HEROD - THE VILLAIN OF CHRISTMAS (Matthew 2:1-23)
INTRODUCTION:
For many of us a Christmas tradition is to watch our favorite Christmas movies. There are the classics like It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. There are more modern ones like Home Alone and The Santa Clause. Hallmark puts out some new ones every year. For myself, the classic that I like the most is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickins. I have seen several versions of it, the version with George C. Scott as Scrooge, the newer version with Patrick Stewart, and the more light-hearted version by the Muppets with Michael Caine as Scrooge.
A Christmas Carol like every Christmas movie has a villain in it out to destroy Christmas or at least to make it unpleasant for everyone. A Christmas Carol has Scrooge (until his transformation). Scrooge is not unique, think about it. You have Mr. Potter in It’s a Wonderful Life, there is Dr. Granville Sawyer in Miracle on 34th Street. In Home Alone there are the bumbling burglars, Harry and Marv.
The true Christmas event that took place more than 2000 years ago, the birth of Jesus Christ, the first advent, the incarnation has its own villain. This villain is a cruel and wicked man. Herod is a legitimate villain, but for the most part he gets no more than a passing over in the history of the first Christmas, he is not someone we think about when we consider the history of Christmas. But the truth is Herod figures very prominently in the first Christmas. To ignore this man is to ignore the world into which the Lord Jesus Christ was born, and you also miss an important thread in God’s ultimate plan of redemption. Underneath the joy and awe of our Christmases is a dark thread of violence, if we look closely enough, we will see the signs of a cosmic war against all that is good. Let’s pray and then take a little closer look at this monster of Christmas.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 2:1-23, our passage for this morning. Please stand, if you are able, in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Matthew 2:1-23,
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.’ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: “And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.”’ Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, ‘Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.’ After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way. Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.’ So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called My Son.’ 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 all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: ‘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.’ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, ‘Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.’ So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.’” (Matthew 2:1–23, NASB95)[1]
IT ALL BEGAN IN THE GARDEN (Genesis 3:15)
If we are to fully understand what is happening in this passage of Matthew, we must leave the city of Jerusalem, we must leave the quiet village of Bethlehem and travel back thousands of years in history and hundreds of pages in our Bibles. Those who participated in the first Christmas, no matter what role they played or who they were they were only a small part of a greater spiritual battle that was taking place in the world. Paul made this clear when he wrote these words in Ephesians 6:12, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12, NASB95)[2]
We must understand that at the very heart of the incarnation, the very heart of God leaving heaven to become flesh, is the cosmic battle between God and Satan. Ever since the guardian cherub Lucifer, whom we know as Satan, fell from glory, lost his position because of pride, he and those angels he took with him (whom we know as demons) have had one single goal: to destroy God’s plan for mankind.
The incarnation, the first Christmas does not start in 5 BC or in one of the Gospels, but millennia before this, all the way back to the garden of Eden. This was Satan’s first attempt to thwart God’s plan. Satan, inhabiting a snake, seduces the first two humans into rejecting their Creator, their Provider. Their disobedience plunged the world into darkness, marring the innocence into which they were created, introducing corruption and death into the cosmos and into every human heart.
This first attack by Satan did not catch God off guard. God would initiate a plan to rescue His image bearers and renew the corrupted heavens and earth. We see this truth in the words spoken by God to the serpent, to Satan. Genesis 3:14-15 record this for us, “The Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life; And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.’” (Genesis 3:14–15, NASB95)[3] Christmas began long before that night in Bethlehem, it began in eternity past before the foundations of the world were laid, it began in the counsels of the Trinity, as God planned to redeem the world from sin. This would be a cosmic struggle both long and bloody between the offspring of Satan and the seed of the woman. This struggle is played out for us in the pages of the Old Testament. Cain slays his brother Abel because his sacrifice is accepted. God then raises up another generation in Adam’s son Seth. An ancestor of Seth, Abraham is called by God to go to a place God would show him, and there God would make him into a great nation. The family of Abraham is threatened by famine, by sin, by infertility. God intervenes and Sarah miraculously gives birth to Isaac. Isaac’s son Jacob endures a dysfunctional family, his own sinful scheming, and late in life a famine in the land. But God raises up his son Joseph to save Jacob’s family. Four hundred years later an evil Pharoah saw the Israelites living in his land as a threat and determined by slavery and murder to wipe them out. But God raised up godly midwives to deliver babies from death and because of this another descendant of Abraham, Moses, was lifted out of the bulrushes and out of the wilderness to be a deliverer. Centuries later God led the prophet Samuel to anoint a young shepherd named David to be king of Israel, God promised him that his throne would endure forever. Before becoming king, he was forced to run from king Saul. I could go on and speak of other offspring of Satan who sought to derail and stop God’s plan of redemption from ever happening.
