Administration & Society

Ab is the fifth month of the Babylonian calendar. That is roughly July/August.

Abib is the first month of the ancient Israelite calendar. That is roughly March/April.

Adar is the twelfth month of the Babylonian calendar. That is roughly February/March.

When judgements were given in biblical times, this was done by judges.
There was no public prosecutor as in our legal system. The victim in a legal case had to represent himself as the plaintiff. He stood next to the accused in the court.

Judea was part of the Roman Empire and so was subject to Roman jurisdiction. But there was also a Jewish, religious court which pronounced rulings on internal Jewish matters: the Sanhedrin. However, the Roman court had the greatest authority.
The two best-known people from the New Testament that had dealings with Roman laws were Jesus and Paul.

Adultery was a serious crime in the world of the Bible. It was punishable by death, as was also the custom in the surrounding cultures.

Archelaus is one of the sons of Herod the Great. After the death of his father, Archelaus is given the authority over Judea, Samaria and Idumea. Archelaus is ruler over these territories from 4 BC to AD 6.

The first time the inhabitants of Judah were taken off into captivity (see first deportation to Babylonia) was immediately followed by a second exile. Once again, a part of the population of Judah was taken away by the Babylonians.

Bul is the eighth month of the ancient Israelite calendar. That is roughly October/November.

The chasidim (also spelt “Hasidim”) were a group of pious Jews. They first appeared in the second century BC, but their origins are unclear. According to 1 Maccabees 2:42 the chasidim were brave people who remained faithful to the Law of Moses, no matter what the cost. They vigorously resisted the influence of Greek culture on Jewish life. The chasidim are forerunners of later Jewish groups such as the Pharisees.

Chislev is the ninth month of the Babylonian calendar. That is roughly November/December.

The Bible occasionally mentions corporal punishment. A possible punishment was a beating. If someone was beaten, according to Deuteronomy 25:1-3, this should not be more than 40 lashes.
According to Roman law, Roman citizens could not be beaten without a trial. Paul invokes this right in Acts 16:37.

A cross was an instrument of torture used by the Romans to carry out the death penalty. 

In around 520 BC, the Persian King Darius I (522-486 BC) introduced the daric. The daric weighed 8,4 gram, and was made of pure gold. The monetary value was equal to 20 silver shekels.

If someone lent something out, he could ask for a deposit for it. Then if a loan was not repaid, he could keep the deposit. People could also ask for interest if they lent money.

Elul is the sixth month in the Babylonian calendar. That is roughly August/September.

The most important leader in the Roman Empire in New Testament times was the emperor in Rome. During Jesus’ lifetime, Augustus and Tiberius were emperors. Paul was probably sentenced by the Emperor Nero.

The Essenes do not appear as such in the Bible, but they are important for readers of the Bible for various reasons. In the time of Jesus and Paul, Essenes had a marked influence. Knowledge of the Essenes:

The Jewish writers Flavius Josephus and Philo of Alexandria in particular wrote about the Essenes. And the Roman governor Pliny the Elder wrote that the Essenes lived north of Engedi on the shores of the Dead Sea. This was precisely the place where a treasure of ancient Hebrew writings was found around 1947. The writings were located in caves near an ancient settlement which is now called Khirbet Qumran.

Some concepts in the New Testament play an important part in Essene literature. But such agreements do not mean that the first Christians were Essenes. And Jesus’ forerunner John the Baptist, who preached in the vicinity of the Jordan, was probably not a member of the Essenes. But the ideas of John and Jesus certainly have points of agreement with Essene thinking.

Ethanim is the seventh month of the ancient Israelite calendar. That is roughly September/October.

In 1908, during excavations in Gezer, a limestone tablet was found with what is probably a calendar on it. The tablet is about 12 by 7 centimetres in size and dates to the tenth century BC. The text is written in ancient Hebrew.