Preface

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ where the name is taken from the pairing of Christ and the Catholic Mass, which does not mean participating in Christmas means a person is taking part a Roman Catholic Mass when celebrating Christmas.  There have been many different Christmas traditions started, stopped and continued depending upon what location a person is in the world, which celebrate the day with Christian,  non-Christian, atheistic or agnostic beliefs.

In different places in the world, the birth of Jesus Christ is primarily celebrated on December 25th or January 7th:

1. December 25th is the selected day for the Julian Calendar for most of the Western World.
2. January 7th is the selected day for the Gregorian Calendar for the Russian Orthodox and other Orthodox Christian faiths. 

There are a few Christian Faiths and even Christians who have negative opinions concerning the celebration of Christmas and whether it should be celebrated.  There are also those who believe that some of the traditions of Christmas are pagan and should not be part of the event. 

This author believes that from the Christian perspective there is absolutely nothing wrong with having:

• Christmas Nativity Scenes with three kings,
• Singing Traditional Christmas Songs about three kings, and
• Celebrating Christmas on a specific day.

There is a greater story of the Birth of our Savior, with the event of a specific group of Magi who came to visit the birth time of Jesus Christ.    The real story of the real “wise men”, who were not kings, will reinforce your Faith in our Savior Jesus Christ.

How the Day was Selected that Jesus Christ was Born

The scriptures do not give us the day that Jesus Christ had His earthly birth (from being the Son of God in Eternity), but from scriptural references a particular month range can be theoretically proposed (discussed later in this topic), where the current selected day in different parts of the world can be proven to be incorrect.  Therefore the question is how was the day selection initially done and how did it change in some places?

There are two interesting scriptural passages in Genesis and Jeremiah that deal indirectly with part of the process of how the day of Jesus Christ's birth was later in history selected as December 25th.  The first scriptural passage of Genesis 10:8-10 deal with Nimrod, who in the scriptures is described as the first World Dictator, and also in secular sources.  The second scriptural passage of Jeremiah 10:1-25, deal with a false worship involving trees that is very similar to the modern-day Christmas Tree. 

After Nimrod's death, there were traditions started in remembrance and worship of Nimrod that Biblical Scholars state absorbed later in the worship of the Roman deity of Saturn.  After the acceptance and prominence of the Christian religion in the Roman Empire, the traditions and dates dealing with Saturn Worship were eliminated or replaced with Christian Celebrations that included a celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. 

Matthew 2:11 Magi give Gifts to the infant Jesus Christ

And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

The following points outline, with some details, the process on how the birthday selection for Jesus Christ was adobted along with some other interesting details:

1. Historically Nimrod's birthday was celebrated on the equivalent day on our calendar of December 25th, which was later changed for a celebration in Saturn Worship by the Romans.  At a later point in the history of the Roman Empire, when Christianity was becoming a more recognized religion in the Roman Empire and then later the established religion of the Roman Empire the dates dealing with Saturn worship had to be eliminated.  The pagan priests, when becoming Christians, replaced / reframed the Saturn worship event day with a celebration of Jesus Christ's birth around the time of 336 AD.  This helped in the economic commerce which dealt with gifts, meals and travel that guaranteed continuance.
2. Some historians theorize that the pagan priests, before the event was converted into the Saturn worship day and then into Christian Faith's Jesus Christ birthday, used a myth which Nimrod's wife stated that after Nimrod's death, that Nimrod was now a spirit being.  On every December 25th, Nimrod's spirit would show his presence by having a dead tree stump become a beautiful evergreen tree during the evening while people slept.  When people awoke in the morning the tree would have gifts around it. 
   (a) Nimrod's wife Semiramis claimed that Nimrod was the sun-god or like the sun-god.
   (b) Semiramis claimed to also be Nimrod's mother besides Nimrod's wife.
3. Note the New Testament does not give us a definitive date on what day Jesus Christ was born.  This author believes it is somewhat related to the idea of why the scriptures do not give us a detailed description of what Jesus Christ looked like during His first mission as the Messiah.  If we had an exact day in the scriptures, then it would somehow be misused and abused even more than it is now.
4. The Star of Bethlehem has many conjectures that are based on planets and stars lining up.  Some Biblical Scholar contend the star was actually an Angel lighting up the sky that led specifically in Bethlehem.  This author leans toward it first being a celestial object then an Angel shining down on the birth location of Jesus Christ.  More on this later in this topic.
5. If we had to guess, some Biblical Scholars state that Jesus Christ most likely was born in the spring or summer to explain the shepherds with flocks of sheep in the hills at night, which they would most likely the shepherds would never do in the dead of winter time because of the cold and rains.
   (a) The shepherds had the ritual custom of tending their flocks from early spring to beginning of the Fall season in the hills where they would spend the nights watching over them for protection.  At some point in the Fall period the rains and cold weather began which stopped the shepherds being out with the herds.  Luke 2:8, Ezra 10:9-13 and Song of Solomon 2:11 collaborate this point.
   (b) In Ezra 10:9, the ninth month is the month of Chisleu (Kislev) which is in the November to December time period.

