Who really was King Herod the Great? What the story of the Christmas villain says

He King Herod This will sound familiar to anyone who has heard the Christmas story. King of Judea at the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the ruler attempts to find and kill the baby after hearing that the The “King of the Jews” has just been born.

Deceived by the wise men, the wise men whom Herod had sent to determine the child’s whereabouts, a furious Herod decreed that all children under the age of 2 living near Bethlehem should be killed . The Gospel of Matthew contains the famous story of this “massacre of the innocents” and the flight of Mary, Joseph and Jesus to Egypt.

With curiosity, The story of King Herod is not found in any other biblical text or Roman document. . However, it is fundamental in the Gospel of Matthew, which contrasts the mission of Herod, death, with that of the child Jesus, life.

Afterwards, Who was the real King Herod and why did Matthew’s Gospel include him?

I am a scholar who studies interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew as well as the Jewish roots of Christianity . Historians in the field know a lot about Herod’s life and the actual events are somewhat surprising.

Writers love the Jewish historian Josephus , who fought against Roman rule in the 1st century AD before allying with Rome , provided detailed accounts of the events of Herod. Additionally, modern archaeologists have excavated many sites associated with it, including the possible location of Herod’s tomb .

According to historical accounts, Herod the Great was the regional king of Judea which contained the cities of Bethlehem and Jerusalem. He ruled from around 37 BC. C. until his death in the year 4 BC. VS., at a time when Judea was still under Roman influence. Most scholars believe that Jesus was born between 6 and 4 a.m. vs. , during the reign of Herod, as indicated in the Gospel of Matthew.

Since Rome appointed Herod to rule Judea, a region with a Jewish majority, He was literally “the king of the Jews”. However, it is possible that Herod was not Jewish at all, at least by birth.

He probably came from the area known as Idumea in the south. Herod’s father was probably forced to convert to Judaism as scholars believe many Idumeans were, while his mother was an arab princess . However, as Josephus points out, the two groups mixed quite a bit, and some Idumeans, including perhaps his father, They voluntarily adopted Jewish customs.

Josephus even states that Herod was fundamentally Jewish, although it is likely that many of Judea’s native Jews would have been skeptical of their king’s claims that he was truly Jewish. And they would have seen him as a stranger , especially if he comes from Idumea. However, Josephus indicates that Herod would ally with Roman leaders as long as he deemed it prudent.

Herod the Great proved to be a skillful builder, responsible for the planning and construction of projects such as the city of Herodium; the extravagant port from Caesarea Maritima , on the Mediterranean coast; And the mountain fortress of Masada which was located in the middle of the unforgiving desert near the Dead Sea.

The most famous, perhaps, was the reconstruction and expansion of the Jewish temple complex in Jerusalem by part of Herod. This project alone took decades. Herod’s renovated temple was a much larger structure than Solomon’s original temple, built about a thousand years earlier. Josephus noted that It looked like a white mountain covered in snow. that is to say the parts which were not covered with gold.

Whether Herod was actually Jewish or not, contributed to the preservation of Judaism. He succeeded in exempting Jews from service in the Roman army and from the obligation to devote themselves to the worship of the emperor, thus preserving their ability practicing Judaism in relative peace .

Herod also proved to be a brilliant economic strategist who greatly increased the wealth of Judea by engaging in ventures such as international trade, which included the sale of balsam wood and copper. Financial contribution to national and international efforts, including Olympic Games and it is said that even prevented a regional famine .

However, Herod’s sinister reputation as a tyrant was probably well deserved.

Constantly fearing rebellion, he executed anyone he considered a threat to his rule, including his first wife and three of his children. Additionally, it was reported that there were excessively taxed his voters to help support their economic programs.

There is no historical record of any “massacre of innocents”; even the tyrannical Herod probably never tolerated such action.

If this were the case, Why does the Gospel of Matthew mention King Herod so prominently in the story of Jesus’ birth?

Matthew’s version is considered the most Jewish of the Gospels , the four biblical stories of the life of Jesus in the New Testament; For example, he recommends respect for Jewish laws . In other words, The Gospel of Matthew was probably written by Jews for a predominantly Jewish audience in the late 1st century AD. when the Christian movement was still in its infancy.

Matthew’s audience must have been familiar with existing Hebrew scriptures, including the famous story of Moses’ childhood, when he escaped Pharaoh’s edict. kill all the newborns of his Hebrew slaves. Biblical scholars have argued that the Gospel of Matthew intentionally compared Jesus to Moses, who saved the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery, to convince its target audience that Jesus was also a long-awaited savior.

To reinforce the similarities between Jesus and Moses, according to this argument, the authors of Matthew had Herod threaten Jesus in the same way that Pharaoh threatened the Hebrew children. Matthew’s Jewish audience would have made the connection between the two stories, in which good ultimately triumphs over evil. The Gospel story further vilifies Herod, whose son, also called King Herod or Herod Antipas , reigned at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion around 30 AD

Herod may have been a splendid builder and an intelligent economist… and technically the “King of the Jews”. But in the eyes of the evangelical authors, it is Jesus who is really I deserved this title .