How Edom Infiltrated & Overthrew Judaea in the 1st Century B.C.!

This is a very serious Biblical story seldom, if ever, addressed anywhere in the various sects of churchianity! I attended church for about 35 years, and I never heard this subject mentioned one single time, so I doubt very much whether any of my readers have heard it either. For evi- dence on this matter, I will cite Eusebius’ The History of the Church, translated by G.A. Williamson, published by Pen- guin Books. pp. 18-19, (and this passage will demand editing to properly comprehend the context):

“Extinction of the native Jewish [sic Judahite] dynasty: Herod, the first foreign [Edomite] king: 6. At this time Herod became the first foreigner to be king of the Jewish [sic Judaean] nation, fulfilling the words of Moses:

“‘There shall not be wanting a ruler from Judah • Nor a leader sprung from his loins • Until he come for whom it is reserved.’

“Moses adds that he will be the expectation of the Gentiles [sic ethnos, nations]. There could be no fulfilment of the pre- diction as long as they were free to live under rulers of their own [Israelite] race, beginning with Moses himself and continuing to Augustus’ reign; in his time the first foreigner, Herod, was entrusted by the Romans with the government of the Jews [sic Judahites]. Josephus informs us that he was an Idumaean on his father’s side and an Arab on his mother’s; but according to Afri- canus – and he was no ordinary historian – the best authorities say that Antipater, Herod’s father, was son of a certain Herod of Ascalon, one of the ‘temple-slaves’ of Apollo. This Antipater was taken prisoner by Idumaean bandits when a medium child, and re- mained in their hands because his father was too poor to put down his ransom. He was brought up in their ways and later befriended by Hyrcanus, the Jewish [sic Levitical Israelite] high priest. His son was the Herod of our Saviour’s time.

“When a man of such antecedents came to be king of the Jews [sic citizens of Judaea], at the door already, in accordance with the prophecy, was the expectation of the Gentiles [sic ethnos, i.e., nations]; for with him the succession from Moses of Jewish [sic Israelite] rulers and governors came to an end. Before their captivity and removal to Babylon they were ruled by kings, Saul and David being the first. Before the kings the government was in the hands of rulers known as judges, who came to the fore after Moses and his successor Joshua. After the return from Babylon they maintained continuously an aristocratic and oligarchic consti- tution, priests being in complete control. This lasted till the Pom- pey, the Roman commander arrived, and besieged Jerusalem with utmost vigour. He defiled the holy places, going right into the innermost sanctuary of the temple. The man who had continued the succession of his [Israelite] ancestors till that time and was both king [and] high priest, Aristobulus by name, he dispatched as a prisoner to Rome, together with his children. To Hyrcanus, Aristobulus’ brother, he transferred the high priesthood, and he made the [whole assorted races of Judea] from then on tributary to Rome. As soon as Hyrcanus, the last to whom fell the high- priestly succession, was taken prisoner by the Parthians, Herod, as I have said, was the first foreigner to be entrusted by the Roman senate and the Emperor Augustus with the Jewish [sic Judaean] nation. It was without question in his time that the advent of Christ occurred; and the expected salvation and calling of the Gentiles [sic ethnos, nations] followed at once, in accordance with the prophecy.

“As soon as the rulers and leaders from Judah – those of Jewish [sic true Israelite] stock – came to an end, not surprising- ly the high priesthood, which had passed in regular succession, generation by generation, was plunged into immediate confusion. For this, too, you have a reliable witness in Josephus, who in- forms us that when entrusted with the kingdom by the Romans, Herod no longer appointed high priests of the ancient stock [of Israel] but assigned the office to non[-Israel] entities, and that a policy similar to Herod’s regarding appointment of priests was adopted by his son Archelaus, and after him by the Romans, when they took over the government of Judaea. The same writer informs us that Herod actually locked up the sacred vestment of the [Levitical] high priest and kept it under his own seal, no longer permitting the [Levitical] high priests to have charge of it. His example was followed by his successor Archelaus, and him by the Romans ....”

Ibid. pp. 23-24:“Herod’s plot against the children, and his terrible end:

“8. When Christ was born, in accordance with prophecy, at Bethlehem in Judaea at the time already stated, Herod was asked by the magi from the East where they could find the one who was born king of the Jews [sic rather, of the true tribe of Judah], for they had seen his star and for that reason had made this long journey in their eagerness to worship [Him] as God [sic Yahweh in the flesh as Yahshua] the child that had been born. Herod was badly shaken by the inquiry, thinking that his throne was in danger. So he consulted the teachers of the Law among the people and asked them where they expected the Christ to be born. When he heard Micah’s prophecy foretelling the birth at Bethlehem he issued a single decree ordering the destruction in Bethlehem and all its neighbourhood, of the male infants of two years and under, in accordance with the time he had found out from the magi, naturally supposing that Jesus [sic Yahshua] would certainly suffer the same fate as those of his own age. However, the plot was forestalled by the removal of the Child to Egypt, as by the appearance of an angel His parents had learnt in time what was to come. The story may be studied in the sacred gospel record.

“In this connexion it is worth while to recall the price paid by Herod for his crime against Christ and the other babies. Instantly, without the shortest delay, divine justice overtook him while still alive .... This is not the place to list the ways in which he dimmed the supposed glories of his reign by the successive calamities that befell his house, the revolting murder of wife, children, and all who were bound to him by the closest ties of blood and affection. No tragic drama is as dark as their story, of which Josephus has given a full account in his Histories.How,from the moment of the plot against our Saviour and the other helpless infants, a scourge wielded by the hand of [the Almighty] struck Herod and drove him to death, we should do well to hear from the lips of that historian. In Josephus’ Antiquities 17.6.5 he describes his terrible end ....”(compare Matthew 2:1-16.)

Be honest, what pastor, priest, Sunday school superinten- dent, teacher, or supposed informed lay-person, or influential church-board member have you ever heard that explained this much of “How Edom Infiltrated And Overthrew The Remnant Nation Of Judaea In The 1st Century B.C.?”

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