Midweek – The Blank Page In Your Bible Part 5

400 years of history is a long time!  From the time when the exiles return to Jerusalem and rebuild the walls of the city to the advent of Christ in the New Testament we have 400 years of Biblical silence.  This series looks at what happened in those years and how they shape the time into which Jesus comes and how that impacts our faith today.

In part 5 we look at Herod The Great and how his reign consolidates Rome’s authority in Judea.  Herod’s life is tracked in three parts, looking at the building of his power base, the extensive building projects he undertook at the height of his reign and the slaughter of the innocents as he attempts to kill the baby Jesus.  His ultimate failing is unfaithfulness to God, having had all he needed to welcome the Messiah.

Transcript

So part five on Howard the Great if you have missed any of the weeks, they are all there either on our YouTube channel or on the website where you have the option of watching or listening and the handouts are also available to be downloaded on the website as well. So if you do want to catch up with that, then that’s where to find it.

But looking at Herod the Great this evening this is probably the name we’re most familiar with, or we most, we know the most about.  We’ve probably heard of Alexander the Great, maybe didn’t know much about him, but because Herod the Great is mentioned in Scripture, we feel as if we know him that little bit more.

We know more of his character, perhaps, than any of the other names that we have looked at in the previous weeks.  But we’re also getting closer to Jerusalem,  where all the other rulers have come from either the south, the Ptolemies, the kingdoms of the south, or the kings of the south, or the Seleucids from the north and the west or even the Greeks that were coming from the east.

We touched a little bit closer to Jerusalem last week with the Hasmoneans and the Maccabee family. And their authority, but just like everyone who’s gone before them,  we have seen that they too fell and were even pushed out by the religious leaders. And that was the first time we’d heard the Pharisees, and that’s where next week we’re going to go.

We’re going to skip the timeline a little bit because Herod will take us down to the birth of Christ this evening. But it is the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the teachers of the law, they are formed within the melting pot of these 400 years.  And they’re the ones that influence the life into which Jesus comes.

Herod is neither a Ptolemy,  so he’s not from Egypt. Neither is he a Seleucid, so he’s not from Old Babylon and that whole Mesopotamia. He is from Judea, because he is an Idumean, Mian. An Idomaean is an Edomite. They come from that area just south of Jerusalem, as we’ll see on a map or two later.  And what caused the growth of the Idomaeans is the dispute of the Hasmoneans.

There’s lots of Manaeans here. But as you’ll remember last week, whenever  Alexandra, who was the queen, had died, her two sons fought really for the throne. One died after a year.  And the other then ruled until he was taken out as well, and that comes into our story this evening.  And really the only ones who could come in and settle this civil war was old Greek, which had now become Rome.

So in the background of all of this, Rome is building, it has overtaken the old Greek empire. But it does take on itself some of the Hellenistic ideas that we saw right at the end of the Hasmoneans  with Alexander Janais the first. He was the one who really brought the Hellenistic back into vogue in his time.

So Rome has been in the background, and Rome is going to use this man called Antipater the Idumean, and he lives between 114 BC until he is actually executed in 43 BC.  And how he comes to the fore is because of that usurping of really the last of the genuine Hasmonean kings and high priests.  And so after the Pharisees boot out Alexander Genes for his aggressive Hellenistic way of doing things, we know that his wife Salome Alexandra ruled the Hasmonean throne and she ruled for nine years.

And it’s after here that the succession issue becomes a real problem.  But it actually turns out that it is this Hasmonean family that leads. It’s the gateway for Herod to come in. Because it is the great granddaughter of Salome Alexander who marries Herod the Great Marianne I. And she allows Herod the Great to assume the throne, which he then claims is rightfully his through marriage.

And this will begin an over 30 year reign that will influence politics, and it will influence culture in Palestine. 30 years is a long time, and so that’s how Herod comes to the throne. But it’s all because of his father, Antipater the Idomaean.  So to let you see where we are, we’ve had lots and lots of family trees, but this is the Maccabean family tree.

