Original subtitles

You might.

Oh. It's so small.

Seven ripple.

We will have enemies.

This kingdom is ours.

Nobody is going to take it from us.

We killed them all.

Every single one.

You cannot silence the word of god.

You must. He's not a prophet.

Just an ordinary man who bleeds

Like everyone else.

Give me

The head of john the baptist

On a platter.

I'll do everything right.

They need me.

There will be no mercy.

Who am I?

I worship only the lord god.

What did you say?

At everything.

Your farms are now the property of king herod.

Leave now or face the consequences.

This is our land.

No, man.

Not even a king can say otherwise.

Everything

You can see belongs to my father.

The ground you stand on.

That hovel you call a home.

Your children. Your wife.

Oh, king herod's.

The days are coming when I will raise up for david.

A king

That will reign wisely

And do what is just and right in the land.

The lord our savior,

The messiah.

There is no messiah.

And if you want a prophecy, then he is mine.

You raise a hand against king herod

And you'll lose it.

Oh! You have until nightfall to leave.

Be grateful for the king's mercy.

Oh, on the eve of jesus's birth.

Many jews hold out hope for a savior.

Someone who will rescue them from the tyranny of king herod.

And someone who will relieve them

From the tyranny of the roman empire.

Jesus was born into a world

Where every bit of land, everybody's life is

Touched by the roman empire.

It's extending from the atlantic, really,

All the way over to the other side of the mediterranean.

It encompasses three continents and the equivalent

Of about 30 modern day countries.

Like many territories in their empire.

The romans don't rule judea directly.

The romans have established a local jewish

Ruler, a client king, to rule in their place.

Herod the great.

Our priests sacrificed a daily

To bring the roman emperor a favor from our god.

The emperor thinks it's best to send his right hand man,

Marcus vips, and his agrippa, to go into jerusalem

And check on the client, king herod the great.

Implicit in the relationship with rome is

That herod will keep the peace, and that he will assure

That things like taxes

Are collected and passed on to the romans.

But if you look above, you can see our latest edition.

The symbol of your legions and the lasting symbol

Of our union.

Handcrafted by the finest stonemasons

In judea.

Herod decides to place

An eagle over one of the gates of the temple

For the jewish people in the first century.

The temple in jerusalem was the home of god on earth.

This eagle is incredibly

Controversial for many jews.

This is a sacrilege.

Instead of being a defender of the jewish faith, to them

It seems as if herod is just a puppet of rome.

Very impressive.

And what is the local

Situation?

There is no situation.

Judah is at peace.

Safe.

Under my firm hand

And rome's continued friendship.

Judea during this period is absolutely not stable.

Herod has done things like.

He's built his palace next to the jewish temple in jerusalem.

And around that he's actually fortified it.

He's turned it into a fortress with roman soldiers stationed

Around this, watching what's happening around the temple.

Herod is a man who is

Obsessed with power solely for the sake of power.

And he sees everyone around him, including

His closest family members, as a potential threat

To that power.

Emperor was sorry to hear about your wife.

Sad passing.

Feminist.

Herod the great is a man of unhealthy,

Even infamous, appetite.

Like many rulers in the ancient world,

He had multiple wives in his case.

He has ten wives and nine sons and least

Nine sons.

The wife he loved the most,

Mariamne was executed on his orders in 29 b.C.,

When he became convinced that she was plotting

Against him.

Hello,

My beloved.

And. Herod was so deeply in love with mariamne

That even after her death, he wanted her to be with him.

And so he, according to rabbinic legend,

Had her body preserved in honey.

And would periodically

Go to visit her.

This is the man who, in the gospel of matthew,

Will pose the first threat to the life of jesus,

A man capable of doing absolutely anything.

A real monster.

In the town of nazareth,

Where mary and joseph are betrothed,

Sits in stark contrast to the opulence and political

Intrigue of jerusalem.

Nazareth is a backwater village

With a population of perhaps only 100.

That's it.

Jewish tradition

Dictates that a marriage contract is signed.

And then there would have been a period of about a year before

The actual marriage took place.

I hereby present this document to you.

Spells out my obligations to you in our impending marriage.

You know the.

I'm a very lucky man.

I spend my whole life with my parents.

The house I was born in is all I know.

Mary is a jewish girl.

Mary and joseph families probably have known each other

For a really long time.

We think this is going to be a good match.

She hasn't been with a man.

She is, appropriately a virgin, saving herself

A marriage, as would have everyone in the culture.

These hands are building as a home,

And these same hands will protect you

And the children.

We will have

With my life if necessary.

I will never let you fall.

Joseph is described as a tekton,

Which most people think of as a carpenter,

But it actually means a builder.

So you'd have to think of joseph as being pretty

Physically fit, a strong and capable presence.

The status of a tekton is debated by scholars,

But it's probably on a lower rung than a peasant

Because peasants at least own their own land.

Except in the months before jesus's birth.

King herod is tearing up tradition.

He's kicked jewish peasants off their land

And driving them towards rebellion.

Just one day.