Because of this, you know that when Matthew writes of the birth of Christ and says in Matthew 2:1 that Jesus was born in the days of Herod, Matthew is writing his narrative as a continuation of what had happened before. To be born in the days of Herod might have been the worst time for a new king of Israel to be born. But Matthew’s point is not to write a nice biography of Jesus, but the epic spiritual battle of good and evil, the clash of kingdoms. Jesus was born into a warzone and had to flee Bethlehem because of Herod, who in turn sacrificed Bethlehem’s infant children for the sake of power.
HEROD THE GREAT (Matthew 2:1-23)
What do we know about Herod and about who he is? Herod was the Roman-appointed governor of Judea, he began to rule in this capacity around 40 BC. This particular Herod reigning at the time of Jesus birth was known as Herod the Great. He was known as this because he was a builder of great building projects, in Israel he constructed impressive water systems using aqueducts, some of which still exist in Israel today. He also is known for the amazing seaport of Caesarea, which is mostly in ruins today, also the mountaintop fortress of Masada, and the rebuilding and beautification of the temple mount, portions of which still stand today. Herod was also ruthless and paranoid. All Israel knew that he was not a legitimate king of Israel, he was not even Jewish, but an Edomite, a descendant of Esau. Because everyone knew this he ruled by fear, removing those who might question his right to rule or who might threaten his power. Some of the violent acts that he committed to retain his power: He killed the final members of the Hasmonean ruling family, the Jewish dynasty that ruled between the Greek and Roman empires. Herod had many of the members of the Sanhedrin executed. Herod murdered members of his own family, his wife Mariamne, his mother-in-law Alexandra, and three of his sons. Herod even tried to have all the elite leaders in Jerusalem killed upon his death, he arranged for them to be driven into the hippodrome and killed the moment he died. This last decree was ignored.
Knowing this about Herod, we can understand why he was troubled when a noisy caravan arrives from the east asking everyone in Jerusalem to point them to the new king of the Jews. Not only was Herod disturbed by this, but Matthew says all Jerusalem was troubled. The people of Jerusalem were disturbed because Herod was disturbed, they knew this could not be good. When Herod was troubled it brought fear to the people, they knew how he could react. Word quickly reached Herod about these magi and what they wanted. Herod quickly sprang into action, not because he wanted, as he claimed, to worship this newborn king of the Jews. No, in this baby, this evil king saw a threat to his power.
So, he gathered all the religious leaders, the scribes and the priests who studied the Old Testament scriptures and knew them forward and backward. When asked where the Messiah would be born, they knew exactly what the prophet Micah had predicted, He would be born in Bethlehem, the city of David. As soon as the words are out of the mouths of the priests and scribes, he hurries them out and then secretly meets with the magi. In all of this you can see his paranoia, he had a plan to crush this insurrection before it begins, even if that threat was a mere infant in Bethlehem.
Speaking to the magi, Herod uses spiritual, compassionate language. He uses the language of worship. It is an outright lie. It is a reminder to us how easily powerful people choose religious language to manipulate and destroy.
THE TRUE KING OF ISRAEL (Matthew 2:1-23)
So, Herod had a plan to get rid of this infant king of the Jews, just as he had killed threats in the past, he would take care of this one as well. But it turns out that he was not as powerful as he thought. Like every ruler, every leader who seeks to challenge God, Herod’s attempt to destroy this threat to his power, to kill the real King of Israel was upset by God. God warned the wise men not to report back to Herod, they left for home by another way. An angel warned Joseph in a dream that Jesus was in danger and to take him and his mother to Egypt for safety. This is a reminder to us, in this world of evil and suffering, when it seems that Satan has the upper hand, that God is sovereign over all things. David describes God’s response to those nations and rulers who would attempt to challenge God’s purpose and plan, who would plot against the Almighty. He writes in Psalm 2:1-6, “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!’ He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, ‘But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.’” (Psalm 2:1–6, NASB95)[4]
This is what Matthew’s Gospel is about, this is what the first Christmas is about. God has determined to set upon His holy mountain His King, Jesus Christ. The earth is full of graves of kings who tried and failed to usurp the true King, from Eden on through to the life of Jesus. Herod may have seemed powerful; he may have initiated a culture of fear in Israel. But he was no match for the King of kings. As we think of Herod this Christmas, remember that those who seem the most powerful, who put fear in our hearts, they are really not that powerful compared to our God. The theologian and pastor James Montgomery Boice said, “God is not troubled by this cosmic rebellion. God laughs at such folly.”[5] The folly being that man thinks he can challenge and fight against God and win.
