Shortly after Jesus is born in the
Herod, understandably, is not happy to hear this. He is king of the Jews and regards any other claims to kingship as a direct threat to him. As one devoted to Jupiter, he works immediately to eliminate the threat. He does this even if this newborn king is the one whose coming was prophesied by people devoted to the one odd god of the Jews.
First he must find out if the child exists. He asks the experts in such matters where to look for the child. They tell him in Bethlehem.
Herod wants to stay in control of the situation. He does not want anyone to know he is hellbent on killing Jesus. So he asks the visiting counselors, in secret, when exactly they first saw the star which led them to
Then he lies to them. He asks them to find the child and then report back to him so that he too may honor the child.
These counselors find the child, honor him, and leave gifts for him. But then the one odd god gets involved. The one odd god warns them in a dream not to return to Herod. They don’t.
Then the one odd god sends a messenger—an angel—to warn Joseph that Herod plans to murder Jesus. He tells Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and flee to
Herod rages when he finds out that the counselors have left without first telling him where to find the child. Herod sends soldiers to
Jupiter provided all the justification needed by Herod to lie and by the soldiers to murder. The mothers, however, remained inconsolable.
Copyright © 2012 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.