Slavery was just part of life in ancient times. Many slaves were from defeated kingdoms like Israel. At one point in ancient Rome, more than 80 percent of the people were slaves.
Words to Treasure
In those days, Caesar Augustus made a law. It required that a list be made of everyone in the whole Roman world.
Luke 2:1
Sidney watched the movie on television while eating buttery popcorn. The beautiful horses and chariots raced round and round the track. There were great big chariot crashes, and she wasn’t sure who would win the race — the good guy or the bad Roman guy. Nobody seemed to like the Romans in this movie. Nobody seemed to like the Romans in the Bible either. How come?
Okay, so if everybody hated them, why were the Romans hanging out in Jerusalem and all of Palestine during Jesus’ time? Well, the Roman Empire had the most powerful kingdom-kicking army in the world. In a very short time, Rome had gone from an ordinary city to an empire that ruled most of the known world. Romans fought and took over some kingdoms, but some countries wanted to be part of a powerful empire and joined up. Israel was one of the kingdoms that got conquered or taken over by Rome. Soon the Romans were walking around as if they owned the place and were demanding that the people pay heavy taxes to support the growing Roman Empire. That didn’t go over too well, and everybody was upset and angry with the Romans and thought they were bullies.
Slavery was just part of life in ancient times. Many slaves were from defeated kingdoms like Israel. At one point in ancient Rome, more than 80 percent of the people were slaves.