The government now passed into the hands of King Agrippa I., who ruled in Jerusalem during the last years that the apostles as a body continued there (A.D. 41-44). Agrippa had already rendered service to the nation of the Jews by preventing Caligula from setting up his statue in the Temple. He was promoted by Claudius to be King of Judtea, as his grandfather Herod had been. He journeyed to Jerusalem, and as a thank-offering dedicated and deposited in the Temple a chain of gold, the gift of Caligula, in remembrance of the term he had passed in prison before good fortune attended him.
While keeping the favour of the Emperor, he also took measures further to ingratiate himself with the Jews. According to Josephus, so good a Jew was he that he omitted nothing that the Law required, and he loved to live continually at Jerusalem (Ant. XIX. vii. 3). His Jewish, or rather his Pharisaical, policy seems to have been at tlie root of his scheme for building the Third Wall,
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and also explains his persecution of the Christians (Ac 12^). His coins circulating in Jerusalem bore no image, as an accommodation to Jewish scruples. Outside the Holy Citj', however, he was as much under the influence of the Graeco-Roman culture of the age as his grandfather had been. After his death, in the manner described in Ac 12^ (cf. Ant. XIX. viii. 2 ; see art. JosEPHUS), Palestine re- verted to the rule of procurators, so far as civil ad- ministration was concerned. In religious matters control was entrusted to Agrippa's brother, Herod the King of Chalcis, whom the younger Agrippa succeeded. Hence the intervention of the latter at the trial of St. Paul (Ac 25i3'^-26). With one or two exceptions the procurators who followed were distasteful to the Jews, whose discontent worked to a head in A.D. 66, when the open breach with Rome occun'ed.
Under Cuspius Fadus (A.D. 44-46) the custody of the high-priestly vestments was resumed by the Roman authorities, and once more they were guarded in Antonia, but this was countermanded upon a direct application of the Jews to Claudius. During the rule of Fadus and his successor Tiberius Alex- ander (A.D. 46-48) the people of Jerusalem, like their brethren throughout Judaea, were oj)pressed by the great famine (Ac ir-^'''-)> which Queen Helena of Adiabene, now resident in Jerusalem (see above), did much to relieve i^Ant. XX. ii. 5, v. 2 ; cf. art. Famine). In the time of Ventidins Cumanus (a.d. 48-52) the impious act of a Roman soldier at the Passover season led to serious collision with the Roman power and to great loss of life [Ant. XX. v. 3, BJli. xii. 1). This was the first of a series of troubles that led to Cumanus being recalled. Antonius Felix (A.D. 52-60) was sent in his stead, and under him matters proceeded from bad to worse. Owing to the violent methods of the Sicarii, life in Jerusalem became unsafe, and even the high priest Jonathan fell a victim to their daggers. Not only against Rome was there revolt, but also on the part of the priests against the liigh priests (Ant. XX. viii. 8). The events recorded in Ac 23 and 24 fall within the last two years of Felix's rule. Porcius Festtis (60-62) succeeded Felix, and died in ofhce. In the confusion follow- ing his death, which was fomented by Ananus the high priest, Agrippa II. intervened, and Ananus was displaced, but not before James, the brother of Christ, had suffered martyrdom at his hands (Ant. XX. ix. 1). The date (A.D. 62) is regarded as doubtful by Schiirer (HJP I. ii. 187). Alhinus (A.D. 62-64) devoted his energies to making himself rich, and under him anarchy prevailed, which be- came even worse under Gessius Flortis (A.D. 64-66). His appropriation of the Temple treasures precipi- tated the great revolt from Rome, which ended with the Destruction of Jerusalem (Sept., A.D. 70).
Agrippa II. enters into the history of Jerusalem during the procuratorship of Festus, whose services he enlisted against the priests in their building of a wall within the Temple area counter to his heightened Palace (see above). Along with liis sister Bernice he sought in other ways, outwardly at least, to conciliate the Jews. While Bernice performed a vow according to prescribed ritual (BJ II. XV. 1), Agrippa showed some zeal, but little discretion, in matters affecting the Temple. His efforts at mediation upon the outbreak of hostilities were in vain ; he was forced to take sides with Rome, and appears in attendance upon Titus after he assumed the command.
The harrowing details of the last four years pre- ceding the Fall of Jerusalem, the factions, priva- tions, bloodshed, and ruin, lie apart from the history of the Apostolic Church, and are here omitted. At an early stage of the war the Chris- tians escaped to Pella beyond Jordan (Euseb. HE
III. V. 3), where they remained till peace was con- cluded and a return made jjossible. This is usually dated fully half a century later, after the founding of the Roman city JElisu Capitolina in the reign of Hadrian (A.D. 136), but nothing is known for certain beyond the fact of the return (Epiphanius, de Mens, et Pond. xv. [Migne, Pair. Grceca, xliii. col. 261 f.]). Some would date the return as early aa A.D. 73 (see Wilson, Golgotha, p. 54 f. ).