25 dez 2 ano antes da era comum - Massecre of the Innocents

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Herod the Great and Jesus Chronological, Historical and Archaeological Evidence
Gérard GERTOUX

According to the Bible, Jesus was born to a family living in Nazareth of Galilee, which, due to the recording ordered by Augustus, had to move to Bethlehem, birthplace of Joseph (Lk 1:26-27, 2:1-4). Arriving in Bethlehem, in late September -2, Mary gave birth to Jesus on September 29 and in accordance with Jewish custom, came up to the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days later (Lk 2:22, Lv 12:1-8) on Friday 7 November -2. Towards the end of November, astrologers, probably coming from Babylon, homeland of astrology (Dn 1:20; 2:27), reached Jerusalem. A few days later, they arrived and saw the baby Jesus, then went back to Babylon but without returning to Jerusalem. Late December, seeing that he had been duped, Herod decided to kill all new-borns in Bethlehem. Jesus' parents, aware of the project, left and went to Egypt. Although the event is terrible it involved only an insignificant town of Judea (Mt 2:6), which would explain the silence of Josephus. In addition, the important festival of Saturnalia would have hidden the murder of a few new- borns. This Roman festival (Saturnalia), celebrated on December 17 at winter solstice (December 23), was known in Palestine, according to the Talmud (Aboda zara I:3, 8a), because it was near the Feast of the Dedication (Jn 10:22) on 25 Kislev (December 21 in 2 BCE). Although Herod was unaware of the age of the child, however he knew when the star had appeared, at the beginning of the journey of the astrologers. If they have come from Babylonia on camels (between Babylon and Jerusalem is about 1500 km by road), they had to have spent between 2 and 4 months of journey (Ezr 7:7-9). At that time, 4 to 6 weeks were needed to travel the 500 kilometres from Babylon to Susa164. Therefore, if the Magi left Babylon at the time of Jesus' birth (September 2 BCE), they would have come to Jerusalem in late November 2 BCE. Based on the estimated travel time and adding delay, Herod had to assess the age of the child with a comfortable safety margin of 2 years prior to order the killing of children (on December 25 in 2 BCE) because the child Jesus must have been 3 months old. The Gospels put in parallel his life with that of Moses, the latter being this age in the same circumstances (Ac 7:19-20). Jesus was born on 1 Tishri, 3 months later lead to December 26 in 2 BCE. Only the Gospels relate that event (Mt 2:1-16) but the fact is plausible because leaders at the time often consulted Chaldeans (also called magi) to know the future165. Herod died shortly afterwards. Jesus' family was immediately informed and returned to live in Nazareth which allowed them to celebrate the Passover (Mt 2:19-23, Lk 2:39-41) on April 7 in 1 BCE, since the parents of Jesus are presented in the Gospels as pious Jews.

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