When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. – Matthew 2:3

 Today's Scripture Reading (October 17, 2020): Matthew 2

The people often suffer from the moods of the ruler. And those mood swings can be more pronounced with some rulers than with others. In modern times, the ruler's mood swings can make the money markets go up or plunge into the depths they have never seen before. And often, both in ancient times and in modern ones, the best that the people can hope for is a king or political ruler who is calm in challenging situations and who keeps a steady hand on the rudder of the nation, whether the country is going through the best and worst of times. Because, when the King is disturbed, so are the people over whom he rules.

And this was even more true of Herod. Herod the Great was well-known for the cruel streak that existed within his personality, which worsened as he grew older. He also had a mental instability that those around him feared, but it was an instability that some close to him knew how to manipulate. And when Herod was upset, no one was safe from his actions. Herod murdered one of his wives, two sons (Rome executed another son for plotting his father's death, Herod), and numerous in-laws. The number of people in the nation that Herod had killed is unknown, but the biblical story of the Massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem highlight the propensity of the King to kill his own people, regardless of who they were, including children, and often as a result of whim and his own foul mood rather than a response to any criminal activity that might have threatened the population. As Herod grew older, the danger to Judah's people was increasingly located in the person who sat on the throne of the nation.  

The Magi arrive in Jerusalem, seeking the newborn King of the Jews. It was the obvious place to look for a new King at the current King's palace. But there was no infant prince present in the court, and no doubt over Herod's plans on who would succeed him. And Herod, already beleaguered, was not in the mood to consider a threat to his throne. After the execution of Antipater, Herod's eldest son, and the planned heir to the throne of Judah, by Rome, Caesar Augustus remarked that "It is better to be Herod's pig than his son." At least a pig was unclean and unlikely to be killed and eaten, but three sons of Herod had already died prematurely just because they were the sons of the King.  

Matthew's words are probably a bit of an understatement. "When King Herod heard this he was disturbed." King Herod was likely enraged at the news brought to him by the Magi. And that disturbed Jerusalem and the rest of the nation because no one had any idea what the King was going to do next.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Luke 2