Who was Herod?
The Herodian dynasty ruled Israel and its surroundings from 37 B.C. to A.D. 70 (the war). Herod was
technically Jewish by birth as his family had been forced converts (from Edom) at the time of Macabees (2nd
century B.C.). This also explains the reason why Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor in Jerusalem, directed
Y‘shua to King Herod who was also the ruler of the Galilee area. Firstly, because Y‘shua was from the
Galilee area; and secondly, that Herod was technically Jewish. Pontius wanted the Jews to convict their own
Messiah to death, as he did not want any part of it. The Scripture also informs us that he was afraid of an
uprising by the people. But at the end, we find Pontius himself gave the death sentence. This then means
that both Jew and Gentile had a part in the trial, as we will see later on.
Herod did not reflect anything Jewish in his character, having murdered countless people; including all but
two leaders: the famous Hillel and Shamai (see Glossary section for more info) of the religious Sanhedrin
prior to the birth of Y‘shua. He was a very paranoid person, even having friends and family killed due to
suspicion. The events of Matt 2:1-17 are in line with his character.
Perhaps out of guilt for killing the Sanhedrin, Herod launched a massive campaign to reconstruct the Second
Temple that had been built under Z‘rubavel. This is the Temple we see Y‘shua teaching in throughout the
Gospels.
King Herod mentioned in Luke 1:5 “In the days of King Herod of Judea...“ and Matt 2:1 “In the time of
King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
asking, "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?"
From Josephus‘ writings:
Ant. 17.7.1 191 (War 1.31.8 665): ―Having done these things he died, on the fifth day after having his son
Antipater killed, having reigned since he had slain Antigonus thirty-four years, and thirty-seven years since
he had been declared king by the Romans‖.
Some scholars say that from this reference in Josephus, we know that Herod the Great died in 4 B.C.;
because Herod's reign began under appointment by Marc Antony in 40 B.C., a date known from Antiquities
14.14.4 386: "So did Herod take the throne, receiving it in the hundred and eight-fourth Olympiad, the
consuls being Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus, for the second time, and Gaius Asinius Pollio‖. Roman historians
also describe the event. Properly taking into account Josephus' use of partial years when subtracting his
stated 37 years, results in 4 B.C. for the end of Herod's reign (see the note to War 1.665 in the Loeb Edition).
They conclude that according to Matthew and Luke, Y‟shua could not have been born later than 4 B.C.
Yet our calendar is numbered taking the year A.D. 1 (= C.E. 1) as the year of Y‘shua‘s birth, leading to the
puzzle of Y‘shua having been born in 4 B.C., 4 years "Before Christ". This is due to a mistake in calculation
by the Roman monk Dionysus Exiquus in A.D. 533, who first began counting years from Y‘shua‘s birth.
Some say he did not count the first four years of Emperor Augustus, who used his original name of Octavian
during this time. As a practical matter, it is worth noting that our calendar does not, in fact, count from the
birth year of Y‘shua; which is unknown, but from the death year of Herod. (Is 4 B.C. really the correct date?
(See sections, ―The Death of Herod‖ and ―The Astronomical Perspective‖, under Matt 2:2-3).
Who were the Magi?
These men came from Babylon or Persia. They were not sorcerers or magicians, but rather astrologers/
astronomers. It is clear from the Gospels that the Magi knew what they were looking for, but this raises an
interesting question. How would non-Jews in a foreign land know about the birth of the Messiah, know what
sign to look for and know when and where to look for it?
The answer is that hundreds of years earlier, Daniel had been in Babylon and made head of the "magicians‖.
He evidently taught them about YHWH's ways, including prophecies of the Messiah. The Magi passed these
along for generation after generation, until the time came for Y‘shua to be born.
Magi from the east
The Scriptures tell us that there were ―wise men‖ (scholars) who came from the east looking for the birth of
the Messiah, saying "we have seen his star in the east". Who were these scholars from the east? Why were
they looking for a Jewish Messiah?