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                  JEWS' REACTION TO HEROD'S RULE                             
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   Imagine how the Jews reacted to this inglorious catalogue of crimes!      
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Apart from the various crimes he committed he also did some good, though. He 
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tried to ingratiate himself with his subjects by reconstructing the Temple   
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in Jerusalem in the orthodox Jewish style of building. At the same time he   
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erected or improved other buildings in the Greek and Roman style, which of-  
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fended his people greatly. In Jerusalem he build a hyppodrome, a stadium for 
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gladiatoral shows and entertainments which were not favoured by the Jews.    
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   Herod's rule was not endured without resistance. He had tried hard to     
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crush the influence of the Pharisees, the upholders of Jewish law, by encou- 
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raging the Sadducees, even choosing the members of the Sadducee Sanhedrin.   
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For a while the Pharisees were cowed, but sometime after 30 B.C. Hilel, who  
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probably came from the Jewish community in Mesopotamia, was elected head of  
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a new Pharisee Sanhedrin. This was a signal event for the Jews.              
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   Hilel became involved in endless arguments and discourses with Herod's    
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administration; he did not succeed to deflect the king from his chosen path, 
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but inspired the Jews with a desire to achieve unity.                        
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