   Luke 2:4-8 Birth of Jesus and shepherds keeping watch over sheep by night.	4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David; 5 to enroll himself with Mary, who was betrothed to him, being great with child. 6 And it came to pass, while they were there, the days were fulfilled that she should be delivered. 7 And she brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.
   Ezra 10:9-13	9 So all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain. 10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. 11 “Now therefore, make confession to the LORD God of your fathers and do His will; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” 12 Then all the assembly replied with a loud voice, “That’s right! As you have said, so it is our duty to do. 13 “But there are many people; it is the rainy season and we are not able to stand in the open. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter.
   Song of Solomon 2:11	For behold, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone.

   (c) Note that there are some Biblical research websites that believe that Jesus Christ was born in the late summer, and most likely October.

The eventual acceptance of Christmas Trees with gifts, in many Biblical Scholars opinions, seems to have been adopted from the pagan practices from Nimrod, Saturnalia and the gifts that the Magi gave the baby Jesus Christ.  There are secular historical documentation that state Christmas Tree acceptance started as a tradition around the year period of the 1600s.  The interesting point to recognize is the idea of a tree most likely came from the historical pagan practices told by word of mouth throughout the centuries, where Christians thought a tree (not worship of Nimrod) would be a nice ornamental object used in the celebration pointing to Jesus Christ' birthday.

It is worthy of speculation that the primary choice of replacing the Roman Empires' god of Saturn festival, which was a time of gift giving, with Jesus Christ's birthday is the main reason for the date choice.  The question to rhetorically ask ourselves, is how did the god of Saturn's festival period and days just so coincidentally coincides with Nimrod's birthday, if there was not some satanic spiritual force behind it?  As Christians, we would have to understand that this is actually very insulting, against God's Holly Name and the everything God Is, which a fake god of Saturn is not.

This author is NOT stating we should not celebrate Jesus Christ's Birth on December 25th, January 7th or not to have a Christmas Tree with gifts.  The original intent has long been forgotten, and we know that God judges us righteously where the true intent for Christians on Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ regardless of the world's opposite views.

Three Magi or Three Kings?

In popular songs surrounding Christmas there is the notion that there were three Kings bringing gifts to the newly born baby Jesus Christ on December 25th. This tradition is the Western and Roman Catholic influenced tradition that has been adopted by most Christian Denominations. 

In the Orthodox influenced Christian Faiths, there is the tradition of 3 Magi visiting the newly born Jesus after the birth on December 25th or January 7th.  There are even some old Christian Traditions, no longer heard much, that have the number of kings or Magi were mostly men and some women that may have numbered 12, which matches the number of Apostles.

The Russian Orthodox Denomination, identifies the wise men as bringing gifts but do not identify them necessarily as numbering three or as kings.  The stories in the Russian Orthodox Faith, do bring in some of the traditions of the Western Roman Catholic traditions that possibly have been integrated over the last few centuries.

The origins of the number of Kings are not known according to Biblical Scholars, but there is a history of when the myths were added.  Here are a few for the Three Kings:

1. Possible first mention is in the 3rd Century by Origen on Alexandria, who was a Christian writer and introduced:
   (a) The wise men, Magi, were really kings. 
   (b) Note that actually the Magi were priests of a religion in the Parthian Empire and not kings.  More on this further in this topic.
2. Possibly, the most logical explanation by researchers, on why three Magi or Kings was accepted because of the three gifts given: Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.  The myth of three kings probably started with the belief that it has to be three persons who each give one gift.
3. The naming of the Three Kings was first possibly identified in the writing named "Pontificatis Ecclesiae Ravennatis", which is inferred to mean "The Papal Church Places and Names", by Andreas Agnellus. 
   (a) Three Kings suddenly have names:
   First is Gaspar, Casper or Gathaspa
   Second is Balthazar, Bithisarea or Balthasar
   Third is Mechior, Melchior or Melichoir
   (b) The Three Kings suddenly are different ages to supposedly have God representing youth, maturity and old age.
4. There are supposed bones and relics that were found in the Fourth Century which the Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa kept in Milan, that were attributed to the Three Kings who visited the Baby Jesus Christ.
   (From the article on Wikipedia.org: the Shrine of the Three Kings is located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany at the Catholic Cologne Cathedral.)

