Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

FROM THE GOSPELS TO JESUS §9.6
The archaeological picture is confirmed by the literary data. Galilean regard
for the Jerusalem Temple is fairly well attested. During the reign of Herod
Antipas (which covers the adult life of Jesus), there are indications that Galileans
were expected to pay tithes and other dues for the priests and Temple, even if in
the event they were notably slack in doing so; 179 according to Mark 1.44 pars,
there were priests in Galilee, who could expect to benefit from the tithes due to
priests. Galilean participation is also attested in the great pilgrim festivals (in Jerusalem):
180 following the death of Herod the Great, Josephus speaks of 'a
countless multitude' from Galilee and elsewhere who flocked into Jerusalem at
Pentecost (War 2.43; Ant. 17.254); later on he notes 'the custom of the Galileans
at the time of a festival to pass through the Samaritan territory on their way to the
holy city' (Ant. 20.118; War 2.232); and the tradition of some Galilean participation
in the pilgrim festivals echoed in Luke 2.41-43 and John 7.10 is no doubt
soundly based. In addition, the reference to Pilate mingling the blood of
Galileans with their sacrifices (Luke 13.1) suggests that at least some Galileans
did participate in the Temple cult; and according to Mark 7.11 and Matt. 5.23-24,
Jesus assumed similar participation for his hearers.
As for Galilean loyalty to the Torah, we need simply note here that Jesus'
own knowledge and use of the Torah presumably imply that schooling in Torah
was practised in Galilee. Some of the issues confronting Jesus were matters of
Torah and Torah interpretation (including sabbath, purity laws, Temple offerings,
and fasting) 181 and imply a similar breadth of concern regarding the law. As attested
by Mark 1.44 pars., the local priests would be responsible for administering
the law. Beyond the Gospel accounts, and over against later rabbinic disdain
for 'the people of the land', we should note Josephus' account of Eleazar, 'who
came from Galilee and who had a reputation for being extemely strict (akribes)
with regard to the ancestral laws' (Ant. 20.43-44). And we should certainly recall
the striking episode occasioned by Caligula's order for a statue of himself to be
erected in the Jerusalem Temple (39-40 CE). It evidently triggered just as vehement
a response among the Galilean peasantry in Tiberias as would have been
the case in Judea, the mass protest before the Roman legate Petronius declaring,
'We will die sooner than violate our laws' (Ant. 18.271-72). 182 The pillars of
Temple, monotheism, and Torah (the second of the ten commandments) were evidently
as deeply embedded in Galilean as in Judean soil.
Does all this mean that the Galileans can be described straightforwardly as
179. Freyne, Galilee 281-87, 294; Horsley, Galilee 142-44.
180. Freyne, Galilee 287-93; Horsley, Galilee 144-47.
181. See further below §14.4.
182. Josephus explicitly notes that the protesters 'neglected their fields, and that, too,
though it was time to sow the seed'. Horsley agrees that this probably indicates a 'peasant
strike' in Galilee (Galilee 71).
296