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Your rendition of history may be false too. History can be

Posted on: December 25, 2022 at 17:35:59 CT
Macgrantt MU
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very subjective and is usually written by the winners.


e wise men alert him to the birth of a new king in Bethlehem. He wants to know where, so he can eradicate this new rival. The wise men wisely don’t return. Herod then responds by slaughtering all boys two years old and under in Bethlehem and in “all the region.” For all that Josephus writes about Herod, he makes no mention of this — in fact, there’s no extra-biblical evidence that this slaughter ever happened. How do you respond?

No, it is interesting. Josephus does not mention it. And therefore, a lot of biblical critics will pounce on that aspect of the nativity account and say, therefore it didn’t happen. Now please understand that this is an argument from silence, and that is the weakest form of argumentation you can use. As we say in the profession, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

In this case, one or two things could have happened. Josephus may have heard about it and not used it because maybe you don’t have hundreds of babies killed; maybe you have only about twelve, as a matter of fact — twelve or fifteen. The infant mortality in the ancient world was so huge anyway that this is really not going to impress the reader too much, believe it or not. And I think if Josephus is choosing between the two stories about how Herod died right before his death, I think I would take the one where he is going to slaughter hundreds of Jewish leaders.

Or he may not have heard about it. Again, simply because, in little Bethlehem, it doesn’t amount to much — a village of about fifteen hundred residents. In my actuarial study, Bethlehem at the time wouldn’t have had more than about two dozen babies two years old and under — half of them female. And so this is not a big deal, and I think that is why Josephus either never heard about it or didn’t feel it important enough to record. So this does not militate against Matthew’s version by any means.