   Excerpt from the Shrine of the Three Kings: The "relics of the Magi" were originally situated at Constantinople, but brought to Milan in an oxcart by Eustorgius I, the city's bishop, to whom they were entrusted by the Emperor Constantine in 314. [6] Eight centuries later in 1164, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa took the relics of the Magi from the church of Saint Eustorgio in Milan and gave them to the Archbishop of Cologne, Rainald of Dassel.[7] The Three Kings have since attracted a constant stream of pilgrims to Cologne. ... On July 20, 1864, the shrine was opened, revealing human remains and the coins of Philip I, Archbishop of Cologne. An eyewitness report reads: "In a special compartment of the shrine now there showed - along with remains of ancient old rotten or moulded bandages, most likely byssus, besides pieces of aromatic resins and similar substances - numerous bones of three persons, which under the guidance of several present experts could be assembled into nearly complete bodies: the one in his early youth, the second in his early manhood, the third was rather aged. Two coins, bracteates made of silver and only one side stricken, were adjoined; one, probably from the days of Philipps von Heinsberg, displayed a church (See Note), the other showed a cross, accompanied by the sword of jurisdiction, and the crosier (bishop's crook) on either side."[11]

5. At some point in the middle-ages, the Three Kings are represented as men of different ethnicities.
6. In the Fourteen Century the Armenian tradition started that:
   Gaspar was the King of India
   Balthazar was the King of Arabia, and
   Mechior was the King of Persia.

There is a place that is very special to God, and the place is Holy of Holies in the Temple in the Old Testament, which contained an Alter, Mercy-Seat, tablets, Aaron's staff and foundation stone.  There is also a future Temple, which will also have the Holy of Holies in it, which will be in existence during the Tribulation Period.  The Holy of Hollies was was never meant to be worshiped, but a place built for the worship of God. 

This author absolutely believes in the paramount benefits of being in special places, churches and even a fellowship to aid in bringing ourselves:

• Closer in worshiping God,
• Inspired reading of the Word of God, and
• Renewing ourselves in our Faith.

The rhetorical question to always ask ourselves is there anything that is man-made that should become an object of prayer, adoration, reverence or even worship?  When anything, that is man-made, becomes an object of prayer this violates God's law. 

There are important reasons for the scriptures not giving us a description of what Jesus Christ looked like such as skin or hair color, height or even muscular build because of the potential of having someone try to look Jesus Christ.  Amongst several reasons, this author has the additional theory that is what the Antichrist will do in the Tribulation Period where he will try to look like Jesus Christ to be more acceptable and to receive worship.

Has the Shrine of the Three Kings taken on a role of a Holy Place of God?  In 2 Kings 18:4, there is a good King of Israel, named Hezekiah who had to destroy the Bronze Serpent made in Number 21:6-9, because people began to worship the Bronze Serpent.

Note that from the positive perspective, the Bronze Serpent was a pointer to Jesus Christ, just as any special place like the Shrine of the Three Kings should be for us, but not a place to venerate old bones of unverifiable people along with the coins of the Roman Empire.  Even if the bones are of the Magi, that does not make us become closer to God.  John 3:14 informs us the double purpose of the Bronze Serpent.

The Magian Religion

The Magi Religion was the predominant and most powerful religious system in ancient Babylon Empire and the Median Persia Empire.  Persia is modern-day Iran. 

In the Book of Daniel, the Prophet Daniel was taken into captivity from Jerusalem into service in the conquering empire of Babylon where Daniel began his service and eventually rose to be second in power under King Nebuchadnezzar, and also set as the leader of the Magian Priest in Babylon after the interpretation of the King Nebuchadnezzar's first dream.  When the Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Persian Empire with only a small battle within the city, as written about in Daniel chapter 5, the Prophet Daniel once again rose in the administration of the Persian Kingdom under the ruler King Darius and eventually under King Cyrus. 

