Search and Destroy.

Search and Destroy.  Matthew 2.16-18  

He was brutal, paranoid, unpredictable and cruel … yet the Jewish people in his domain were also granted privileges under Herod’s authority, including freedom to exercise their Jewish faith.  Herod the Great rebuilt the Temple, a magnificent feat which took 10,000 men ten years--just to build the retaining walls around the Temple Mount (on top of which the Muslim shrine, the Dome of the Rock, stands today)¹.  The Western Wall (Wailing Wall) is all that remains of it. 

He was generous on one hand—violent and cruel on the other.  Maybe Herod was schizophrenic?

One thing is certain—you didn’t want to threaten him or make him angry.  During his 36-year bloody reign as king of ancient Judea, Herod the Great ordered the executions of one wife and three sons.² ‘A threat to his throne from a Jewish baby??  No way.  Thankfully, Joseph had heeded God’s warning and taken Mary and Jesus to safety in Egypt, thereby escaping Herod’s desperate actions.

“Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.” Matthew 2.16-18

Although Herod had asked the Magi to locate the baby, born King of the Jews, (their reference to Jesus), and return to let him know the babe’s location, that he could go and worship him—that had never been his intention.  Clearly.  The Magi (wise men) had told him that the star had first appeared about two years earlier.  Hence, Herod devised a plan to search out and destroy all Jewish baby boys two years and under in and around Bethlehem.  Any doubt about his paranoia and cruelty now erased.  Word no doubt travelled to Joseph and Mary in Egypt, of the horrific goings-on in Bethlehem, and they thanked God for his warning and direction.

Jeremiah had prophesied such a thing would happen 600 years earlier,³ but even more remarkable, is that this was not the first time an arrogant power monger had ordered the execution of Jewish male babies.  Recorded back in Exodus chapter one, because the number of Jews was becoming too great, “Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live.”⁴ Pharaoh, like Herod, ordered a search and destroy hit on Jewish baby boys, only many years before.

Isn’t it ironic?  Baby boy Jesus is taken to Egypt to keep him safe from Herod—yet Egypt was the same place that had enslaved and brutalized the Israelites for more than 400 years.⁵   God’s plans throughout Egypt’s ancient history even up to today are intriguing.  Of course, the pharaoh’s death decree ushered onto the scene one Jewish baby named Moses, who God would use to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt. 

Hmmm … so God called Moses to lead his children out of Egypt.

And as Hosea prophesied, God called his beloved son out of Egypt.

And today, it seems in order to be safe, God’s children must be out of Egypt.⁶

Herod was obviously not successful eliminating he who was born King of the Jews; in fact, Herod died within two years of this time, in a vile and painful manner of sickness.  While he sought to search and destroy the babe, no one would thwart the plan of God in Jesus Christ.  

And when they were eventually able to kill him?  That was the plan —  Jesus was born to die. 

 Christine

PastorWoman.com

^{1 – Rabbi Ken Spiro, “Herod the Great”, from Crash Course in Jewish History, #31, aish.com.}

^{2 – “What killed King Herod?” Scholars At VA Health Care System/ Um School Of Medicine Conference Unravel The 2,000 Year-Old Mystery, Science Daily, January 28, 2002, http://www.sciencedaily.com.  The article was crazy interesting.}

^{3 – Jeremiah 31.15}

^{4 – Exodus 1.8-22, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+1.8-22&version=HCSB&interface=print}

^{5 – 430 years of captivity in Egypt:  Genesis 15.13; Exodus 12.41; Galatians 3.17}

^{6 – “The algemeiner’, fastest growing Jewish newspaper in the US - http://www.algemeiner.com/2013/10/03/why-is-the-world-silent-as-christians-are-persecuted/}

Read Exodus 2.1-10 about Moses.  His mama had to put him in a basket and release him into the Nile—she had to release him to God.  In so doing, he was rescued.  What do you need to put into a basket and release to God?