EXPLORING THE ORDER OF GIANTS: Part 3 of 3

 GOLIATH: HOW GIANTS BECAME REKNOWN 

So, for those giants who made it through the waters of the flood by their own works, God finally finished His work; there is no way to salvation except by the grace of God, and the absence of Og and his kind proves that!

The last and final giant to be considered is Goliath the Philistine who David even before he was king killed. Located deep within the brain, well below the cranium, is the pituitary gland; that small organ controls the system of most of the functions of the body. The pituitary gone awry is the controller for size. When Goliath was killed, he had on armor. His most exposed part would have been the forehead behind which lies the pituitary gland. There David, by the Power of God, placed a small stone right on target and the giant died on the spot. In a manner of speaking God had gone to the root cause of Goliath’s arrogance!

First off, we’ll consider the Philistines. Egyptian records refer to them as “sea peoples.” About anyone who attacked Egypt would come from the sea. However, these people were surely noted for their wanderings and pillages on the seas, or could it be for another reason? In Hebrew, they were the Pelesti people — פְּלִשְׁתִּי — people of Peleset spelled פְּלֶשֶׁת.

The first letter pev is the mouth, indicating either speech or a scattering. They would have been wanderers in the manner of Cain who did so in the land of Nod.

The second letter lamed, represents the shepherd’s staff, meaning to teach or to go to and fro.

To or from where? Creating havoc… Shin — teeth, destroy, or to separate.

Lastly, comes the letter tav — the cross, mark, or covenant. Again, that points to Cain on whom God placed a mark (Gen 4:15).

The Bible identifies the Philistines as Casluhim (Gen 10:13-14). They were of Mizraim, the son of Ham, but not a derivative of Mizraim (Egyptians) but known to them, according to this: “כַּסְלֻחִים Kaçluchîym, kas-loo'-kheem; a plural probably of foreign derivation; Casluchim, a people cognate to the Egyptians:—Casluhim” (Strong 2006). Indeed, the Egyptians identified them as “sea people,” not Mizraimite Egyptians, since cognate means “known.”

With that said, it seems that the origin of the Philistines is unknown, as if they just appeared out of nowhere (albeit some place their home to be either the island of Crete or the Aegean Sea.)

As sea people, could it be that they were from other waters? And by that, I mean that their origins were from another realm as Genesis chapter six infers.

Goliath himself was known as a "man of the in-between” (1 Sam 17). In between what is not identified, but the first thing that comes to mind is the Anunnaki — part man and part other-worldly.

Next, Goliath’s tribe will be examined. Goliath’s home was Gath, so he may have been of the tribe of Gath. There indeed were giants in Gath even when Joshua arrived with the Israelites in tow: “There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained” (Jos 11:22). All the Anakim had been killed except in those three places. Since Goliath claimed to be a Philistine, then a Gittite is a Philistine. Gat (Gath) is spelled gimmel – tav. Somehow translators indicate that it means “wine press,” and if so, that is hard to derive from those two letters.

Gimmel looks like a man walking but it exemplifies a spirit. It also indicates the transfer of power for changes in states. That by itself is not enough.

The tav must be considered. The tav represents completion as well as the cross. When Jesus died, He said, “It is finished” (John 19:3), referring to the event on the cross. Jesus made a parallel between the letter tav and the Holy Cross. What was finished? The Covenant of Grace; that is important because the letter tav also represents a covenant.

God made a covenant with Cain; “Whosoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him” (Gen 4:15). What was that mark? A cross? That remains unknown but something else is known: 

There were giants in the Earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. (Gen 6:4) 

Earlier in my book, The Arks of Tubal-Cain, I wrote that one feature of Cain may have been monolids in the manner of many Orientals.

The land of Nod was part of the Kenite Covenant (Cain’s), and it was east of Eden, not one specific place, but just eastward. Could it be that Cain wondered to Asia and the sea people were of the Kenite Covenant? Could it be that the curse was also giantism?

From where did the sea people come? Perhaps from across the waters of the flood. As I wrote in my book (noted above), somehow giants made it across the waters of the flood. Could that be why the Egyptians knew them as “sea people”?

Note the passage, “the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” The world was about to end, but scripture says, “they became”. How would that become unless God had a plan and a future for them? The names of some would eventually become well-known.

Who is one of the most well-known of biblical people? David and Goliath.

In disagreement with most theologians, I see David vicariously defeating Cain that day. The man after God’s own heart was ending the Kenite Covenant. No longer could any sect of men do as they pleased; only what pleases God. Giantism ended with the killing of Goliath. It was finished as the letter tav indicates. Tribes of giants no longer exist except a few on basketball courts who do make names for themselves; mainly because they are tall, tall men and women.

Now for a wrap up. Do you recall from the previous commentary that Og means “long necked”? Well, Anakim (people of Anaq) seems to have the same feature for Anaq means “neck.” (ibid). Anaq is spelled עֲנָק. What does that mean in a literal context?

Spelled ayin – nun – qof, let’s examine that combination and order of letters.

Ayin, characterized by the eye might infer a “watcher,” or angel. Nun is the seed of a watcher in that case. Qof indicates behind or beyond, or even a different sphere of influence since the letter is divided by a line. It can also mean half of the whole, or two halves of the whole.

The letter qof in Anak clearly indicates that Anakim are watchers from another realm whose seed was planted in this realm, or even perhaps in the East like the land of Nod.

Likewise, the letter qof points to Cain (Q’ayin) which may indicate him as half watcher.

(Cain is of the Wicked One; 1 John 3:12).

If that is true, Anakim were somehow from the giant Cain whose seed somehow made it through the flood. I see Anakim scrambling to survive anyway they could, and by waters is the most obvious, making the survivors “sea people.”

Cain himself was murdered before the onset of the waters, according to sacred literature. The Arks of Tubal-Cain in my book explains that well, and the existence of Goliath is evidence of it.

Of course, I am not the final word on anything, but it is worth considering that Goliath’s and his brothers’ deaths snuffed out the last of the Anakim. David did that and made a name for himself.

EXPLORING THE ORDER OF GIANTS: Part 2

Ending the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites encountered the kingdom of Og in Bashan. Bashan, now the occupied area of Israel, was at the foot of once Holy Mount Hermon upon which righteous Seth lived before the flood with his family.