Note that some Historians believe there is a possibility that King Darius and King Cyrus may have been the same man as the custom at that time was for kings to take on multiple names.  After reviewing several accounts of historical references, this author believes this is not the case but rather Darius, a title name, was King Cyrus's highest-ranking commander in charge of the military who was rewarded with an equivalence of kingship over the conquered Babylon.

The conquering of the city of Babylon according to historians and Isaiah 44:27-28, was done by diverting a river defense moat system, surrounding the city of Babylon which allowed the Persian soldiers to enter Babylon underneath multiple previously submerged water gates without being detected before engaging in a quick battle within the city walls.  At this time, King Nebuchadnezzar was deceased and Daniel was in retirement around the age of 62.  Daniel was called upon by the second in command of Babylon, to give an interpretation of the famous "handwriting on the wall incident" of Daniel 5:5-forward.  The current King Nabonidus who was not there but his son King Belshazzar was there as second in charge.  King Belshazzar offered Daniel the third place in the kingdom for interpretation of the writing on the wall, which Daniel declined and gave Belshazzar the prediction of his demise and also Babylon's.

At the time when Babylon was conquered and King Cyrus entered Babylon, the scriptural history along with collaboration from the writings of Josephus, indicate the Magian Priests let King Cyrus know about the Hand Writing on the Wall Incident.  Also, Daniel let King Cyrus know about the prophecy in Isaiah 44:27-28 which has King Cyrus's name written in it from 150 years before the event.  This of course showed King Cyrus who the true God was but it also shows us that Daniel was a reader of the prophecies where he knew what was going to happen. 

As noted in Josephus's writing, Daniel was greatly honored and brought to back to Media with King Cyrus as collaboration of events concerning Daniel's position in the Magian System and his value.

Daniel upon arrival in Persia, once again rose in power, and he was put in charge with two other Satraps mentioned in (Daniel 6:1-2), which Daniel held the highest position of the three.  The Magian-Persian priests were in charge of many things which included:

• Appointing a new king after the preceding king died,
• Ruling over the people in many civil areas, and
• Organizing the religious practices

of Persia.  Many historians, and the scriptures, state that Daniel became part of the Priesthood in a leading administration role, where he always still kept his allegiance to the God of the Scriptures, not the Magian deity.  This was proven in the Lion's den event, recorded in the scriptures.

As before in Babylon, there were events in Daniel's life and Daniel's Hebrew friends, which resulted in attempts on their lives in Persia.  In Persia, the most widely known scriptural event is the Lion's den, which Daniel's two co-leaders of the Magian Priests conspired to get Daniel killed.  After the Lion's Den event in Daniel 6, Daniel became the sole leader because the other two co-leaders were executed after trying to set up a false accusation to get Daniel killed.  In Daniel 6:24, the men with their families were executed by the lions in the place which they tried to get Daniel executed which was the Lion's den. 

Historians also believe this Lion's Den event most likely solidified Daniels place in charge of the Median-Persia priesthood, but there is no specific documentation on this aspect.  Note that this author believes this is the case and also believes that the preponderance of scriptural and other external writing indicate that everyone knew of Daniel's belief in the true God albeit there was unfortunately the inability to eliminate the false gods and false worship. 

Parthian Empire

At the time of the Birth of Jesus Christ, there were two formable empires that were next to one another where the area in-between them, that included Israel, had skirmishes, raids and battles to take over more territory.  Both empires often claimed the area of Israel as part of their empire, and it was almost considered a modern-day sort of “buffer-zone”. 

The Parthian Empire was made up of the former Median Persia Empire along with the areas of primarily one of Alexander's the Great's successors named Seleucid.  There was another empire at that time, with the Greek name of the Scythians, which remained the Parthian Empires secondary opponent north of them.  The Scythians had the same military tactics of horseback cavalry with a defense-in-depth approach that would weaken and debilitate enemy's logistic abilities to fight by utilizing great distances for their enemies detriment.  The Greek historian, called the father of history, named Herodotus had a great deal of writing concerning the Greco-Persian wars with the strategies of the battles of the time that spoke about the Scythian methods.

The Roman army, on foot, was far more formidable and lethal than most armies where this advantage against the Parthian military was rendered almost useless, in some battles, because of the Parthian war tactics.  The Parthian military used mostly archers on horseback in their military campaigns, who would almost never engage the enemy in close quarters. The Parthians would ride up close to their opponents, shoot arrows, appear to retreat, which would draw the opposition without a shield wall or defense in numbers, where the Parthian archers riding backwards would shoot arrows.  Historians state that the Parthian, and also the Scythian warriors, had the ability to shoot arrows from either left or right-handed with deadly accuracy which has never been unequaled in history.  (See this modern-day link on archery skills, and this video on Lars demonstrating the possibilities of ancient warriors who used the bow and arrow as their main tactical weapon in every position and movement!)

