About other gods-question for theists

[Jenny A]

Mathew doesn't say Jesus was born during the reign of Herod the Great. He said that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod. Herod Antipater was named to the throne after the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC and died in 39 AD.

Really? Maybe you mean Herod Antipas because it looks like Antipater didn't make it past 4 BC to me. Archelaus became Herod the Great's heir as king. Antipas became a Tetrarch over some of Herod's kingdom. Pardon the pun but there is a great difference between a Tetrarch and a King.

Antipater II (c. 46 – 4 BC) was Herod the Great's first-born son, his only child by his first wife Doris. He was named after his paternal grandfather Antipater the Idumaean. He and his mother were exiled after Herod divorced her between 43 BC and 40 BC to marry Mariamne I. However, he was recalled following Mariamne's fall in 29 BC and in 13 BC Herod made him his first heir in his will. He retained this position even when Alexandros and Aristobulos (Herod's sons by Mariamne) rose in the royal succession in 12 BC, and even became exclusive successor to the throne after their execution in 7 BC (with Herod Philip I in second place).

However, in 5 BC Antipater was brought before Publius Quinctilius Varus, then Roman governor of Syria, charged with the intended murder of his father Herod. Antipater was found guilty by Varus; however, due to Antipater's high rank, it was necessary for Caesar Augustus to approve of the recommended sentence of death. After the guilty verdict, Antipater's position as exclusive successor was removed and granted to Herod Antipas. Once the sentence had approval from Augustus in 4 BC, Antipater was then executed, and Archelaus (from the marriage with Malthace) was made heir in his father's will as king over Herod's entire kingdom (with Antipas and Philip as Tetrarchs over certain territories).

Wikipedia on Antipater Son of Herod the Great See also Online Encyclopedia Britanica.

{added a couple hours later}--- Now that I think of it, you should know if you are going to argue that is was not Herod the Great at the time of Jesus' birth that you will have a hard time squaring that with Mathew's account of the fight to Egypt:

So he [Joseph] got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Mathew 2:14-15 It is Herod the Great that died shortly not Antipas.