There you have, right at the top of it, you have Matthias, who started the whole revolt in 168. He ruled and then we know that later on, they became both kings and high priests. And as you make your halfway down there, Hykanus II and Aristobulus II. And they then give birth to Alexander, Alexandra, and Matthias Antagonus.

And then it is through the line of Alexander that we get Marianne I, who will marry Herd the Great. And there’s a little note down there that says, Not everyone is mentioned. This is not the complete family tree. This is just the key names that we need to be aware of in this family line. And to help us out as well with what’s going on in the world we’re hitting 76 BC, we’re now less than a century to Christ.

We start there with Salome  Alexandru, the wife of Alexander Gnaeus, ruling from 76 down to 67.  But while this is going on, in 73 to 71, Spartacus, we’ve all heard of Spartacus, Spartacus leaves what is ultimately an unsuccessful slave revolt against the Roman Empire. Rome and the Roman Republic, known as the Third Servile War.

He’s not successful, and Rome just gains in strength. So while that’s going on, then you have the Civil War breaking out in Judea, because of the vacuum, whenever Salome Alexandra died.  And so it would only be Rome that comes in and settles this. And in 64 BC, Syria becomes a Roman province, so Syria Rome is getting closer.

It’s coming to the north, it’s now taken over that whole main northern territory, north northwestern territory and so it’s getting closer.  We talked about Pompeii last week. Not the town of Pompeii, but the general Pompeii who invades Palestine coming from the north in 63 BC. And it’s really his coming in that sets Antipater as the one who’s in charge of Idemia.

So it’s Pompeii who gives him that authority.  A world event, a significant world event, because the Library of Alexandria, which we’ve talked about, was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It gets burned in 47 BC, and with it we lose so many documents that had been gathered up from the known world.

Julius Caesar, another familiar name, is mentioned, or is murdered in 44 BC. And then you have the Parthians who come in and they invade Palestine, and they basically cause an interregnum, which is where all civil authority stops, and they rule, it’s military dictatorship basically. And so it’s they now who pave the way for Rome to come in, they declare Herod, the Senate declares Herod the Great king of the Jews.

That’ll come up again and they declare him that and put him in B. C. 40 as the king in Jerusalem.  Of course, we know that he’s only a king by puppet. He’s Rome’s puppet to make sure things are there and to give us a flavor of who he is We’re going to read Matthew chapter 2 verses 16 and 18.  This is Herod killing the children It’s actually a very well documented Historical incident as well as what we have in Scripture and we read in verse 16 of Matthew chapter 2 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.  We’ve had Daniel prophesying, certainly in the earlier part of these 400 years. Now we have Jeremiah speaking to the end of it, with The execution of all those children because of Herod’s paranoia, which were coming to the end of his life when he’s doing that in Matthew chapter 2.

But as we’ll see in a few moments, the paranoia was there from the very beginning.  So that’s what really tells us in Matthew chapter 2, verses 16 to 18, who this man is.  He’s willing to keep his throne by killing innocent children. So let’s see how he gets to the throne.  His father, Antipater, or Pater, was despised by the Jews.

He was hated by the Jews. And really he gained power during the reign of Hyrcanus II, who was propped up by the Romans. And he’s been described as one historian, as one of history’s most unsavory characters. Max Dimmott says that, and  Max Dumont is a Jewish historian, a modern day Jewish historian, and that’s how he’s described Herod’s father.

And so as we’ll see, the apple doesn’t far, fall far from the tree. As I’ve said, auntie Peter was appointed the ruler of IIA by Herod, and in a moment we’ll have a look and see where that is or sorry, by Pompeii.  And really that secured his position as one of which to set up his sons. And he had two sons that he managed to get into real positions.

His son Fasel, became the governor of Jerusalem.  And then Herod became ruler of Judea in 42 BC. He was kicked out, and he would have to come back, but again, we’ll come and see that.  Now,  thinking of Herod, as bad as he was, if nothing else, he was an opportunist. He was willing to swap loyalties. He jumped from Pompey  to Anthony, whenever that didn’t go well.

