The Christmas Story: Herod's plight to kill Jesus

"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)

In my quiet time this morning, my mind was focused on Herod. Who was Herod, and why did he want Jesus dead? So, a bit of studying brought me to this:

There are many Herod's in the Bible. The one who attempted to kill Jesus was Herod the Great

Herod the Great was appointed governor of Galilee by the Romans. This is because the Herods were "nice" to the Roman Empire. The Romans liked Herod because of fighting skills to take care of opposition, and also because he kept order among the Jews. He was later appointed King of Judea. Because Herod was Idumean and not of Jewish descent, the Jews were skeptical of him. They also probably had ill feelings because, as a friend of Rome, he supported Hellenism, a political system the Jews absolutely hated!

When Herod became ill, there was a increase of struggles regarding the succession of rule. There were a few who had a claim to the throne, but Herod's younger son tricked him into him being the initial choice for king. Later, however, he changed his mind and made another son, Archelaus king.

When Jesus was born, and the Wisemen came to inquire about the Lord, Herod became jealous.

"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.' When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all of Jerusalem with him;" (Matthew 2:1-3)

"Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him" (Matthew 2:13)

Herod was troubled because of jealousy. Right here, Herod is jealous because the Wisemen said there was a child born, KING OF THE JEWS. Herod wanted the throne for himself and HIS sons, not some other person. So, he tried to wipe him out. He had every male child two years old and under killed in Bethlehem. What an awful thing!!!!!!!! To kill so many children, because of jealousy.

What really caught me this morning was the fact that Jesus came for people like Herod. He came for people like us: Unrepentant sinners who disobey God because we want to be our own gods. We are Herod. We killed him.....He died for our sins.....Our plight to kill Jesus sent him to the cross...but he didn't stay there...He died, but he didn't stay dead!!! Herod's plight to kill Jesus, as well as our own, were against someone who knew he would have to die for our sin. What an amazing thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!