Original subtitles

I, citizens of nazareth.

King herod bids you listen.

Emperor augustus has ordered a census.

All men must return to their ancestral home

To be counted and registered for taxation.

And what have we say? No.

No. Us is not an option.

Us. Rule us.

According

To luke, the census requires joseph, the head of the family

At that time, to travel back to his ancestral home.

All the way south to the city of bethlehem.

Many modern scholars believe

That the gospel of luke uses the census to bring mary

And joseph from nazareth down to bethlehem.

Because many biblical prophecies state

That the messiah will be born in the town of david

In bethlehem of judea.

And they barely got there before mary

Gave birth. To.

Us. I am the saint. You,

Jesus. Is.

You have a house full of guests.

But they did say we can sleep

On the ground floor.

They were not looking for a holiday

Inn express to stay in in bethlehem.

There wasn't one.

They were going

To the ancestral home to be with their relatives.

There was no room in the family quarters.

And judean houses were arranged in such a way that upstairs,

The family had their living quarters, and underneath them

On the lower floor is where the animals were kept.

Away from.

Let's get.

We are being watched over.

There can be no darkness where there is light.

Childbirth in the ancient world

Was particularly dangerous.

If a woman got sick or there were complications

During childbirth, the child and the mother could be lost

Almost instantly.

Millions of women died in childbirth.

Or other.

From the small things.

Jesus.

The traditional story is

That jesus was born somewhere near christmas.

Much more likely, it was in the spring of the year.

Because we know that the shepherds are out in the fields

With their flocks.

And there were these fields, which there still are today,

Where they're still raising sheep.

There.

Do not be afraid.

I bring you the good news

For all people.

To you is born this day

In the town of david.

A savior

Who is the messiah.

There's an aspect of prophecy at work.

The gospel of luke has shepherds

Because luke wants us to see jesus

As the successor to king david, who is considered

To be the greatest king in the history of israel,

Who was

Also a shepherd, called in from the field

To lead his people.

So small.

So wonderful.

And he will have enemies.

Enemies? Yes,

But friends also.

Oh! The magi are astrologers.

And they have seen a star that won't let them go.

That captures the imagination.

That wants to guide them across the country.

So there's parts of the gospels

That seem to say that they're from persia.

Other places say that they might be from other places

In the middle east.

We seek an audience

With king herod.

According to the jewish historian josephus.

Herod's last days are, to put it mildly, grim.

Herod is internally eaten up by worms.

He's ravaged by sickness.

He smells terrible.

His bowels are so irritated,

So inflamed that he can barely stand to sit.

His genitals have been completely eaten away by worms.

Eat us.

In addition to all

The physical ailments, he's also increasingly paranoid.

Deluded.

He sees plots everywhere.

Now, the new testament

Only tells us that the magi are from the east.

But to the east of judea is the parthian empire.

And herod the great.

Main job for the romans is to keep the parthians at bay.

So when these magi show up from the east,

He could have them arrested, thinking that they were spies.

But he doesn't want to create a diplomatic incident for rome.

The purpose of your visit.

We seek the one who has been born king of the jews.

We saw his star when he rose

And have come to worship him.

I'm not sure I understand you.

I am the king of the jews.

A king? Yes.

But not the king.

You seek this child.

The king of the jews.

And yet you do not know where he is.

We see the heavens.

Celestial movements.

A star

Far brighter than any other.

Let us hear.

Mighty herod.

We've seen nothing.

We've heard nothing.

But we will investigate.

How is it

That a rabble of trouser wearing charlatans

From the outer fringes of the civilized world

Know about the birth of this king of the jews?

And yet we know that they.

Herod is incredibly insecure

About his jewishness while his father was jewish.

His grandfather had been a convert,

And thus to many jews, he would have been seen as less

Jewish than he might have wanted to be.

The jewish people

Don't see him as a legitimate king.

He doesn't have the right pedigree.

He is

Immediately searching for this claimant, even though

By all the information he has, it's only an infant.

This is only a child.

But herod himself feels threatened by this child.

The book of micah.

But you, bethlehem,

Out of you, will come.

One who will be ruler of israel.

For herod, the greatest threat to

His legitimacy is a better candidate.

Any reports of another possible jewish king

Would have terrified him.

What do you want?

Well, you've come to see the messiah.

They just want to see him.

The gospel of luke tells us the shepherds go and find mary.

Joseph and jesus.

And the shepherds go and tell everyone

That they meet the good news of this birth.

The shepherds telling

People is completely understandable.

This is an incredible experience.

But here's the thing.

The more people they tell, the more danger

They put the holy family in.

My priests have found the prophecy.

The child you seek

Is in bethlehem.

When you find this child,

You must return here

And tell me immediately.

You understand?

I wish only to pay homage

For such a prophecy to pass in my kingdom.

During my reign

Would truly be

A blessing. For.

It is too much.

Nothing is too much for a king.

The gifts of the magi.

Gold, frankincense, and myrrh

Are suitable for a king from birth to death.

From 1 to 2.

Frankincense is used in worship.

A symbol of prayer. Ascending to god.

Myrrh is an odor retardant used in burial and gold.

Well, what king doesn't need resources.

It is not just presence.

We bear good tidings also.

We came from jerusalem.

Herod knows of the prophecy.

And despite his best attempts,

He could barely disguise his malice.

At us.

We had a vision in our city.

That when mary and joseph

Realized that king herod knows about the birth of jesus,

They are immediately afraid about the future

Of their child.

So the magi have a dilemma.

Do they return to herod and report to him

And endanger the life of the child,

Or do they return home by another route

And incur the wrath of herod, who might pursue them?

They know the kind of human he is and what he's capable of,

And they make a plan to get back home.

On another route,

They choose to do the righteous thing, the right thing,

Even though it puts them at risk.

They protect this baby

With their own lives.

This better be good unto us.

We can't find them.

They were last seen leaving bethlehem.

But nothing after that.

Our spies think they may have returned home

By the desert road.

In pursuit.

If the magi are running,

It is because they have found the child.

The prophecy is true.

You will take 20 soldiers into bethlehem immediately.

You will go to every house.

You will take any child

You find there under the age of two.

And you will slit their throats.

Now being fired

To kill so many on such a scale,

The men they might refuse.

Refuse?

Nobody refuses the herod's.

You want to wear my crown? Boy.

Get your hands dirty.

If any of you are in any doubt about this mission,

Then remember this.

If your sword comes back and bloody

And know.

Get your children,

Your wives

And mothers.

And then I'll give you to my father. Hey!

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