At the time of Jesus, the Holy (1)___________________ Land was ruled by the (2)___________________ Romans. The Romans did many good things for the country, but they also took a lot of (3)___________________ money in taxes. The Jewish people wanted to run their own (4)___________________ country: they did not like the Romans.

The Romans let Herod the Great rule over Palestine for them. He was king when (5)___________________ Jesus was born. When he died, the country was split between his three sons: Herod Archelaus, Philip, and Herod Antipas. Herod Archelaus was so (6)___________________ bad, that the Romans got rid of him and put (7)___________________ Pontius Pilate in his place, to be procurator (governor).

One group of Jews, the Herodians, thought that the family of (8)__________________ Herod was the best hope for the Jewish people.

The (9)___________________ Romans employed Tax (10)___________________ Collectors to collect money from the people they ruled. The Jews (11)___________________ hated Tax Collectors, firstly because they took their money, secondly because they (12)___________________ cheated, and thirdly because they helped the Romans.

Zealots were (13)___________________ Jews who thought the best thing to do was to get rid of the Romans by (14)___________________ fighting against them. They caused a lot of (15)___________________ trouble. In some ways, they were like (16)___________________ terrorists.

Samaritans were a (17)___________________ group of people who lived in part of (18)___________________ Palestine called Samaria. They were very like the (19)___________________ Jews in many ways, but the Jews hated them and (20)___________________ they hated the Jews.

Scribes, sometimes called ‘(21)___________________ teachers of the law’ were people who had (22)___________________ studied the Jewish law and tried to teach how (23)___________________ God’s law should be kept. They were (24)___________________ experts.

Sadducees were wealthy, (25)___________________ upper-class Jewish people who ran the (26)___________________ Temple and the Jewish religion. The believed in the Law of (27)___________________ Moses, but they did not believe in other teachings, as the Pharisees did. For instance, the Sadducees did not (28)___________________ believe in Resurrection.

The Pharisees were a group of (29)___________________ scribes who tried to make the Jewish law easier for people to keep. However, they often made it even more (30)___________________ complicated because they added on more and more (31)___________________ rules.

The Essenes are not mentioned in the (32)___________________ New Testament, but we know about them from the (33)___________________ Dead Sea Scrolls. They were a religious group who lived (34)___________________ together by the Dead Sea.

The Sanhedrin is the name given to the (35)___________________ Council of the Jewish people. The (36)___________________ Romans let it run many things - especially religious matters - for the Jews. They were not allowed to pass a (37)___________________ death sentence.