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October 4th, 2001
Received by H.R.
Cuenca, Ecuador
Very well, my dear brother! I see you have already drawn a portrait
of Joseph. And this is how he looked like when he arrived at Bethlehem
with his young pregnant wife. He was a handsome lad, intelligent
and vigorous. He had also some defects, a too rigid a character that
would take him into conflict with Jesus, but we will speak
of that later.
When Jesus died crucified in Golgotha, many wrinkles furrowed Joseph's
face, wrinkles formed by his worries over his son, and his hair
was gray, showing a marked baldness in the forehead.
So they arrived at Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary, after a wearisome
trip through the Jordan valley, where all the year an almost tropical
climate reigns, and after ascending the mountains of Judea, where
the winter chill cut their skin.
When they arrived at Bethlehem, night had already fallen. They
went to the small house of one of Joseph's relatives, because as
I have told you, Joseph was born in Bethlehem, and asked for shelter.
In that time, as is the case today, hospitality was considered paramount
in the east, and the two travelers, or rather fugitives, were welcomed
with open arms.
Bethlehem was a pitiable village then, and people had neither luxuries
nor big houses, they lived poorly as peasants, farmers and mainly
as shepherds. Joseph's relatives immediately were willing to make
available to them a room, but Joseph declined this. Yes, hospitality
was paramount, but people also knew that they should not abuse this
right. Joseph explained to his relatives that he would be happy
to spend the night in a stable, with some shelter against the cold,
with four walls, a roof and some straw which could provide this,
and that the following day they would gladly accept the room, but
that they didn't want to cause problems at this late hour in the
night. And so it happened.
The wearisome trip left its mark, and the labor pains began prematurely,
not very prematurely, it is true, but there were some days left
until the expected date of childbirth. But the stress, as you would
say today, of the journey, the fear and the nervousness, accelerated
events. And Mary gave birth in that stable, and they placed the
boy in a manger, precisely so, as people reproduce the scene at
Christmas.
You already know much of this story. Jesus already told Mr.
Padgett and Dr. Samuels
quite a detailed story of those events. Joseph felt happy. He arranged
a small feast the following day, and the Bethlehem residents participated,
being the famous "Christmas shepherds." And then the young family
moved into the house.
When many days later the “wise men” came, the wise astrologers
from Babylonia, they did not pay homage to Jesus in that stable,
but in the house. Just read what Matthew says:
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“When they saw the star, they
rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into
the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and
fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their
treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense,
and myrrh.” |
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Yes, when they came into the house, into this room, there it was
where they presented their offerings, and where they alerted Joseph
and Mary to the great danger.
With that we come to a question, which has always caused great
dispute amongst the scholars of the Bible: The slaughter of the
innocent in Bethlehem.
Many say that this never happened. Others say that it did indeed
happen. As a matter of fact, this misdeed is not mentioned in any
story of the historians, it is not mentioned anywhere, apart from
the writings of the ecclesiastical authors, of course. This is why
there is the suspicion that it never occurred.
But it did happen. First, the argument of the historians that the
Romans would have never tolerated such cruelty is not true. Herod
was a formally independent king, and he could always do what he
wanted, provided the interests of Rome were not in danger.
Second, the argument that the silence of the historians means that
the slaughter never happened, is not valid either. Bethlehem was
a small village. The slaughter didn't affect hundreds of babies,
just a few. It sounds cruel, because the slaughter of a single baby
is already an incredible cruelty, but in fact, less than twenty
children were involved. And Herod, certainly, didn't do this openly.
He sent his elite soldiers, his personal guard, disguised as bandits,
and they plundered the hamlet, killing "incidentally"
the babies. Assaults like this simply happened, and nobody thought
that it would be worthwhile reporting these numerous incidents.
You already suspected that, and you are right. That is how it happened.
I promised you that I would tell you of Herod's actions against
his family. You already know this story. So, write down here what
you know.
[H.R.: Aristobulus, his brother-in-law and high priest,
had the honor of being the first on the list.
Joseph: While answering the charge of this murder in
Egypt, Herod gave the order to his uncle Joseph that if he should
die, then his wife, Mariamne, and her mother were to be executed.
Herod managed to talk his way out of the murder charge, but on his
return to Jerusalem found that his wife had learned of his arrangement
with Joseph. Herod began to wonder why Joseph had told Mariamne,
and came to the wrong conclusion that they were having an affair.
In fact Joseph had told her of the plan in order to demonstrate
Herod's love for her. However, despite the total lack of evidence
Joseph was executed.
Mariamne: Herod was very much in love with her, but
with jealous accusations from other wives and Mariamne's increasing
coldness towards him, he eventually persuaded himself to have her
executed too. He regretted it straight away and became filled with
guilt, making himself mentally and physically ill.
Alexandra: Thinking that Herod was about to die, Alexandra,
Mariamne's mother made arrangements to put Herod's children by Mariamne,
Alexander and Aristobulus, on the throne. She too was then executed
for her presumption!
Mariamne's two sons: Herod had 10 wives altogether
and towards the end of Herod's life, Antipater, the eldest son by
his first wife began to realize that he was not favored to take
over from his father. He was deeply jealous of the sons of Mariamne,
and in order to discredit them he accused his two stepbrothers of
treachery and, believing him, Herod had them both executed too.
Antipater: He must have thought he had got away with
it, but just before Herod died, Antipater was executed as well,
accused of trying to accelerate his death. Signing Antipater's death
warrant, Augustus Caesar remarked that he would rather be Herod's
pig than Herod's son!
The intended mass-execution: Just before his death,
Herod, realizing that when he died there would be no great mourning,
sent letters to the heads of every family in Judaism demanding their
presence on pain of death. Having got them to Jerusalem, Herod ordered
them to be locked up in the horseracing ground. He then gave the
orders to his sister that upon his death they were all to be executed.
Thus making sure that the whole nation would mourn when he died,
albeit not for him. Fortunately, when Herod died, his sister released
the imprisoned Jews and allowed them to return home. Herod died
37 years after being declared 'King of the Jews'.]
You see, old Herod was suspicious of everything and everybody.
Killing a few babies, to him, was insignificant.
But "luckily" Joseph, Mary and Jesus survived, thanks
to the warning of the wise men, and so they escaped. They were already
far away from the place, when the massacre began. But of that we
will speak next time.
I am glad that I have been able to clarify some of your questions
as to Jesus' birth, especially the question as to why Jesus was born in
a stable. Nothing special, as you see, a simple event in life.
Well, my brother, I will say good-bye now. Have a nice and blessed
day. God bless you always.
Your brother in the spirit,
Judas.
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Joseph, as a young father.
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