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King Harod had nine wives, as did hid eldest son. His first wife was Doris, his eldest son was Antipater, son of Doris. Antipater’s first wife was Mariamne which was the Greek version of the name Mary.
Mary was in Greek terminology a virgin, which is interpreted as a young woman, she was fourteen at the time of her marriage into the family of King Herod as the wife of his oldest son Antipater. Mary was the daughter of the High Priest of Jerusalem Temple and prior to one of the most exalted positions in Judea he was Head Rabbi at the temple on the shore of Galilee in the town of Capernaum.
King Herod was more what we would consider a Governor today than a King he reported to the Roman Cesar and took direction from the Cesar and also didn't have complete control over the military as Rome did. But he pretty much had free rein over domestic affairs in Palestine Judea.
There was much turmoil in King Herod’s family the Kings sister Salome had much influence over him and was very influential in the decisions that he made. The King also was married to a Mariamne as a matter of fact to confuse matters there were at least six Mariamne in the king's family so when studying the Herod family this can be a bit confusing. Maria is the Greek shortened version of Mariamne so I will refer to Antipater’s wife as Maria which she was best known as to history.
Antipater spent much time in Rome and was best friends with Caesar Augustus. King Herod had many sons from his nine wives but his favorite son and eldest was Antipater who he decided to have as his successor. This was quite upsetting to Salome who had designs on the throne and her favorite nephew Phillip, eldest son of Mariamne, was someone she had influence over. She spent a great deal of time trying to influence the King in Antipaters absence, while o visits to Rome.
Caesar Augustus also had encouraged the King to select Antipater to succeed him, he endorsed the Kings decision and made a decree that Antipater’s children would be in line for kingship. According to Josephus the first century Roman historian Antipater was appointed as Herods successor and if Antipater should die first the son from the daughter of the High Priest would succeed him. Other sons from other wives of Antipater would only succeed if Mariamne or Maria didn't have any surviving children!!
The Gospel of Matthew states that Magi (usually translated as "wise men") but in this context probably meaning "astronomer" or "astrologer" arrived at the court of Herod in Jerusalem and told the king of a star which signified the birth of the King of the Jews.
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
Herod was "troubled", not because of the appearance of the star, but because the magi told him that a "king of the Jews" had been born, which he understood to refer to the Messiah, a leader of the Jewish people whose coming was believed to be foretold in scripture. So he asked his advisors where the Messiah would be born. They answered Bethlehem, birthplace of King David, and quoted the prophet Micah. The king passed this information along to the magi.
Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also. When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
Historians now consider the birth of Christ to be shortly before the death of Herod, some put it January 6, 4 B.C. Dr. John Parkinson, Dr. David Clark and Dr. Richard Stephenson of the Quarterly Journal, of the Royal Astronomical Society of London suggest that the star of Bethlehem might have been a genuine, but rare, astronomical event that occurred in 5 B.C.
In the contemporary records of Chinese astronomers of the Han dynasty, they found reference to a brilliant star, brighter than any other star or planet in the heavens. It remained visible for three months. The astrologers of the Han dynasty maintained meticulous records of celestial events for astrological purposes, and many of their observations such as the Haley Comet in 12 B.C., can be confirmed by modern calculations.
According to Clark, Parkinson, and Stephenson there could only be one celestial event that would match the Chinese observation: a supernova, a colossal stellar explosion that, if occurring close enough to earth in our own galaxy, would appear suddenly, as if from nowhere, and remain for weeks, as a brilliant point of light visible to the naked eye. In our galaxy there are three known events to have happened in the last thousand years and perhaps a fourth as late as 2011. In 1054, 1572, and 1604 there were recorded supernovas.
Shanghai where the observation was made, is on the same Latitude as Bethlehem. Jesus birthday celebrated on December 25th is not based upon any biblical account, it was set by Caesar Constantine after he established the Catholic Church at the council of Nicaea in 325 B.C.
Matthew's account suggests that the magi knew from the star that the "king of the Jews" had already been born even before they arrived in Jerusalem. The magi presented Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In a “dream”, the magi were warned not to return to Jerusalem, so they "left for their own country by another road". When Herod realized that he had been tricked, he ordered the execution of all male children in Bethlehem age 2 and younger, based on the information the magi had given him concerning the time the star first appeared. Joseph, “warned in a dream”, took his family to Egypt for their safety.
The Gospel links the escape to a verse from scripture, interpreted as a prophecy: "Out of Egypt I called my son." This was a reference to the departure of the Hebrews from Egypt under Moses, so the quote suggests that Matthew saw the life of Jesus as recapitulating the story of the Jewish people, with Judea representing Egypt and Herod standing in for pharaoh. After Herod died, Joseph and his family returned from Egypt, and settled in Nazareth in Galilee.