And so he was willing to put his hat in with whoever was ruling in Rome. He had no loyalty to whoever was there. He only really wanted to go to those who would serve him best, by basically keeping him for those over 30 years on the throne. In AD 42, he is made the ruler of Judea, But he’s forced into exile in 41 BC by the Parthians coming down and taking over.

And then he goes to Rome and that’s where he gets into the influence of Anthony who places the title on him of King of the Jews. And this title was to have no meaning until a couple of years later, about three years later, when he would move back to Jerusalem in 37 BC, at the age of 35. And what he does is, if you look at your map if you look up in the green, or sorry, the yellow area up at the top, and that little inlet, I don’t have anything to point with, but up at the top, you have what is called Ptolemaeus.

That’s where he lands at Ptolemaeus. He travels down the coast to Joppa and he captures Joppa and that’s significant because Joppa has always been a key port.  So he captures it and from Joppa then he makes his way across the countryside to and up to Jerusalem and by 39  BC he takes over with the help of Rome and he is truly installed as the king.

He comes from here. This is where His home is and one of the main fortresses he builds is there just near the Dead Sea Masada That’s one of the first things he does he fortifies Masada and makes that really His real fortress that if things didn’t go well in Jerusalem He had somewhere to go to where he could camp out for months on end and be able to see off any challenge to his throne.

So he ruled for over 30 years Israel and Judah.  And as I’ve said, he’s been an Edomite. So he comes from that area in the south below Judea. And that’s where he grew up and being appointed the king of the Jews, he was as despised as the Romans were because he wasn’t of the true line of David.  He was just installed because he’d married into whoever happened as we know it was the Hasmoneans, but whoever the latest, remember that opportunist, whoever the latest family that was ruling was, that’s how he got into it.

But he ruled firmly and often ruthlessly. He murdered anyone who would challenge him. His paranoia was there from the very start, and that included his own sons. And by the way, he had many of those. And it comes as no surprise that he was willing to go and search and try and kill the Christ child whenever that time came.

Now he is known as the Great,  because he did do great things. He had a very aggressive building plan.  He built, as I said, the fort at Masada, which you can see the ruins of today. Okay? He restored the temple in Jerusalem,  and he built many theaters, many cities, palaces, and fortresses.  And he also built pagan temples, which would have been a source of income or a financial center as well throughout the Roman Empire.

So he wasn’t just interested in Judea.  He had a sightset of always keeping Rome in his back pocket.  And so his reign was It really could be described as being in three parts, and if you look on page three there, you have part A, part B, and then we’ll go over to part C. And so really, the first part of his reign between 37 those first 10 or 11 years, he devotes himself to really domestic issues.

He wants to secure his throne.  And he does it because, as we’ve said, he kills members of his family. Anyone who’s against him, they’re gone.  There’s no trial. There’s no question. They’re just gone. And so he secures his throne, but he also secures Rome’s support because he is nothing without Rome.  And so he has to play that game of keeping Rome in his pocket while making sure he does nothing to offend Rome.

So Rome want a quiet backwater in Jerusalem. They’ve put him there. They expect him to do a job. And that’s exactly what he’s going to do. There’s no zealous Jew going to come and take him from the throne. He wants to install himself and making sure that he stays there and he forms that royal household of the Idumeans, taking over from the Maccabees or the Hasmoneans.

The second part of his reign is really the golden era of his reign, in many ways.  And that’s from 27 down to 13 BC. It’s a period of construction where he builds magnificent public buildings. He has cities built, defensive cities, some cities in the Decapolis. And what they reflect is the wealth of the time.

Whenever we come in a moment to look at the temple, there was no expense spared. The materials were the finest materials. But he built huge public buildings that would reflect the high financial and cultural status of the king. As we’ll be aware, when he does rebuild the temple, and you have a picture of it there, and we’ll explain it in a moment his palace was far bigger than the temple.

