2007, the Hebrew University of jerusalem archaeologists cause a sensation when they reveal the discovery of a sarcophagus. With a breaking story from 2000 years ago fragments of what could be the most important archaeological find in the middle east what may be the tomb of the ancient king, herod. Eight feet long and made of a rare pink limestone, this sarcophagus is beautifully carved and polished so meticulously, it resembled marble. Well, finding any kings tomb is big, but finding the tomb of king herod the great, the most famous ruler of judea, is winning the sweepstakes or the lottery right there. The discovery of herods tomb is immensely exciting because its a connection to a man who was not only a legend of the bible but was also a real and a really important figure in ancient history. Historical texts tell us herod is one of the great kings of the ancient world. From 37 bc, he rules judea for 33 years. He was the most magnificent, the wealthiest, the most powerful, the most generous jewish king that he could be. Here you have someone who was at the height of his powers, was a great builder and a great planner. He was a brilliant political leader in all sorts of ways, and in many respects, he was a very successful king of the jews. But in the new testament, he is the king who orders the murder of the infant jesus. People do not think of herod as great. Herod was a sociopath. Herod comes across as the enemy of the purpose of god in human history. Its hard to see anything other than the psychopath who slaughtered the innocent. So just who was herod the great, and is this his sarcophagus . When we first meet herod on the pages of the new testament, he hes towards the end of his career. He is someone who is full of personal problems, personal difficulties, and whos clinging onto power by his fingernails. According to the gospel of matthew, men described as magi travel to jerusalem to seek an audience with king herod. They were stargazers. Their job was to consult the stars and their movements and see what correlations or revelations they would give you about coming or present events. The bible doesnt tell us very much about the magi at all. It doesnt even tell us that there are three of them, much less where they came from. What we are told is that they came following a star which suggests that theyre astrologers. Matthews gospel tells us that the men were searching for a child, born king of the jews. The story of the magi has the hallmarks of a legend. Its more about the identity of jesus, of saying that this is someone who is very special. Thats really what the story is telling us rather than explaining history about these particular figures. According to matthew, the men had come to king herod to ask for guidance. Kings would not turn down audiences with people like the wise men, especially if they seem to have insider trader information that was plausible about the future. So the scene between herod and the wise men in the gospel of matthew is absolutely plausible. This sort of thing happened all the time. I think an audience with herod the great wouldve been really terrifying. If you were not sure of what herod thought about you, or even worse, if you knew that herod didnt like you, it probably was one of the more terrifying experiences of your life. I hear you have a question for me . So the magi come to herod and say, wheres the king of the jews to be born . Which is an especially dumb thing to ask a king because its basically like saying, where is your successor . Or, where is the real king . King of the jews . I am king of the jews. But in my mind im still 25. Thats why i take osteo biflex, to keep me moving the way i was made to. It nourishes and strengthens my joints for the long term. Osteo biflex now in triple strength plus magnesium. Im max, i was diagnosed with aplastic anemia and if i didnt find a donor, i probably wouldnt be here right now. Be the match uses the power of the Cisco Network to match donors with patients faster than ever, saving lives like maxs. Me and dylan are dna twins. Dylans like my brother. Cisco. The bridge to possible. Its versus the other guys. Eese cheering clearly, velveeta melts creamier well im standing here, looking at you, what do i see . Theres a booking for every resolution. Book yours at booking. Com bethlehem, the church of the nativity. This is the traditional site of jesuss birth. The church of the nativity is important because it is at this site that christians believe jesus was born and that god became flesh. This is the place where god broke into the world to change history. Not only is this one of the holiest sites in christianity, its one of the holiest sites of all religions in the world. Underneath this alter here is a cave, a grotto, and its in this grotto that christians believe jesus was born, and the place is commemorated by a 14point silver star. Tens of millions of pilgrims come to the church of the nativity every year to venerate the birth of jesus. According to the gospel of luke, joseph and the pregnant mary travel to bethlehem from their home in nazareth. They have to travel to bethlehem because according to luke, there was a census that required people to go their ancestral homes. Joseph was apparently from bethlehem, so he had to return there. The importance of jesus being born in bethlehem is to connect him to king david. Bethlehem was the city of david. Joseph was of the line of david, and so it links him to that great history of the jewish patriarchs in jewish history. Moreover, theres a prophecy in micah that talks about the future ruler coming from bethlehem, so jesus has to be born in bethlehem to fulfill the prophecy from the Old Testament and to be the true davidic messiah. According to the traditional nativity story, when mary and joseph arrive in bethlehem, there is no place for them at the inn. Mary. But lets be clear what the biblical narrative actually says. The word for inn isnt there. This is not some public guesthouse that theyre staying in. They are probably in josephs extended familys house. Theres not room for them in the main accommodation, so they have to put jesus where the animals are. Nebi samuel, 9 miles from bethlehem. The houses in this archaeological site provide an insight into the nativity story. This is a typical home, dating to the Second Temple period. This is the kind of home you