This is said to be a fulfillment of, "He will be called a Nazorean," a prophecy of unknown origin. The ancients believed that astronomical phenomena were connected to terrestrial events. Miracles were routinely associated with the birth of important people, including the Hebrew patriarchs, as well as Greek and Roman heroes. The Star of Bethlehem is traditionally linked to the Star Prophecy in the Book of Numbers:
Salome immediately set to work to have Antipater indicted in a contrived plot to over throw the king. She did this to disgrace Antipater’s family and have him put to death and clearing the way for Phillip to become the heir of the throne of Judea.
Her chance came when her half-brother Pheroras failed in an attempt to poison the King and poisoned himself instead! With Pheroras dead Salome scribed a letter that would incriminate Antipater in the plot to assassinate the King. The letter was to have been sent to Antipater by his close friend Antiphilus, a high ranking civil servant in Eqypt. In this letter the entire plot was detailed.
Herod was quite sick and mentally deranged during this time suffering from paranoia from a disease that Josephus describes as distemper. Salome had little difficulty persuading Herod that the letter was genuine.
Antipater was in Rome spending time with his friend Caesar Augustus during this time and he received notice to return to Jerusalem immediately, but was unaware of the pending situation. Antipater arrived back in Jerusalem only to find himself arrested and thrown in jail. Although the Prince denied the accusations he confessed under brutal torture!
Salome was delighted but warned Herod not to execute him immediately but to gather more evidence because of his friendship with Caesar Augustus. Salome knew because of Caesar Augustus’s decree that Maria had to also be implicated.
Salome then had King Herod arrest his wife Doris and under torture she also confessed and implicated Maria in the plot. Before Maria could be arrested the situation came to the attention of the Governor of Syria who was an envoy of Caesar Augustus and was in Jerusalem at the time. Governor Quintilius Vara was the Roman commander of the military in the Eastern Medeterainian. And had control of the military in Judea and not King Herod.
Governor Quintilius Vara was immediately suspicious of the whole affair and wanted to personally investigate. King Herod flew into a rage and had Doris immediately removed from the palace so that the governor couldn't interview her and had Antipater immediately executed.
Governor Quintilius Vara immediately tried to contact Caesar Augustus and have King Herod removed but the time delay in that time was devastating. King Herod then raised the eagle effigy in the Jerusalem Temple in hopes of pleasing the Caesar in case he held him accountable for Antipater’s execution.
The priests of the Temple revolted and led a furious mob of the faithful that tore down the idol and Herod had them burnt alive. He then had high priest Mathias arrested and tortured to try to learn the location of his daughter Maria who had just given birth and was at an undisclosed location in hiding from the King.
Mathias did not know the location or did not give it up under torture he was eventually executed. All of this took place in the early weeks of 4 BC.
The bloody purge was next to follow that is known to history as the slaughter of the innocents. If Augustus knew that the son of Maria had survived he would have made him King.
It is very important to understand a few things about Jesus parents and Jewish law at this point to understand events that happened during his ministry and events surrounding the crucifixion.
First it is important to understand that Jesus came from an important aristocratic family in Capernaum. Jesus grandfather Mathias was the religious leader of Galilee which was a hotbed for zealots. Jesus was accepted as a religious leader in this area and had credibility and respect of the inhabitants of the area. Although he lived in Nazareth he frequently visited Capernaum and preached at his grandfather’s synagogue. Jesus through his mother, Maria and Grandfather High priest Mathias was of the house of David, a requirement, that the first and second messiah, need to meet.
It’s important to understand that Jesus was considered a Zealot, as were most of the people in Galilee and the Romans considered zealots to be the equivalent of modern day terrorists, their biggest crime is their refusal to pay taxes, which in itself is a death penalty in the Roman Empire, their absolute desire to undermine the Roman Empire and form a break away nation.
Some believe that there is a fine line in between the Essenes of Qumran and the Zealots. They believed in community rule, they wouldn't admit women or people with any sort of handicap. They were taught to hate their enemies, and their enemies were anyone who wasn't on page with them. They wanted to slay all Romans, they believed that the end was eminent and the end would be a final battle between the sons of light and the sons of darkness. They believed that the second messiah would not only be the King of the Jews but a holy man and a warrior also who would lead the fight against the sons of darkness.
It was thought that John the Baptist was the first Messiah and that Jesus was the second messiah. It is felt that the three wise men that visited King Herod and told him of the birth of the “King of the Jews” were Essenes from the Qumran. It is felt that both John the Baptist and Jesus were initially schooled by the Essenes and then broke away from them and started their own ministries. This is where they were during the mystery years.
However in Jesus ministry things were drastically different he preached love, turning away from violence he accepted women as equals as he did the gentiles and pagans---I will take a break before I continue with Jesus birth and short lived life
captej
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