Herod

“ Such was Herod the Great—a body broken by diseases, a conscience seared with crimes, a mind magnificently capable, a soul fit for brotherhood with the Cæsars; now seven-and-sixty years old, but guarding his throne with a jealousy never so vigilant, a power never so despotic, and a cruelty never so inexorable. ”

“ He says that Herod at this time wore a robe of cloth of silver, so richly woven, and framed with such art, that when the sun shone it reflected the light with such a lustre as dazzled the eyes of the spectators, and struck an awe upon them. Foolish people value men by their outward appearance; and no better are those who value themselves by the esteem of such, who court it, and recommend themselves to it as Herod did, who thought to make up the want of a royal heart with his royal apparel; and sat upon his throne, as if that gave him a privilege to trample upon all about him as his footstool. ”

“ Think on that old true story of Herod and his favourite wife. Lo! after a hundred delays and reprieves the final edict has gone forth; the sharp axe-edge has fallen on the slender neck of the Lily of Edom; surely the tortured heart of the unhappy jealous tyrant shall find peace at last. Is it so? Months and months have passed away; there is high revel in Hebron, for a great victory has just been won ”

“ In a fit of jealousy Herod even caused the execution of his beautiful wife, whom he passionately loved, as he had already destroyed her grandfather, father, brother, and uncle. Supported by Augustus, whom he had managed to conciliate after the death of Antony, Herod reigned with undisputed authority over even an increase of territory. He doubtless reigned with great ability, tyrant and murderer as he was, and detested by the Jews as an Idumaean. He reigned in a state of magnificence unknown to the Asmonean princes. ”

“ King Herod, the Wise Men, and the Massacre of the Innocents
That the children should long to see the pageant in which Herod appeared was no wonder, for he was a very well-known character in the miracle plays. Just as in some fairy tales the wicked giant is well known, and is always expected to be as wicked as possible, so in these plays Herod was always represented as a furious tyrant and a great boaster, who raged and stormed and used such exaggerated language that he seemed more like a madman than a sane human being. ”

“ Sensual crimes and cruelty are closely akin. The one vice which Herod would not surrender, dragged after it a whole tangle of other sins. No sin dwells alone. There is 'none barren among them.' They are gregarious, and a solitary sin is more seldom seen than a single swallow. Herod is an illustration, too, of a conscience fantastically sensitive while it is dead to real crimes. He has no twinges for his sin with Herodias, and no effective ones at killing John, but he thinks it would be wrong to break his oath. ”

“ The statement that Herod the Great, who was firmly established in his government, and who had full-grown male heirs to succeed him, was afraid that the babe of an obscure Nazareth carpenter would supplant him in his kingdom, is enough to cause a Covenanter to laugh on Sunday. Had Herod issued such a decree his friends, instead of executing it, would have had him confined in a madhouse. ”

“ With smug assurance, Herod prepared himself to have sport with his Galilean subject, but Jesus stood before him in a silence that was dignified but for all that, contemptuous and full of merited rebuke. Herod tried in vain to get a word out of him and then had to have recourse to the cheap and vulgar use of his own brutal power, for here I could not protect but must needs obey. Under Herod's orders my own soldiers mocked and jeered at him. ”

“ And hearing him, he was much troubled; and he gave ear to him gladly.
6:21 And the chance came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee;
6:22 And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and did a dance, Herod and those who were at table with him were pleased with her; and the king said to the girl, Make a request for anything and I will give it you.
6:23 And he took an oath, saying to her, Whatever is your desire I will give it to you, even half of my kingdom. ”

“ Herod.
Then—— (His voice fails him.) Titus.
Calm yourself! It wounds me too. Herod.
Ay, wounds
You, her (to Salome) and everyone who here, like me,
Has been the blinded tool of slant-souled Fate,
But I alone have lost what on this earth
Eternally will ne’er be seen again.
Have lost! Oh! Oh! Alex.
Aha, Aristobulus,
You are avenged, my son, and I in you. Herod.
What, triumphing? You think that I will now
Wilt like a broken thing? Nay, I will not.
I am a king and I will let the world [He makes a gesture as though snapping something to pieces.
[Pg 177]
Feel it and tremble! ”

“ At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. ”

“ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life. ”

“ The treacherous Herod said to the astrologers, "Go, and diligently inquire concerning the child, and let me know, that I may worship him." But he manifested afterwards his guileful artifice, how he would have done, if he had found him, when he destroyed all those of equal age, for the persecution of him alone. Needlessly he machinated against Christ: he came not because he would acquire for himself his earthly kingdom, or any other king's by violence; but he came because he would give his heavenly kingdom to believing men. ”

“ He went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed there. 12:20 Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus, the king's personal aide, their friend, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king's country for food. 12:21 On an appointed day, Herod dressed himself in royal clothing, sat on the throne, and gave a speech to them. 12:22 The people shouted, "The voice of a god, and not of a man!" ”

“ V. Herod Made King of the Jews. Herod went to Rome to urge the appointment of Aristobulus III, the grandson of Hyrcanus and the brother of Herod's betrothed wife Mariamne, as king of Judea. Antony and Octavian, to whom he appealed, were rightly suspicious of the survivors of the Maccabean house and appreciative of the services of Herod and his father Antipater. ”