In fact, I was arguing once years ago on the infant massacre with a professor at Wagner College in New York who claimed that this is all fiction — that surely a massacre of hundreds of Jewish boy babies would have come to the attention of other accounts of history. Well, I agree it would have if there had been hundreds of slaughters. But that is ridiculous. A little village that size to have hundreds of boy babies, two years old and younger? It couldn’t possibly be the case.
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     Depends, is he fleeing Biden from the murder of the - dangertim MU - 12/25 17:57:18
          why is yellow a mizzou color? - gmmm98 MU - 12/25 18:38:33
     Jesus wouldnt seek political asylum, he was not - MU-TULSA MU - 12/25 17:05:35
          Jesus was an immigrant & his family sought asylum - Macgrantt MU - 12/25 17:15:17
               Jesus was not an immigrant - Spanky KU - 12/25 17:39:41
                    He did not travel beyond the Galilee but once(nm) - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:43:41
                         He never left the Roman Empire(nm) - Spanky KU - 12/25 17:58:51
                              He wasnt a roman citizen(nm) - El-ahrairah UGA - 12/25 18:25:14
                                   He was a Roman subject(nm) - Spanky KU - 12/25 20:28:59
                    sothe Bible narrative of the family's flight to Egypt is.... - tigerinhogtown STL - 12/25 17:43:15
                         Do you think Egypt was not part of the Roman empire? - Spanky KU - 12/25 17:55:52
                              Harrod's dictate wouldn't have applied to the entire Roman E - Macgrantt MU - 12/25 18:20:33
                                   Just as the governor of NY’s dictates did not apply to - Spanky KU - 12/25 20:33:35
                              sure it was kinda like india was a part of the british - tigerinhogtown STL - 12/25 18:00:16
                                   No. Not like that at all. Herod was appointed by the Roman - Spanky KU - 12/25 21:26:49
                                        and who do youthink appointed the Indian government - tigerinhogtown STL - 12/26 01:47:06
                                             India remains a British Commonwealth nation - Spanky KU - 12/26 10:38:07
                                   more like somebody fleeing gavin newsom to go to - dangertim MU - 12/25 18:20:21
                         It's a myth friend created decades and decades later by - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:44:30
                              Luke was DR turned historian. His narrative is very well - tigerinhogtown STL - 12/25 17:51:19
               You know one in a while - you want to deal with history and - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:22:30
                    you can't know that for a fact - Harrod may have very well - tigerinhogtown STL - 12/25 17:38:22
                         ha ha ha - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:47:46
                              You don't even know God. - MizzouTigerz MU - 12/25 18:23:38
                              People have been trying to disprove Jesus for 2000 years. - Macgrantt MU - 12/25 17:56:07
                    Your rendition of history may be false too. History can be - Macgrantt MU - 12/25 17:35:59
     would he seek it?(nm) - tigerinhogtown STL - 12/25 16:55:28
          No(nm) - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:33:25
     Give to Caesar what is Caesar's, give to God what is God's. - DHighlander NWMSU - 12/25 16:53:45
          Which things are not God’s? - El-ahrairah UGA - 12/25 17:50:04
          Job one: feed and tend. And if Caesar cracks down, work - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 16:58:33
               False. You couldn't be more wrong. - MizzouTigerz MU - 12/25 17:15:20
                    No sht Sherlock. You cannot serve two masters - God first - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:19:34
                         The teachings of the Roman Catholic Church are not - MizzouTigerz MU - 12/25 17:36:01
                              Stick w/Jesus, not 1 Peter 2, your reading of John is off - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:42:23
                                   Stop calling God a liar. Jesus is co-author of ALL scripture - MizzouTigerz MU - 12/25 17:48:43
                         You said, 'Job one: feed and tend.' That is a lie. - MizzouTigerz MU - 12/25 17:22:01
                              Feed, tend to and heal the poor, putting others above your - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:23:55
                                   Pharisees prioritize doing stuff to look good, while - MizzouTigerz MU - 12/25 17:41:33
               It was a mandate to the individual people. All of your ideas - DHighlander NWMSU - 12/25 17:08:50
                    Of course he had nothing to do with the state - the state - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:37:59
     Would you believe it was him? - tcat KC - 12/25 16:23:52
     Well, LGBT are pretty much untouchable - HandBanana MU - 12/25 16:11:16
     Jesus wouldn't ignore the law, nor the standards He set - MizzouTigerz MU - 12/25 15:57:44
          Jesus spat on the law & cherished customs - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 16:36:48
               You are uneducated on Jesus - Spanky KU - 12/25 17:12:09
                    Friend, I have been studying this for the better part - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:25:00
                         You didn’t learn anything - Spanky KU - 12/25 21:30:56
               Chapter and verse where Christ allegedly spat on the law. - MizzouTigerz MU - 12/25 16:59:14
                    He battled with disparagement the Pharisees whose hold - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 17:32:40
                         I'll say it slower ... - MizzouTigerz MU - 12/25 17:54:03
               To clarify - state law, not law of Yahveh(nm) - raskolnikov MU - 12/25 16:39:09
     He who provides answers that end politics forever - TrumpToRushmore MU - 12/25 15:11:20
     What was Christ’s politics? - Spanky KU - 12/25 15:02:32
          RE: What was Christ’s politics? - HandBanana MU - 12/25 16:16:38
          Asylum may be granted under the following circumstances - Ace AU - 12/25 15:54:52
          Probably against the death penalty - El-ahrairah UGA - 12/25 15:09:02
               I actually think he’d be all about it - Sal CMSU - 12/25 16:25:44
                    He knows they will go to hell when their day comes(nm) - meatiger MU - 12/25 16:49:06
                         Let’s send these b*tches there quicker (nm) - Sal CMSU - 12/25 17:01:00
                              But it also said - meatiger MU - 12/25 17:47:01
                    many people executed by the state who committed no crime - El-ahrairah UGA - 12/25 16:28:15
                         I’m not arguing that - Sal CMSU - 12/25 16:42:31
               Having established the death penalty at the time of the - MizzouTigerz MU - 12/25 16:02:24
               Hmm. Thought shall not Murder(nm) - tman MU - 12/25 15:15:22
                    Ok(nm) - El-ahrairah UGA - 12/25 15:20:43
     No. - El-ahrairah UGA - 12/25 15:02:24




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