THE STORY OF HEROD THE GREAT AND HIS ATTEMPT TO MURDER THE NEWBORN JESUS

 

The name Herod comes up again and again in the New Testament from Mathew 2 to Acts 26 that you might think he had tremendous longevity as a ruler, but that's not the case. Herod was the family name of a ruling dynasty in the ancient Israel. There were four different Herods in the New Testament as well as Herod Philip II, who was referred to as Philip the tetrarch in the New Testament.

Herod I came to be known as Herod the Great and was also called king of the Jews. He was a brutal man who slaughtered the infants of Bethlehem with the hope of killing the new born Jesus. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, Herod the Great was the king of the Jews. Three wise men came from the East of Jerusalem to worship the new born king of the Jews.

Herod was furious about this as the king of the Jews was his title. He called the Chief Priests and Scribes and demanded of them where the Messiah would be born. They told him that according to prophecy, the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judea.

As the wise men left for Bethlehem to find the Messiah, Herod asked them to report back to him with the location of the new born king so that he too would go and worship him. He said to them "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".[Mt 2:8]

The statement made by Herod was a deceptive one, he had no intention of worshiping the Messiah but destroying the Messiah. After the statement, the wise men departed and when they found Jesus, they worshiped him and presented various gifts to him, gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The three wise men did not return to Herod as God had told them in a dream not to return, they departed to their countries through another way. When Herod realized that the wise men had not reported back to him, he was enraged and called for the slaughter of all boys who were up to the age of two in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. He wanted to eliminate Jesus by all means as he saw him as a threat to his title as the king of the Jews.

God seeing the evil Herod had planned, sent an angel to deliver a message to Joseph, telling him to flee Bethlehem with his wis wife Mary and the new born Jesus. Joseph did as God had told him and fled to Egypt. Herod went on and slaughtered innocent children in and around Bethlehem, from two years of age and below but the life of Jesus was preserved in Egypt.

Joseph and his family remained in Egypt until the death of Herod. When he died, an angel of the lord appeared in a dream again to Joseph telling him to return to Israel with his family. The angel said to him "Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child's life"[Mt 2:20]. Joseph left Egypt back to Israel and dwelt in Nazareth in the part of Galilee.

Herod the Great was once a great king. He worked so well to strengthen Israel's position in the ancient world to increase Israel's commerce and eventually turned it into a trading hub for Arabia and the East but his heart was evil. He wanted to stop the plan of God.

This story is a reminder that God is an all knowing God. Whatever he has designed for humanity will come to pass and no mortal can hinder it. Thanks so much, please share and subscribe. Bye for now.