When the Lord put Claudia on my heart, I was puzzled. She was the wife of Pontius Pilate and appears in one sentence in the New Testament. She writes a note to her husband asking him not to have anything to do with ‘that just man’ (Jesus) as she had suffered many things in a dream because of Him. Obviously, Pilate could not comply with her request and reading the Gospels; we know what he had to do. I thought it was interesting that Pilate tried four times to release Jesus, until the Jewish leaders played their trump card…they threatened to report him to Caesar. He had already made several mistakes and another negative report at this time could cost him not only his position as Prefect, but on the whim of the emperor, could cost him everything he had, including his life. He was placed between the proverbial rock and hard place with no choice—his family, job, and everything he owned, against this strange Rabbi.
When I was asked in a workshop how I could write a whole book about a woman who appears only once in the Bible, I told them, ‘this is where your research comes in.’ Who was she? Well, her mother was the promiscuous daughter of Caesar Augustus. Promiscuous was an understatement for what she was doing. Married at 14, widowed at 16, married to a man almost 30 years her senior, mother of five children, most of whom she didn’t see much of. When he died or was killed (one didn’t know in Roman times) Caesar wanted to marry her to Tiberius, who was to succeed him. Only one problem…Tiberius was happily married with a child and is now ordered by the Emperor to divorce his wife and marry the emperor’s daughter, Julia! One didn’t refuse the emperor; it was bad for your health. Yet, it set the wheels in motion for some serious consequences.
Next week: Revenge
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