Herod the Great
What do the Olympic Games, Germans, and Esau have to do with Herod?
For the last while I’ve been reading through Josephus (a first century Jewish historian) during my lunch breaks at Maplin. Here are some snippets from what Josephus has to say about Herod the Great.
Herod, which means ‘Hero’, was descended from the Idumaeans and the Nabataeans, two races that once lived in what is today called Jordan.
The Idumaeans, who are descended from Esau, were forced to convert to Judaism in the second century BC by the Maccabees. Herod would have been circumcised as a child and familiar with Judeo religious practice, however, he like many of the Idumaeans, continued their pagan beliefs.
Read on…