Posted on 01/16/2009 6:47:21 AM PST by Former Fetus
There is several sources of Herod slaying rival nobility. Maybe we are just looking for the wrong thing. Based on Jesus’ bloodline and why Herod ‘slayed the innocents’, instead of looking for a child massacre, look for mentions of where Herod slayed nobility or eliminated all rivals (Antiquities chapter 18 for example.)
SOP back then. Recall, in the book of Kings, when one dynasty would replace another in the northern kingdom you would see that the usurper "left him none that pisseth against a wall".
Basically my pastor is interested in the apparent contradiction between Luke (who says that after Mary's purification the family moved back to Nazareth) and Matthew (who seems to indicate they stayed in Bethlehem for a couple of years, then fled to Egypt). Being a baptist, I believe in the inerrancy of Scipture, so I took the challenge.
I said that Matthew "seems to indicate" Jesus, Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem based on the fact that King Herod told the wise men the Messiah was to be born there. Have you ever wondered why, after travelling for so long, they needed the star to guide them to Bethlehem? I read a commentary suggesting that they left Jerusalem heading towards Bethlehem, the star appeared (Matt 2:9) and led them actually in the opposite direction, to Nazareth. That would make the stories in Matthew and Luke fit like pieces in a puzzle... except for the massacre of the innocents and the flight to Egypt. I mean, if Herod was looking for a child around Bethlehem, I would assume He was pretty safe in Nazareth.
So, why do we think that the massacre took place only around Bethlehem? Most commentaries mention the prophecy about Ramah, and say that King Herod marked an area centered in Bethlehem, with a radius of at least the distance between Bethlehem and Ramah. But that doesn't mean that he couldn't have covered a larger area, does it? The fact that Herod was the ruler of Galilee years before he sided with Octavius and was rewarded with Judea makes this "larger massacre" possible. Would he have done it? Hey, we are talking about Herod the Great! Anything is possible. I just thought it would be interesting to find secular corroboration of a large scale massacre of boys under 2. I thought of Josephus, but other reliable sources are just as good.
Before someone flames me, no I don't need corroboration to believe the gospels. This is just something done out of curiosity. But I will be honest and confess that I gloat every time secular history or science agree with the Bible. I feel like saying "what took you so long to figure this out?" You might call this a purely intellectual pursuit, but what better subject can we chose to study that our Lord?
Thanks for the information and link.
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