According to sacred literature, The Books of Adam and Eve, Cain’s progeny lived on the plain of Mount Hermon — Bashan. About that plain, it is written, “There were giants in the earth in those days” (Gen 6:4), speaking about the time right before the flood.

Scripture says about the flood: 

The Lord said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them." (Gen 6:7) 

The plain beneath Mount Hermon, Bashan, now the Golan Heights, was one specific area on “the face of the earth.”

Noah escaped the flood by the grace of God (Gen 6:8). Others, I contend, made it to places of safety by their own works. [1]

Once the “sons of God” — Seth’s family — descended the Holy Mountain, the fire of God would prevent their return. However, sacred literature has it that there was an entrance from the backside of Mount Hermon back up to circumvent the roadblock of God.

Also, in the “Epic of Gilgamesh; Ancient Near Eastern texts describe Mount Hermon as a "secret dwelling of the Anunnaki" and note that the mountain split open during Gilgamesh's battle with Humbaba” (AI Overview).

As you might already know, the Anunnaki were said to be brilliant and gigantic hybrid beings. That fits precisely with the people of the Kingdom of Og.

Once a holy mountain, Mount Hermon became a high place for pagan worship. Tradition has it that Mount Hermon is the portal between realms. The name “Hermon” means oath. Some theologians link Mt. Hermon with the mount of the transfiguration of Jesus. It certainly is an important peak, I believe, whereon giants found refuge during the flood.

Every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed. That leaves an avenue for some to escape by either the face of the waters (Gen 7:8) for Noah and perhaps others, or to the high places.

Og existed after the flood, and scripture reveals his bed’s size. Now allow me to validate my hypotheses about high places:

Which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir; all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan, for only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man. (Deut 3:9-11) [2]

The key point, in addition to his size, is that “only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants.” How could that be? Either He escaped on the Arks of Tubal-Cain or atop Mount Hermon, and with the recession of the flood, Og’s progenitor could have easily walked down the back side of Mount Hermon as giants had done before the days of Noah. The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch 6:6) describes the descent of 200 fallen angels (Watchers) onto the summit of Mount Hermon to take an oath.

The evidence is that not only did the family of Noah escape death during the flood, but so did giants and other “creeping things.”

This is not to support evolution at all, but devolution; however, as I describe them in my blog, “creeping things” were not just other animals but lower states of manlike creatures as the letter resh in remas (creeping things) suggest.

They were the same creeping things that God created before His man Adam that survived the flood.

In my blog, [3] I identified remas as lower states of manlike creatures (the “creeping” part) is their lower state. Therein I suggested that lower orders of man identified by their skulls in modern times: Neanderthal, Denisovan, etc.; may have been lower states of men.

Adam was on the order of angels since God was in him as he was the son of God. Common men, like Jesus was before his glorification, were a lower order than angels, to wit: 

What is man, that You are mindful of him? and the son of man, that You visit him?

For You have made him a little lower than the angels and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet. (Psalm 8:4-6) 

The psalmist wrote about Adam and his seed and even Jesus before He was glorified. As the “last Adam” (1 Cor 15:45), Jesus was born a common man but was resurrected a glorious man. His state had changed. No longer was He one of us men of lower states but wholly the Son of God (John 7:39). He was called a “worm” (Psalm 21) but later glorious by John. Death and resurrection had altered the states of the man, Jesus (1 John 7:39).

That psalm indicates two things: (1) common men (‘is and later enos) were lower states than Adam. Why so? Sin lowered the state of the child of the two Adamic creatures who in turn was born degenerated with Eve providing the guile from herself; and (2) God made man dominant, and lower states of men came from him; “having put all things under his feet.”

In other words, man was not created a creeping thing like apes and manlike creatures, but a glorious thing. Because of sin, perhaps some demon (Satan?) entered one of the creeping things who then defiled the woman; and as such, Cain was born a hybrid being who was depraved. God then marked him like the beast that he was.

The big difference between creeping things that resembled Adam would have been the “dominion” that Adam had. As the word means, Adam crumbled from God, and as such, he was not a lower state of man but a higher state on the order of angels. Now common men and women are of their father the Devil (John 8:44) and sinful Eve, “the mother of all living” (Gen 3:20). Therefore, common men and women are in fallen states.

With that common men and women are born depraved. By now after all those generations, only a remnant of God remains in us, and that gift of God is enough for grace enough to be saved.

Anunnaki made it through the flood, and King Og and his tribe are evidence of that. How big was King Og?

King Og was a biblical giant with his iron bed measuring about 13.5 feet long and 6 feet wide. The Bible implies he was as tall as 10-13 feet.  

Before we encounter Goliath, let’s first examine King Og whose genetics made it through the flood.

First off, Og had not found grace or the Bible would have said so. His salvation was not to Paradise like Noah and his seed, but only to the plain on which his ancestors lived. He would have visited Mount Hermon at times because to him, the mountain would have saved him, so his god must be there.

Nimrod was wise enough that he knew God was not on any holy mountain, but somewhere beyond, and he sought to not find the true God on high. If he failed to find God beyond any mountain, then as science would have it; God would not exist. Of course, Abraham’s miraculous escape with incorruptible flesh failed to disprove the null; that God does not exist.

So in like manner, “Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his people to the battle at Edrei” (Num 21:33).

The Hebrew word Og means “long necked.” (That has significance later, so remember it.)

The word Og consists of the Hebrew letters עוֹג: ayin – vav - gimmel.

The letter ayin is the eye, vav the peg, and gimmel the footprint of a camel. You might see that the long neck came from the idea of a camel, with the camel not there… just a footprint. Hidden in Og’s name is both giant and spirit because a footprint just indicates that an animal was once there, but no longer is.

Ayin represents the eye, or observation. Og was the giant who was observed in reality; thusly indicating that he surely existed in the unseen world. Most certainly Og was an Anunnaki.

The letter vav as a tent peg is a connector of some type. It connects the footprint of the beast to the observed being. Hence, the giant surely descended from another invisible realm.

Og would have descended from heaven to earth and would have also descended from the mountain to the face of the Earth in the same manner. Therefore, that he was a remnant that passed through the flood is validated by the name “Og.” (That also validates my claims made in my books, The Arks of Tubal-Cain and Jots and Tittles.).

