|
New Testament History |
The massacre of the Holy InnocentsThe massacre of the 5027 or 5037[1] Holy Innocents took place when the Holy Family was on the way to Egypt.[2] A.C.E. saw the parents taking their children to Jerusalem on Thursday 8 March 1821, and the children being massacred on Friday 9 March 1821.[3] Since the liturgical date for the massacre is 28 December, the dates of Thursday-Friday 8-9 March 1821 must relate to the historical dates. Herod the Great died on Thursday factual Julian 9 March 1 AD = 25 Adar I.[4] The parents were asked to bring their children to Jerusalem on that Thursday. They did not know that Herod was dead because Herod’s death was kept secret for a while.[5] They believed that they were to receive a reward for their fertility.[6] The men were sent home, and the women were taken away from their children and imprisoned. They wept during the whole night.[7] On Friday factual Julian 10 March the Holy Innocents were killed.[8] On the night of Saturday/Sunday 10/11 March 1821 A.C.E. saw the mothers being brought back home,[9] after the close of the Sabbath. The massacre took place in Jerusalem near Pilate’s future residence,[10] which was situated near the Antonia. Children up to 4 years old were killed.[11] They came from 7 places.[12] Shortly before his death, Herod had shut up the principal men of the Jewish nation in Jericho and commanded to kill them as soon as he died, in order to provoke a huge mourning at his death.[13] Yet the men were released.[14] The mourning was provoked by the massacre of the Holy Innocents instead: on Friday factual Julian 10 March Herod’s burial procession began in Jericho,[15] and the Holy Innocents were murdered on that day. On Saturday 12 February 1820 A.C.E. saw something strange about Herod, and an agitation in the country.[16] Since the vision of Sunday 11 February 1820 relates to Sunday 5 March 1 AD and the one of Tuesday 13 February 1820 to the night of Thursday/Friday 9/10 March 1 AD, the vision of Saturday 12 February 1820 took place within the period Monday-Thursday 6-9 March 1 AD. A.C.E.’s observations about Herod are connected with his death on Thursday 9 March 1 AD: Herod the Great had been replaced by his son Herod Archelaus, which is the strange thing about Herod.[17] The upheaval at the time of Herod the Great’s death[18] is the agitation in the country. A.C.E. apparently made no distinction between Herod the Great, who ordered the massacre (Matt 2:16), and Herod Archelaus, who carried out the massacre; both were officially called Herod.[19] With a view to the
massacre, Herod the Great had previously ordered a census of the
children living in Jerusalem’s neighbourhood. This census
started after the Holy Family had been living for some time in
Nazareth (where they arrived on Sunday 8 January 1 AD),
and it lasted for about 9 months.[20]
The number apparently refers to weeks: there are 60 days (i.e.
almost 9 weeks = 63 days) between Sunday 8 January and the
summons on Thursday 9 March. During the census Herod would have
been in Rome,[21]
and only after his return the children would have been killed.[22]
However, since Herod the Great visited Rome for the last time in
12 BC,[23]
the voyage at the time of the census must refer to Herod’s
embassies to Rome in the winter of 1 BC/1 AD (in order to ask
for the death of Antipater).[24]
The supposed return probably concerns Augustus’s reply which
granted Herod the right over Antipater’s life.[25]
The answer reached Palestine on Sunday 5 March.[26]
The Holy Innocents were killed 5 days later, on Friday 10 March. [1] A.C.E., Visionen Januar 1821, 47. [2] A.C.E., Visionen März 1821, 71. [3] A.C.E., Visionen März 1821, 36-38. [4] Mahieu 2012: 293. [5] A.C.E., Visionen November 1821, 177: “Sein [i.e. Herod the Great’s] Tod ist eine Zeitlang vertuscht worden, meine ich. (Oder war es der Tod des folgenden Herodes [Agrippa I], von dem sie es auch meint und den sie manchmal verwechselt?)”; A.C.E., Mary, 205. Agrippa I’s death was also concealed: A.C.E., Visionen August 1821, 32-33, 166; A.C.E., Vie, 6:334. Josephus, B.J. 1.666 (translation by Thackeray): “Before the army had learnt of his decease, Salome left the palace with her husband and released the prisoners whom Herod had ordered to be put to death, telling them that the king had changed his mind and now dismissed them all to their homes. Not until after their departure did she and her husband announce the news to the soldiers”; Josephus, A.J. 17.193-194 (translation by Marcus and Wikgren): “Before the death of the king became generally known Salome and Alexas dismissed those who had been summoned to the hippodrome and sent them to their own homes, telling them that the king ordered them to go off to their fields and look after their own affairs. And this act of theirs came as the greatest benefaction to the nation. By now the death of the king had become public knowledge.” [6] A.C.E., Mary, 319-320. [7] A.C.E., Mary, 320. [8] A.C.E., Mary, 320. [9] A.C.E., Visionen März 1821, 48. [10] A.C.E., Mary, 320-322; A.C.E., Passion, 194. [11] A.C.E., Visionen Dezember 1821, 87: “nicht allein Zweijährige, auch Vierjährige.” [12] A.C.E., Visionen Dezember 1821, 87; A.C.E., Mary, 256. [13] Josephus, B.J. 1.660; Josephus, A.J. 17.177-178. [14] Josephus, B.J. 1.666; Josephus, A.J. 17.193. [15] Mahieu 2012: 295. [16] A.C.E., Visionen Februar 1820, 76: “Ich hatte auch etwas von Herodes, was mir merkwürdig war und was ich vergessen habe. Ich sah ihn übrigens sehr beschäftigt und zornig und sah ihn Leute herumschicken und sah ihn mit einem alten Juden sprechen und mit einem sehr bösen Mann von seiner Umgebung. Ich sah auch eine Verwirrung im Lande wie einen Aufstand.” [17] Herod watched the massacre standing at the window (A.C.E., Mary, 321), whereas Herod the Great was so ill at the end of his life (Josephus, A.J. 17.168-169) that he even could not sit (Josephus, A.J. 17.161). Hence the Herod of the massacre must be Herod Archelaus. A.C.E. herself (Mary, 321) did not recognise Herod the Great: “I think Herod was there, too, for I saw a man in a red cloak lined with white fur with little black tails on it. He was wearing a crown.” [18] Josephus, A.J. 17.206-212. [19] Archelaus appears as “Herod the ethnarch” on his coinage, not as Archelaus. Cf. Dio Cassius 55.27.6 (translation by Cary): “Herod of Palestine, who was accused by his brothers of some wrong doing or other, was banished beyond the Alps and a portion of the domain was confiscated to the state [in 6 AD].” [20] A.C.E., Mary, 319: “The soldiers remained, I think, about nine months in these places.” [21] A.C.E., Mary, 319. [22] A.C.E., Mary, 319. [23] Josephus, A.J. 16.90-129. See Mahieu 2012: 175. [24] Josephus, B.J. 1.640, 645; Josephus, A.J. 17.133, 145. See Mahieu 2012: 289-290. [25] Josephus, B.J. 1.661; Josephus, A.J. 17.182. [26] Mahieu 2012: 292. |