Daniel the Prophet

As noted earlier in this topic, the Median Religion was remarkably similar to Judaism albeit not recognizing the God of the Bible, which is important in the possibility of how Daniel was more easily accepted in the two kingdoms, and also for what Daniel appears to have set in a long-range plan for a future role of the Magi in Jesus Christ Birth.

It should be mentioned that Daniel's role for the two kingdoms can be equivalently described as an executive in our corporate world, where he acted as Chief Executive Officer for the owner who was the King.  It is this author's opinion that Daniel's inspiration through God made Daniel exemplary, fair and wise in position where Daniel did not abuse the power given to him.

Besides the attributes described above in this topic, the Magi involved themselves as cataloguers of dreams and the dream interpreting, Oneiromancy.  They advised Kings and others on matters of dreams and made prophetic predictions.  During Daniel's life, according to the scriptures, Daniel was much loved and honored (respected) by King Nebuchadnezzar and later by King Cyrus because of his ability to interpret dreams, where the ability was from God, which both Kings recognized the source as God.

There are many Biblical Scholars who believe Nebuchadnezzar came to believe in God and received Salvation through the Faith gained by the works of Daniel.  According to Josephus's writings, Daniel came into his position in Persian Empire around the age of 62 years old.

When the Persians invaded and conquered Babylon, with only a small battle inside the city walls by invading under a lowered river defensive moat system, Daniel ended up becoming in charge over the priesthood of the Magi in the kingdom of Persia as inferred by the scriptures and other historical writings.  Daniel additionally became a prince, and leader, in the Persian empire that included many other responsibilities besides the Magian areas.

Note that the Magian Priests could be considered part of a modern-day Governmental Parliament or type-of Congress, which had power and prestige with military protection and authority.

Note that there are some discussions and disagreements on who Darius was in history outside of the Biblical Scriptures.  This author is mentioning these for the reader's exposure and knowledge.

• In “In and Around the Book of Daniel” by Charles Boutflower, Darius may have been Cyrus’s son who ruled Persia from 530-522 BC.
• In “Notes on some problems in the Book of Daniel”, pp 12-14, “It was common for ancient rulers to use different names in various parts of their realms. Thus, Darius may have been a localize name for Cyrus.
• In “Darius the Mede” by Nutley, N.J. Presbyterian; Reformed Publishing Co 1974, Darius was an alias for Ugbaru, governor of Guitium who was appointed by Cyrus to be ruler over Babylon. This is most likely the case an solves the problem with reconciling names in history sources. Darius is most likely a Title and a Rank in government.

Persians and Israel

Chapter 8 of Daniel outlines a prophecy in a vision dealing with a Ram and a Goat.  After the vision, Daniel is visited by the Angel Gabriel that is commanded to give Daniel details of the vision.  In verse 18 through 22, we learn of kingdom that will arise out of the current kingdom that Daniel lived, which is the Median Persia Empire. 

There is some Christian Documentaries in books, magazines and on the internet, that state there was a period of 400 years which are often called the "Silent Years", because the period was between the Old Testament and New Testament period where there were no Prophets or Scriptural Book written.  The Roman Catholic Church recognizes the Apocrypha Books written during the "Silent Years", but most other Christian Faiths believe they are not inspired.  Regardless of the period of time, is God gave Daniel information in advance of four kingdoms to come that would be during that period of time.

There is a scriptural passage that describes the King of Persia is Daniel 8:18-22, which describes the ending of the Persian Empire by the King of Greece, which is relevant in the destiny of Magians that had places of authority in Persia and later in the succeeding empires:

The descriptions of the vision’s interpretations:

1. Verse 20 points to the Median-Persian empire of Darius III.
2. Verse 21 points to Alexander the Great as the king of Greece, who conquered the Achaemenid Persian empire of Darius III.
3. The comparison of a the two-horned ram for the Median-Persian Empire meant that it was very strong, but the goat was very fast moving and very furious against the ram.

