History In The Bible

The rabbis now make their appearance: the heroes ben Zakkai and more Gamaliels than you can shake a stick at. Scholars grudgingly hold they are rebranded Pharisees, but they are willing to change their minds. The Romans diverted the old Temple tithe paid by the diaspora into a new tax, the fiscus Judaicus. As the Romans tried to work who was a Jew, and hence liable for the tax, they accidentally created the first formal distinction between Jews and Christians. We also see the writing of the last apocalypses and testaments.