King Herod The Great

Not The Man You Thought He was!

King Herod Was Not

• Slide 1 please

• A Jew

• A “baby killer”

(theory)

• A coward

• The enemy of Israel

King Herod Was

• The best Gentile leader Israel ever had

• A great builder

• A highly intelligent man• A compassionate king

Not a Jew

Slide 2 please

• Let’s look into the fact that Herod was not a Jew…

• The Father of Herod was Antipater, a governor in the region.

Josephus says of him, “An Idumean by race”

• Edomite (Idomeon) Descendant of Esau.

Not a Jew

Slide 3• Herod’s mother was a

Nabatean • Her name was Cypros.• She wasn’t just any

Nabatean either, she was a Nabatean Princess from Petra… the Nabatean capital

Not a Jew

If you click on slide 4, you will see that Nabatea is on the other side of the Dead Sea in present day Jordan

Not a Jew

There’s a lot of Misinformation out there concerning Herod’s ethnicity

• On Answers.com it says “Herod himself never

lived down the charge that he was only a half Jew - and he seems to have spent part of his childhood among the Nabateans.”

Not a Jew

Misinformation• Catholic Encyclopedia

“Antigonus called Herod a half- Jew.”

Antigonus was a Macedonian not a Jew himself.

Not a Jew

• So why all this confusion?• There are two reasons• One is that Herod’s father was a converted Jew.

He wasn’t Jewish by blood, he was a convert. Though he was a convert, he wasn’t one by choice.

Not a Jew

• A Historian by the name of Ptolemy who lived in the first century BC and wrote the “History of King Herod” said that the Idumeans were conquered by the Jews, forced to be circumcised and convert to Judaism.

• Now this is confirmed later by Josephus who tells us that the Hasmonean ruler John Hyrcanus the 1rst did exactly that. He conquered them and forced them to become Jews.

Not a Jew

• So were they really Jews? No. Even the Jews of that time didn’t welcome them as Jews. So if they didn’t why should we?

• Another reason some people think Herod was a Jew was because he married a Jewess. But that’s kind of silly, just because you marry a Jew doesn’t mean you ARE a Jew.

Not a Jew

• So no, Herod was not a Jew!• Why do some want so badly to believe that Herod

was a Jew even after presented with the facts? • Because they want to think he was a Jew. There

are anti-Semites who like to think that Jews are so bad that they even hate their own people.

Not a Jew

• That’s how the whole myth that Hitler was actually a Jew got started. Hitler wasn’t Jewish either

• Find a bad man and you’ll find an anti-Semite trying to prove that the bad man is a Jew. It never fails.

Not a Baby Killer

The StoryMatthew 2:16-18 (King James Version)  Then Herod, when he saw that he was

mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

Not a Baby Killer

Population• Matthew 2:16 Greek

word horios • translated as “coasts” in

the KJV is actually “districts”… plural.

• The Byzantine liturgy had 14,000 “Holy Innocents” and an early Syrian list that states that there were 64,000.

Not a Baby Killer

Population• The world's population

was about 200 million in the time of Jesus' birth.

• If we assume a proportional growth, there would have been about 209,000 people in Palestine at that time. If we guess that the population of Bethlehem and surrounding district

Not a Baby Killer

Continued…

was about one fiftieth the population of Palestine, we arrive at a Bethlehem population of about 4,200.We furthermore assume that the age distribution ranged from zero to about forty. Thus, there would have been about one-twentieth of 4,200,

Not a Baby Killer

Continued…

or about 210 infants and toddlers under two years who would’ve been slashed to death by Herod's swordsmen!

Not a Baby Killer

Sizable Event• Only mentioned once in

Matthew. Not recorded in any of the other Gospels.

• Not mentioned in the rest of the New Testament, not once!

• We have many other writings from that time period….

Not a Baby Killer

Sizable EventSlide 5 please

• Flavious Josephus A.D. 37/38 - Hasmonean historian writing at the time of Yeshua gives detailed, info on Herod.

• His ability to hunt, ride a horse, shoot an arrow,etc. (War 1. 21. 13.).

Not a Baby Killer

Sizable EventSlide 6 pleaseVolumes were written by Josephus! 1. War of the Jews 2. The Antiquities of the Jews 3. Flavius Josephus Against Apion 4. The Life of Flavius Josephus.

Not a Baby Killer

Sizable EventSlide 7 pleaseVolumes were written by Philo! Philo (20 BC - 50 AD),

known also as Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenized Jewish philosopher who represented the Jewish community before the Emperor!

