Christmas: The Epiphanyናሙና

Why did Herod seek Jesus’ death upon hearing The Proclamation by the Magi? As a temporary king of the Jews, Herod should've ecstatically welcomed the eternal King of the Jews. He should’ve hoped, like the people, that this Messiah will liberate Israel from her oppressors. But when we realise that he was an Idumean (Edom) ruler sustained by Rome, we see the sad reality of the Jewish state. Herod was entangled with that evil beast that is Rome. His allegiance to the foreign power and rebellion towards Jehovah destroyed his legitimacy as the king of Israel. The Proclamation announced a rival to Herod’s throne and Rome’s hegemony.

The Proclamation also laid bare the state of Jewish spirituality. Herod summoned the ‘Chief Priests’, an office missing in Mosaic Law but attributable to the Hasmonean rule’s political influence. Ever since the Israelites rejected the Lord as their King by seeking a human king - making them like the pagans around them - both their kingly and priestly offices witnessed downfall. Foreigners uprooted Israeli kingship by appointing puppets. These illegitimate kings uprooted the priestly office. But now One has come, the King and High Priest of Jerusalem, whose Kingdom and Priesthood shall not be uprooted for it is that Rock untouched by human hands heralding the destruction of all evil empires. In doing so He shall reinstate the people of God by sanctifying them under God’s rule, making them unlike the pagans around them.

The absence of historical records mentioning Herod’s ‘Massacre of the Innocent’ outside Mathew, has prompted cynics to argue from silence against its historicity. Yet history informs us to not expect Josephus to record all bloody acts of Herod. The death of infants in a small town of under 1500 people by a maniac who killed his brother-in-law, mother-in-law, second wife, three sons, 300 military leaders and plotted to kill a stadium full of Jewish leaders is negligible for history. And why would Matthew quote Jeremiah 31:15, a passage not considered Messianic, unless the massacre happened!

Christ’s birth was perceived as a threat to the illegitimate rule of Herod and Rome’s hegemony. While uninterested in spatially and temporally restricted human kingdoms, The Proclamation announced His threat to the rule of sin and Satan’s hegemony. He ‘cheated’ death at first and defeated death at the end. This Rock untouched by human hands became the cornerstone of the Mountain establishing God’s Kingdom, like Mount Zion from where God's salvation proceeds! Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to people He favours! Merry Christmas!

Application questions:

• Reflect on God’s sovereign control despite humans plotting against His anointed.
• Take a moment to introspect your life: Have I tried to seek comfort, pleasure and joy in things opposed to God? Have I welcomed illegitimate rule in my heart rejecting God as my King?
• Surrender yourself in prayer, and follow Immanuel wherever He guides, knowing that His Kingdom is not of this world and shall not be overturned.