And in many ways, the temple was just a token. That was just to prove how Jewish he was. But the temple was all part of his great plan to keep Rome happy. Because in many way, from a Roman perspective, it became an Acropolis of Jerusalem. It became what they were doing in the Hellenistic, the Greek idea of getting people in and learning, only he was making sure it was Jewish, so that he would keep the population happy.

They would have somewhere once again to go and to conduct their festivals. Away were the Maccabees and their revolts. Away were the Ptolemies and the Seleucids who had put false statues into the temple.  He was the true Jew.  That’s what he sold himself as, the true Jew in over 400 years to ensure faithful worship in Jerusalem.

And as you look at his temple there, it’s quite something. It’s gold it’s gold lined on the outside, or whatever you call, cladded on the outside. It is a magnificent structure that would gleam in the sun. And one of the greatest Jewish historians is called Josephus. And he wrote this when he talked about the Jew, in his book, The Jewish Wars, not The Jewish Was, The Jewish Wars, or The Jewish War.

It’s Book 5 and Paragraph 224  that says, Viewed from without, the sanctuary had everything that could amaze either mind or eyes. Overlaid all round with stout plates of gold. The first rays of the sun had reflected so fiercely as a fire that those who endeavored to look at it were foc were forced to turn away as if they had looked straight at the sun to strangers.

As they approached, it seemed in the distance, like a mountain covered with snow. For any part, not covered with gold was dazzling White.

Now, go forward 30 years in the life of Christ,  and you hear of the pilgrims walking up into Jerusalem.  Now you know why they’re joyful.  Josephus is writing after the time of Christ,  and it is a place that is shining gold and brilliant white. It’s a place that attracted you. In many ways, it was a place that reflected the glory of God, yet the glory of God by the time of Jesus was not in it.

Because the people had done away with God  and in fact just made it a den of robbers.  But that’s what Herod had done. Part of his great plan of building was to make this temple to establish him as a true Jew. So there’s some other parts there in that image that you can look at and see what it has to tell you about about  the temple and just the different parts of it.

The third part of his reign is from 13 down to 4 BC. Now,  this is where it gets technical. Jesus wasn’t actually born in 0 AD.  That’s what we initially thought but whenever some other people went back and worked it out,  they’d forgotten. I think it was leap years or something  Because they weren’t basing it on a Gregorian calendar.

And so anyway, Jesus was probably born in 6 BC  That’s another story for another time But anyway, Herod dies in 4 BC. Just in case you’re wondering, how can he have killed the babies in 4 BC? Surely Jesus was born on the 25th of December, 0 A. D. Sorry to tell you, he wasn’t.  But Herod the Great, in his last year, returns to a very domestic perspective.

Herod is facing the political strength of the religious orders.  The Sadducees, they’re more political. The Pharisees, they’re more orthodox. And once again, we’re almost seeing a repeat of what happened towards the end of the Hasmoneans with Alexander Janais.  Where he wasn’t doing things has been shit. But the one thing Herod didn’t do was make himself high priest.

He’d learned that lesson from the Maccabees. That was their downfall. Ruling as king and leading as high priest. It just didn’t work.  There was too much conflict because you were trying to keep a political side happy and a religious side happy. Herod was king and he had overseen the re establishment of the priestly orders that God had ordained under the law of Moses.

But still, as we know, whenever we go into the Gospels, even the line of Herod is challenged with its morality and its ethics.  And so it’s no different. And so in these last years of his life, these last 10 or 12 years of his life, conflicts flare up again between his sons. Between his own family, his sons have become more political, they come of age, and so they’re now out talking and they’re rubbing the religious people up the wrong way.

They’re not on the side of the scribes, they’re not on the sides of the Pharisees. The Sadducees are tolerating them because the Sadducees are being kept in power because of Herod and his family.  And over a period of years, Herod’s ten wives had given him several male heirs.  Of course, whenever then he hears about a king has been born in Jerusalem of course, it being Bethlehem, that’s when he goes in that crusade to kill all the two children under two year old in Bethlehem, and this is a middle aged painting that’s described the death of the innocents, and it just gives us a picture of what  it was like.

