Do Not Be Overcome

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” – Romans 12:21 In the northwestern corner of the ancient temple was a castle-like building called the Antonia Fortress, which was built by Herod the Great to protect the area and was therefore the seat Roman power in the region. During the time of the Jewish Passover, the fortress was on high alert because, although Jerusalem had about 200,000 people on a normal day, when the celebration commenced, there were as many as two and a half million within its walls. The reason for this surge in population was that the law stated that any family who lived within twenty miles of Jerusalem had to come to the city to pay the temple tax during Passover, and they typically sent a young male member of the household to represent them. Consequently, during these weeks, the area was overrun by