“ A ruler under the Roman suzerainty, probably equipped and surrounded with the Roman ornament and order though himself of eastern blood, seems in that hour to have felt stirring within him the spirit of strange things. We all know the story of how Herod, alarmed at some rumour of a mysterious rival, remembered the wild gesture of the capricious despots of Asia and ordered a massacre of suspects of the new generation of the populace. Every one knows the story; but not every one has perhaps noted its place in the story of the strange religions of men. ”

“ Herod was now an old man, and had reigned thirty-five years; this king was but newly born, and not likely to enterprise any thing considerable for many years; yet Herod is jealous of him. Crowned heads cannot endure to think of successors, much less of rivals; and therefore nothing less than the blood of this infant king will satisfy him; and he will not give himself liberty to think that, if this new-born child should be indeed the Messiah, in opposing him, or making any attempts upon him, he would be found fighting against God, than which nothing is more vain, nothing more dangerous. ”

“ It is difficult to find in all history a more pitiable sight than Herod in his old age, hated by most of his subjects, misled by the members of his own family, the murderer of those whom he loved best, finding his sole satisfaction in putting to death his son Antipater, who had betrayed him, and in planning in his last hours how he might by the murder of hundreds of his subjects arouse wide-spread lamentation. ”

“ Now some there are who stand amazed at the diversity of Herod's nature and purposes; for when we have respect to his magnificence, and the benefits which he bestowed on all mankind, there is no possibility for even those that had the least respect for him to deny, or not openly to confess, that he had a nature vastly beneficent ”

“ He had a secret to impart to him. “If we move ten paces from the gate,” replied the soldier, “no one can hear us.”
“You know,” said the Commander, “that King Herod, time and again, has tried to get possession of a child that is growing up here in Bethlehem. His soothsayers and priests have told him that this child shall ascend his throne. Moreover, they have predicted that the new King will inaugurate a thousand-year reign of peace and holiness. You understand, of course, that Herod would willingly make him—Harmless!” ”

“ Let me give you some advice; don’t touch on Herod’s secret sin. He is living with his brother’s wife, but don’t you say anything about it, for he won’t stand it. He has the whole Roman Government behind him, and if you allude to that matter it will be more than your life is worth. You have a good chance with Herod; he is afraid of you. Only be careful, and don’t go too far, or he will have your head off.”
There are those who are willing enough that you should preach about the sins of other people, so long as you do not come home to them. ”

“ Now Herod was an active man, and soon found proper materials for his active spirit to work upon. ”

“ Herod knew that this babe was in Bethlehem; but there were many babes in Bethlehem, and Herod did not know which was the babe that was called a king.
Some people knew which it was; but they loved Jesus, and they would not tell Herod. A very wicked thought came into Herod’s mind. He thought, I will kill all the babes in Bethlehem. Do you think God would let Herod kill his Son? No. God knew what Herod meant to do. God sent one of his bright angels to speak to Joseph when he was asleep.
The angel said, A wicked king wants to kill the baby. Get up, Joseph; take Mary and the baby a great way off. ”

“ For, as a punishment of his wickedness, Herod slew his own sons, who would have succeeded him in his kingdom, and in the same year, shortly after this massacre of the infants and his son Antipater, he himself was eaten of worms, and died just before the Passover. ”

“ The whole story of Herod's slaughter edict, with the familiar history of its execution, like nearly every other miraculous incident related in "The Holy Scriptures," which detail their histories, are traceable in the skies. Herod, we are told, literally means hero of the skin—a term applied also to Hercules, a personification of the sun—because the sun, on entering the constellation of the Zodiac in July, was supposed or assumed to invest himself with the skin of the lion, and this became "the hero of the skin," or a hero with a new skin. ”

“ Herod, the name of a family of Idumæan origin but Jewish creed, who rose into power in Judea shortly prior to the dissolution of the Jewish nationality; the chief members of which were Herod The Great, king of the Jews by favour of the Romans, who made away with all his rivals, caused his own children to be strangled on suspicion of their conspiring against him, and died a painful death ”

“ The favors of Herod had left surviving him many persons of vast estate. Where this fortune was joined to undoubted lineal descent from some famous son of one of the tribes, especially Judah, the happy individual was accounted a Prince of Jerusalem—a distinction which sufficed to bring him the homage of his less favored countrymen, and the respect, if nothing more, of the Gentiles with whom business and social circumstance brought him into dealing. Of this class none had won in private or public life a higher regard than the father of the lad whom we have been following. ”

“ The weakness of Herod's character is most glaringly revealed in his domestic life. Undoubtedly he loved the beautiful Maccabean princess, Mariamne, with all the passion of his violent nature. It was a type of love, however, which passes over easily into insensate jealousy. Accordingly, when he left Judea just before the battle of Actium, and later when he went to meet Octavian, he had his wife Mariamne shut up in a strong fortress. Unfortunately Herod, like most despots, was unable to command the services of loyal followers. ”

“ In this respect the contemporary rulers of the Roman Empire set an example which he was not slow to follow. His Idumean and Arabian blood coursed hot and fierce through his veins. It was an age when moral standards were exceedingly low, and Herod never learned to rule his passions. The Oriental institution of the harem gave him full license, and he lived and loved as he fought and reigned—vehemently. Such a man is especially susceptible to the weaknesses and crimes that come from jealousy, and the influences of his family and court intensified these fatal faults. ”