Og was beyond the size of any common man and so were his people. Even after the flood there were giants on earth in those days, and the Israelites dealt with them. So, whatever happened to King Og and his tribe of giants? 

Moses sent to spy out Jaazer and they took the villages thereof, and drove out the Amorites that were there.

And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.

And the Lord said unto Moses, “Fear him not for I have delivered him into your hand, and all his people, and his land; and you shall do to him as you did unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon.

So they smote him and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive and they possessed his land. (Num 21:32-35) 

So, for those giants who made it through the waters of the flood by their own works, God finally finished His work; there is no way to salvation except by the grace of God and the absence of Og and his kind proves that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] See my book, The Arks of Tubal-Cain, for evidence of that all over the world.

[2] This evidence should have been in my book, The Arks of Tubal-Cain, but I discovered it later.

[3] “More on the Origin of Man;” https://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/2025/10/more-about-origin-of-man.html

EXPLORING THE ORDER OF GIANTS - Part 1

People have a fascination with giants and the Anunnaki, and admittedly, so do I. There must be an explanation for the ancient feats of both strength and intelligence. For instance, how could have ancient men designed and built the pyramids of Egypt, or even the tower whose top would reach the heavens in the days of Nimrod of Shinar?

In previous commentaries, I have explained why I believe the tower of Nimrod seemed to be his quest for space exploration; and that the top of the tower seemed to a separate entity “Nimrod’s Rocket to Heaven; https://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/search?q=tower). Somehow, like Enoch, Nimrod may have seen a vision of the heavens and sought to plan a trip for some of his people. (That is not to say that he succeeded, but that may have been his plan, according to The Book of Jasher; that failed miserably.)

The undeniable point is that there are things found in the layers of the earth that ought not be there… but they are. Of course, there were not two creations, so that means we were once advanced, and by “we” that is early civilization.

Ante-diluvian giants would not only be tall, tall men but men of high intelligence. The pseudepigrapha books, The Books of Adam and Eve, speaks of giants and one of them (Satan) got into Jubal and became Genun.

Jubal and his siblings were possibly the human images of Anunnaki. Jubal had Satan in him, so he would have had the whole body of knowledge from the tree of the same name. As such, Genun was a great inventor and Tubal-Cain, his brother, a great artificer with a high degree of technical skills. [1] The giant siblings, Jabal, Jubal, Tubal-Cain and their sister Namaah seemed to have been competitive to Noah who had God in him (Gen 6:8).

The skills of Cain’s seed were named: 

Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle, and his brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ, and Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah. (Gen 4:20-22) 

Jabal was nomadic and a wanderer like Cain (his ancestor), Jubal (Genun) was an inventor, not only of instruments but many things; Tubalcain was a builder who some believe built the first chariot, and Namaah, some say, was Noah’s wife. This may have been the “Anunnaki” family’s beginnings, when people became as gods as Lucifer warned (Gen 3:5).

“There were the giants in those days”(Gen 6:4); so perhaps they were the giants.

We think of giants as only huge people. So, let’s examine the Hebrew word for “giants” — napil, or נָפִיל. The first letter nun is a seed, ostensibly for some life form.

Pev, the second letter, as a mouth, represents both speech and creative ability.

Yod represents the work of God, but also because it is an arm and hand, creative work in general. Hence, giants would have had both a high degree of knowledge and ability.

Lastly comes the letter lamed. That’s the tall, tall letter to the left. Lamed extends from below the “ground” unto the “heavens.” It represents to/from; perhaps from the heavens to the earth — from one realm to another. It also represents distance, or height.

Therefore, it seems that the giants of old were not only huge by the standards of the world, but highly intelligent as well.

During the exodus the Israelites encountered giants: 

And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. (Num 13:33) 

The giants before the flood somehow made it through the flood, hence my book, The Arks of Tubal-Cain. Of course, Namaah could have been the source of giant genes. My book explores all possibilities and that one is included.

Anak was somehow descended from Arba while the sons of Anak were giant Anakim (Josh 14:15). Just who is Arba since he is not found in either the table of nations nor pre-diluvian genealogy. The only mention of Arba came from the name “Kirjatharba” (“the city of Arba”) and is rendered אַרְבַּע. Now, let’s analyze his name.

One letter points to the next, so keep that in mind. Aleph (aka “El”) comes first. It represents the infinite potential before the creation of the world. The pictograph of the resh comes next; it is the face of a man-like creature. Before the creation for man, a creature-like man may have existed as Arba.

Next comes the letter bet. Coming from that creature, bet represents blood or genetics as well as flesh.

Lastly comes the letter ayin — the eye for observation, perhaps implying that before that the creature was beyond observation in another realm.

Could that mean that Arba was an angel who took on bodily form in the same manner that Satan took on bodily form in Jubal/Genun? If so, then Arba would have been the creature which took on human shape and intelligence. Somehow the word Arba means four. The only significance of that is that number four means completeness. (I checked that with CoPilot AI and it concurs; Arba, among other things, is “the father or chief of a family tribe” — an archetype; “embodying strength, authority, family, and vision.” Could the “four” represent those four characteristics of giant alien beings?

Let’s also consider Anak himself and the Anakim. The mem at the end of Anakim is not just plural but genetics. Anakim are all of the bloodline of Anak whether it be immediate sons or his lineage.

Anak means “neck” (Strong 2006). Whether long or not is not spelled out. That Anakim were lizard people is preposterous in the same manner that the “Serpent” was not a snake but a snake-like image (nahas). The letter nun in that Hebrew word is a seed, or a sperm striking. The Serpent would have been the genetics of the creature that “knew” the woman to make her the new kind, Eve (Gen 3:20).

Anak עֲנָק might clarify who the giant Anakim might be. From Arba’s ayin comes Anak’s ayin first in his name. Anak would have been observable in the manner of his father.

The second letter is the nun, representing seed and sperm. Remembering that Arba was the whole, then Anak was part of the whole. Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai were the sons of Anak portrayed in the Bible. Arba was divided into four people who were all giants.

