DECEMBER 29: Did Herod the Great Really Kill 14,000 Infants?

The Catholic Church has since the 5th century commemorated the Feast of the Holy Innocents, either today, December 29, or December 28, depending on where you lived.  Herod the Great was a Roman Jewish king of Judea.  He was born around 72BC, named King of the Jews by the Roman Senate in 40BC.  Most likely died at the age of 70 in 4BC, but maybe not until 1BC, shortly after Jesus was born.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men[a] from the east came to Jerusalem, 

2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose[b] and have come to worship him.” 

3When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 

4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 

5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 

8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 

9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 

11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 

12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. 

17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
    weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
    she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Jesus escaped being killed by King Herod through the intervention of God, the wise men, and Joseph: 

• The wise men: The wise men were warned in a dream about Herod's intentions and told not to return to him. 
• 
  Joseph: Joseph was warned in a dream by an angel to take Jesus and Mary to Egypt. 
• God: God intervened to help Jesus escape. 

Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem sometime after 6BC, but before 4BC.  The area was part of the Roman Empire ruled by Herod.  Soon thereafter, Herod either commissioned the slaughter of innocents...or not.

• But this act was mostly myth or folk-lore.
• Others say it was a historical event.
• True that Herod in the past had heard rumors that somebody was going to bump him off and take over the throne, and he then killed that person first.  

• 
  The ‘massacre of the innocents’ was typical of Herod’s extreme behaviour recorded independently by the Jewish historian Josephus. Herod was intensely jealous and chronically insecure. He had suffered a severe breakdown in 29BC after he murdered his favourite wife Mariamne and his brother-in-law Joseph after falsely accusing them of having an affair.

  As recently as 7BC, Herod had executed his own sons Aristobulus and Alexander (whom he accused of plotting to take the throne) and the following year, around the time of Jesus’s birth, he tortured each of his slave-girls in turn to reveal any further threats to his authority. In 4BC Herod executed his own son Antipater.

• 
  He was a paranoid schizophrenic.
•  Matthew 2:16 has been traditionally called the “massacre of the innocents.”  
• The Martyrdom of Matthew states that 3,000 babies were slaughtered. The Byzantine liturgy places the number at 14,000 and the Syrian tradition says 64,000 innocent children were killed (Brown 1993:205). Yet Professor William F. Albright, the dean of American archaeology in the Holy Land, estimates that the population of Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth to be about 300 people (Albright and Mann 1971:19). The number of male children, two years old or younger, would be about six or seven (Maier 1998:178, footnote 25). 
• 
  The slaughter of the innocents is unattested in secular records, but the historical plausibility of this event happening is consistent with the character and actions of Herod the Great. Besides killing his enemies, he had no qualms in killing family members and friends as well. Herod would not have given a second thought about killing a handful of babies in a small, obscure village south of Jerusalem in order to keep his throne secure for himself, or his sons, even if it was one of the last dastardly deeds he committed before he died. As Herod lay dying, raked in pain and agony, the men of God and those with special wisdom opined that Herod was suffering these things because it was “the penalty that God was exacting of the king for his great impiety” (Antiquities 17:170; LCL 8:449-451).

My assessment is that there was infanticide perpetrated.

• From the written record.
• Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth, and close to birth, they moved to Bethlehem (population 300 to 3000...not really known for sure) for the birth of Jesus.  There they supposedly got that visit from the 3 Magi, but that could have been later.
• 40 days after the birth, the family went to Jerusalem (20,000 to 55,000 population) to complete Mary's ritual purification after childbirth.

• 
  According to Boccaccio, 144,000 children were murdered, for he says Herod ordered all male babies age 2 and younger be killed in Bethlehem AND ALL THE COASTS OF ISRAEL.
• A Syrian  list of saints asserts 64,000.
• If Herod knew Jesus was born in Bethlehem and was still there, perhaps 6-20 innocents would be closer to the truth.
• If Herod also expanded the scope to Jerusalem, then multiply by a factor of ten, or 60-200.
• According to the Gospel of Matthew, the family went to Egypt, specifically to Judaea.
• 
  Egypt was part of the Roman Empire in those days, with a population from 3-7 million.
• Herod had a history in Eygpt, and historians say Cleopatra tried to seduce him.
• Doing the math, Boccaccio's 144,000 might be possible.
• However, there would have been some intelligence to pinpoint their location, and Herod knew the country, so the Syrian list of saints of 64,000 might be more probable.
• 
  Since the 5th century, the Catholic Church has commemorated a separate day in memory of the children killed by King Herod, usually December 28 or 29.  So something must have happened.  Can't imagine Matthew making up this story.
• The number?  144,000 seems extreme, while 6-20 might be too low, for Herod was obsessed. 
• So my assessment is that, yes, Herod the Great did kill a large number of infants.  How many?  No one knows for sure.

