore of religion. The people, in their estimation, were of a lower
intellectual and religious order, possessing no capabilities in
connection with religion or morals, dependent therefore upon their
superiors in these matters.

This state of affairs that had gradually come about was productive of
two noticeable results: a religious starvation and stagnation on the
part of the great mass of the people on the one hand, and the creation
of a haughty, self-righteous and domineering ecclesiastical hierarchy on
the other. In order for a clear understanding of some of Jesus' sayings
and teachings, some of which constitute a very vital part of his
ministry, it is necessary to understand clearly what this condition was.

Another important fact that sheds much light upon the nature of the
ministry of Jesus is to be found, as has already been intimated, in the
political and the economic condition of the people of the time. The
Jewish nation had been subjugated and were under the domination of Rome.
Rome in connection with Israel, as in connection with all conquered
peoples, was a hard master. Taxes and tribute, tribute and taxes, could
almost be said to be descriptive of her administration of affairs.

She was already in her degenerate stage. Never perhaps in the history of
the world had men been so ruled by selfishness, greed, military power
and domination, and the pomp and display of material wealth. Luxury,
indulgence, over-indulgence, vice. The inevitable concomitant
followed--a continually increasing moral and physical degeneration. An
increasing luxury and indulgence called for an increasing means to
satisfy them. Messengers were sent and additional tribute was levied.
Pontius Pilate was the Roman administrative head or governor in Judea at
the time. Tiberius Caesar was the Roman Emperor.

Rome at this time consisted of a few thousand nobles and people of
station