Wednesday Bible Study : Imagine if you will

 

This is another topical post, and the topic is: Did God put baby Jesus right at the point where He would be in the MOST danger?

First off, He was born when the Roman Empire was arguably at its height.  Practically, it was at a point of being unchallenged. Hannibal, their greatest enemy ever, had been in the grave for give or take 180 years.  His homeland of Carthage had been wiped off the map almost 150 years ago; the same year Greece ceased to be an independent power broker after a Roman victory at Corinth.  The Parthians had been driven from the area, and their King of Kings Pacorius killed 40 years before; and the last vestige of the old Hellenistic power died with Cleopatra and Antony 30 years before.  There was literally no one to say them nay.

And they had given the land into the hands of a "client king", Herod the Great.  Of course, his greatness stemmed from hundreds of public works to impress his Roman masters- works that caused incredible taxation, on top of that Rome levied.  Behind this "philanthropy" was a wolf set to devour. He, like all 'good' dictators, had a secret police reporting every stray comment, as well as a 2,000 man bodyguard.  And the fact that he would do what he did later- kill all the male children under 2 in the Bethlehem area, in hopes he would get his 'rival', the 'newborn King of the Jews'- is far from far fetched.  He killed family members, even two of his own children, to keep iron control of his power.  His "piety", which included keeping the Romans from making blasphemous sacrifices (ie, pigs) in the Temple, would allegedly cause Augustus to say of his 'client', "It is better to be Herod's pig than to be his son."

Just how many innocents were killed by Herod's men in that famous massacre?  Experts tend to low-ball the issue, noting that Bethlehem had only about 1,000 citizens, but forgetting Matthew 2:16 says, "and in all that region", calculating around 20 children died.  A far cry from the 14,000 the Orthodox Church claims, which would have depopulated the region (and hurt Herod's tax base).

Now, let's look at Mary and Joseph's home town, Nazareth.  Off the main road, with maybe 300 people, it was the "fill in the blank rat hole town" of Israel.  "No phones, no lights no motor cars, not a single luxury", without having to wreck a tour boat in a storm.  It brings to mind for me this prophecy:

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD. 

Jer 22:30  Thus saith the LORD, Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah.

And as, by the genealogy in Matthew, Joseph was the legitimate heir to the throne in those days, he was about as far from prospering as he could get.

In addition, it is said by some pastors that Nazareth was an off the grid Roman garrison town, full of the worst Rome had to offer.  But in researching this, I found but one person who, without references, bases this on archaeologists finding a Roman spa there.  The Pharisees would later try to push the story that Jesus was illegitimate, that Mary had been raped by a legionnaire named Pantera, and I wonder if that is where the "garrison town" story started.  On the other hand, they were less than 4 miles from a large city that WAS garrisoned, called Sepphoris.  Likely if they needed a "supermarket trip", or Joseph wanted paying work, they had to make the trek there, and deal with soldiers who could (not legally) take your clothes from you, or (legally) make you carry their pack (though only for a mile, nod nod wink wink).  And if it was your goods, or your wife, who was going to say anything? It's only Nazareth.

And that was the start of the corruption.  Those of faith had also to deal with the priests in Jerusalem, who, as Jesus pointed out, had turned the Temple courts into a bazaar of thievery.  And the criminals such as, perhaps, Barabbas, who hid around every turn of the road.  Which brings us back to the chief foxes in the henhouse...

The Pharisees were the main power, through their dominance of the Great Sanhedrin. Interestingly, there are know records of either Pharisee or Saducee before the Gospels, although about 100 years later, Flavius Josephus (who may have been a former Pharisee himself), explained that they had gotten their start during the Hasmonean age ( the independent Israel in between the Greeks and the Romans), and began growing in power as the High Priestly position became more corrupt itself.  How do they fit in?  Well, that question caused me some time digging; And it boils down to this.  They had a belief in an 'oral tradition', that in their eyes was every bit as valid as the Law and the Prophets.  Much like a certain church today, this allowed them to cherry pick themes that they liked, while ignoring the point.  For example, they liked the 'messiah' they saw in Zechariah...

Zec 9:10  And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. 

But left out the important part...

Zec 9:9  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. 

John McArthur went through how you could use the Book of Daniel to almost pinpoint the day when Messiah would come to Jerusalem; how do these 'experts' miss it?  Surely not all of them did; some of the crowd on Palm Sunday knew exactly what they were celebrating.  But Jesus wasn't the Messiah tradition dictated; He HAD to be false.  In the end, the reason they rejected Jesus was explained to Isaiah:

Isa 6:8  Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. 

Isa 6:9  And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. 

Isa 6:10  Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. 

One last thing: That trek I mentioned.  December 25th is not when Christ was born onto the Earth.  Although, Joseph and Mary may have liked it better, as the winters there are relatively mild.  Figuring from the story of Zachariah's visit in the Holy of Holies by the Angel Gabriel, it was more likely late September; a hot, dusty, 90 mile trek for Joseph and Mary to go from Nazareth to Bethlehem (Because, let's just throw a Roman census in on top of things).  This at best- which I doubt they would achieve with a heavily pregnant woman, and chariots were for rich folks and Romans- would be a week's journey.  In all that heat, with all that danger.  And to top it off, they had to stay in the hottest part of the Hostel, the lowest floor, with all the sights and smells of the family's animal population.

Now...

The one point I wanted to make.  I want you to get a picture of Jesus:

Rev 1:13  And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 

Rev 1:14  His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 

Rev 1:15  And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 

Rev 1:16  And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. 

Rev 1:17  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead.

And:

Mat 17:2  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. 

Now imagine Him setting this all aside, taking on the flesh of the most helpless of forms, the human baby- unable to talk, walk, comprehend, wrapped up so tight He couldn't move, and dropped in to THAT world.

That is love unimaginable.  But there would be more...