To close, Saturday Night Live Five-Timers Club induction of Martin Short.

Here is the list.  #1, Alec Baldwin has hosted 17 times.

Yes, of course, he plays the best Donald Trump.  But, his Pete Schweddy might be more memorable.  Watch this Schweddy Balls skit.

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SQUID GAME SEASON 2 BEGAN YESTERDAY ON NETFLIX

Winning $1.22 billion Mega Millions ticket sold in California

Someone in Northern California just got a $1.22 billion holiday gift in the form of a winning Mega Millions ticket. A single ticket purchased at Sunshine Food and Gas in Cottonwood — a community of around 6,000 people, south of Redding — matched all numbers in last night’s drawing. The jackpot, the fifth-largest in the history of the game, has been building since September.

The above from MSNBC.  Further, here is a look back at the year's biggest stories through photos and illustrations.  About this graphic, brain rot was selected as Oxford University Press' word of the year.

I first began watching Squid Game on Netflix a long time ago when it first came out in 2021.  It went on to become the most-watched show of all time on Netflix.  However, after two episodes, I abandoned the series, mostly because I was too busy, and there were better productions, I thought, on Prime and Netflix.  I thus have several options.

• Complete Season One and go on to Two.
• Watch this recap of Season One and go on to Two.
• Play Season One from Episode One and then watch Season Two.
• Don't even bother with Squid Game anymore, after all, I still don't have much time, and there are at least two dozen other series on my watch list, many of them ranked near 100 on Rotten Tomatoes. 

• 
  Got 14 Emmy nominations, and won five.
• Squid Game only has 90/74 ratings.  And, by the way, Season Two already has scores of 85/63.
• So if my decision is go, might as well watch the entirety of Season One because it is rated higher, and I'll get a renewed sense of the whole picture.
• However, if I watch both seasons, I will spend so many hours.  
• Season One:  Just about nine hours over nine episodes.
• Season Two:  Just over 7 hours for 7 episodes.
• And, yes, there will be a Season 3, which should take about as long.  If 8 hours, then I would be spending 24 hours, a whole day, on 3 Seasons of Squid Game.

So let me analyze what I should do.

• Squid Game knocks capitalism and wealth inequity.
• It is dark and vicious, something I don't need or want.  It is also a game of death, tempted by cash.

• 
  The winner, a good-hearted (yes, I now know who will be the champ in Season One, and because you're reading this, you too) Seong Gi-hun prevails at the cost of his basic belief in the goodness of humanity.  That's him to the right.

• 
  In 2021, the 45.6 billion Korea Won (there are 456 contestants) was worth $32 million.  Today, $31 million, so the exchange rate on a visit to South Korea has dropped, still not bad, as this amount would pay the annual average salaries for almost 1000 Korean workers.

• 
  Some other comparisons.
• Jeff Bezos makes $1.9 million per hour, or roughly that same $45.6 billion won in a day.
• Elon Musk passed Bezos as the wealthiest person, and the winner of the Squid Game would have to win this game over 12,700 times to accumulate the wealth of Musk.
• If there were 456 contestants, with one winner, then 455 should have died in the game, right?  
• Well, yes and no.  No because this video said at least 470 died.  Why, watch the video.
• I couldn't quite understand that video, so until I do, let this link serve as the official number of deaths:  455.

Well, in conclusion, wondering if I will gain any benefit from 3 Seasons of Squid Game, I don't know.   24 hours seem like a long time.  And it took 27 hours to get home from Zurich, and that was an ordeal.  Are there any redeeming virtues?  Yes, I think so.  Thus, I will go back to Episode 1 of Season One, and follow up with Seasons 2 and 3.  And in the future, avoid prematurely telling you what happened.

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UPDATE ON WHAT DONALD TRUMP HAS SAID HE WILL DO WITH GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE AND MASS DEPORTATIONS

Incoming president Donald Trump has loudly blared that global warming will not get in the way of making America greater, and that he will deport 11 million undocumented immigrants.

• About Planet Earth.

