Herod was known to love women, wine, and food in great quantities. He stuffed himself with pleasures, always asking for additional helpings. Having looked at the ways Herod benefitted from…

Herod’s deal with Rome guaranteed he would have the resources he needed to rebuild Judea as a first-class cosmopolitan region. They gave him the means and in return Herod constructed…

You can get what you want and still be disappointed. Herod had ambitious plans for Judea, but they required Rome’s resources. He needed military policing and protection. He needed money….

Herod made a deal with Rome. In exchange for his good governance of Judea, he looked to Caesar Augustus and Marc Antony to provide him with an identity, progress, and…

How many of us carry around our fathers? Sometimes we carry on their legacy. Sometimes we carry their burdens. Sometimes we drown in their sins. Sometimes we pay the penalty…

A brief history of the Jews in between testaments can be told succinctly in 7 episodes. ONE: Marginalization In both Mesopotamian Empires, and later with the Seleucids, the Jewish people were…

Every Christmas I find new ways to access the Nativity story. Last year I focused on the circumstances in Jesus’ family. He was born into his family’s ancestral home, but…