Still not a Christmas story…. this commentary is about a “Coronation” of the King and the real “Caesar.”
Do not let the map intimidate
you; it is not complicated.
Wise men from the East, not specifically
Persia, but likely kings in eastern Roman provincial Syria shown on the map. Judea
was just small part of provincial Syria, and each division had its own king who
paid tribute to Rome.
Figure 1:Roman Province of Syria (bing)
The custom of the kings in the
Roman Empire during the time of Herod was for kings to accept each other as
kings before Caesar would honor their position. That recognition, according to Flavius
Josephus in The Wars of the Jews, was called giving them their
right hand for security to make a league with each other (allegiance).
As such, Caesar was the authority
and each king had allegiance to Caesar and to each other. A league is an
informal alliance and essentially many becoming one in purpose. Of course, the
purpose was to maintain order in the Roman Empire to please Caesar.
When Jesus was born, a league,
or alliance, was formed. Scripture is written about the wise men, or kings from
the East, “We have seen his star in the East, and are come to worship Him” (Mat
2:2).
“Worship” in that English
translation is a bit strong. Perhaps it was to prostrate themselves as
the Greek word, proskyneo means. They would
have come to respect Jesus, not to worship Him as God necessarily.
Prostration was to pay homage to the newborn king. Homage is “something
that shows respect or attests to the worth or influence of another”
It seems that the kings from the
East came, not so much to worship Jesus in a religious sense, but to give Him
the right hand of allegiance.
Why would that anger Herod the
Great? Kings from the East, according to Josephus, had once paid homage to Herod
by giving him their right hands. He was surely angry because it was them that would
choose his successor. That would upset him because Antipas, his eldest son, had
done the same thing as well as his sons Archelaus and Alexander. Not only his
sons, but Herod had suspected his wife, sister, and brother of paying homage to
others.
The life of Jesus was in danger
and His parents fled to Egypt until Herod was dead. That did not take long
because soon Herod was dead, and his purge of the innocents did not occur until
his will was fulfilled and implemented as if he was still king in 4 B.C. when
Jesus was about two years old.
Herod did not pick his successor
as he had so often; the Romans divided the Herodian kingdom into three kingdoms:
Herodians Archelaus, Antipas, and Philip.
Archelaus became “ethnarch” of
Judea, Samaria, and Idumea — the king of the ethnic and spiritual Jews. He and
he alone became king of the Jews, but he was removed in 6 A.D. by Augustus
Caesar and the Jews were officially without a king… they thought! Jesus was the
legitimate King of the Jews until the time of His crucifixion, then the grandson
of Herod, Agrippa, became king of the Jews from 41-44 A.D, only after Jesus had
risen.
Agrippa was the last king of the
Jews. All the while, while on Earth, Jesus was ex officio “King of the
Jews” because he had the right hand of legitimacy offered by the kings from the
East, and Pilate, acting as Caesar, designated Jesus as rightful heir.
Pilate had written above the head
of crucified Jesus, “King of the Jews” while both Tiberius and the future Caesar,
Caligua, were in Capri usurping their duties.
Pilate said, “I find no fault in
this man (Luke 23:4). What was Jesus accused of? Two things: (1) That He was
king of the Jews, and (2) that He claimed to be God. Well, Pilate as the acting
“Caesar” made that claim as well!
In effect, when Pilate washed his
hands of the injustice, he was proclaiming Jesus to be King. He allowed the
crucifixion because it was the Supreme God who was passing judgment on Himself.
Pilate had recognized that Jesus was indeed “King of the Jews” as well as God. His handwashing was resignation of himself and designation of Jesus as Prelate, Potentate, King, and Caesar.
As such, Pilate did as the wise
kings had done — proskyneo — he paid homage to Jesus as “King of kings;
Lord of lords,” as is written about Jesus, “The blessed and only Potentate, the
King of kings, and Lord of lords” (1 Tim 6:15).
Potentate (dynastes) capitalized
is “The Great Authority.” Pilate took a knee to Jesus by recognizing that He
was both King of the Jews and the LORD GOD. By doing so, Pilate was a wise
king, as prelate, or acting Caesar in the absence of Caesar. As such Pilate had
the authority of Caesar and by saying that Jesus is who He says He is,
Jesus was ordained to be the universal “Caesar” — The Supreme Ruler and God!
And He still is.
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