QUEM FOI HERODES? O Rei louco de Israel

Shalom and welcome back to Israel with Aline! Today we are going to talk about one of the most controversial characters in Israel’s history; King Herod the Great. He is known in the Bible for the massacre of the innocents, where he orders the killing of all boys up to two years old in Bethlehem. And also known for the megalomaniacal buildings that he did. Like Masada, Caesarea and the Temple of Jerusalem. And today we’re going to dive into the history and madness of King Herod, so if you’re ready, let’s get started! Let’s start by remembering that there was more than one King named Herod, there were at least six. The first of them is King Herod the Great who is the subject of today. But after him, some of his sons and grandsons ruled and reigned here in the region. For example, King Herod Antipas, who was the King who had John the Baptist beheaded and his head delivered on a silver platter. As they say, ” the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Let’s start talking now about King Herod the Great. And at the end of the video you tell me if you think that the title “The Great” was deserved. He was born in the year 72 BC in Edom, also known as Idumea, which was a region neighboring Judah. His father’s name was Antipater, and he was an Idumean, and his mother’s name was Cyprios, and she was an Arab princess from the city of Petra. So ethnically they were not part of the people of Israel, but Herod’s grandfather will convert to Judaism, and so the family yes, will be considered a Jewish family, and this will be very important in the continuation of our history. In the year 63 BC, the Roman Empire conquers the region of Israel and then they choose Herod’s family to rule, and in the year 47 Herod will become Governor of Galilee. But Herod had ambitions far greater than simply being the Governor of Galilee. He convinces the Romans to make him King of the whole region, how does he do this? The Romans and Herod knew that the Jews didn’t like to be ruled by foreigners, much less by Romans! And Herod, says “look, I am considered a Jew.” Since his family had converted, then to the Jews he could be considered a Jew. But the Romans, who were pagans also saw him as a person from a pagan family; Edomite father, an Arab mother, and born in Idumaea, so he was like a “joker”; the pagans saw him as a pagan, the Jews saw him as a Jew, and so in the year 40, the Romans put Herod as the King of all Israel, and give him the title “The King of the Jews” yes, Herod will officially be given the title “The King of the Jews”. But Herod was not popular at all with the Jews; for one thing he had killed thousands of Jews by the time he was Governor and King, in addition, he was allied with the Romans and considered a traitor, and he maintained and brought pagan practices to Israel such as statues and idols, he brought pagan sports: he built hippodromes, he allowed gladiatorial fighting, and he also builds pagan temples in Israel! And even when he orders the enlargement and reformation of the Jerusalem Temple, which should be a work to please the Jews and the people of Israel, he puts at the entrance of the Temple, guys, an eagle made of gold. A pagan symbol, and a symbol that represented Rome at the entrance of the Jerusalem Temple, making the Jews even more enraged with him! He, knowing that he was not popular at all, and that people did not consider him as a legitimate King, he tries to gain legitimacy by marrying Mariamne, who was part of the Royal Family of Israel. What does this mean? Until the conquest of the Romans, Israel was an independent kingdom and had a Royal Family called the family of the Hasmoneans or the family of the Maccabees, for those who know the Book of Maccabees, it is the same family as in the Book of Maccabees. So Herod has much of the Royal Family killed, and decides to take one of the few survivors, and marry her, because then his children would be “rightful to the throne”. It is a way a little strange to get married, killing her family and then marrying her, but folks, we are talking about King Herod. But there was one more little problem: Herod was already married and already had a son. So he takes the wife he already had, and the son he already had, sends him into exile and marries Mariamne. Needless to say, folks, this plan will not work, but we will talk more about her later. What most marked King Herod’s reign was his building; he will build out of control! More than any other King of Israel, he will build for example Caesarea Maritima, a gigantic port and a gigantic city by the Mediterranean Sea. He is also going to build the Tower of David, despite the name, guys, the Tower of David was not built by King David, but by King Herod. He will build more than a dozen castles and palaces, he will also build the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. And the most famous work he did was the enlargement of the Temple in Jerusalem, just for us to understand the size we are talking about: the side of the Temple, it was half a kilometer long! And if we calculate from the base of the construction to the highest point of the Temple, it