Advent - Day 20

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:16-18 ESV).

Perhaps the darkest of events surrounding the birth of Jesus is found in our reading this morning. Herod the Great was then king of Israel. He was one of the most paranoid and cruel of leaders. And, even though there are some who refuse to believe that this even occurred, given his progressive cruelty and the Biblical evidence, I have no doubt about it taking place. Josephus is our best resource for the life of Herod. He tells us of an incident near the end of his life. In 4 BC he is in his winter palace in Jericho. It’s the only place in the holy land that doesn’t snow or get cold in the winter. After all, it is 1,200 feet below sea level. Herod is dying. He tries every remedy in the world to stop the multitude of diseases that were creeping up on him. He went to the hot springs on the northeastern corner of the Dead Sea for treatment; however, it was to no avail. So he goes back to his winter palace and he invites his sister Salome in and he says, “I want you to arrest all the Jewish leaders in the land and imprison them in the hippodrome just below the palace here.” And so she does so and then she says, “Brother, why am I doing this?” And Herod says, “Well, I know that when I die the Jews are going to rejoice. So I want to give them something to cry about.” And so he wants these leaders all executed in that hippodrome so that there will be thousands of households weeping at the time of his death! He is the Hitler of his era. Did he have all these children murdered? I think there is no doubt. But what does that tell us? Perhaps the greatest truth is that there is no logic or acceptable explanation for the evil and cruelty in our world. While 14,000 children were murdered senselessly during that rampage, we cannot ignore the nearly 750,000 babies that are aborted each year in the United States. Regardless of how you feel on the political position of this issue, it is a fact that, in nearly every case, these children would have been able to have lived to be born given the chance. This is a picture of sin and evil at work in our world. The only answer to that is the gospel. After all this is the only reason Jesus was born. He came to seek and forgive those who are lost. As we go about this year celebrating the birth of Jesus, take a moment and determine how you will spend the coming year to spread that message of grace and forgiveness.