Of utmost importance in the name Anak is the last letter qof. It can mean before time began or even before observable reality.  [2] If Arba was the first observable, his seed nun in Anak would be from Arba who once was not observable, then he was!

Arba’s family of giants would have been the origin of the giants in those days (Gen 6:4) before the flood. The Anakim, observable to the Israelites, were once not observable before the flood.

Arba also implies “father” in the same manner as Abraham. Abraham is called “father” of peoples, so Arba might very well be the “father” of the giant race of men that appeared on Earth sometime between the creation and the flood.

Goliath would have been the son of Arba in genetics.

(The next commentary will be about the giant Goliath and his three brothers — the four brothers from the seed of Arba.)

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] See my book, The Arks of Tubal-Cain for more.

[2] Time is likely a measure of observable reality. Michio Kaku indicates that time did not exist in the creation, that it is a construct of man.

THE PURPOSE OF FALLEN ANGELS

 This text is a short blub from my latest book, The Arks of Tubalcain" and is about the gender of angels and the purpose of demonic angels:

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wicked-ness in high places. (Ephes 6:12) 

Those entities might be the cherubim that keep the wicked in the world and away from the Presence of God. They do not guard but dissuade common men from believing. They do not act by keeping the lost away from Jesus but aiding them in remaining comfortable in the world.

So how and why were their angels in this realm? God put the fallen ones here for guard duty to keep his two “prisoners” from escaping the “prison” of planet Earth. Here they could wander around, but not re-enter Paradise, unless they became new creatures different than the two kinds of sinners: Adam and ‘Issa.

Angels can appear in different forms to suit their needs as Paul intimated, “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb 13:2). Hence, angels can appear in this domain as men or women, and they did just that when angels appeared to the men of Sodom as men just like themselves but beautiful (Gen 19). Because the men of Sodom were wicked (Gen 13:13), to them anyhow, the angels looked like carnal meat to be had.

At other times, angels appeared as beautiful women to tempt Adam and sometimes other beings that were products of genetic mixing with multiple faces and wings.

Angels in heaven seem to be asexual creatures, but herein they can be whatever they choose to be. Angels are trans-beings and as such those people who transition are endeavoring to escape from this world to a world of their own making.  

The Book of Revelation describes "living creatures" with animalistic features around the throne. Unknown is whether they can morph, or their countenances seen differently by different people.

IMPRISONED IN THE WORLD

A short blurb from my new book about the True Church:

ON PATRIOTISM TO JESUS

They (Adam and Eve) had been free range animals, going nearly anywhere they wanted to do except one tree that they were not to trespass to go there.

After being expatriated, they were sent to a gigantic prison that God had made for that purpose. They were sent into the world just as England sent their criminals to Australia as aliens from England.

Just as Australia was a huge prison to the English criminals, the world still is a mega-prison wherein the “warden” lord holds us captive. Do you not realize that you are in a prison that God made before time? Look at its environment (Gen 3): 

1.      They hid themselves from the Presence of God like criminals hiding from the law.

2.      They were disciplined for breaking the rules.

3.      They blamed each other as prisoners are wont to do. They both became the “victims.” Don’t blame us!

4.      Where they were going, they would have enmity (dissension).

5.      There would be no truth outside the Garden walls.

6.      There will be sorrow.

7.      The husband would load her down with rules.

8.      Hard work — like a chain gang — would be assigned to the man.

9.      Death would ensue, implying that time would begin in the world.

10.  Eve would be the “mother-father” like in the word “Moab” previously.

11.  They would require clothes in prison… a coat of many colors.

12.  So, you think God’s rule was hard, in your prison, other prisoners will rule over you. 

Do you not understand, we are not free but are in a prison where bars cannot be seen as if there is an electrified fence keeping us in like the beasts that we are.

Church is sanctuary from the world. It is like a prison chapel where we can go for solace away from our strict but unseen “warden” the Devil.

What do you think Jesus meant when He educated a group of Jews who lived by the Law: 

If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

They answered him, “We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest You, ‘You shall be made free?’” (John 8:31-33) 

Like the Jews before, Christians fail to understand that the Law does not pertain to us because we are set free from the things of the world. We are like trustees in a prison system. We are free to go wherever we please, so long as we remain patriotic to the Overseer, Jesus.

LIP-SERVICE TO THE LORD GOD

Jesus spoke to the multitude, often in parables — a comparison of one thing to another to get across His points.

Today, we shall focus on just one of His points; speaking to anybody who would hear, Jesus asked of those who believed in Him, “Why call you Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). Was Jesus puzzled? I think not for He surely knew the answer; that He was certainly not Lord to those who called Him, ‘Lord.’

In the Greek world a ‘Lord’ is ‘Kyrios’ — “a person to whom one belongs,” or at a minimum, “a title of honor expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants greet their master” (Strong 2006).

In a feudal society, ‘Lord’ adequately expresses a master/servant relationship. A Lord is anything from nobility upwards to a sovereign. Generally, a ‘Lord’ is a landowner in a fiefdom wherein the workers are provided all the necessities of life in exchange for both men and women to serve their masters.

If the servants and masters are each satisfied with the arrangement, then that is a good thing. If not, then trouble ensues and often did.

In kingdoms, feudalism was the normative. Even in the colonies of America and the United States, the feudal state was slavery. Slaves were American ‘serfs’ who were to do things to honor their master, the noble landowner and to accomplish the master’s objectives.

Neither serfs nor slaves had the freedom to do as they pleased. Both knew the rules of the master and would do them without questioning the master. For peace to exist in the fiefdom or on the plantation, servants/slaves/serfs were expected to follow the rules, ultimately either obey or die, or at least be sold to a new master.

Jesus also said, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. (Mat 6:24), wherein ‘mammon’ is whatever else it may be that you trust.

Jesus asked why they called Him, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but did not obey the things He says.

Recalling the meaning of ‘Lord,’ it is a master/servant relationship. Jesus is the Master and as Master, or Rabii, He would expect His servants to obey Him if they were truly His servants and Him their Lord.

Depending on the demeanor of masters and lords, punishment might range from selling the servant, capital punishment, all the way to killing the servant. One thing Masters hated was when servants lied to them! Jesus hated that as well, to the extent that He challenged those who claimed that He was their Lord but were not.