would be the equivalent of what today is a twenty-one story building! But twenty-one stories, people, built two thousand years ago without cement. Part of this construction is what we know today as the Wailing Wall. But the work that, in my opinion, most reflects who King Herod really was, is Masada. Masada is a castle, inside a fortress, on top of a mountain, in the middle of a desert! A work that today would still be considered difficult to build. But why did he build such a huge, crazy construction in the middle of the desert? Because he was paranoid. He thought that all the time there were people devising plans to remove him from power and kill him. And his paranoia only grew as the years went by. And that’s why Massada was built as an impenetrable fortress. If a war happened, or something that put Herod at risk, he could take refuge on top of the mountain while his soldiers fought for him. And speaking of soldiers, he had a personal guard of over two thousand bodyguards! All part of his paranoia. And in his paranoia, he begins to imagine that his wife, Mariamne yes, that same wife that he killed her family, he begins to imagine that she is plotting to kill him, so just in case, he goes and kills her. And now legend has it that he loved her very much, and so, after he kills her, he takes her body and puts it in a coffin filled with honey, and keeps this coffin inside the castle, as they say, love is sweet; and in Herod’s case, sweet and crazy. And also after that, he begins to imagine that the children he had with Mariamne will find out that he killed their mother, and so he also kills part of his own children. And so the Emperor of Rome will say that it is better to be Herod’s pig than his son. And we see how he treated his own family. And now that we know a little more about Herod’s madness and paranoia, we better understand the Biblical narrative that tells that when Jesus is born, Herod orders to kill all the children up to two years old in the town of Bethlehem because he hears that the new King of the Jews has been born. And again, this is very much reflected in the historical character of Herod that we know and how bloodthirsty he really was. But how do we know so many details about a man who lived a little more than two thousand years ago? We know thanks to Flavius Josephus, who was a historian who lived a little bit after Herod’s period, and he writes and tells us in detail about his life, and how Herod would like to go down in history. That is why he does these colossal buildings in Israel and also outside, but there was one more way King Herod tried to go down in history, and that was to be the official sponsor of the Olympic games, yes! A little while ago ended Tokyo 2020, the Olympic games, but in the ancient world also they had. And in 12 B.C., the official sponsor of the Olympic games was King Herod. He even traveled to Olympia to preside over the games up close, a way to go down in history and please the people of the entire Roman Empire. And Flavius Josephus will also tell us about the last days of King Herod’s life, which he spent in one of his palaces in the city of Jericho. But he endured a lot of suffering! Flavius Josephus tells us that King Herod in his last days was very ill. What illness? We don’t know, the historical books call it “The Evil of Herod,” but what does it mean? It means that he was in great pain in his intestines, in his stomach, in his digestive system, that his breath was like that of a corpse, and that he had worms eating his body while he was still alive; and that includes people, his privates were also wormy. I mean, those were the last days of a lot of suffering! And King Herod, since he knew he wasn’t loved very much, he wanted the people to mourn for him when he passed away, but since he knew that not many people would mourn his death, he decides to bring thousands of young people to the city of Jericho, and he orders his soldiers that on the day he dies, that all these young people are to be killed. And so he would have a great cry and a great mourning, and on the day he dies, his sons disobey this order and the young people are not killed. Something sensible had to be in the family, but they don’t kill the young people, but the rest of Herod’s funeral plan they follow, the body will be taken to Herodion which is one of King Herod’s fantastic works. What we are seeing that looks like a volcano, is an artificial mountain and inside it a palace and a castle, and on the side also a mausoleum was built, and Herod’s body was placed in the sarcophagus. Some time later, people who were not so fond of King Herod went and destroyed his mausoleum, and destroyed the sarcophagus, and it rolled down the mountain. The sarcophagus was found and is now in the Israel Museum, but without the bones that disappeared in those years. And so ends the story of King Herod, this paranoid, megalomaniacal king who left us so much history and so much construction behind. And now I ask you: do you think that the title “King Herod the Great” was deserved or not? I hope you have enjoyed knowing a little bit more about the madness of King Herod, a big kiss and see you next time!