JESUS   THE   MESSIAH

His Life and Times

No. 16

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His Child-Life in Nazareth

Part  1

     The stay of the Holy Family in Egypt must have been of brief duration.  The time for Herod to self-destruct was probably pretty near.  During the whole later part of his life the dread of a rival that would take over his throne had haunted him.  He had killed thousands of people, even people who were his relatives and friends, trying to get rid of anybody who would be a threat to him.  

     As the time went on, he became more and more tormented by nameless fears; then he would call for Mariamme, the wife of which he had murdered, to please help him.  He even made attempts on his own life.  The delirium of tyranny and the passion for blood drove him to the verge of madness.  Josephus describes Herod as having a horrible disease where his body was literally rotting and he stunk horribly bad.  His madness kept getting worse and worse, and his pain was at times excruciating.  He tried every remedy that any doctor told him about hoping that he would get better.  It was almost like he was a living dead man.  By this time he was an old man of 70 and unable to be the tyrant that he had been for so many years.  He still carried out horrible deeds until his death, though.  

     Two of the most honored and loved Rabbis - Judas and Matthias - headed a revolution to sweep away all traces of Herod's rule.  They had gotten tired of their terrible way of life because of Herod's ploys, and began by pulling down the immense golden eagle which hung over the great gate of the Temple that Herod had put there.  The two ringleaders and forty followers allowed themselves to be taken by Herod's guards.  A mock public trial in the theatre at Jericho followed.  Herod was carried there on a couch, and stood as both accuser and judge.  The revolutionists were burned alive for their actions against his kingdom.  

     After Herod did that, he felt that the end was coming rapidly for him.  He summoned the noblest of all Israel throughout the land of Jericho, and shut them up in the Hippodrome, with orders to his sister to have them slain immediately upon his death.  He didn't want the Jews to be deliriously happy when he died, and he thought that if the nobles were killed, their joy would turn to mourning and nobody could be happy that he had died.  

     Five days before his death, a letter from Augustus allowed Herod to execute his son Antipater, who was the real murderer of his half-brothers Alexander and Aristobulus.  The death of the wretched prince was hastened by his attempt to bribe the jailer, as the noise in the palace, caused by an attempted suicide of Herod, led him to suppose his father was actually dead.  When Herod found out about this act he killed his son in a fit of rage, which hastened his own death by a few days sooner.

     Finally the terror of Judaea lay dead.  He had reigned 37 years total - 34 since his conquest of Jerusalem.  It wasn't long either before the rule passed from his descendants, also.  In only 100 years, the whole race of Herod had been swept away.  

     Herod was buried in the Castle of Herodium, close to Bethlehem.  He had murdered a huge number of innocent people in his reign of terror.  As the author reckoned it, the visit of the Magi took place in February 750 AUC.  On the 12th of March the Rabbis and their adherents suffered.  On the following night (early morning) there was a lunar eclipse; the execution of Antipater preceded the death of his father by five days, and the latter occurred from 7 to 14 days before the Passover, which in 750 took place on April 12.

     Salome (Herod's sister) and her husband were far too wise to murder all the noble Jewish men that were shut up in the Hippodrome.  Their liberation along with the death of Herod were celebrated by the people in a joyous event that was called the Roll of Fasts.  

     Herod had changed his will and testament several times before he died.  Each of the changes reflects the varying phases of suspicion and family-hatred through which Herod had passed.  He didn't hesitate to kill his wife, some of his sons, and close friends if he even had any suspicion at all  that they were against him in any way.  The family was so full of suspicion and hatred that they pretty much contributed to wiping out their whole family race by killing each other.  In the manner of their father, Herod's sons also tried to keep his reign of terror going and were just as suspicious as he was.  They just wiped each other out eventually.  

     Archelaus, one of Herod's sons who tried to claim his power after his death, killed 3,000 people within the sacred walls of the Temple itself.  This led to much uprising from the Jews that Herod's family should be deposed of on account of their crimes.  Finally Augustus had to intervene when he found out that Archelaus far surpassed Herod in cruelty, oppression, luxury, and the grossest of egotism.  Finally it seems, that by this time the Jews had had enough, and Augustus stepped in and banished him to Gaul on account of all the crimes that he had committed.  

     It must have been soon after Archelaus had taken over the throne of Herod, but before the news of it had reached Egypt, that the Holy Family returned to Palestine.  The first intention of Joseph seems to have been to settle in Bethlehem, where he had lived since the birth of Jesus.  This city would have been the obvious choice for them to settle after returning.  Joseph could have found work there easily in his trade and could have cared for his household.  But when he reached Palestine and found out what Archelaus was doing and that he had succeeded Herod, common sense would have dictated that he would know that he could not bring the Messiah back into these conditions.  Even so, he must have been divinely directed to settle in Nazareth instead of Bethlehem.

     Jesus spent the years of his childhood, youth, and adulthood in Nazareth.  Of his childhood the Bible says "He grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him".   Of his youth the Bible talks about him questioning the Rabbis in the Temple, says that he was subject to his parents, and that He increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man".  Other than these few things, we don't know about the things that Jesus did growing up.  The Gospels furnish a history of the Saviour, not a biography of Jesus of Nazareth.  

     St. Matthew summarizes the whole outward history of the life of Jesus in Nazareth by saying one thing that He will be known as forever that will always set Him apart for any other name:  Jesus of Nazareth.  In the mind of a Palestinian a peculiar significance would attach to the by-name of the Messiah, especially in its connection with the general teaching of prophetic Scripture.  From this one distinction, there were no less than 8 other names given to the Messiah also.  The main two were 'branch of David' and 'horn of salvation'.  

     These not only have a deeper meaning to all Jews, but to all mankind.  The idea of Christ as the Divinely placed 'Branch' (symbolized by his birth as an infant) , small and despised in its forth-shooting, or then visible appearance (like Nazareth and the Nazarenes), but destined to grow as the Branch sprung out of Jesse's roots, is most marvellously true to the whole history of the Christ, alike as talked about by the prophets, and the fact that He lived in person.  The 'Horn' symbolized the fact that the gospel was opened up to all peoples and races and God loves each one equally - not just favors the Jewish race only.  

     There could not have been a greater contrast between the intricate scholastic studies of the Judaeans, and the active pursuits that engaged the men of Galilee.  It was a common saying:  'If a person wishes to be rich, let him go north; if he wants to be wise, let him come south'.  And to Judaea accordingly, flocked all the people who wished to become 'learned in the law'.   In the next text we will discover the rough and tumble world of Galilee, the place where most of the Disciples were chosen to follow Jesus.  It was truly a miracle how he took these men and made them into loyal and devout men of God.

     For more information from this book, go to the archives page at my site  www.cathydeaton.com   There are other articles of interest there also.

     This text is taken from the book The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah written by Alfred Edersheim.  This book has been used by permission.