A throne, and its ache for the true King

Herod the Great

Herod the Great was the paranoid client king ruling Judea when Jesus was born. Threatened by the news of a newborn king, he slaughtered the infants of Bethlehem, the false king raging against the true one.

“Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.”Matthew 2:16

His reign

His reign. Herod was king in Jerusalem when wise men came from the east asking, 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 (Matthew 2:2). When Herod heard it he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. He gathered the chief priests and scribes, who told him from the prophet Micah that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem of Judaea. Herod secretly called the wise men, learned the time the star appeared, and sent them on with a lie: Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also (Matthew 2:8). But he meant to destroy the child. Warned in a dream, the wise men returned another way, and Joseph was told by an angel to flee into Egypt with the child and his mother. When Herod saw he was mocked of the wise men, he was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the children in Bethlehem two years old and under (Matthew 2:16). So the weeping of Rachel foretold by Jeremiah was fulfilled. Herod schemed to hold a crown that was never his, while the child he could not reach was the everlasting King.

What it revealed

What it revealed. Herod reveals the murderous fear of the human heart when confronted with the true King. He held earthly power, yet the mere report of a newborn king undid him, and rather than worship he plotted to kill. His reign reveals that a throne clung to for its own sake will shed innocent blood to keep itself, for tyranny always fears the King it will not bow to. Herod's lie, that I may come and worship him also, reveals how the enemies of Christ will cloak murder in the language of devotion. His slaughter of Bethlehem's children reveals the depth of evil that resists the coming of God's kingdom, and it fulfilled Scripture's own dark foresight in Rachel weeping for her children (Matthew 2:18; Jeremiah 31:15). Yet even here God's sovereignty is revealed: no scheme of Herod could touch the child God protected, for the purposes of God cannot be stopped by the rage of kings. Herod reveals the world's true response to Christ apart from grace, and the futility of warring against heaven's King.