Not a Baby Killer

Sizable Event

Slide 8 pleaseVolumes were written

by Philo!

1. Exposition of the Jewish

Law

2. Apologetical works;

3. Philosophical treatises

Not a Baby Killer

Sizable EventThese were Jews who lived during this time and they wrote nothing of it?Are Jews not good at remembering/recording history?I think we’ve written the best history books!

Not a Baby Killer

So what happened?Is it possible that one of

the scribes copying in

Greek, from the Hebrew

Original, added a little of

his own opinion

concerning Herod?

Not a Baby Killer

So what happened?Slide 9 pleaseThe Jews at that time hated Herod but that has to be taken in context. They despised Herod like I despise Bill Clinton. But better ruled by Bill Clinton then say someone like Yassir Arafat.

Not a Baby Killer

1. The Jews had to pay

high taxes.

2. Herod had a pro Roman

attitude.

3. He wasn’t the ruler they

wanted. They wanted

the Hasmoneans, better

known as the

Maccabees, to rule.

Not a Baby Killer

So is it possible or

even likely that a scribe

would add this little

tidbit? Absolutely!

Not a Baby Killer

This is important because: what we think of Herod

is based largely on this depiction of him as a baby killer. What I’m going to show a little later is that he was the best gentile friend Israel ever had.

Wife Killer?Slide 10 pleaseYes he did kill his wife in 29

B.C. he had his wife, Mariamne, put to death. But why?

Josephus says that he killed her out of jealousy because she committed adultery. Mariamne’s own mother, Alexandra, testified against her, saying it was true.

Wife Killer?

And this was the second time this charge had been put against her. The first time, Herod refused to believe it.

Wife Killer?After her death

Josephus wrote Herod, ‘talked to her as if still alive, until time revealed to him the terrible truth, and filled his heart with grief as passionate as his love had been while she lived.’

Wife Killer?Josephus relates also that

“after her death Herod tried in hunting and banqueting to forget his loss, but that even his strong nature succumbed and he fell ill in Samaria, where he had made Mariamne his wife” ("Ant." xv. 7, § 7).

Wife Killer?

Josephus was a Hasmonean! He hated Herod because Josephus felt that the Hasmoneans were supposed to be in power!

Wife Killer?

Herod loved her so much that upon her insistence, he made her brother High Priest of the Temple.

Wife Killer?

Slide 11 please

The Mariamne tower in Jerusalem, built by Herod, was named after her.

(not the actual tower, but below it)

Wife Killer?In Fact Herod didn’t even

want to put her to death but was only going to imprison her. It was his sister Salome that insisted she be put to death because she thought the people would rebel and try to free her. Herod did finally agree

Good Friend

• Slide 13 please• Marc Anthony• a Roman politician and general.

He was an important supporter of Julius Caesar as a military commander

•Herod met Anthony around 42 bc. Herod was 16 years old when they became friends.

Good Friend

• Herod went with Antony and Caesar, as well as other officials to offer sacrifices (in doing so, Herod was engaging in avodah zerah, idolatry).

• Herod a Jew?

Good Friend

• Slide 14 please

• After Herod became King

• He named the Antonio Fortress after Anthony

Good Friend

• Slide 15 please• Marc Anthony

fell in love with Cleopatra.

• Later, Herod went to visit her and she tried to seduce him! (Antiquity of the Jews 15.4)

Good FriendHerod refused her!This was the woman his best friend was in love with. It was tempting for Herod, all the riches of Egypt at his finger tips. A woman that was worshipped as a god. None could deny her.

Good Friend

Herod did! For the sake of his friend he left her. Cleopatra hated him for this, a woman rejected.

Good Friend

Slide 16 pleaseYears later Anthony went to war against Octavian because Cleopatra convinced him to. Anthony asked for Herod’s help in the war but Herod begged him not to go through with it. Herod, being a great General, knew Anthony would lose

Good Friend

Slide 17 pleaseAfter much pleading from Herod. Anthony left his friend and did it anyway. Anthony lost the battle and then took his own life

Good Friend

Cleopatra did the same.This concludes part 1 of this class please click on link 2 above for the rest of the lecture. Thankyou

Friend to Israel!

Friend to Israel

Herod rebuilt Solomon’s Temple. Some say he restored it, but he actually replaced it stone by stone.

It took 8 years to build.

Herod’s Temple was much larger the Solomon’s Temple

Friend to Israel

Slide 18 pleaseHerod's Temple was one of the biggest construction projects of the first century BC,

Stood for 80 years before it was destroyed

Friend to Israel

Slide 19 pleaseOnly the finest materials were used. Some of the walls were made of a white limestone that made the structure “appear as if it was glowing”.

