Seeking Jesus This Christmas- Day 17: Dec 17 | King Herod, the Monster

Read: Matthew 2:16-18

Key Verse: “When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.” (Matthew 2:16)

Pretty sure your Nativity set doesn’t include King Herod. But to ignore him is to not only ignore the world into which Jesus was born, but to miss an important thread in God’s grand plan of redemption. For Jesus to be born during the reign of Herod might have been the worst possible time for a new king of Israel to be born. Underneath the warm glow of our Christmas is a dark thread of violence, just a hint of a cosmic war against all that is good.

He was renowned for his cruelty. He had members of his own family put to death because he saw them as potential threats to his throne. His brother-in-law, his mother-in-law, two of his own sons, and even his wife were killed by Herod.  He murdered out of spite and killed to stay in power. Life meant nothing to him. So is it any wonder that he would order the murder of all boys aged two and under to ensure the “future king of the Jews” never made it to adulthood? He was the Roman-appointed king of the Jews and he wasn’t letting anyone take that away from him.

But he didn’t know God and surely couldn’t see how pointless such a move would be. He wasn’t as powerful as he thought. 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. Like every ruler who seeks to challenge God, his attempts to kill the real King of Israel were thwarted by God. More about that when we look at Christmas through the eyes of the Wise Men.

Pray: Father God, thank you for including the story of Herod within the Christmas story. We may not like what it describes, but we can certainly learn from it and see your hand at work even though evil surrounds us. May we learn to look to you always, especially when we wonder where you are in the midst of trials and war and famine and hate that permeate our world today. The story of Herod reminds us that You give us hope that it will all be overcome one day.