can imagine jesus might have been born in, in bethlehem. The family would have lived up here. They they may have accessed the the top floor from a ladder, maybe two or three rooms, everything very crowded, but whats really significant is what we find down here on the ground floor. This is actually quite typical of a firstcentury home. The animals wouldve been kept inside the home on the ground floor. Here, they would have eaten food that would have been placed in here. They would have drunk some water, and its in a trough like this that we can imagine the manger in which jesus was laid, here amongst the animals. When we think of the nativity, it has all the elements of beauty and wonder of miracle, of romance. Its important to remember this is a very real story with very real people. God enters the world in the most vulnerable state possible, a little infant, and depends on the care of humanity to help him spread his message. King of the jews . I am king of the jews. The birth of a new king, basically a royal pretender, a threat to the throne, is a threat to herod, and herod is concerned. When herod hears that the magi are looking for the child born king of the jews, his thought is, im the king of the jews. Herod is the king of the jews, so who could this child be, this usurper . Please, dont leave. I need to consult my priests. Find it find it according to matthew, herod orders his priests to find where prophecies say the messiah will be born. Herod is definitely jealous and threatened by jesus, and theres a big irony here. The king, who has huge power, is jealous of a little, tiny baby. There were very real threats against herods life. Its not so surprising that you would constantly believe your life was at danger. Bethlehem. Herod is certainly trying to play his cards close to his vest. Hes trying to be both clever and cunning and not reveal too much about how he really feels about the idea of a new messianic ruler figure. Go to bethlehem and search for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word so that i may also go and pay him homage. He says that he wants to honor jesus, to go and also pay his respect, but he wants to kill the child. No, thats. Weird. Happy holidays. Enjoy. Next customer . Enjoy. kickstart my heart by motley crue truck honks wheels screeching clapping sound of can hitting bag and bowl clapping always there in crunch time. Billions of problems. Morning breath . Garlic breath . Stinky breath . Theres a therabreath for you. Therabreath fresh breath oral rinse instantly fights all types of bad breath and works for 24 hours. So you can. Breathe easy. Theres therabreath at walmart. What are you doing back there, junior . Since were obviously lost, im rescheduling my Xfinity Customer Service appointment. Ah, relax. I got this. Which gps are you using anyway . A Little Something called instinct. Been using it for years. Yeah, thats what im afraid of. He knows exactly where were going. My whole body is a compass. Oh boy. The my account app makes todays Xfinity Customer Service simple, easy, awesome. Not my thing. In the bible, king herod is painted as the epitome of evil. Kill them all. We tend to remember herod as the herod of the nativity scene, as the evil herod from the new testament. We know it from christmas plays in schools. We know it from how its retold in church, so the herod that we know is very much the product of the christian story and the christian imagination, rather than the totality of who he was. But to understand the man behind the legend, we need to look at the writings of jewish historian josephus. Josephus is a priest of, supposedly, hasmonean stock. He also writes several histories, both of the jewish people but also of the great jewish war. Within those histories of the jewish people, herod receives prominent attention. Josephus fills in all sorts of fascinating details about herod and tells us the details of his family, of his political successes, his political disasters and so on. Josephus describes in detail herods journey from courtier to king. Herod first comes to our attention as a young courtier in his fathers administration, and herod originally is appointed a local governor in galilee. But in 40 bc, there is an uprising in jerusalem. After the parthians have taken over jerusalem, herod gathers his mother and his motherinlaw and his wife and flees the city. In the judean desert, herod is attacked. So josephus records, herod turns and faces the enemy. Ah woo herod wins, in josephus narration, a dramatic victory over his opponents. It was a really important victory that really set him on the path to becoming king of judea. This victory is the turning point in his fortunes, and from there, everything is on the upandup. Rome sees the potential in this herod to create a really successful puppet king, somebody that they could rely on the ground, who understands the traditions on the ground, but whom they could actually pull the strings on if necessary. The romans put herod into power. The romans supports herod. The romans are the ones who grant herod legitimacy and client kingship. My greetings. Herod is actually a very successful ruler. A great segment of the population really, really support herod, really like him. He wanted to be like alexander the great or the great kings of the past, so he had this vast Building Program set up to demonstrate his power and authority. Herod builds vast theaters, aqueducts and mountain forts. And in 23 bc, herod begins expanding the Second Temple. Herod tries to ingratiate himself with the jewish people by enlarging and renovating the jewish temple, and he does succeed in making it into one of the most beautiful buildings in the ancient world. Today, Herods Temple is gone, but part of the colossal platform on which it once stood remains. The western wall is still one of the holiest sites in judaism. One cannot overestimate the importance of the temple in 1stcentury judaism. It was the Religious Center of judaism, the place where gods presence was understood to reside on earth. Despite herods achievements and romes support, early in his reign, herods crown is not secure. One of the big problems that herod has got is that he wants to call himself the king of the jews, but he himself is not jewish by blood. Herod has got to solve this problem. He solves this problem by, kind of brilliantly, by marrying