To fully understand what living in Israel was like during Jesus day and most of the rest of the 1st Century, understanding the power structure helps us under stand the scriptures. The Roman Procreator was of course the ultimate decision maker, he shared power with the Jewish Sanhedren, the Sanhedrin was like a Senate and they had power to judge any breaking of Mosaic Law, including a death sentence. The nexr most powerful sect was the Sadducees, and then it was the Pharisees, there was also a sect that wanted to rebell and throw off the Roman Government and after them came the Nazarenes, ( the early Church ), now the Pharisees are the ones that were always trying to trip up Jesus with questions about the law. The group that had the real power was the Sadducees, they included the High Preist, who was appointed by the Romans, they also had men]mbers of the Sanhedren that belonged to the Sadducees Sect. The sadducees believed just about the opposite of what Jesus was teaching and the growing Church was becoming a big problem for them, they didn’t believe in life after death, or Angels, just look at the opposite to what the Christians believed and you found a Saduccee. now we will move on to James the just.
James was the oldest half brother of Jesus and we can certainly see James growing up with Jesus and proably working with him in their business trade, James was called the just, because he ws a very strict obeyer of the Mosaic Law. After Jesus was annointed by the Holy Spirit and stod up in their Synagogue and basically declared, he was the Messiah, James and the rest of the family didn’t believe him. After Jesus rose from the dead, he visited James, noone knows what was said, but after the risen visit from Jesus, James becam a fervent believer in his half brothers being the Messiah. James became an active participant in the Jerusalem Church. now we don’t know how big the Chusrch was but we do know there were many that believed because of Peter’s sermon after the out pouring of the Holy Spirit, so my assumpton is that it was very large in attendance and we must remember there were many miracles and new converts in the early Church, those men had tremendous faith as some had seen the risen LORD and the Apostles had watched him rise to the Heavens. After Peter had begun his missioary journeys, James become the leader of the Jerusalem Church, James was istrumental in letting the Gentiles in and not forcing them to be in obedience to Mosaic Law. Evidently the Jews still practised Mosiac Law and accepted Jesus as the Messiah, James was the leader of the church until 62 AD and Paul said, James, John and Peter were the bed rock of the early Church. In AD 62 James was pulled before the Sanhedrin and accussed of breaking the law, they accussed the man that was called James the just, who lived his life by the law, he was convicted by the Sanhedrn and sentenced to death. They sentenced a man to death that had calousis on his knees from the amount of time he was on his knees in prayer ( kind of like a Camel )
This is how it came about, the procreator of Israel had died and the new one, appointed by the Roman Ruler was not yet in Israel The High Preist appointed by the Roman Government was Ananus ben Ananus, the son of the High Preist Ananus, he was a true sadducess, he went to the Sanhedren and accussed James and a few others of breaking the law, probably because his doctrine was against his but that is an assumption. Josephus said that James was stoned to death, later Church Member said he was thrown off, the highest place on the Temple and it didn’t kill him, so they finished killing him with clubs. here were so many people protesting this to King Agrippa and the new Roman Procrutor, that he was demoted from High Preist after just serving for three months, the people said it was not lawful the way he got the Trial in the Sanhedrin, this was in ad 62 and many Christians thought the destruction of the Temple in AD 70 was God’s Judgement for this act, Most of the early Christians had tremendous faith as many had seen the risen LORD and a few had watched as he arose to Heaven, we can also have that kind of faith as we learn of the Historical Physical evidence that the Bible is a true revealer of past people and actions and if we obey the Holy Spirit. The physival evidenc is an Ossuary that has Aramiac on the side, the inscription reads James son of Joseph brother of Jesus, how can anyone doubt the eternal word of God in the face of this amazing physical and Historical evidence, do so at your own peril.