the romans had an interest in all financial transactions and their faithful
shills kept them informed-----that is why the tax collectors were stationed at
GATES to the cities and in the Temple Courtyard. The Romans were HIGHLY
MOTIVATED to keep Judea and crank out as much money as they could-----they
did not enter Judea because they were interested in the Talmud
nope-----just an avid reader and a logical mind. I had no religious training
as a child-----so my mind as a child was a blank page while I attended "SUNDAY
SCHOOL" as a guest and while I read the ENDLESS "explantory literature" that
floated in the breeze in my VERY CONSERVATIVE EPISCOPALIAN town.
It was bandit territory on the trade route. That's why they closed the gates by dark.