By isolating Jesus from the historical times in which he lived, is to see him outside the context of the reality that he was. this is a compilation of many historical and religious scholars.
Herod the Great was the Roman backed King of Judea from 37 BC , to when he died at Jericho in March or April of the year of 4 BC following an unsuccessful suicide attempt shortly after the big riots in which so many families lost their lives, in which riots the magnificent Hellenistic city of Sepphorus suffered extensive damage around the same time that Herod had ordered the slaughter of all the boys who were two years and below in the district of Northern Bethlehem, Nazareth and Sepphorus, where Jesus, who had been born in southern Bethlehem over a year earlier, then lived with his mother Mary and her husband Joseph the son of Jacob, who was the step father of Jesus. This Joseph whose genealogy is recorded in Matthew, should not be confused with the Joseph, who is the son of Heli, who is also the father of Mary. See the Genealogy recorded in Luke 3: 23, which is not that of Joseph the son of Jacob who had descended from Solomon the son of David and Bath-Sheba.
Although a practicing Jew, Herod was an Arab, the son of an Edomite named Antipater and whose mother was the daughter of a nobleman from Petra the capital of the rising Nabataean Kingdom. In 63 BC, Antipater sided with Rome when Pompey invaded Palestine and in 47 BC Julius Caesar whose mistress Cleopatra was to later bear to him a son Caesarion, appointed Antipater procurator of Judea and bestowed Roman citizenship upon him, an honour that was inherited by Herod the Great and his sons.
At the age of 16, Herod met his life long friend Mark Antony to who, in the year of 40 BC, on the 25TH December (An important date to remember) Cleopatra bore to Mark Antony, the twins whose names are Cleopatra Selene (Moon) and Alexander Helios (Sun) or Heli.
In 37 BC, the Roman senate nominated Herod as the King of Judea, a position he held for 32 years. Even after the defeat by Octavian, (who was to be known as the Emperor Augustus,) over his good friend Mark Antony at Actium (A promontory and ancient town of western Greece the ancient Hittite nation) in 31 BC in their struggle for the throne of the assassinated Julius Caesar. Octavian who knew of Herods love and earlier support for his now deceased friend Mark Antony, never the less knew that Herod was the one who would best rule Palestine as he himself would want it to be ruled, and Herod and Augustus were to later become close friends.
During his reign, Herod the Great built many massive fortresses and splendid cities, amphitheatres, and hippodromes for the Grecian games inaugurated in honour of Augustus, but his most grandiose creation was the Temple in Jerusalem, which he wholly built from the cornerstone up. Not only did he patronize the Olympic games, as did his sons, he was to become the president of those games, which, after his death continued to enjoy the support of his sons, Archelaus, Antipas and his brother Philip from Bethsaida, who was very popular and accessible to the Greeks, who came looking for Jesus.
Tetrarch, in Greek, means Ruler of a quarter, I wonder who the fourth Tetrarch of Israel was? Nathanael who was introduced to Jesus by Phillip, lived in the town of Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle at the insistence of his mother, who it would appear, had some hand in the organization of the wedding.
Herods descendants were not only the temporal rulers, but also the spiritual rulers of Palestine, or parts thereof during the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus. In his youth, Herod had married a woman named Doris, the mother of his first born son Antipater who he later disinherited and killed.
Because he was an Idumaean and hated by the Jews, he attempted to appease them by marrying a Jewess, Mariamne a descendant of the Maccabees family of Jewish patriots, whom he actually loved. Mariamne, who had insisted that her brother be appointed high priest, was the daughter of Salome=Alexandra an heir from the old ruling Hasmonaean line and she is not to be confused with the niece of Herod Antipas, whose name is thought to be Salome, the daughter of Herodias the wife of Philip 1, who is considered by some scholars to be one and the same as Philip of Bethsaida, the half brother to Herod Antipas.
With the support of the Queen of Egypt Cleopatra, a close friend of the Jewess Salome/ Alexandra, (the should have been queen) of the Hasmonaean line which was defeated by Pompey, Salome attempted to have Herod ousted in favour of her grand sons, finally Herod the Great, had Mariamne, her brother and her two sons, plus her mother and grand father all killed, although one of Mariamnes grand sons, Herod Agrippa 1 survived to rule in Palestine from about the late 41 AD to 44 AD.
According to the Encyclopaedia Britt, Philip the son of Herod the Great was born in 20 BC of a young woman by the name of Cleopatra not Cleopatra the Queen of Egypt who died in 30 BC, 10 years after the birth of her twins, and 20 years before the birth of Philip who was about 14 years older than Jesus who was born around 6 BC as the grandson of Heli, and the son of Mary from the tribe of Levi (Moses) whose cousin was Elizabeth, of the daughters of Levi.