Friend to Israel

The outer walls were made of Jerusalem stone which at night, when the light is shined on it. They appear golden

Friend to Israel

Slide 20 pleaseJerusalem, City Of Gold.

Friend to Israel

Slide 21 pleaseOther walls were made of white and black marble. Herod was going to overlay them with gold but the priests said not to because it made the walls appear as it they were the “waves of the sea”

Friend to Israel

Slide 22 pleaseOr like this.

Friend to Israel

It was said of Herod’s temple that if a person had not seen it, he had not yet seen a beautiful building.

Friend to Israel

Herod never collected taxes from the donations that were sent to the Temple from Jews in the Diaspora.

Friend to Israel

His Roman counterparts DID collect taxes from outside sources for other temples in the Roman empire.

Friend to Israel

Under Herod, the Jews never had to join the Roman army either!

Friend to IsraelIn countries that were taken captive, most of the men were forced to join the army. Herod went to bat for the Jews and had them disqualified for this. During his reign they never had to fight for Rome

Friend to IsraelSlide 23 pleaseHerod was an Arab, what kind of Arab friends does Israel have today?

Herod’s IllnessSlide 24 pleaseHerod the Great probably expired from chronic kidney disease complicated by Fournier’s gangrene," according to Medical Doctor Jan Hirschmann. Extremely Painful!.

Herod’s Illness

Josephus lists several major features of the disease that caused Herod’s death. He writes…

Herod’s Illness

There was a gentle fever upon him, and an intolerable itching over all the surface of his body, and continual pains in his colon, and dropsical turnouts about his feet, and an inflammation of the abdomen, and a putrefaction of his privy member, that produced worms. Besides which he had a difficulty of breathing upon him, and could not breathe but when he sat upright, and had a convulsion of all his members.Josephus, The Jewish War

Herod’s Illness

It’s hereditary and probably what killed his grandson in Acts 12:21

21On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22They shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man." 23Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

Great Architect

Slide 25 pleaseThis kind of pain would bring on severe paranoia to a leader of that time. A king could not appear weak, if he did, he’d be overthrown and killed. So because of this paranoia he built many fortresses.

Great Architect

Slide 26 pleaseHe built Masada!

Great Architect

Slide 27 pleaseAfter the destruction of the Temple in 70AD many of the Jews fled to Masada to hide out. It took the Romans 3 more years to get into that fortress. You can see on this slide the ramp that the romans built to get into massada

Great Architect

Slide 28 pleaseHerod also built Caesarea!

Great Architect

Slide 29 pleaseHerod built Herodium down by Hebron.

This is a good example of a “tell”

Great Architect

Slide 30 pleaseHe built many amphitheaters and hippodromes.

King Herod

Not a JewNot a baby killer (theory)Now I know some try to accuse me here of challenging the wor of G-d and taking away from the bible and they quote Rev 22:19Let’s look at that passage though

(Rev 22:19) And2532 if1437 any man5100 shall take away851 from575 the3588 words3056 of the book976 of this5026 prophecy,4394 God2316 shall take away851 his846 part3313 out of575 the book976 of life,2222 and2532 out of1537 the3588 holy40 city,4172 and2532 from the things which are written1125 in1722 this5129 book.975

• First of all I’m not challenging the word of G-d I’m challenging the greek translation of the word of G-d.

• Theirs a big difference between challend=ging the bible and a translation of the bible

• Second of all this scripture in revelation doesn’t apply, it didn’t say take away the words of the Bible, it said this book, what book is that? It’;s the book of revelation. It’s not the whole new testament, There was no new tetstament then then., so let’s wise up.

Passionate manGood friendGood friend to IsraelGreat architect

Sources

Nicholas Of DamascusGreek historian and philosopher whose works included a universal history from the time of the Assyrian empire to his own days. Nicholas an intimate friend of Herod the Great, instructed Herod in rhetoric and philosophy. Wrote, “A Life Of Herod”

.

Sources

Mestrius Plutarchus better known in English as Plutarch, was a Greek historian, biographer, and essayist. Plutarch was born to a prominent family in a town about twenty miles east of Delphi.

Sources

Josephus (37 – sometime after 100 AD), who became known, in his capacity as a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus, was a 1st-century Jewish historian and apologist of priestly and royal ancestry who survived and recorded the Destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. His works give an important insight into first-century Judaism.