Herod is on the left there overseeing it. I’m sure it’s not a true representation, but you get the idea. This was still a key thing towards the end of his reign and his life, that he killed untold innocents because of his paranoia, because he didn’t want anyone to threaten his throne while he was alive, but nor did he want anyone to threaten his throne or the throne of his family, particularly when this king was in the line of David, as he had been told.

So what did he leave? When he died, he had 15 children, 20 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren, 8 great grandchildren, and 2 great grandchildren, 10 wives, and numerous concubines.  He would have needed to have been a wealthy man.  But this was Herod.  Everything about him smacked the ground.

Everything about him smacks authority. Everything about him smacks he was in control. Ten wives, numerous concubines.  It was about power and authority. About presenting for himself a dynasty. A dynasty that he would be happy to do away with members of that dynasty to ensure the longevity of that dynasty.

But, for all of what he was  and probably in the the series Jesus of Nazareth where Peter Ustinov plays, uh, King Herod, he’s a big portly man. He probably resembles what Herod was like. A big portly man who was authority, who had authority and who ruled with an iron fist for over 30 years.

But yet those years influence, as we started with, the culture and indeed the religious practice into which Jesus would come.  The time of Jesus has often been described as a melting pot, but it’s often been described as a melting pot because of the world, that Jerusalem was the crossroads of the trading route of the north and the south, and so all the cultures of the world met in Jerusalem.

Take that out of the picture, and what you’re seeing here it is just at the right time. A political and a religious mix that was so dead,  it was the perfect time for Jesus to come in and point it out time and time again, so that people would turn from the falsehood  and look to Him as the Savior of the world.

And that’s the problem with Herod. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to read that familiar Christmas passage, because that’s what you do in May, isn’t it? You read the Christmas story.  But really what we get to know about Herod is in Matthew 2. And so we’re going to go to the first part of that chapter.

And we’re going to look at the visit of the wise men. And so we’re going to read Matthew chapter 2 and verses 1 to 12. And here we read, 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 was 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 Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by the prophet, And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.

For from you shall come a ruler, Who will shepherd my people Israel.  Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly, And ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him.

After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house They saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshipped him then Opening their treasures.

They offered him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh and being warned in a dream not to return to Herod They departed to their own country by another way.  Amen. Herod had it all, didn’t he? We’ve talked about the power and authority but look at the access to the religious understanding that he had.

He could call his own wise men who knew exactly where to go and knew exactly what to find, and they confirmed everything that we know to be true, that this child of the line of David would be born in the city of David, and they call him the Christ, which means the Messiah, the one they’ve been looking for.

Herod has it all on his plate,  but yet he chooses to ignore it.  He chooses to ignore what is presented to him, and instead of welcoming the saviour of the world,  he tries to kill him.  Because all he can see is really his whole life, which has been one of fighting to maintain his authority. He sets himself up as king of the Jews,  a title given to him by Rome, but he plays on that.

But yet it turns out, he’s no Jew at all. Oh, he may be by culture and by name, but not by heart.  He’s actually one of the unfaithful, when it comes to the great story of Scripture.  And it turns out that it’s the foreigners who are the ones who will worship the king of the Jews. It’s Christianity. The foreigners who will worship the Christ, the Messiah.

And what we learn from Herod here is that he doesn’t do what he’s supposed to.  He doesn’t live for God,  and he certainly doesn’t live for Christ.  And this is the challenge that Christ will come to, to face.  He comes to speak into that. And whenever you track the story of the Gospel, as we’ve done in Mark’s Gospel over those many months, that’s what Jesus does.

He challenges the political structure as well as the religious structure. Of course, both tied in together because each of them depends on the other to keep them in power and authority.  We have a general election. Oh, not a general election. An election tomorrow for the assembly.  We’ll go to the polls.

