Spying in the Bible 24 - 52 BC to 2 BC

Rome vs. Egypt

Cleopatra VII Philopator, now known simply as Cleopatra, was the last Pharaoh of the Ptolemaic dynasty and of all ancient Egpyt. She took the throne at age seventeen along with her twelve year old brother, Ptolemy XIII in c. 52 BC. She soon dropped her brother as co-ruler and took it for herself. A few years later he rebelled and took Egypt solely for himself, sending her into exile. Cleopatra then became the lover of the Roman General, Julius Caesar and they formed an alliance. General Pompey and the Alexandrians also formed an alliance, and the two generals went to war. In c. 49 BC, Julius Caesar crossed Rubicon and become the Roman dictator after defeating Pompey and the Alexandrians. During the war Ptolemy XIII died, making Cleopatra queen of Egypt again. Two years later, Julius Caesar and Cleopatra had a son Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar (Caesarion), who was the heir to both Rome and Egypt.

In c. 44 BC Brutus assassinated Julius Caesar, who had adopted his great nephew Gaius Octavius Thurinus in his will, which made Octavian the new heir to Rome and his name became Gaius Julius Caesar. However, his accession was disputed by Brutus and his cohort Cassus. The next year, Antipater died and his son Herod was named tetrarch of Judaea, as well as Galilee. In c. 42 BC Octavian with the help of his general Marc Antony, claimed Rome by defeating Brutus and Cassus. Soon after, Herod was named local king of Judaea by Octavian. Marc Antony and Cleopatra then formed an alliance and became lovers.

In c. 33 BC, Antony had a falling out with Octavian who feared the Egyptian alliance and civil war in Rome. Two years later, Antony and the Egyptians had their victory at Actium, but a year after that Egypt was under siege by Rome and Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, leaving Caesarion as the ruler of Egypt. Octavian then had Caesarian killed to claim the throne of Egypt, which Rome would rule for the almost the next seven centuries. Octavian then solidified his power and became the first Emperor of Rome in 27 BC taking the name Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus.

While Herod the Great was the local king, he began adopting many of the Roman practices, which were against Jewish custom. He instituted regular festivals honoring Ceasar and built an amphitheater for Roman plays to be performed. In his Antiquities of the Jews, Book 15, Chapter 8, Josephus states how Herod began practicing Roman customs and spending massive amounts of money, “out of an ambition that he might give most public demonstration of his grandeur.” The Jewish populous began resenting this and opposing Herod. Herod then instituted a network of spies within his kingdom to discover any plots against him. Eventually a true cloak and dagger assassination conspiracy against him was formed (reference of Josephus here).

“[T]en men that were citizens [of Jerusalem] conspired together against him, and swore to one another to undergo any dangers in the attempt, and took daggers with them under their garments [for the purpose of killing Herod].... When they had taken this resolution, and that by common consent, they went into the theater, hoping that, in the first place, Herod himself could not escape them, as they should fall upon him so unexpectedly; and supposing, however, that if they missed him, they should kill a great many of those that were about him.

However, the plot was discovered by a spy who reported it to Herod and so it was stopped before he was assassinated.

...but there was one of those spies of Herod, that were appointed for such purposes, to fish out and inform him of any conspiracies that should be made against him, who found out the whole affair, and told the king of it, as he was about to go into the theater. So when he reflected on the hatred which he knew the greatest part of the people bore him, and on the disturbances that arose upon every occasion, he thought this plot against him not to be improbable. Accordingly, he retired into his palace, and called those that were accused of this conspiracy before him by their several names; and as, upon the guards falling upon them, they were caught in the very fact...

When the people, who had no great love for Herod, found out that the would-be assassins had been killed by Herod, they found and killed the spy who had reported them. The people would have seen the spy as one who betrayed his own people. Herod, knowing the value of his spies, and not wanting an all-out revolt, made an example out of the people who killed the spy by killing them and their entire families.

Nor was it long before that spy who had discovered them was seized on by some of the people, out of the hatred they bore to him; and was not only slain by them, but pulled to pieces, limb from limb, and given to the dogs. This execution was seen by many of the citizens, yet would not one of them discover the doers of it, till upon Herod's making a strict scrutiny after them, by bitter and severe tortures, certain women that were tortured confessed what they had seen done; the authors of which fact were so terribly punished by the king, that their entire families were destroyed for this their rash attempt.

After the assassination attempt Herod became very paranoid and had the city and his palace fortified. He also increased the number of spies and even spied on the populous himself sometimes.

[B]ut he still strengthened himself after a more secure manner, and resolved to encompass the multitude every way, lest such innovations should end in an open rebellion....

[H]e always was inventing somewhat further for his own security, and encompassing the whole nation with guards, that they might by no means get from under his power, nor fall into tumults, which they did continually upon any small commotion; and that if they did make any commotions, he might know of it, while some of his spies might be upon them from the neighborhood, and might both be able to know what they were attempting, and to prevent it....

[A]nd there were spies set everywhere, both in the city and in the roads, who watched those that met together; nay, it is reported that he did not himself neglect this part of caution, but that he would oftentimes himself take the habit of a private man, and mix among the multitude, in the night time, and make trial what opinion they had of his government.

It was in this atmosphere of a paranoid king Herod the Great that Jesus was born, so it is little wonder that Herod sent the Wise Men to spy on Jesus, when they told him that a new “King of the Jews” had been born.