• 2024 is poised to become the hottest on record, surpassing the previous high year, 2023.
• In 2024, for the first time, average global temperatures will exceed the 2.7F above pre-industrial levels from 1850-1900, the upper limit set by the Paris Agreement.
• Can you believe the following three graphics?

Hurricane Beryl was the EARLIEST RECORDED CATEGORY 5 HURRICANE.

Read the entire article.  Stunning.

• 
  From early indications, Trump will continue to expand fossil fuel consumption, perhaps abandon the Department of Energy and worse.
• About his promise on mass deportation of immigrants, did you know that in his first term he kicked out 1.5 million of them?  This time, only one million.  So what is the big deal?  But that is in his first year, and there are 11 million undocumented immigrants, so....

• When you add the economic impacts, such as reducing annual GDP by 4.2%-6.8%, the cost of all that will be from $1.1 trillion to $1.7 trillion.
• 
  Today, Trump's mass deportation campaign hit a speed bump, for a civil war erupted.  The MAGA crowd is all for this program, while billionaires who are providing a lot of money and credibility need many of these immigrants who are skilled technological specialists.  More specifically, Elon Musk against Laura Loomer. 
• 
  And oh, Trump's grandparents were immigrants, and his wife Ivana was one, so too wife Melania, who was illegally working in the USA.  He has addressed this matter and concluded that his children from those wives can stay in the U.S. because of he being a citizen.  And don't forget Marla Maples (she was born in Georgia the U.S. state), yes, they had an affair while he was married to Ivanka, and who he married as wife #2, two months after daughter Tiffany was born.
• Did you know that Jesus was a refugee?

A few cartoons from the past.

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HOW DANGEROUS ARE TSUNAMIS?

Twenty years ago today, the deadliest tsunami in recorded history inundated Asian countries and killed about 230,000 people.  The Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake, also called the Boxing Day Earthquake (Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, mostly in Europe and Commonwealth nations):

• 
  Was caused by a subsea earthquake possibly as high as 9.3 magnitude (this was #2 to the largest, which was the 1960 Chile earthquake at 9.5) off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

• 
  Waves were as high as 167 feet in Aceh province, and two hours later, Sri Lanka saw 20 feet (with run-ups as high as 41 feet--there is a difference in these two terms), and  Thailand had run-ups of up to 64 feet.  
• 
  At Phuket, Thailand, the second wave was the largest at 20 feet.  Also two hours after the earthquake, India saw heights as much as 33 feet.   3100 miles away in Somalia, there was a run-up of 30 feet.

• 
  The maximum height above sea level a tsunami reaches on shore is called the run-up.
• In this tsunami, the second wave was the most damaging, and there were smaller first and third waves.
• The time between the waves is usually unpredictable and varied, typically ranging from 5 minutes to 2 hours.  Dangerous tsunami currents  can last for days.
• 
  Costas Synolakis writes that the U.S. is not ready for a giant tsunami.  He founded the University of Southern California Tsunami Center in 1996 and this year was named manager of the year.

• 
  Indonesia is building a Giant Sea Wall to protect Jakarta.
• More for flood control and land reclamation than to protect from a tsunami, for Jakarta is sinking.
• Cost of $40 billion for a 20-mile wall.  Or maybe $80 billion.
• Should be in place by 2027.
• A Stanford report argues against walls.
• 
  Japan's Great Wall.
• The 2011 Great Tohoku Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster killed 20,000.
• Nearly 250 miles of tall concrete walls are are now standing along their northeast coast to soften future tsunami damage at a cost of $12 billion.
• Previous walls were only 26 feet tall, but that tsunami reached 50 feet.
• They now stand 45 feet tall, with portions up to 82 feet, and wider bases.

Historically, there have been truly monumental tsunamis, caused by asteroids, landslides, volcanoes and earthquakes.

• The more serious tsunamis come from asteroids, volcanoes and landslides.
• That Chicxulub asteroid event over the Yucatan Peninsula 66 million years ago created tsunamis of 330 feet high waves.  
• Also killed off the dinosaurs.
• But a major asteroid the size of a football field hits Earth only every 2000 years, while one large enough to threaten civilization comes only once every few million years.
• 
  Between 1 and 1.5 million years ago, the Nuuanu Slide occurred, when the eastern half of the Koolau Volcano on Oahu collapsed, causing a mega-tsunami that ravaged the West Coast of North America. 
• Watch this video.
• That event sent nearly half of Oahu into the Pacific Ocean, leaving behind part of the volcano, where I now live on Nuuanu Avenue.
• 
  My Chapter 6 of SIMPLE SOLUTIONS for Planet Earth projects that a more serious landslide can occur on the Big Island, which would jeopardize the West Coast.
• 1.4 million years ago, one-third of the East Molokai Volcano collapsed, generating a tsunami in the near field of 2000 feet.