How is it that in just one day,

A single men can take everything?

All that we've worked for

Our homes,

Our land.

Where is the justice?

Where is the messiah?

Standing.

Particularly in this period

With the roman empire now ostensibly in control of judea.

Among the common everyday jewish people, there was a sense,

Almost a longing, that a messiah must be on the way.

The jewish people

Are looking for a messiah who will come with a sword

And leave behind a whole trail of blood in order to bring the

Jews to freedom.

But in the gospel story, what they're going to get

Is a baby. Who?

Don't be afraid.

Mary.

God loves you.

Soon you will become pregnant

And give birth to a son.

And name him jesus.

He will become a great man

And will be called son of the most high.

And the lord god will give him the throne

Of his ancestor david.

How can this be?

I am still a virgin.

The holy spirit would embrace you,

And the power of the most high will shine upon you.

And the child you will bear shall be called

The son of god.

The annunciation is

The word that we give to angel gabriel's visit to mary, where

He tells her that she is going to give birth to the messiah.

For mary.

It would have been really very frightening for her.

When it comes down to it.

She would be young, she would be unmarried,

And she would be pregnant.

But mary leans totally in.

She knows that her people are expecting a messiah.

She knows

That her people are in a time of occupation and empire.

And so she erupts in this song of liberation.

My soul glorifies the lord,

And my spirit rejoices in god

My savior.

For he has been mindful

Of the whole state of his servant.

From now on, all generations will call me blessed

And mighty.

One has done great things for me.

I is his name.

Your cousin elizabeth,

She who is unable to conceive

Despite her old age, also bear a child.

For no

Word from god will ever fail.

I don't understand.

He'll only be a few weeks.

The roads are not safe.

I cannot leave my work.

Is it so important to see elizabeth?

Very.

When mary makes a trip

To go and see elizabeth.

Mary is looking for someone

To confirm that she's not crazy.

I always find

The elizabeth and mary encounter so affirming.

Here is elizabeth, an older relative, cousin of mary,

Who gives birth to a prophesied son,

John the baptist.

Your cousin

Elizabeth, despite her old age,

Is also a child.

Beautiful boy.

And he be blessed.

And so this is a confirmation

That mary did, in fact, have a visit from gabriel.

And what that means for her is that she

Is carrying the prophesied messiah,

John the baptist, and jesus.

They are family.

And the word of god

Will never fail. The.

These are the men.

They are other.

In total, we know of about nine sons of herod the great.

And of those sons, herod antipas is clever,

Ambitious, and just as ruthless as his father.

Six months.

It took six months to find the artisans

Who crafted this eagle.

It costs

Thousands of gold shekels.

And you destroyed it.

The ancient jewish historian josephus tells us

That an eagle was installed on the temple grounds,

And that some jewish rebels came and tore it down.

The eagle is a direct insult, a direct attack

On the jewish god, and the rebels

Themselves are prepared to, if necessary,

To be martyred, to die in order

To take down this sign of a foreign god

That has invaded his most sacred of spaces.

Who am I?

Who am I?

You are king.

I am herod, king of what?

Oh, just.

Yes. The jews.

And you too dare desecrate

The temple that I don't.

Like could slit your throat

Right here.

A quick death.

I will not cut your throat.

Lots of mess,

Floods,

Inconvenience. No.

You shall be burned.

Alive.

All of you.

What's happened?

My cousin has had a child.

But joseph,

I need you to listen to me.

What I'm going to tell you

Is going to be hard to understand.

It's a miracle.

So mary goes away for three months and then returns.

And now she's pregnant.

Now, imagine being joseph

And hearing that from your fiancee.

It must have ripped joseph's heart out.

Joseph is a pious person,

And like most jews, he believes in miracles.

He just doesn't believe they're going to happen.

In his case.

And especially not like this

In a small town like nazareth.

And really all over galilee and judea.

Barring a child out of wedlock would have been a scandal.

Ancient jewish laws were unforgiving.

So mary would have faced a potential death sentence

By stoning.

I cannot.

I will not shame you.

You will go away to relatives

Until the child is born.

In the ancient world, people believed that

Dreams were a mechanism by which god could directly

Communicate to someone.

Joseph, a descendant of david.

Don't be afraid to take

Mary as your wife.

The baby she carries is from

The holy spirit.

She will give birth to a son.

And you are to give him the name jesus,

Because he will save his people

From their sins.

I come to your house for him.

Who are you to give me?

Your daughter, mary.

To be my wife.

And I will be your husband.

Of today

And forever.

Because of the dream, joseph accepts fully

The responsibility of caring for mary and her son.

And then goes ahead with.

With the marriage.

Mary and joseph want to do everything

To protect this child.

This human baby born to mary

Is also god's child.

And they are responsible for this future

For humankind.

How? Have.

Who should I.

The great king herod fear

Nobody other.

So why burn these fanatics?

A fire

Can be started by the smallest spark.

Why? We have to stamp it out

Before it catches hold and destroys

Everything.

This kingdom is ours.

Nobody is going to take it from us.

Soon.