with which the Jews must have heard the Lord's words: "Destroy this temple, and in

three days I will raise it up again."

Herod's evil genius, however, led him to mar his gift and rouse against him the bitter

resentment of the Jews. In order to attract the notice of the Roman Agrippa (not to be

confused with Herod of that name) he placed over the great gate of the Temple a large

golden eagle, emblematic of the power of Rome. This action caused the Jews to curse the

very name of Herod, and all his munificence was wasted.

The Temple had been in process of building for 46 years when our Saviour opened

His ministry, but it was not actually finished until A.D.65, although 18,000 men were

constantly employed on the work.  What an immense labour, and yet how soon

destroyed--for within 6 years of its completion. Titus had left it a desolation.

The reader who realizes the importance of some knowledge of these Roman Emperors

and Idumean Kings should not rest satisfied with the meagre notes that we must

necessarily be content with in these articles. Josephus should be studied, and the great

histories of the past; while a modern contribution in lighter vein is provided by the two

historical novels by R. Graves, "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the god". These are very

illuminating, and cover a great deal of the ground traversed in this series.

We must now turn our attention to other points of interest that come under the general

heading of "The Powers that be".

The recognition of Roman authority in the N.T. is clearly seen in several ways. For

example, we find references to Roman provinces and colonies, and to the various kinds of

rulers--proconsuls, procurators, tetrarchs, etc. We also find the Jews discussing the

question of tribute, and there are references to "publicans", or tax-gatherers. Having

devoted some space now to the history of the Roman Emperors and the Herods, let us

next consider briefly the Roman provinces.

We feel fairly certain that unless the reader has already considered the matter, he will

have no idea how many of these Roman provinces are mentioned in the N.T. The

etymology of the word "province" is unknown. Some derive it from pro and vincere, "to

push forward"; others from proventus, "a country paying tax to a ruling state"; and yet

others to providentia, "a country entrusted to the care of someone". The meaning of the

term, however, is quite clear, whatever may be its etymology. In Roman history, a

province was a dominion, and was administered by a governor sent from Rome. The first

province was Sicily, which was ceded to Italy in B.C.240. The land was the property of

the Roman people and Senate, and the inhabitants paid tithes of their produce. There was