Today’s
Scripture Reading (December 16, 2018): Deuteronomy 23
Bilbo Baggins probably sums up our understanding of family pretty well in
the opening scenes of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.”
Bilbo remarks to those gathered in his home that “I don't know
half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you
half as well as you deserve.” (I know my family tolerates me at Christmas time.)
But sometimes it is the way that we feel when we sit down in a room with the
people with whom we are related. Often we don’t know the people in the room as
well as we should, and if the stories that I often hear are true (I have to
admit that I have a pretty great family) we like them less than we should.
Herod the
Great plays a large part in our Christmas Story. Matthew says that the Magi or
Wiseman first went to Herod before searching for the infant Jesus in Bethlehem.
Herod was a bloodthirsty king who did many unseemly things to try to keep his
reign intact, including the killing of his sons. So, even though historically
we cannot verify the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem under the reign of
Herod, the act of commanding those two or under in the vicinity of Bethlehem to
be killed is totally within the character of King Herod. Herod the Great is one
of the great villains of the Bible, equally hated by everyone.
But Herod
also worked hard to try to earn the respect of the Jews who lived under his
reign. He embarked on some great building programs to earn the respect of the
Jews, and the greatest of these projects was an expansion of the Temple in
Jerusalem. When the Second Temple was built to replace Solomon’s Temple, which
was destroyed by Babylon, the reduced
grandeur of the Temple caused many who remembered the First Temple to break down with weeping (Ezra 3:12). Herod’s
goal was to make the Second Temple, the
Temple that would eventually bear his name, so grand that it would banish from
the memory of the people the stories of the Temple that Solomon built. He hoped that they would revere him because he
gave them the Temple that they deserved.
But none of
Herod’s building projects were enough to prompt the people of Judah to love him.
Maybe it was because of the vast character defects of the power-hungry king that the people hated him. Or
maybe the division was partially racial. Notwithstanding the command of Moses,
Herod could never be King of the Jews in the eyes of the Jews, because Herod
was not a Jew. He was an Edomite, a descendant of Esau. Moses stressed that the
Edomite’s were cherished relatives of the Jews; after all, Esau was the brother
of Israel who was formerly known as Jacob. But within the pages of the Christmas
story, we have the best known Edomite in the person of King Herod and his
family. But while Moses taught that the Edomites were to be loved as family, there is no doubt that the
Edomite on the throne of Israel when Jesus was born was despised.
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Deuteronomy 24
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