Philip was given control of southern Lebanon and modern Syria, to the east of the Lake Galilee and Philip was a model ruler of whom almost nothing is known except for the fact that he ruled (throughout the life of Jesus) the district in which Jesus spent much of his ministerial time, and in which he worked most of his miracles. Matthew 11: 20-21, The people in the towns where Jesus performed MOST of his MIGHTY MIRACLES, did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns on the eastern side of the lake, How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida etc. It was out side the walls of Bethsaida Julias that had been rebuilt by Philip in 2 BC that Jesus healed a blind man, See Mark 8: 22-26......... To Be Continued
Herod the Great was the Roman backed King of Judea from 37 BC , to when he died at Jericho in March or April of the year of 4 BC following an unsuccessful suicide attempt shortly after the big riots in which so many families lost their lives, in which riots the magnificent Hellenistic city of Sepphorus suffered extensive damage around the same time that Herod had ordered the slaughter of all the boys who were two years and below in the district of Northern Bethlehem, Nazareth and Sepphorus, where Jesus, who had been born in southern Bethlehem over a year earlier, then lived with his mother Mary and her husband Joseph the son of Jacob, who was the step father of Jesus. This Joseph whose genealogy is recorded in Matthew, should not be confused with the Joseph, who is the son of Heli, who is also the father of Mary. See the Genealogy recorded in Luke 3: 23, which is not that of Joseph the son of Jacob who had descended from Solomon the son of David and Bath-Sheba.
Although a practicing Jew, Herod was an Arab, the son of an Edomite named Antipater and whose mother was the daughter of a nobleman from Petra the capital of the rising Nabataean Kingdom. In 63 BC, Antipater sided with Rome when Pompey invaded Palestine and in 47 BC Julius Caesar whose mistress Cleopatra was to later bear to him a son Caesarion, appointed Antipater procurator of Judea and bestowed Roman citizenship upon him, an honour that was inherited by Herod the Great and his sons.
At the age of 16, Herod met his life long friend Mark Antony to who, in the year of 40 BC, on the 25TH December (An important date to remember) Cleopatra bore to Mark Antony, the twins whose names are Cleopatra Selene (Moon) and Alexander Helios (Sun) or Heli.
In 37 BC, the Roman senate nominated Herod as the King of Judea, a position he held for 32 years. Even after the defeat by Octavian, (who was to be known as the Emperor Augustus,) over his good friend Mark Antony at Actium (A promontory and ancient town of western Greece the ancient Hittite nation) in 31 BC in their struggle for the throne of the assassinated Julius Caesar. Octavian who knew of Herods love and earlier support for his now deceased friend Mark Antony, never the less knew that Herod was the one who would best rule Palestine as he himself would want it to be ruled, and Herod and Augustus were to later become close friends.
During his reign, Herod the Great built many massive fortresses and splendid cities, amphitheatres, and hippodromes for the Grecian games inaugurated in honour of Augustus, but his most grandiose creation was the Temple in Jerusalem, which he wholly built from the cornerstone up. Not only did he patronize the Olympic games, as did his sons, he was to become the president of those games, which, after his death continued to enjoy the support of his sons, Archelaus, Antipas and his brother Philip from Bethsaida, who was very popular and accessible to the Greeks, who came looking for Jesus.
Tetrarch, in Greek, means Ruler of a quarter, I wonder who the fourth Tetrarch of Israel was? Nathanael who was introduced to Jesus by Phillip, lived in the town of Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle at the insistence of his mother, who it would appear, had some hand in the organization of the wedding.
Herods descendants were not only the temporal rulers, but also the spiritual rulers of Palestine, or parts thereof during the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus. In his youth, Herod had married a woman named Doris, the mother of his first born son Antipater who he later disinherited and killed.
Because he was an Idumaean and hated by the Jews, he attempted to appease them by marrying a Jewess, Mariamne a descendant of the Maccabees family of Jewish patriots, whom he actually loved. Mariamne, who had insisted that her brother be appointed high priest, was the daughter of Salome=Alexandra an heir from the old ruling Hasmonaean line and she is not to be confused with the niece of Herod Antipas, whose name is thought to be Salome, the daughter of Herodias the wife of Philip 1, who is considered by some scholars to be one and the same as Philip of Bethsaida, the half brother to Herod Antipas.
With the support of the Queen of Egypt Cleopatra, a close friend of the Jewess Salome/ Alexandra, (the should have been queen) of the Hasmonaean line which was defeated by Pompey, Salome attempted to have Herod ousted in favour of her grand sons, finally Herod the Great, had Mariamne, her brother and her two sons, plus her mother and grand father all killed, although one of Mariamnes grand sons, Herod Agrippa 1 survived to rule in Palestine from about the late 41 AD to 44 AD.
According to the Encyclopaedia Britt, Philip the son of Herod the Great was born in 20 BC of a young woman by the name of Cleopatra not Cleopatra the Queen of Egypt who died in 30 BC, 10 years after the birth of her twins, and 20 years before the birth of Philip who was about 14 years older than Jesus who was born around 6 BC as the grandson of Heli, and the son of Mary from the tribe of Levi (Moses) whose cousin was Elizabeth, of the daughters of Levi.
Philip was given control of southern Lebanon and modern Syria, to the east of the Lake Galilee and Philip was a model ruler of whom almost nothing is known except for the fact that he ruled (throughout the life of Jesus) the district in which Jesus spent much of his ministerial time, and in which he worked most of his miracles. Matthew 11: 20-21, The people in the towns where Jesus performed MOST of his MIGHTY MIRACLES, did not turn from their sins, so he reproached those towns on the eastern side of the lake, How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you too, Bethsaida etc. It was out side the walls of Bethsaida Julias that had been rebuilt by Philip in 2 BC that Jesus healed a blind man, See Mark 8: 22-26......... To Be Continued