What was the religious structure of Palestine during the time of Jesus?

Answer 1

Jerusalem and much of inland Judea were almost entirely Jewish, although there was an Asclepium, a temple to the Greek god Asclepius outside the city - this is mentioned in John's Gospel, where Jesus was said to heal the man who was too lame to enter the pool whenever Asclepius passed by and disturbed the water.

The coastal cities of Judea, such as Caesarea Maritima were essentially pagan, but the coastal villages might have been predominantly Jewish.

Galilee also seems to have had a large Jewish population in the early part of the first century, largely as a result of forced conversions during the Maccabee invasions. The major cities were probably pagan, and a cache of coins found at Mount Carmel in 1960, probably belonged to a pagan. After the Second Roman-Jewish War, the Jewish population of Galilee expanded considerably.

Samaria followed a variant of monotheistic Judaism. This must have come to the people from ancient Judah, but the Samarians rejected biblical material that glorified the Kingdom of Judah.

Answer 2

Two thousand years ago, the Temple still stood. The High priest was a person of some importance and power.

The Sanhedrin (Jewish high court) was the final authority on Torah matters; it was headed by the Av Beth Din and the Nasi. The Nasi was descended from King David, as was the Jewish Exilarch in Babylonia. All of these people had considerable power among the Jewish community. In addition, there were lesser Sanhedrins in every large town.

The Jewish sages were at a peak of activity at that time; throughout the land there were hundreds, if not thousands of Batei Midrash (houses of study), headed by great sages such as Hillel, who was alive at that time. The Mishna records many names of sages from that generation. Every one of their students, and even their students' students, simultaneously had their smaller local synagogues and Batei Midrash where they taught the common folk.

The sages and their adherents and followers made up some 80 to 90% of the population.

Even the unlearned people, and the troublemakers, were nonetheless obedient to the sages and the majority, at least outwardly.