Jesus revealed to those who serve Him, all the good things they received from Him because He is a good Master (Mat 6:26-32). He provided all those things to those who call Him Master, but they still failed to obey Him.

Many were not truly servants. It was ‘lip service’ that they did. They were hypocrites! It was themselves they served, all the while, expecting good things from their Master.

Many parent/child relationships devolve to that condition; to the extent that the child becomes the master over their masters (parents). Too many good things are given to a prodigal child who offers nothing in return, expecting even his or her share of the estate, never improving the estate, nor serving the parents.

Jesus is Lord of God’s Estate and as God, He is ‘LORD GOD’ who made and improved the ‘Estate.’ Hence, the double use of the term, Lord.

God is ‘sovereign;’ as the developer and husbandman of the Estate, God has Supreme Power over His vast ‘Plantation.’ He indeed, He is ‘Lord Of All’ and ‘King Of Kings.’ However, when the Master appeared on Earth, it was not as nobility but as a Servant. Jesus, the Lord and King, was not too good to do what the servants would not do; to the extent that the ‘Son’ gave His Life to the LORD GOD, so that we need not do that.

Jesus was a valiant Servant. He gave His life so that those who should serve, but would not, need not die. All that the Son requested was goodwill toward Himself and the fellow servants. The Lord’s Estate was meant to be a Paradise on Earth, but that would not be! Sinners trying to save themselves are stealing the valor of Jesus.

The world is also the Estate of God, but there came a claimant to God’s property — Lucifer. Lucifer is an easy task master, or so it seems. All that he expects from his servants is lip-service to the real Master. The work on the Devil’s Plantation is easy; one need only to deny the real Lord and Master by failing to do His will. Not doing work is easy work and it is what most people do! Apathy is an easy taskmaster, and all that the Devil expects from you. On his land, you can be a sloth and still inherit a portion of the Estate, or so you may think.

What is missed is that on God’s Estate you are not measured by what work you do, but your willingness to please the Master. He is an easy taskmaster; having goodwill is enough for Him and that task is not burdensome! The work list (The Ten Commandments) are merely having  reverence for the Master, and things not to do.

Master Jesus knew that; He asked, “Why call Me Lord, Lord?” of course, knowing full-well that He was not the Lord of many who followed Him. Each of them had as much as emancipated themselves as if they had the power of the Master. As such, all the while claiming that Jesus is Lord, they were their own masters and lords.

Now for my incentive to write this Lord/servant scenario: This morning events made me anxious, and I sought God to remove my anxiety. I knelt at my chair and prayed for two things: (1) that my anxiety would go away, and (2) that for another person to obey the Will of God.

I ended my prayer to Jesus, saying, “Thank you, Lord.” Scripture zipped through my mind; “Why call you Me, ‘Lord, Lord?”

Jesus no longer speaks audibly but impresses His thoughts into our minds. He asked me the same question that He had the multitude. Was He truly my Lord or is that the ‘lip-service’ which Satan’s demons put into my mind. The Devil, knowing full-well that oftentimes I am my own Lord, that is enough to appease him.  

If the Lord is truly my ‘Lord,’ would I not obey Him with pleasure for the things that He has already done for me? I felt as if I was calling the Lord, ‘Lord’ all the while serving another master!

Some “know that they know that they know,” who can save them; yet they do not serve Jesus, all the while expecting salvation. Knowing that you are already saved is arrogant; it makes you the Master of your fate.

This very morning, I was humbled; Jesus asked me in my prayer why I called Him, ‘Lord,’ while not serving Him. I was caught red-faced!

Serving Jesus is more than lip-service, treating Him like a ‘genie’ who we can rub the right way and we get all that we desire. I was asking Jesus to serve me more, even while He was providing for me a very good life. I called on Jesus to do His work for me, all the while never taking much time to thank Him for the things that He has already done, nor even fully serving Him.

Ask yourselves, Christians, why you call Jesus, ‘Lord’ all the while really serving Satan. Grace is grace, but to expect grace while serving a different master is so very arrogant.

“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up” (Isa 4:10). Was I a good servant? Are you a good servant? Is not asking the Master for things when He is not your Master just lip-service that even devils can do?

 

 

MARKS INSIDE AND OUT

 This is difficult to write because of my own marks. I see mine but they may be well-hidden from you. I work hard to conceal the marks that I have inwardly, so bear with me while I comment on a hard and widespread subject that may offend about everybody, including myself.

Astute people see what is important to them. God sees it as well! I think of the movie, Death Becomes Her; two beautiful women never want to die. Madeline is married to Earnest, a reconstructive mortician who endeavors to keep her beautiful. That failing, a spa owner gives her the business card of a woman who specializes in rejuvenation.  That too failed.

Soon, a young-looking, but elderly woman, reveals to Madeline a potion that promises eternal life and an everlasting youthful appearance. Madeline purchases and drinks the potion and is rejuvenated, regaining her beauty.  To shorten the story, both Madeline and her friend Helen, although old, look young and beautiful but they began to wither. We are all withering and some deal with it in preposterous ways.

The potion is temporary; the mortician husband must maintain their beauty by heavy makeup that peels off. Soon, those two women look as if they are the walking dead.

Nobody wants to grow old, and because they do, they want to remain attractive until the day they die. So many times, it is heard at a funeral, “He (she) looks so natural and beautiful.” They are dead. They are neither vibrant nor beautiful; the mortician has just done a good job. People hang onto vanity even in death!

God created mankind beautiful — in His Image. God is glorious, so mankind were created glorious. That God is glorious is a thread throughout the Bible, and example is, “Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us His Glory and His greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire…” (Deut 5:24). Because of sin, mankind has “come short of the Glory of God” (Rom 3:23).

Narcissistic people think of themselves as beautiful but since the original sin, mankind is brutish and grow more brutish with time. Speaking of ungodly men, Jude wrote, “But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves” (Jude 10).

In the days before the flood, “God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted His way upon the earth” (Gen 6:12). In the end, it will be as in the days of Noah, all flesh will be corrupted. What mankind sees as “beautiful,” God sees as corrupt!

