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Intro
Herod's bloody reputation has always hidden another side of one of the Bible's greatest villains - an architectural mastermind of breathtaking proportions. An Israeli archaeologist claims to have found Herod's most intimate creation of all - his tomb.
LITTLE KNOWN LEGACY
Herod the Great, the king of the holy land in the time of Christ, is best known for the murders of his wife, three sons, and all of Bethlehem’s male children under two. His bloody reputation has always hidden the fact that Herod was one of the greatest and most imaginative builders in world history.
In and around ancient Judea Herod built about 22 world-class temples, palaces, fortresses, and cities.
At Masada he turned a crude mountaintop stronghold into a fortified palace complex that seemed to defy gravity.
At Caesarea he built the Mediterranean’s largest deep-water port; a feat some believe should be considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
With his expansion of Jerusalem’s Second Temple, Herod built the largest sacred complex of its time;dwarfing the pagan shrines of Rome and equal to the size of about 26 football fields.
Though Jewish by faith, Herod was an Arab by blood.
Jerusalem’s Second Temple was part of one of the largest sacred complexes of its time. To keep it pure, it’s said, Herod trained 1,000 Jewish priests in construction techniques.
Herod built the Western Wall, Judaism’s most sacred site.
At Herodium, Herod built one of the largest palace complexes anywhere, and chose to be buried there. Yet Herod’s burial contained a maddening riddle concerning where he built his tomb.
The Babylonian Talmud
Translated by Michael L. Rodkinson (1918)
A search for Talmud at Google will turn up hundreds of thousands of hits, a depressing number of which are to anti-Semitic sites. However, to our knowledge this is the first extensive English translation of the Talmud to be posted on the Internet. The Talmud is a vast collection of Jewish laws and traditions.
1KI 9:20 All the people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites), 21 that is, their descendants remaining in the land, whom the Israelites could not exterminate--these Solomon conscripted for his slave labor force, as it is to this day. 22 But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers. 23 They were also the chief officials in charge of Solomon's projects--550 officials supervising the men who did the work.
NIV
DT 23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite or any of his descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even down to the tenth generation.
DT 23:7 Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as an alien in his country. 8 The third generation of children born to them may enter the assembly of the LORD.
Hasmonean_expansion
John Hyrcanus, Simon's third son, assumed the leadership and ruled from 135-104 BC. As Ethnarch and High Priest of Jerusalem, Hyrcanus annexed Trans-Jordan, Samaria, Galilee, and Idumea (also known as Edom), and forced Idumeans to convert to Judaism:
"Hyrcanus...subdued all the Idumeans; and permitted them to stay in that country, if they would circumcise their genitals, and make use of the laws of the Jews; and they were so desirous of living in the country of their forefathers, that they submitted to the use of circumcision, and of the rest of the Jewish ways of living; at which time therefore this befell them, that they were hereafter no other than Jews."(Josephus, Ant. xiii, 9:1)
do you have a good understanding of the underlying teachings of the Seventh-day Adventist?
1KI 8:10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple.
1KI 8:12 Then Solomon said, "The LORD has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; 13 I have indeed built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever."
MT 23:16 "Woe to you, blind guides! You say, `If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' 17 You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? 18 You also say, `If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' 19 You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?
Exodus 20:4 (Amplified Bible)
You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it] or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
graven image
n.
An idol or fetish carved in wood or stone.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
fetish,
n
1. (Social Science / Anthropology & Ethnology) something, esp an inanimate object, that is believed in certain cultures to be the embodiment or habitation of a spirit or magical powers
Collins English Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003
EX 25:10 "Have them make a chest of acacia wood--two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 11 Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it...
EX 25:17 "Make an atonement cover of pure gold--two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 18 And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. 19 Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. 20 The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. 21 Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you. 22 There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.
EX 20:24 " `Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.
EX 27:1 "Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide. 2 Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze.
Herod the Great
Herod's troubles with Jewish factions, however, had not ended. Although he succeeded in wining over most of the Sadducees and gained popularity by influencing a Roman policy to protect the rights of Jews in the Diaspora, he was beginning to lose support among the Pharisees. In 6 B.C.E., he executed several Pharisaic leaders who had announced that the birth of the Messiah would mean the end of Herod's rule. Then, in 4 B.C.E., when young Torah-students smashed the golden Roman eagle over the main entrance of Herod's Temple, he had 40 of them along with two of their professors burned alive.
www.bibleorigins.net...
ink sketch of King Hiram of Byblos in Phoenicia, seated on a "Cherub throne" according to the late Professor William Foxwell Albright, who dates Hiram to the 10th century BCE and world of King Solomon. The scene is from his stone sarcophagus. (for the ink sketch cf. p. 96. William Foxwell Albright. "What were the Cherubim ?" G. Ernest Wright & David Noel Freedman. Editors. The Biblical Archaeologist Reader. Chicago. Quadrangle Books, Incorporated. 1961)
www.bibleorigins.net...
Cherub (Assyrian type, 9th century BCE), lion-bodied, winged, engages a winged god with sword, perhaps "protecting" the stylized "Sacred Tree" ( A Palm Tree).(cf. p.62, fig. 160. Heinz Demisch. Die Sphinx, Geschichte ihrer Darstellung von den Anfangen bis zur Gegenwart. Stuttgart. Verlag Urachhaus Johannes M. Mayer. 1977. ISBN 3-87838-219-7)
one that accomplishes the prophecies in ONE lifetime - a human one, not divine. THE Messiah that won't be worshiped.
Moshiach and the Future Redemption
Every mitzvah we do is part of creating that world. Every moment of our history, that hope beats in our hearts.
Today we discover that humanity has bought into our dream. That the pieces are neatly falling in place. That rays of a new dawn have already begun to shine.
He is apart of us all. he is only one person!
ISA 44:28 who says of Cyrus, `He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt,"
and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid." '
ISA 45:1 "This is what the LORD says to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
and to strip kings of their armor,
to open doors before him
so that gates will not be shut:
ISA 45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the LORD,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
ISA 45:4 For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me.
ISA 45:5 I am the LORD, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
though you have not acknowledged me,
ISA 45:6 so that from the rising of the sun
to the place of its setting
men may know there is none besides me.
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
EZR 1:2 "This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
" `The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. 3 Anyone of his people among you--may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.' "