Israel

king herod

Comment: King Herod is correct, but which one?

After Herod the Great died, he's the one that was alive when Jesus was born, then his kingdom was split three ways. One part, Judea was given to Herod Archelaus. This Herod was to be king over all Israel like his father, but Rome objected and he was granted only one part of the kingdom.

Another son, Herod Philip II ruled the area north of Galilee (Luke 3:1) and Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea. It was Herod Antipas who had John the Baptist beheaded.

Herod the Great is the king that ordered the male children in Bethlehem to be killed who were two years and younger. (Matthew 2:16-18). At this time an angel warned Joseph to flee to Egypt. Then when Herod the Great died in 4 B.C. an angel told Joseph to take his family back home. But on the way back to Israel God warned Joseph about Herod Archelaus in Judea and so Joseph turned toward Galilee and bypassed Judea (Matthew 2:19-23).

Herod Archelaus was a rotten ruler and in 6 A.D. (corrected chronology), which was his tenth year of rule he was exiled to Gaul (France) where he died later.

So the answer to your question is Herod the Great.

Deuteronomy 8:8 calls Israel "a land of wheat, barley, grapevines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of oil olives and (date) honey."

The "seven species" come from this verse:

• Wheat (chitah in Hebrew)
• Barley (se'orah in Hebrew)
• Grapes (vine, gefen in Hebrew), usually consumed as wine
• Figs (te'enah in Hebrew)
• Pomegranates (rimon in Hebrew)
• Olives (zayit in Hebrew), usually consumed in oil form
• Dates (tamar or in the verse, honey, d'vash in Hebrew)

The Diaspora (scattering of the Jewish people) was what happened when we were unable to live in the Holy Land.

1) Around 2600 years ago, the Assyrians forcibly exiled the Ten Israelite tribes to points unknown. A small percentage of each of these tribes is still among us, but most of them were exiled.

2) Around 2500 years ago, the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple and forcibly exiled the remainder of Israel's population to Babylonia.

While the Jews were permitted to return to Israel (Judea) seventy years later, and thousands did so (and rebuilt the Temple), most of them remained in Babylonia, while others began to settle in North Africa, southern Europe, the Crimea, throughout the Near East and elsewhere.

3) In 68 CE, the Romans destroyed the Second Temple. The Romans did not force the Jews out of Judea in a single expulsion. Rather, the Romans expelled them from Jerusalem only; and the rest of Judea lost its Jews slowly, over a period of centuries, as conditions in Judea became too harsh. Even then, we have records of Jewish communities who lived in Judea (Palestine) during the entire period of the last two millenia.

Those Jews who left Judea went to southern Europe, North Africa, Arabia, the Near East, and (slowly) further afield (especially throughout Europe).

A good place to enquire might be the Embassy of Israel in Ghana.

Its address is:

Embassy of Israel,

No. 2, First Circular Road Unit 1 Josni Residence

Cantonments, Accra

Ghana

The mailing address is:

Embassy of Israel

P. O. Box CN 91

Cantonments, Accra

The telephone number of the Embassy is: +233 302 743838 or 982418 .

The FAX number of the Embassy is: +233 302 743857 .

The email address of the Embassy is: amb-sec@accra.mfa.gov.il

It's just a suggestion.

Prophecy [foretelling the future; history written in advance] arose in the world shortly after mankind was introduced to sin by Satan; ["This great Dragon - the ancient Serpentcalled the Devil, or Satan..." - Rev.12:9 NLT New Living Translation].

Adam's Creator, Jesus Christ the WORD [John 1:3] told him: "...I have placed a curse on the ground. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. All yor life you will sweat to produce food, until your dying day. Then you will return to the ground from which you came. For you were made from dust, and to the dust you will return." (Gen.3:17-19 NLT)

It's a prophecy under which all of mankind has struggled, lived and died; existing, guided and deceived by his "chosen god" ever since.

But, as a result of man's succumbing to SIN... prophecies of the coming of the Messiah to "redeem" [purchase with His blood] His creation back from the "god" to whom they sold themselves as slaves and chose to worship and obey, also began. ["...Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins." - Heb.9:22 NLT]

Adam and Eve's second son, Abel, a shepherd... began "sacrificing" to the Lord; which is a prophetic ceremony and ritual that pointed to the Lamb of God, the "Messiah" ["...(which means the Christ)." - John 1:41 NLT].

"It was by Faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. God accepted Abel's offering to show that he was a Righteous man..." (Heb.11:4 NLT).

"...Abel brought several choice lambs from the best of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his offering..." (Gen.4:4 NLT).

These and more prophecies were passed on through certain called and chosen "Righteous" individuals of the pre-flood generations... one of whom was Enoch:

"...who lived seven generations after Adam, prophesied... 'Look, the Lord is coming with thousands of His holy ones. He will bring the people of the world to Judgment. He will convict the ungodly of all the evil things they have done in rebellion and of all the insults that godless sinners have spoken against Him.'" (Jude 1:14-15 NLT)

"Righteous" Noah was chosen to carry these prophecies [and other things] across the flood to the new start on the other side.

And it was the "Righteous," Faithful and Obedient "ABRAM"... whose name was changed to "Abraham," the father of Isaac and Jacob [Israel] whom God called His FRIEND, with whom He chose to enter into a covenant relationship.

"...because Abraham listened to Me and Obeyed My Requirements, Commands, Regulations, and Laws." (Gen.26:5 NLT)

And it was through Abraham, and his descendants the Israelites, whom God chose to be a sanctified flesh and blood lineage through whom the Messiah would later be born... as well as to "preserve the ancient prophecies" by the "written Word" beginning with the Holy Spirit-inspired, literary hand of Moses in his generation:

"Moses himself told the people of Israel, 'God will raise up a Prophet like me from among your own people.' Moses was with the assembly of God's people in the wilderness. He was the mediator between the people of Israel and the angel who GAVE HIM LIFE-GIVING WORDS on Mount Sinai to PASS ON TO US." (Acts 7:37-38 NLT)

So, prophecy didn't arise in Israel. It had been around since the beginning of creation, and was "PASSED DOWN TO THEM" from many Faithful servants whom God chose from many generations of men... and was recorded by Moses [a Faithful Israelite] and entrusted to them for its preservation, to be delivered to the "Faithful servants of God" in the end time generations of mankind, when they will, at long last, see their fulfillment -- the long-awaited appearance of the Messiah in the clouds.