In the end, Christians — those who are like Christ in death — will be made “incorruptible” again, and without corrupt flesh. When Jesus comes again, even the dead shall live again, those living in Christ will join them, as it is written, “The dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Cor 15:52). Even the dead shall be glorious again as Adam (mankind) was in the beginning. The Image of God will be restored in the faithful as they are completely regenerated at the rapture. They shall be regenned again in the Image of God’s Genome.

Now consider the word, “glory,” in the Hebrew it is “kaḇoḏ.” Glorious is thought of as “beautiful” but the root word means “heaviness” or “dullness.” (Strong 2006). God is not beautiful in a natural sense but of a substance much different than man’s. Do not think of heaviness as fatness, but Holy. Joshua said to the Hebrews, “He is an ‘Holy God’…” (Jos 24:19). He is a “clean” God set apart and consecrated. In other words, God is different than humans.

We are told to, “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I AM the Lord your God” (Lev 20:17). We are to set ourselves apart to be dull like God is dull. The point therein is that beauty, or glory, is on the inside. Christians are to be different than the brutes of the world. God sums that up this way: 

³ “This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: ⁴ That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; ⁵ Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God… (1 Thes 4:3-5)

 First off “fornication” in the Greek is “porneio” — porn, or idolatry. Fornication is thought of as engaging in sexual intercourse; it is much more than that. It is looking at images of others and lusting after them. That generally commences with children looking at themselves.

Early in childhood development, they cherish their flesh, “…no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it” (Ephes 5:29). In fact, the rest of the passage reveals that mankind makes their flesh as cherished as God’s Image.

We are to abstain from worshipping our own image. “Porn” is satisfying our own flesh as we lust after the flesh of others. It is not the glorification of the flesh of others but a sad attempt to glorify ourselves.

What is the lust of Lucifer? “I will be like the most High (God)” (Isa 14:14). His “flesh” is corrupt. He wants the Glorious Image of God, no matter how dull it is to the world. Humans are the same way because, we like Cain, our progenitor, are of the Wicked One. (1 John 3:12)… the spiritually diseased one.

What glorifies mankind? Death! Are you surprised?

Jesus was glorified at death (John 7:39) and our gain, like the death of Jesus and for Paul, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21). Living set apart as Christ was set apart delivers a reward. That reward is glorification. What happens at death? The person gives up the flesh while retaining the mind and soul. Christians relinquish their image that they adore all their lives.

Hence, self-adoration is mankind’s problem and how better to adore oneself than magnifying the flesh. Is that not what Death Becomes Her was all about? They refused to relinquish their fleshes at all costs, even to the point of adorning their flesh with cuttings and cosmetics!

Yesterday my granddaughter said forthrightly to grandma, “Papa doesn’t like tattoos.” Indeed, I would never again tattoo my body. It isn’t for me because in the spiritual realm no Christian will be tattooed. The only Person there who will be pierced in Paradise is Jesus, and that is because it is His Mark to show that He paid the price for our sins. Our old flesh will be of no concern there.

Many Christians, especially Calvinists, are “antinominalists.” They minimize, even trivialize, the Law of God.  Obedience to the Laws of God is not the Way to Paradise because Jesus fulfilled that requirement. Jesus, and Him alone, is the Way. However, the Law remains the written “Will and Testament of God.” Hence, the burdensome Law remains the Will of God.

If you remember, “glorious” means “Heavy” or “Burdensome;” that describes the Glory of Jesus (John 7:39). 

³ Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: ⁵ To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (Gal 1:3-5)

 Remember what my granddaughter said, “Papa doesn’t like tattoos.” Well, she is right. PAPA does not like tattoos! Our Father in heaven disdains tattoos or any thing that would mar our image, at least of what Image of His that we have left after millennia of degeneration!

The Law, I repeat, remains the Will of God. Like a good Papa, we will not be condemned for writing and cutting on the “coats of skin” (Gen 3:21) that God made especially for His children. We are to cherish the grace that he gave our kind by giving us even inglorious skin!

The Lord Jesus Christ gave up His Flesh and became “Heavy” — He “gave Himself for our sins,” as the Word says. Jesus revealed His innermost self when He gave up his marked flesh. His “flesh” was much different than ours; it was glorious! The Identity of Jesus still looked like Jesus as He gave up His innermost feature — the Holy Ghost — the invisible God that carried all our sins to Hell. Was the Holy Ghost a beautiful Thing?

The “Holy Ghost” is from the Greek, “Hagio Pneuma.” The root word is hagos — “an awful thing.” The Innermost Jesus was indeed uncomely as Isaiah saw Him: 

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. (Isa 53:3; RSV)

 We make ourselves “beautiful” for ourselves, but Jesus made Himself ugly for us! The Apocryphal account of the crucifixion describes a dire scene that agrees with canon: 

Two young men also appeared to Him, remarkably strong, gloriously beautiful and splendidly dressed, who stood on each side of Him and scourged Him continuously, inflicting many blows on Him (2 Mac 3:26)

 Note that the writers of history saw “beautiful” and “splendid” men scourge Jesus. They thought they made Jesus a hideous Person but then Jesus gave up the (Holy) Ghost. They revealed the Person inside, one from whom men would hide their faces. Apparently, neither the repentant thief nor the centurion turned away in horror but saw the Ghost of Jesus as a beautiful Thing. Truly beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Who were the ugly beings at the crucifixion?

I believe Satan was there, after he had gone out of Judas. Perhaps the chief priest, Caiaphas became the Antichrist. He would be the ugliest of the ugly without regard to his robes or status.

Those “beautiful” people who scourged Jesus were two more of the ugly ones. They would have been decked out in the finest Roman centurion apparel and would have looked grand to the crowd… but inside their innermost person — their souls — they were ugly men.

Jesus was not hideous enough for those who mocked Him, so they scourged Jesus of His flesh. The Romans were noted for applying forty minus one flogs on people. Jesus surely suffered thirty-nine strokes from the scourging device: 

A scourge (Latin: flagrum) consists of a rope with metal balls, bones, and metal spikes. The scourge, or flail, and the crook are the two symbols of power and domination… A flail's intended use was to thresh wheat, not to implement corporal punishment. (Wikipedia 2001-2023)

 Thirty-nine stokes of a flail would rip the flesh off the bone. When Jesus gave up the Holy Ghost, He did that by giving up His worldly flesh. They flogged the phantom right out of Jesus, and revealed the Holy Thing inside His Flesh.