   Daniel 8:5-8

   5 As I was thinking about this, suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between its eyes came from the west, crossing the whole earth without touching the ground. 6 It came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and charged at it in great rage. 7 I saw it attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering its two horns. The ram was powerless to stand against it; the goat knocked it to the ground and trampled on it, and none could rescue the ram from its power. 8 The goat became very great, but at the height of its power the large horn was broken off, and in its place four prominent horns grew up toward the four winds of heaven.

4. Verse 22 is referring to the period after Alexander the Great's death in 323 BC where his empire was split into four kingdoms.  The split took approximately 17 years to be divide up with the four of Alexander's generals and advisors:

The primary empire to follow for Biblical prophecy is the Seleucid empire, which eventually was conquered by the Parthians.  The Seleucids empire contained Israel, Syria, Persia and other lands towards India, where the Persians and Hebrews suffered greatly under the Seleucid domination, which somewhat bonded the Jews with the Medes and Persians as liberator guardians at different points later when the Roman Empire invaded and subjugated Israel.  Israel saw it better to be under the Parthian Empire rather than the Roman Empire.

Note that there was a significant milestone in 167 BC, when Israel was under the Seleucid Empire.  Israel gained independence in the Maccabean Revolt which is recorded in 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees and “The Jewish War” by Flavius Josephus as a result of the Abomination of Desolation event.  For a short period, Israel came under rule by the Hasmonean Dynasty before the Hasmonean Dynasty fell to the Roman Empire.  From that point forward the area of Israel became the battle ground and buffer zone for the Roman Empire and Parthian Empire control of the region.  

Here are some additional milestones dates detailing the area of Israel during the years leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ which showed the instability of the area of Jerusalem:  When reading the dates, remember this is BC so the years are descending.

• Pompey the Great was the first Roman to conquer Jerusalem in 63 BC from the Hasmoneans during a civil war in the area.
• Marcus Licinius Crassus led Roman Legions into Israel in 55 BC to plunder and pillage. Subsequently, Roman Legions were defeated by Parthians in the Battle of Carrhae with the loss of 30,000 men that included the commander. The Parthians conducted a counterattack of Armenia, Syria and Palestine (area of Israel).
• In 44 BC, there was a civil war in Rome where Julius Caesar was assassinated and Mark Antonius (Mark Antony) taking control of the Roman Eastern Areas.
• In 40 BC, Parthian control was regained of the areas around Jerusalem under Antigonus II Mattahias. During this time, the Roman Senate with help from Mark Antonius proclaimed Herod “King of the Jews”, albeit a king in exile that could not go to his kingdom.
• In the years of 39 to 38 BC, Rome largely defeated the Parthian Army in the areas around Israel but could not take full control of Jerusalem. The Roman General, Publius Ventidius Bassus, installed Herod to the throne of the area, but Herod had to rule from outside of Jerusalem in Judea, Samaria and Galilee. During subsequent sieges of Jerusalem, Herod was finally installed as the king inside of Jerusalem. Antigonus and the ruling elite under Antigonus were all executed over time under Herod.

Wise Men Coming from the East

• Herod did not know if there would be another invading army from Parthia coming back to regain the area.
• The Jews considered Herod a half Jew, Edomite, which was looked down upon, so Herod had to worry about his own kingdom’s inhabitants who didn’t like him and mistrusted him.
• The Jewish loyalty was with the Parthians because of many reasons which included subjugation under the Greeks which the Parthians, of Persian descent, also experienced.
• It has been suggested that King Herod was also close to his death, possible birth around 72 BC and death in 4 AD, and may have been feeling the pains of illness that would also add to the city's anxiety.
• In Rome, at the time of Christ’s birth, the empire was under rule by Caesar Augustus who was aged which made Rome unstable.  Because of Rome's instability, it had to have cause King Herod to wonder if a new Caesar would support him.
• Some additional ancillary information: According to Josephus, in War of the Jews, in AD 6 or 7, King Herod's son and successor was dethroned and banished to Vienna.  The oldest son, Antipater, had been murdered by Herod the Great.  Archelaus, 2nd son of Herod, was made "Entharach" by Caser Augustus, but the Roman procurator named Caponius was supremely in charge.  Under Caponius, the Sanhedrin's right for capital punishment was removed, which was normal Roman policy. **

What to read next?

What is Salvation?  Is it is possible to lose Salvation?  We have eternal life.  Evolution is not real.  When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it.  Rewards in heaven.  Do we Tithe?  What does the 3rd Commandment tell us?  What is Grace and Mercy?  Is there an Age of Accountability?  Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?