What is truth? It is when the claim matches reality. Since scripture is truth, then it must be believed. Today’s commentary is about King Herod’s anxiety about the coming of the “newborn king.” That was part of the true Christmas Story!
Anxiety is “an abnormal and
overwhelming sense of apprehension and fear often marked by physical signs by
doubt concerning the reality and nature of the threat, and by self-doubt about
one's capacity to cope with it”
1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2 Saying, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. (Mat 2:1-3)
Herod had handled Cleopatra of Egypt
quite well, according to the historian Flavius Josephus. She had tried to
seduce him in the same manner as Potiphor’s wife had tried to seduce Joseph
long ago in Egypt.
King Herod at that time,, who was
in love with his wife, Mariamne, the Hasmonean princess, rejected the advances
of Cleopatra, the lover of Herod’s sponsor, Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony).
The tributary of Rome, Syria, was
most of what was the Promised Land excepting some Persian territory adjacent to
the Euphrates. Herod even had hopes of gaining Nabatea, the Arabic land given
to Cleopatra near the Dead Sea.
Both Antony and Octavian (the
future Augustus Caesar) ruled all of Syria along with Marcus Aemilius in the
second Roman triumvirate. After the death of Aemilius and the defeat of Antony
and Cleopatra, Augustus became the Caesar.
Herod was friend and ally of Marc
Antony but upon Antony’s death, Herod quickly and wisely changed his allegiance
to Octavian without blinking an eye. He was the man of steel as he faced death by
Octavian, the enemy of Antony. However, faced with a newborn baby, Herod suffered
anxiety. Even with the seductress, Cleopatra, who was after Herod’s land, Herod
remained steadfast and sure.
Herod was paranoid in some
respects, but maybe just wary of the truth. His first son, Antipater, by his
first wife, Doris, made him that way. Antipater portrayed his half-brothers,
Aristobulus and Alexander, as conspirators to Herod’s throne. Antipater even
successfully implicated his wife, Mariamne, in the court intrigue. Herod, had
them all successfully killed, and even in death, death reigned. Later, he
discovered the truth about Antipater and had his third son killed.
Herod was so paranoid of those
who wanted to be king, according to Josephus, that his last will and testament
was that all those who were pretenders to the throne be executed all the while
that they thought Herod was still alive. Obviously, two legitimate heirs to the
throne were Joseph and Jesus, “sons of David.” Wisely, an angel warned Joseph
and they escaped the wrath of Herod in Egypt.
Scripture says that “men from the
East” came to honor the newborn king. That was a slap in the face from kings to
the East who had been in alliance with Herod and all friends of Caesar.
Those kings, however many they
were, were wisemen in that they were looking for the future king that was
legitimate. Of all those involved in the pursuit of kingship, Jesus was the true
heir and of the gens, or family, of David, unlike Herod’s heirs who were
Idumean (Arab) genetically, but Jews superficially by religion. Herod was a
good Jew not because he was the line of Jacob or David, but because he was a
lover of Antony and later Augustus.
Those kings, however many there
were, at one time, according to Josephus, had given Herod the right hand of friendship.
The right hand of friendship was given as security to others as a symbol
of respect for their lives. Get this… Herod was secure, he thought, as a friend
of allied kings all the while neglecting the security of Jesus as “Yahweh Saves”!
Those kings, once friends of
Herod, were now friends of Jesus because they recognized the baby Jesus as
rightful heir to the throne of all the Kingdom of David as God promised Abraham.
No wonder, the lineage of Joseph is given back to Abraham!
The wise man, surely kings as other
writings say, were “wise” in the sense that they recognized the “star” of David
as a pointer to the newborn son of David. The star was “aster” in the
Greek — a star, but the root noun indicates motion — stronnyo, a “spreading.”
Stars do not move in the sense
that their motion is visible. It had to be some other feature in the skies that
changed motion.
In 6 B.C., there was an unusual planetary
alignment as the sun, Jupiter, the moon, and Saturn all lay in the
constellation Aries. This alignment was the “spreading” or positioning of heavenly
bodies that they followed. It did not move but set the time and was as such a “heavenly
clock” pointing toward Pisces coming out of Aries, the Age of the Ram,
ostensibly of Abraham, into the dawning of the Age of Pisces, the Christian
Era.
It was the heavens that the
astrologers followed, not specifically one star. They followed not the
alignment but the time. It was the time for God to come to take His
rightful Throne!
Herod seemed mocked by the wise
men and ordered the death of them “from two years old and under.” As it turned
out, it included all the contenders to the throne including the baby Jesus. Why
is under two so important?
Jesus was born in 6 B.C. if the
alignment is proper dating. Herod died in 4 B.C., and it was at his death that
the edict was sent forth. The legal will of Herod verified that Jesus was born
in 6 B.C. The Bible had it right all the
time!
The wise men asked, ““Where is He
that is born King of the Jews?” Herod heard of them asking that question. They
were not looking for him because Herod’s Palace was the obvious place to look
for him. Herod was about to die and he knew it; he had made out a new will and
was deathly sick. As it turned out, by the time of the maturity of Jesus, the
kingdom of Herod was divided into three parts with Herod Archelaus as ethnarch
of Judea (Jews) having that position until 6 A.D.
As such, when Jesus was crucified,
there was no ethnic king of solely Judea. They did in fact crucify the King of
the Jews as Jesus was the supposed son of Joseph and the family of
David.
Romans recognized supposed
sons; even Octavian was the adopted, or supposed, son of Julius Caesar
and he became king of kings as Caesar. Jesus was as rightful to Herod as
Octavian was to the Julian throne.
The wise men — kings — even when
Herod was alive, gave Jesus the right hand of friendship — the security that He
would be King. They did not follow their hearts as is in vogue today, they followed
God who pointed from above and He showed them truth.
As it turns out, the Christmas Story
was not about peace at all but politics and court intrigue. Jesus acknowledged
that; “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send
peace, but a sword” (Mat 10:34). The sword that Jesus spoke of was the lance
that was used to pierce his side because the crucifixion was also political
intrigue; all those who sought his death were seeking power, even some of his
own apostles!
The twelve apostles, disputing
among themselves, asked of Jesus, “Who should be the greatest?” (Mark 9:34) in
His Kingdom. Until they truly saw Jesus, even they were after power in
the regime of Jesus, the Jewish ethnarch, not understanding that He would be the
“Caesar” — “King of kings; Lord of lords” upon His decease (Rev 19:16).
Ironically, at that time, there
was no king on Judea and no effective Caesar in Rome, and it seems that Pilate
was acting “Caesar” [1]
and as he washed his hands. Pilate was recognizing Jesus as the “Caesar” of them
all.
(picture credit: Litanies)
[1]
Both Tiberius and Caligua, the future Caesar, were off on the island of Capri at
the time of the death of Jesus, both neglecting their duties.
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