As a young man, my son was beaten about a dozen times on the head with a crowbar. I saw him the day after. His head was alien in appearance; it was puffed twice the size as usual. My handsome son had been diminished to a beaten creature. I hardly recognized him. That’s what they did to Jesus only many times worse.

Those beautiful and grand men thought they were making Him ugly, but His Soul showed through. Jesus left His haggardly flesh and was glorified as He showed to those who would look His Glory!

Jesus was cut and pierced as they mocked and killed Him. That was God’s Will for Himself because they were inflicting defects on the Glorious fleshly Image — the skin of God that was the “coat of flesh” of God.

So why would God say, “You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh on account of the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord” (Lev 19:28).

My granddaughter said it rightly just as children do, “Papa doesn’t like tattoos,” she said. God said that first, Papa said to not make cuttings in your flesh nor tattoo any marks upon you. Was it Papa who said that? He added, “I AM the Lord.”

You are not the Lord, the LORD GOD, Jesus, is the LORD. His glorious flesh would be marked so yours need not!

Marking the flesh was a “Gentile” or pagan thing to do. God marked Cain already and as the progeny of Cain, we are already marked. The flesh of Cain was the problem; it differed from the righteous flesh of Abel, so God marked it.

You are not God, so it is presumptive for you to do the marking. Yes, sins of presuming to be what you are not, are still sins — “presumptive sins.” It is written, “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins” (Psalm 19:13).

Jesus was accused of presumptive sin; He claimed to be God, and He was marked for it! His flesh was torn off bit by bit. He had thorns placed on His head that ripped His flesh, so why would so many today pierce the beautiful faces that God made for them?

This “papa” doesn’t care what you do with your own flesh, but God still cares; it remains His Will that your flesh is not degenerated more than it already is. Why not do whatever you will to do? Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Agape love is to honor the Will of the Father. The Law is still “His Will to be done” as we are said to pray.

This seems to be an attack on modern customs. Many of us would never mark ourselves, or would we?

To glorify God is to love and adore Him. Love, as said before, is having goodwill for God, to honor Him and His precepts, or commandments.

How to adore God? Worship His Image, and that “Image” is Jesus. To magnify the very Flesh of God that replaced yours to redeem your sins.

In the Old Testament, the sacrifice was to be unblemished (Exod 12:5) and your own flesh as the perfect sacrifice should be without blemish, at least the best that can be had; God fully realizing that mankind is already terribly blemished.

That Christians are to glorify God is best done by unglorifying themselves. Paul wrote to the pagan Romans, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom 12:1). You are to present your flesh to God as the sacrifice to glorify God. Your gift should not be repackaged nor reused. It should be as new and pristine as possible.

You cannot clean what is on the inside with rebirth, but you can present your bodies with some degree of decency. Then, God will clean the inside, or perhaps the inward you, until it is as clean as the outward you. However, He cannot be fooled.

For myself, I am presentable outwardly but know that I am haggardly inwardly. My hope is that God regards that well — recognizing how unclean that I am and to continue cleaning me up.

Outward appearance reflects the inner person. Why would anyone mar themselves? Because their flesh may very well represent their inner person. Of course, some use a clean image to conceal the dirty inside, but that is problematic as well. Indeed, even us “clean” folks are marked inwardly; we just conceal it better.

Many of us who are straight and clean, even clean ourselves up more than usual to appear cleaner. For instance, those who think they are preachers may wear a preacher’s suit but that does not make them holy at all. Spit-shined shoes and carefully applied aromas and cosmetics do not make the preacher more real!

There is a problem of overdoing anything. Even if something is a good thing, overdoing it may be harmful.

So, you like candy? So do I, but too much candy will make you ill. The same goes for too much preparation; a little makeup may be good, but a lot may be detestable to the Lord. Take for instance, Jezebel; Jehu was anointed king and to appear to him more glorious than she was, “she painted her eyes and adorned her head.” (2 Kings 9:30).

Jezebel wanted to be noticed beyond the noticeability of other women. She made herself out to be the ideal, the idol of something she was not. She presented a false image to Jehu.

Many of our own careers were presenting a false image. Mine was a country boy made up in a three-piece suit and presented to customers as a businessman. When I realized that in my black suits, I looked more like a penguin than a success, I ceased wearing my “penguin suit,” and still avoid wearing suits to church.

We are to wear our best for God, and the best for Jesus was an undergarment with a robe. John wore a suit of camel’s hair for a reason; perhaps not to look more glorious than Jesus, and even with that, they thought him the Messiah!

Speaking of Jesus, John said, “He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear” (Mat 3:11). His role was to magnify God by minimizing himself, and it worked!

The high priests were lucky men. If anyone was dressed to be king and thought of themselves as rightful heirs of Herod and of God; it was the priestly realm. Pilate should have been wary of the chief priests who dressed like and acted like gods and kings. They were the real pretenders to the throne, not Jesus. They were acting the part that they were not!

Makeup is making oneself out to be what one is not. Some makeup may be good, but excessive makeup is for the stage. It is not much different than marking oneself. It is not so much how you mark but that you find it important to mark.

Beasts mark their trails with urine or excrement. The reason they mark is for territory and dominance. Even small puppies mark their territory as if they are Dobermans. They act as kingly beasts, all the while they are just pets. It is instinctive to mark ourselves to preserve our fiction, just as Cain was marked to preserve his fiction (Gen 4:15).

In previous times, tribes marked themselves wildly to appear more vicious. The Picts of England were noted for their tattoos that they used to frighten their enemies. The Romans were so afraid of those vicious “beasts” that they retreated with their Roman tales lagging them. Soon after, the Picts were lost to history. Somehow the Vikings, Anglos, Saxons, and other invaders diminished them because the tattoos failed to scare them.

Tattoos were always used to exert tribalism. Indeed, today, those marked with rings and ink are a “tribe,” so to speak. They announce their existence — their inner self — that they have souls of warriors. They use pagan artwork to make themselves seem different. Their flesh to them is more valuable than gold to silver. That is known because they pay good money for them in lieu of things that they need just to exist.

With that said, I admit that when I was young and foolish, I marked my flesh. It failed and I was glad! My flesh would not have been adorned but simply marked as “foolish.”

