The Rise of King Herod

Herod was a servant in the house of the Hasmoneans. He put his eyes upon a particular girl. One day, [Herod] heard a heavenly voice that said: Whatever servant rebels now will succeed! [Herod] got up and killed all his masters, leaving the girl [alive]. When the girl saw that [Herod] desired to marry her, she went up to the roof and shouted: “Whoever comes and says, ‘I have come from the house of the Hasmoneans’ is a servant, for none has remained from them except for this girl,” and the girl fell from the roof to the ground.

[Herod] buried [the corpse] in honey for seven years. There are those who say that he had intercourse with her, and there are those who say that he did not have intercourse with her. Those who say he had intercourse with her claim that the reason he buried her in honey was to satisfy his desires; those who say he did not have intercourse with her claim that the reason he buried her in honey was so that [people] would say he married a princess.

[Herod] said: Who interprets [the verse]: from the midst of your people you shall place upon yourself a king (Deuteronomy 17:15) [to mean that the king must be of Jewish descent]? The rabbis [do]! [Herod] killed all of the rabbis except for Bava ben Buta, in order to take counsel from him. [Herod] placed a garland of lizards on [Bava ben Buta’s head], which bored out his eyes. One day, [Herod] came and sat before him. He said, “Does the master see that evil servant” [i.e., do you see what I, King Herod, am doing]? [Bava ben Buta] said to him, “What can I do?” [Herod] said to him, “Let the master curse him.” [Bava ben Buta] said, “[But it is written:] Do not curse the king, not even in your own thoughts (Ecclesiastes 10:20).” [Herod] said to him, “He is not a king.” [Bava ben Buta] said to him, “Even if he is simply a rich man [I would not curse him], as it is written: And do not curse a rich person in your bedchamber (Ecclesiastes 10:20), and even if he is the patriarch [I would not curse him], as it is written: And you shall not curse a patriarch among your people (Exodus 22:27).” [Herod] said to him, “[That prohibition concerns] one who does as your people do, and that person does not do as your people do.” [Bava ben Buta] said to him, “I am afraid of him.” [Herod] said to him, “There is no person who will go tell him, because [only] I and you are sitting here.” [Bava ben Buta] said, “It is written: For a bird of the sky shall carry the sound, and that which has wings shall tell the matter (Ecclesiastes 10:20).” [Herod] said to him, “I am he! If I had known that the sages were so cautious, I would not have killed them. Now what can that man [i.e., I] do to fix [the situation]?” [Bava ben Buta] said to him, “He who extinguished the light of the world—as it is written: For a commandment is a lamp, and the Torah is light (Proverbs 6:23)—should go and occupy himself with the light of the world [i.e., the Jewish Temple], as it is written: And all the nations shall flow [ve-naharu]¹ unto it (Isaiah 2:2).” There are those who say [Bava ben Buta] told [Herod] thus: He who blinded the eye of the world—as it is written: And if by the eyes of the congregation (Numbers 15:24) [a person failed to perform a commandment]—should go and occupy himself with the eye of the world, as it is written: I will desecrate my Temple, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes (Ezekiel 24:21). [Herod] said to him, “I am afraid of the [Roman] government.” [Bava ben Buta] said to him, “Send a messenger who will travel there for a year, remain away for a year, and return in a year; in the meantime, destroy [the Temple] and rebuild it.” [Herod] did so. They sent a message to him [saying]: If you have not destroyed it, do not destroy it; and if you have already destroyed it, do not rebuild it; and if you have destroyed it and already rebuilt it, [these] are evil acts following those who do [evil acts]. If your weapon is upon you, [nevertheless] your book [i.e., genealogy] is here [and known to us]. You are neither a king nor a prince! Can Herod [the slave] become a free person?!