• 
  Around 200,000 years ago, a volcano caused a collapse of Tenerife, Canary Islands, causing a mega-tsunami.  Another such  event has been predicted here again, which could in 9 hours reach Florida with 82 feet high tsunami waves.
• Hawaii is especially vulnerable for landslides, as around 105,000 years ago, a submarine landslide deposited  sediments on Lanai at an elevation of up to 1394 feet.  This same event reached as high as 262 feet on Oahu.
• I can go on and on, but if you're interested in these details, go to Wikipedia.

As natural disasters go, tsunamis are considered to be relatively rare.

• Especially in the Atlantic Ocean.  There have been a few, and more might be possible in the future.  The Great Lisbon Earthquake and Tsunami in 1755 might have killed up to 50,000.  This event changed history.

• 
  In the past 100 years, there have been 58, claiming 260,000 lives.
• That Boxing Day Tsunami itself accounted for 230,000 lives.  #2 was the 2011 Japan Tohoku disaster with 20,000 lives.

• 
  78% of tsunamis from 1900 to 2015 occurred in the Pacific Ocean.  Only 5% originated in the Indian Ocean, where that #1 killer originated.
• Thus, much of the alert warning technology is in the Pacific Ocean, although, after that disaster of 20 years ago, other areas are beginning to take precautions.

Some countries have never seen a tsunami, especially if landlocked.  

• The five countries with the lowest risk of all natural disasters from TEMPO.com are:  Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Malta, Singapore and Uruguay.
• Wikipedia has  quite a different list:
• Safest, #1 Andorra and Monaco
• #3  San Marino
• #4  Luxembourg
• #6  Singapore
• #8  Malta
• #13  Switzerland
• #16  Qatar
• #105  Uruguay
• #129  Saudi Arabia
• #158  Japan
• #168  USA
• #175  Russia
• #178  China
• #184  India
• #185  Philippines
• 
  Why such a difference?  Don't know.  Singapore could someday suffer from a tsunami, but have never had that problem.  
• The Indian Ocean monster occurred on the other side of Indonesia, so Singapore was not seriously affected, for the maximum tsunami height was less than a meter or yard.
• With all those typhoons flying around the Philippines, down to Vietnam, and up to Japan, why has Singapore never faced one?  It is too close to the equator, and cyclonic storms don't go there.
  
• Singapore is outside the earthquake zone, and has only felt minor tremors, never one which caused structural damage.
• Want a safe place with high tech and good living?  Visit Singapore, one of my favorite places.  Singapore was this year named as the safest destination in the world for travelers by Forbes Advisor.

Since 1788, the U.S. has been struck 21 times by tsunamis.

• Lituya Bay, Alaska has seen a handful.
• On 27October1936, a landslide caused a 490 foot wave that travelled about 2000 feet inland.

• 
  On 10July1958, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake occurred, causing a rockfall which generated a gargantuan 1720 feet wave (nearly as tall as the new World Trade Center and largest ever recorded).  Five deaths.
• Another landslide on 1January1853 created a wave of 394 feet.

• 
  An 8.1 earthquake hit near Alaska's Aleutian Islands on 1April1946, killing 165, 159 in Hawaii.
• The Great Alaska Earthquake on 27March1964 at 9.2 magnitude, created a 220 feet high tsunami, killing 120.
• Afraid of tsunamis?  Avoid Hawaii.  Want to read the right column?  Click on that link.

These Are the 10 U.S. Counties Facing the Greatest Risk From a Tsunami:

COUNTY	RISK SCORE	RELATIVE RISK
1. Honolulu County, Hawaii	100	Very High
2. Maui County, Hawaii	98.6	Relatively High
3. Hawaii County, Hawaii	97.3	Relatively High
4. Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska	95.9	Relatively High
5. Del Norte County, California	94.6	Relatively High
6. Kauai County, Hawaii	93.2	Relatively High
7. Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska	91.9	Relatively High
8. Clatsop County, Oregon	90.5	Relatively Moderate
9. Humboldt County, California	89.2	Relatively Moderate
10. Santa Cruz County, California	87.8	Relatively Moderate

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