herod is one of the great kings of the ancient world. from 37 bc, he rules judea for 33 years. he was the most magnificent, the wealthiest, the most powerful, the most generous jewish king that he could be. here you have someone who was at the height of his powers, was a great builder and a great planner. he was a brilliant political leader in all sorts of ways, and in many respects, he was a very successful king of the jews. but in the new testament, he is the king who orders the murder of the infant jesus. people do not think of herod as great. herod was a sociopath. herod comes across as the enemy of the purpose of god in human history. it s hard to see anything other than the psychopath who slaughtered the innocent.
according to matthew, the men had come to king herod to ask for guidance. kings would not turn down audiences with people like the wise men, especially if they seem to have insider trader information that was plausible about the future. so the scene between herod and the wise men in the gospel of matthew is absolutely plausible. this sort of thing happened all the time. i think an audience with herod the great would ve been really terrifying. if you were not sure of what herod thought about you, or even worse, if you knew that herod didn t like you, it probably was one of the more terrifying experiences of your life. i hear you have a question for me? so the magi come to herod and say, where s the king of the jews to be born?
jewish temple, and he does succeed in making it into one of the most beautiful buildings in the ancient world. today, herod s temple is gone, but part of the colossal platform on which it once stood remains. the western wall is still one of the holiest sites in judaism. one cannot overestimate the importance of the temple in 1st-century judaism. it was the religious center of judaism, the place where god s presence was understood to reside on earth. despite herod s achievements and rome s support, early in his reign, herod s crown is not secure. one of the big problems that herod has got is that he wants to call himself the king of the jews, but he himself is not jewish by blood. herod has got to solve this problem. he solves this problem by, kind of brilliantly, by marrying into the most famous jewish family of
you want to know who s in charge, who s the real ruler here? it s not any jewish pretenders and contenders like jesus. and the whole point of these three languages is that everybody in cosmopolitan jerusalem can understand what it means. the great irony, of course, is that, for the readers of the gospels and for christians ever since, it is, in fact, true. jesus is crucified, suffers and diepz dies under pilate. though jesus seems like he s the powerless one, his power is shown and revealed at the resurrection, so we see that the real king of the jews is, in fact, jesus, and that pilate s inscription over the cross is true. so what happened to the loyal roman prefect after jesus crucifixion? the bible tells us nothing, but thanks to josephus, we have a record of the final chapter in
before he ever entered the city on the donkey, to do whatever it took to accomplish the mission. matthew describes the whole city of jerusalem being in turmoil, with people saying, who is this? and the crowds answer, this is jesus, the prophet from nazareth. he arrives just as the city prepares for passover. passover is the largest religious event of the jewish calendar. language like king of the jews and promises of a new kingdom is very powerful, especially when people are celebrating the liberation of the jewish people from a tyrannical power. now we really can understand why the more zealotic disciples would say, let s get ready to rumble. he s going to come and kick the romans out of town. we re going to get our capital city back. jesus riding in to jerusalem through the streets on the back of a donkey isn t just simple transportation into the city.