Will vote,  will hopefully, will make the right decisions and choices when it comes to it.  Elected officials will return, be returned, some will be taken up, new seats, and we’ll see how it goes because you, like I have been hearing what people have said they’re gonna do and what they’re not gonna do.

Once again, I think, although these elections are probably one of the most important ones in generation.  They are also teaching us that we can’t depend, even in our own day and age, on our politicians.  Just as Herod couldn’t be depended on as a leader in society, we ultimately can’t depend.  We have to look elsewhere.

And that’s what this whole series has been trying to help us to do. It’s to look to Christ as the one. As we look at this 400 years of history, not contained within Scripture directly, but spoken of in Scripture, that Christ is the one who comes at the right time to fulfill everything. And so as Christ himself says in John 14, verses 15 to 17, If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper. If Of course, meaning the Holy Spirit, to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.  Jesus says these words before  he really comes to the last part of his life here on earth, but what’s he doing?

He’s wanting to take the eyes of the people off the structures that they depend on  and to keep his commandments.  To actually live in the way that God has taught.  And I think that’s the challenge from what we see about Herod the Great.  The challenge is, do we simply repeat the mistakes of the people who looked to Herod as being the one who had all the answers.

In holding both politics and religion together and seemingly for 30 years holding it together pretty well.  But ultimately he could never hold it together because it was never his true heart.  Do we fall into the same mistake by looking more to Stormont for our answers  rather than to the Lord?  Do we look to Westminster  for our answers rather than looking  to the Lord?

See, Jesus is clear. If we love Him,  then we’ll do what He says.  We’ll look to Him.  And He’ll not leave us alone.  He’ll send us a helper. As we know, on the day of Pentecost, which we will celebrate in a few weeks time,  the Holy Spirit came to be with us. to indwell us so that we would know how to live well for Christ.

And so our questions to think a little bit more about this evening, whenever you get home or in the next couple of days would be, how does Herod the Great shape the politics and society into which Jesus is born and how will that impact the ministry of Jesus? So how does this all play a part? Whenever we look at what Jesus will come to do how do we see these two things almost coming at each other from different perspectives, or different sides?

Secondly, the wise men listened to the voice of God while Herod the Great and the Jews ignored it.  How does faithful listening to God’s word impact us today?  And that’s a question we should be asking regularly, not just assuming. Because if we are to live out what Jesus says here in John 14, then we must day and daily Intentionally see how are we listening to the voice of God through his word?

And then how is that lived out or how is that impacting us? So that we can be sure that we are being faithful to the commands of God.

I know we’ve been looking a lot at history and I’ve enjoyed it. I hope it’s been beneficial to you. Next week isn’t so much history, it’s more about the structure of the religious context of the time of Jesus.  But yet every date we’ve looked at has been significant.  Not just because it shapes a world into which Jesus comes, but it’s significant because it tells us again of how humanity, when it looks to itself, is beautiful.

It’s only when we look to Christ and Him alone that we can be assured of our salvation and that we can know  that no matter what happens in this earth,  we can know without shadow of doubt that God is the one who is with us and who keeps us for that home  that is being prepared.  Call it homework if you like,  but question two is the question for daily life.

Call it homework.  How are we listening to God? How are we allowing God’s Word to impact us so that we can live well for Him?  So let’s pray as we finish and ask Him to help us in this way.  Father, we do thank you that as we look at this character of Herod the Great, we certainly do not idolize him. We do not see him as a hero.

We recognize him for who he is, a sinful human being who chose to ignore you and ignore the coming Messiah, even though he had it all in front of him.  People called him great, but he really wasn’t great.  Because the one who would come, the Savior of the world, is truly the only great person in all of human history.

And so help us day and daily to remember this, to live like this, to live in this way that we will read Scripture and learn from it  so that we will grow and we will be ready for whenever you take us into our eternal home.  So be with us as we learn, be with us as we think through all of these things  and we ask it in Jesus name.