God helped me not to fool myself. He erased the ink, and now my tattoo is gone. I am as guilty of adorning my flesh as the next person, but still struggle with the mark of the beast inside, and that is to do what I want to do, and that is to satisfy my flesh.

I could go on, but marks, just as bad, can be on the inner self as well. That is pride and that is for another day.

 

 

 

 

 

ON FEAR

Did King Herod believe that Jesus was the expected Messiah?

Herod was a Idumean, not a Jew, but had been persuaded to become a Jew, ostensibly to be accepted by the Jews as king. Undoubtedly, he knew scripture. Apparently, he could not quote it but questioned those around him about Christ. 

And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. (Mat 2:4)

 Herod asked them about Christ! He did not question the claim of the wise men; he accepted at face value what they claimed. Herod could see the same thing in the sky that the wise men saw, if he only looked. He never questioned that the heavens had directed them to Judaea. They were in search of God and Herod, paranoid that he was, feared the time had come, perhaps because he had been so evil, killing off his own family members who were in contention with each other for the kingdom.

Herod could appoint his own successor, Whoever, it would be necessitated the approval of Caesar.

This child Jesus had the credentials to be king of the Jews and paid taxes as the heir (son) of David. Caesar was a fair man with civil law and taxation would be the evidence that Jesus was in fact heir to the throne. Not only that, but that Jesus was a Jew who would be a fitting ethnarch for the kingdom of the Jews.

Caesar would, in fact, leave the Judaean throne vacant after Archelaus was deposed by him in 6 A.D. Pontius Pilate would be the “hegemon” (Mat 27:2) — “a legatus Caesaris,’ an officer administering a province in the name and with the authority of the Roman emperor. (Strong 1890).

Pilate, as was the custom, was the “right hand” of Caesar, and in the absence of Caesar was Caesar. That was Roman Law.

Herod was king because of the grace of Caesar who could either appoint or not appoint to the throne anybody he pleased but preferred those with a bonified claim.

Herod seemed to know that Jesus could, if He pleased upon maturity, exert His right. Herod took Jesus seriously and recognized that Jesus is the Christ.

Scripture uses the expression, “should be born.” In the Greek that phrase is one word — “gennao.” It is not “should” but simply “engendered” (ibid). The expectation, or fear, of Herod had become real. The child, Jesus, fit the identity of the Messiah perfectly. Herod understood that Jesus was the expected Christ.

Herod, at that very time was deathly ill. He had recently changed his will, knowing full-well that his days were numbered. Even knowing that he was as well be dead; his concern was not with his own well-being, but who would succeed him. As such, Herod feared the infant Jesus more so than any of his own heirs.

Upon maturity and long after Herod had died, Jesus said, “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell (Mat 10:28).

Herod killed the bodies of the pretenders to the throne in the Massacre of the Innocents that occurred immediately after he died, according to Josephus. He could not kill their eternal souls, but Herod, even on his death bed, feared that those innocent people were out to kill him in person.

According to the truth that Jesus shared, anybody, even Herod, should fear Him — the Christ — because Jesus had/has the power to destroy both the body and soul in Hell, as He said.

Herod feared the baby Jesus, not because He had power over his eternal destiny, but because Jesus could have his throne, and had the credentials to do so. Everybody recognized Jesus as the “son of David” and of the gens, or family of the legitimate king that God had appointed to the throne so long ago.

The paranoia of the king was not Jesus himself but that he was “born” — gennao — and was of the gens of David.

Gens is Latin for “family.” Herod feared Jesus not because He was the Son of God but because, he was the “son of man,” David, and had the genealogy to validate it.

Why the genealogy in the Book of Matthew? Because it proved that Jesus, through his supposed father, Joseph, was the heir to the Davidic throne and was of the House of David. Herod nor his family were not; they were genetic Arabs (Edomites). Herodians had no legitimate claim to the Judaean throne.

It appears that Herod believed that Jesus was the Christ but only of the House of David. He did not fear Jesus because of His power over his soul but because of his power over the throne. He, perhaps, accepted Jesus as legitimate king contender but not as God Himself who was gennao of a virgin and of God. That Jesus was born in Bethlehem was particularly upsetting because Bethlehem was the place of the birth of David.

Herod had surely read, “David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem-Judah, whose name was Jesse” (1 Sam 17:12) and that the prophet Micah designated David’s heir to come: 

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2)

 Ephratah is the place near Bethel, where Rachel died and was buried (Gen 35:16). Jesus was from the very place where Rachel, the ancestor of David was buried. Perhaps Joseph owned the very land that had been in the family since the time of Jacob. Herod feared the genome of Jesus, not the Spirit of God in Him. He feared the “Israel” in the veins of the Christ because Rachel, like Eve long before, who was the mother of all the living, she was the “mother” of all the Israelites.

Herod was king not only of Judaea but much of the kingdom of David. He had hopes that the Herodian Kingdom, through his heirs, might encompass the entire Kingdom of David, and already pretended to that notion. But here came one born of David who was bonified heir to the Davidian Kingdom, causing Herod to fear the little baby!

Herod had them all killed who his soldiers found, but not among them was Joseph, Mary, and Jesus. It was not yet time for Jesus to die until Herod was proven dead, and Himself proven the rightful heir to the throne.

Jesus was crucified, not so much that He claimed to be God in the flesh, for that seemed absurd, but because He was the legitimate heir to the throne and all those factions that screamed for his death were politicians: Hasmoneans, Herodians, Pharisees, Sadducees, and especially both the chief priest representing the inherited (genetic) house of Annas whose current heir was Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas after each of Annas’s sons had been chief priests.

Even the priesthood had become political since the time of John Hyrcanus II, the Hasmonean king and high priest. Caiaphas would aspire for the throne in the manner of Hyrcanus.

Jesus was not crucified because He was God but because He was the Good King that they would not follow, after having followed for so many years the wicked King Herod. They would have to change their lifestyles and become holy as He is Holy!

What is the one characteristic in this age which the public dislikes in candidates? Those who are holy. Holy contenders for higher office are rejected because they are holy. Why so? Because then, they fear that they too would need to be holy.

(picture credit: Mayo Clinic News)