into the most famous jewish family of the time, the hasmonean dynasty. Herod marries the beautiful princess mariamne. Her family had ruled judea for a century before herod took the throne. For herod, marrying the hasmonean princess gives him the opportunity to claim that he is hasmonean himself, especially because the previous king has no sons, so he becomes, simply through marriage, the obvious and oldest and clearest hasmonean that there is. But according to josephus, herods choice of bride isnt purely political. I think the only way to describe the relationship between herod and mariamne is one of obsession, and hes obviously completely besotted. Together, the couple have five children. It seems like its a match made in heaven. But josephus tells us all is not as it appears. He seems incredibly and almost jealously infatuated with her, and josephus records that she thinks very little of him and thinks that he is of very low status. So little by little, the relationship, the marriage between herod and mariamne starts to unravel, and its almost shakespearean, right, in its quality of tragedy. Josephus records that when herod goes out of the kingdom, hes very concerned about his wife mariamnes fidelity to him. Herod is passionately in love with his wife mariamne, but his mother and sister absolutely hate this woman, so they seize their opportunity, and they say that shes been unfaithful to him whilst hes been away. Herod flies into a jealous rage and has her executed. Almost immediately afterward, herod regrets the decision, and its not just simple regret. Its a real, deep depression. Josephus records that herod actually almost kills himself from grief. Hes increasing his jealousy, his paranoia ah and increasingly becoming that monster, the herod of legend. So by the time matthews gospel describes herod meeting the magi after the birth of jesus, he is no longer an evenhanded ruler. Now, according to the new testament, herod unleashes a massacre. His target, the infant jesus. Think you need to buy expensive skincare products to see dramatic results . Try olay skin care. Just one jar of microsculpting cream has the hydrating power of 5 jars of a prestige cream, which helps plump skin cells and visibly smooth wrinkles. While new olay retinol24 provides visibly smoother, brighter skin. For dramatic skincare results, try olay. And complete your routine with the olay eye collection. Brand power. Helping you buy better. It seems that from his birth to his death, jesus was always in danger of being assassinated at the hands of evil men. Go to bethlehem and search for the child. According to the gospel of matthew, the jealous and paranoid king herod sends the magi to find the newborn messiah. He tries to get the magi to tell him where he is so that he might kill him because hes threatened by the birth of jesus. The magi reach bethlehem sometime after jesus birth. A boy. The magi were probably overwhelmed when they first set eyes on jesus. They were probably also wondering, who is the child going to be . What is he going to do . What does the future hold for jesus . The fact that the magi brought gifts fit for a king gold, frankincense, myrrh frankincense used in royal palaces, myrrh used for royal burials. Who wants gold . Kings want gold, right . The magi have something of a dilemma. Do they return to herod and report to him and thereby endanger the life of the child, or do they leave and thereby incur the wrath of herod who might pursue them . They intuit that herods intentions are not good and so they ignore they ignore the king, and they go a different route, out of a sense of protecting this child in whom they have seen god. I have news about the magi. They have chosen not to return to jerusalem. Herods reaction is unsurprising. Hes already paranoid. Now hes thinking, oh, theyve slunk off back to wherever they came from because they found something they didnt want to report to me. And so i think this only causes him to push the panic button. Kill every male child under the age of 2. According to the gospel of matthew, herod sends his soldiers to bethlehem to find and kill jesus. Kill them all herod, as a king, would have been perfectly willing to kill any and every person that he needed to to achieve his goal. Find him ah its very hard to recapture the horror of the massacre of the innocents, dozens if not scores of children being murdered in their homes. It must have been terrifying. Get down stay down. Dont move. Stay down how do you hide your child from an evil king like herod whos bent on destroying these children out of a lust for power . Anything . Next house. Wait. According to the story in matthew, joseph is warned in a dream that herod is a threat to their newborn child, and they get out of town fast. They want to make sure that they were nowhere near herods homicidal grasp. Herod probably thought that he had killed all the children in bethlehem, but he never knew that jesus had escaped. Matthew says that to escape the massacre, mary and joseph flee to egypt. Like any couple with a child, mary and joseph would have been overjoyed to know that their son was still safe. Theyre human beings, we have to remember, and they had the same Human Emotions that any parents would have. Mary and joseph, as they reached egypt with that precious child, must have felt tremendous relief, but they also must have wondered, what now . In a foreign land. What do you do . How do you live . But some scholars question if the massacre of the innocents is a real historical event. Kill them all. Josephus does not talk about this kind of massacre, and you would think, given all the other massacres he talks about, that he would bring it up. It does tell us something about the way that herods character was understood by lots of ancients. Its the kind of story they told about herod, as a paranoid, neurotic king who was capable of acts of great barbarism. The massacre of the innocents is not historical, but what it does do for matthew is it makes jesus look like a new moses. In the Old Testament, pharaoh tries to kill baby moses by slaughtering all of the hebrew children. Matthew, by showing herod slaughtering all of these children in bethlehem, is showing that jesus is like moses, and herod is like the pharaoh. So who is the true king herod, and can history and archaeology reveal the man behind the myth . Billions