INTIMIDATED BY A CHILD (Matthew 2:1-23)
Herod did not believe he was fighting against God, he believed it was this infant child who he saw as the threat to his power, who he saw as a threat to his throne. Imagine Herod’s anger when he realized the magi were not returning to report where they found the child. Because the magi had not returned with the intel he had requested, Herod went into a rage and ordered the slaughter of every baby boy aged two and under in Bethlehem and the surrounding territory. In his rage, Herod does the most wicked action, he saw children as a threat to his power and with calculating cruelness makes sure that no living infant son in Bethlehem or its vicinity would one day grow up to take his throne, he brought the sorrow of his sword into Jewish families.
Stop and think for just a moment how much anguish this brought into the sleepy village of Bethlehem. Families having babies torn from them and killed by Herod’s sword. I have three boys and I cannot even imagine watching one of my own children die, let alone like this. This is the way of evil tyrants, the way of people so consumed by their own power that they cannot see the humanity of those in their way. Herod did this horrific act because he felt threatened by a child that might uproot his reign. The birth of this child, Jesus was the signal of the end. Our Scripture reading this morning from Isaiah 9:6 said, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us…” (Isaiah 9:6a, NASB95)[6] This promise comes in the context of judgment against evil powers. You must understand, a child, this child, threatens Herod and everyone who aligns against the Holy One. The child born and laid in a manger was a sign of judgment. He is peace and life to those who put their trust in Him, but He is an enemy to those who choose to go their own way.
This judgment leads us to another sign, a sign of hope, that hope is seen in the birth of this child signaling that something new is on the way. As Matthew writes of Herod’s act of violence against the innocent infant boys of Bethlehem and its vicinity, he quotes a verse from Jeremiah 31 which described the weeping of the people of Judah as their children were carried away into exile in a foreign land by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. Why does Matthew include this verse here when describing the murder of Bethlehem’s sons? This verse from Jeremiah 31:15 is written in a setting of hope. In this chapter in Jeremiah, God through the prophet is telling those weeping for their children that the exiles will return, and Matthew is saying that despite the tears of the Bethlehem mothers there is hope because their Messiah has escaped Herod and will triumph over all those who oppose Him, and He will reign victoriously. Matthew in the genealogy of Jesus had already made the exile a turning point, for at that time the Davidic line was dethroned. The tears of the mothers in Jeremiah’s day are brought to a climax and ended by the tears of the mothers in Bethlehem. The heir to David’s throne has come, the exile is over, the true Son of God has arrived, and He will introduce the new covenant that is announced and promised in Jeremiah 31.
The heir to David’s throne has come. That long cosmic battle between the offspring of the serpent and the seed of the woman has culminated in the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan, the father of lies, the murderer from the beginning, will be defeated and crushed when that baby who escaped Herod’s sword grows up and ascends to the cross, endures the wrath of God the Father, and rises in victory on the third day, and the sin that so gripped human hearts is defeated. This is the hope of the first Christmas that Jesus Christ is victorious over sin, death, and Satan; and that “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” (Isaiah 9:7, NASB95)[7]
CONCLUSION:
Matthew’s narrative of the first Christmas offers us hope. Hope is something we desperately need in this broken world in which we live. The hope of the first advent is that there will be a second advent and at the second advent God will install His King on the holy mountain, on Mount Zion. This is what we hope for as we celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Until that day there are going to be many more evil tyrants like Herod who have a lust for power and will do anything to attain that power and then retain it. But we must remember that evil tyrants like Herod do not live forever. Matthew makes this clear when he writes in verse 19, “But when Herod died…” (Matthew 2:19a, NASB95)[8] This paranoid and powerful king died, and his kingdom was divided up by Rome, his sons sharing some of the power. And not too long after that, several decades later the Herodian dynasty ended and there were no more Herods on the throne of Israel. But that infant that Herod the Great tried to kill, He still lives and will live forever having defeated sin, death, and the grave. The infant King outlasted the illegitimate king and will outlast all the evil tyrants of this world. God’s promise in Genesis 3:15 was fulfilled when the seed of the woman, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead crushing the head of Satan. The hope of Christ’s second advent and His everlasting Kingdom is what we celebrate when we remember our Savior’s first advent, that God became flesh and dwelt among us.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]Boice, James Montgomery, The Gospel of Matthew: The King and His Kingdom. Grand Rapids, MI : Baker Books, 2001.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.