The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ 
was divided into three installments. One installment went to Caesar Augustus and to Herod. Another went to 
some kind of debt, related to the building of the Temple.
179
     The third installment is intended for widows and poor people, who have had nothing for a long time, but 
of all this little reaches the right people, just as happens to day. The money is meant for nothing but good 
causes, and yet remains in the hands of the great. 
180
    The Jewish religious leaders assisted in the collection of the tax by making their genealogical records 
available, thus helping the Romans to identify the Jews for the enrollment and taxation. In return, the Jewish 
religious leaders received a portion of the tax money, for the relief of the poor. Yet, according to Blessed Anne 
Catherine, that tax money remained mostly in the hands of the Jewish leaders, though they were supposed to 
dispense the money to the poor among their own people. These Jewish leaders took money intended for 
widows, orphans, and the poor, and kept most of it for themselves. 
    Years later, Jesus was asked whether or not the Jews should pay the Roman tax.  Jesus said to them, 
`Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.'   (Mk 12:17). Jesus is 
here criticizing the Pharisees for receiving and keeping part of the tax money. He is saying that the tax money, 
paid in Roman coinage, could be lawfully paid to the Romans, but it was not right for the Pharisees and other 
religious leaders to receive and keep a portion of the money. The things of Caesar, the tax money, should only 
go to Caesar, not to the religious leaders. The Jewish religious leaders were supposed to belong only to God. 
    The Pharisees were hypocritical in the matter of the taxation. They helped collect the tax by providing 
genealogical and other information to the Romans about the Jewish people, and they even kept some of the 
tax money for themselves, yet they despised those among their own people who dirtied their hands by actually 
collecting the money (Lk 15:1 2; 18:10 11). They must have understood the answer which Jesus gave about 
taxation as being, in part, a criticism of their hypocrisy concerning the tax money. 
The Death of King Herod 
    As explained in chapter 12, Herod died in early 8 
B.C.
 Blessed Anne Catherine places the death of Herod 
about the sixth year of Christ's life.  He died about the time of Christ's sixth year. 
181
 By these words, she 
could mean when Jesus was six years old, in other words, when Jesus had completed just over six years since 
His Birth. Or, she could mean when Jesus was five years old, since he would have completed five full years 
since His Birth, and would then be in His sixth year. 
    In another place, she states the age of Christ at Herod's death differently.  (I am not sure whether it was in 
His fifth or seventh year) . I saw two angels appearing to Him and announcing the death of Herod the 
Great. 
182
 If Herod died after Christ's sixth birthday, then Christ would have been in His seventh year since 
Birth at that time. And if his death occurred only a little while after Christ's sixth birthday, then the statement 
the Herod died  about the time of  Christ's sixth year would also be a good approximation. This 
interpretation also agrees with the conclusion of chapter 12, that Herod died in early 8 
B.C.
 So, despite Blessed 
Anne Catherine's uncertainty on this point, Jesus was about six years old at the time of Herod's death. 
    The usual assumption of Biblical chronologists is that Herod died about 2 years after the Birth of Christ, 
shortly after the Massacre of the Holy Innocents. The Gospel of Matthew does not mention any events 
between the death of the Holy Infants and Herod's death (Mt 2:18, 19). However, the assumption that Herod 
died soon after his attempt to kill the Christ Child is unwarranted. Sacred Scripture indicates only that Herod 
was still alive about 2 years after the Birth of Christ. There is no plain statement in the Gospel of Matthew as 
to the total number of years from the Birth of Christ to the death of Herod. 
    When telling a story about a series of events, it is neither necessary nor usual to describe the events of every 
period of time from the start of the story to the end. Ordinarily, the events important to the story are related in 
some detail, and any events that are not relevant to the story are omitted no matter what the length of time. 
Just because there is no mention of the period of time between two events does not mean that the events 
occurred immediately one after the other. 
    Notice here that, of the three years which we initially considered as possible years for the Birth of Jesus 
Christ 15 
B.C.
, 4 
B.C.
, 
A.D.
 3 only the year 15 
B.C.
 makes sense, if Herod died about 6 years after the Birth 
of Christ. If Christ was born in 4 
B.C.
, then He would have reached His sixth birthday in late 
A.D.
 3, placing 
61






footer




 

 

 

 

 Home | About Us | Network | Services | Support | FAQ | Control Panel | Order Online | Sitemap | Contact

catholic web hosting

 

Our partners: PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor Best Web Hosting Java Web Hosting Inexpensive Web Hosting  Jsp Web Hosting

Cheapest Web Hosting Jsp Hosting Cheap Hosting

Visionwebhosting.net Business web hosting division of Web Design Plus. All rights reserved