Part II: Herod the Great

“Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its environs, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the magi. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,

‘A voice was heard in Ramah,Weeping and great mourning,Rachel weeping for her children;And she refused to be comforted,Because they were no more.’”

Matthew 2:16-18; Jeremiah 31:15

The Massacre of the Innocents

“If this is the Messiah, I must kill him.”

After Caesar defeated Pompey, Herod the Great’s father, Antipater, was given the title of Procurator of Judea and Herod’s two sons, Phasaelus and Herod were made governorsHerod was only 25 when he became governor of GalileeAfter Antony and Octavius fought in the Battle of Philippi, Herod was named Tetrarch of Judea

The Parthians entered the land, but Herod escaped from Jerusalem and fled to Arabia, and then made his way to RomeIn Rome, Herod was proclaimed by the Senate as King of Judea in 40 B.C.; he reigned for 37 yearsAfter he married the Samaritan princess Mariamme, her uncle, Antigonus, was executed by Herod (the first of the Maccabeeswhom he killed)

Herod also executed 45 of the noblest and richest friends of AntigonusAt the Feast of Tabernacles, Herod had Aristobulus, Mariamme’s brother, drowned while bathingHe had the High Priest Hyrcanus II executed in order to be secure from all rivalsHe had Mariamme executed after a mock trial

Mariamme’s mother, Alexandra, plotted against Herod, but was discovered and executedMariamme’s two sons, Alexander and Aristobulus, were condemned to death and strangled in prison (300 of their friends were also executed)During the night their bodies were laid to rest in Alexandreion where their maternal grandfather and most of their ancestors were buried

“For him (Herod) to kill them (Alexander and Aristobulus) so quickly and to gratify the passion that overpowered him was a sign of an irreligious spirit that is beyond assessment, especially when he committed so great a crime in his old age…When someone in consternation and under great emotion proceeds to do something atrocious, it is a common occurrence, however hard to bear. But to do so after deliberating a long time and

after frequent starts and as frequent hesitations, and finally to take a stand and accomplish the deed – this is the act of a murderous mind that cannot be turned from evil.”

Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, XVI, 369

Herod’s son, Antipater, heir to the throne, was cast into prison and was executed only 5 days before Herod himself died

“Scarcely a day passed, in fact, without an execution under Herod’s regime. The political climate at the time of Jesus’ birth resembled that of Russia in the 1930s under Stalin. Citizens could not gather in public meetings. Spies were everywhere. In Herod’s mind, the command to slaughter Bethlehem’s infants was probably an act of utmost rationality, a rearguard action to preserve the stability of the kingdom against a rumored invasion from another.”

“And when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi…”

Matthew 2:16

“So long as any one lived, who was born in Bethlehem between the earliest appearance of this ‘star’ and the time of the arrival of the Magi, he was not safe. The subsequent conduct of Herod show, that the Magi must have told him, that their earliest observation of the sidereal phenomenon had taken place two years before their arrival in Jerusalem.”

Edersheim, Book II, Chapter VIII, 205

He was no longer able to control his passions; “he became very enraged” (Mt. 2:16); he had no self-control left; sin had enslaved him“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16)Herod’s soldiers enter the homes in Bethlehem and cut to death all these little boys

“Having ascertained, on the inquiry of the eastern Magi, where the king of the Jews should be born, as they had seen his star, and this had been the cause of so long a journey to them, glowing with zeal to worship the infant as God; he was under great apprehensions, as supposing his own kingdom to be in danger. Having, therefore, inquired of the doctors of the law in the nation, where they expected Christ should be born, and ascertained the prophecy

of Micah, announcing that it would be in Bethlehem, in a single edict he orders the male infants from two years and below to be slain, both in Bethlehem and in its parts, according to the time that he had accurately ascertained from the Magi; thinking at all events, as seemed very probable, that he would carry off Jesus also, in the same destruction with those of his own age. The child, however, anticipated the snare, being

carried into Egypt by his parents, who had been informed by the appearance of an angel of what was about to happen. These same facts are also stated in the sacred text of the gospel.”

Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book I, Chapter VIII, 35-36

“Baffled in the hope of obtaining his object (i.e., the death of Jesus) through the Magi, the reckless tyrant sought to secure it by an indiscriminate slaughter of all the children in Bethlehem and its immediate neighborhood, from two years and under. True, considering the population of Bethlehem, their number could only have been small, probably twenty at most. But the deed was none the less atrocious; and these infants may

justly be regarded as the ‘protomartyrs,’ the first witnesses, of Christ, ‘the blossom of martyrdom.’ The slaughter was entirely in accordance with the character and former measures of Herod.”

Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Timesof Jesus The Messiah, Book II, Chapter VIII, 214

“So ended a reign almost unparalleled for reckless cruelty and bloodshed, in which the murder of the Innocents in Bethlehem formed but so trifling an episode among the many deeds of blood, as to have seemed not deserving of record on the page of the Jewish historian (i.e., Josephus).”

Alfred Edersheim, Book II, Chapter II, 127

“If Bethlehem was a small village, as it probably was, then the number of male children in it under two years of age would not exceed perhaps twenty or thirty.”

J. Gresham Machen, The Virgin Birth of Christ, 239

“No one who ever meets Christ with a good will returns the same way as he came” (Fulton J. Sheen).“Wicked men sometimes hide their evil designs under an appearance of religion” (Sheen).Be careful not to put aside your faith in God and His promises (like Herod did). “The Lord allows men to sleep in their unbelief, then suddenly shatters their peace” (John Calvin).

Never abandon your longing for grace when you are excessively burdened under some weight or evil.Herod recognized that his reign was opposed to God…and was terrified. Abandon anything that is opposed to God and His Word.The main cause of spiritual blindness is rooted in evil desires.Never wage war against God.

No one went with the Wise Men. Will you take a risk for the sake of salvation?

“But Herod’s illness became more and more acute, for God was inflicting just punishment upon him for his lawless deeds. The fever that he had was a light one and did not so much indicate symptoms of inflammation to the touch as it produced internal damage. He also had a terrible desire to scratch himself because of this, for it was impossible not to seek relief. There was also an ulceration of the bowels and intestinal pains that were particularly terrible, and a moist,

transparent suppuration (the formation or secretion of pus) of the feet. And he suffered similarly from an abdominal ailment, as well as from a gangrene of his privy parts that produced worms. His breathing was marked by extreme tension, and it was very unpleasant because of the disagreeable exhalation of his breath and his constant gasping. He also had convulsions in every limb that took on unendurable severity. Accordingly it was said by the men of God and

by those whose special wisdom led them to proclaim their opinions on such matters that all this was the penalty that God was exacting of the king for his great impiety.”

Josephus tells us that he died on the 5th day after having his son Antipater killed. “He had reigned for thirty-four years from the time when he had put Antigonus to death, and for thirty-seven years from the time when he had been appointed

king by the Romans. He was a man who was cruel to all alike and one who easily gave in to anger and was contemptuous with justice. And yet he was as greatly favoured by fortune as any man has ever been in that from being a commoner he was made king, and though encompassed by innumerable perils, he managed to escape them all and lived on to a very old age (about 70).”

Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, XVII, 168-171, 191.