Herod’s murder.

Some people have negatively made history. Among them, whom he is looked upon after two thousand years with contempt and who had the killing of boys under the age of two in and around Bethlehem, and whose feast we celebrate today, is King Herod. God told the sages through an angel to return home in a way other than the one they had come. After the wise men left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Arise, take the child and his mother with you, go to Egypt, and stay there until I let you know, for Herod will seek the child to seduce him” (Mt 2, 13).

Let’s explain the events around Herod. Herod did not come from a purely Jewish or royal family. The mother was buckwheat – the Arab, the father of the Antipater, was a blessed human. He was tenacious but cruel, fox-cunning, and selfish. He was loyal to the Roman ruler, who allowed him to be the house king for almost half a century over the sterilized Jews. His father introduced him to the secrets of diplomacy. Also, his brother Pharaoh. After the father’s assassination, with the Romans’ help, the brothers became tetrarchy administrators, which was the first step towards the government. In 40 BC, the birth of Christ, Emperor Octavian appointed Herod king of Judah. He came under the Romans’ power, thus fulfilling James’ prophetic prediction of the removal of Judah’s scepter (cf. Gen 49:10). Since then, the loss of the chosen nation’s national and religious freedom has become quite clear.

Herod was a gifted and calculating ruler. He tried to be faithful and grateful to the Roman ruler. He knew he could not be king without them. He had to buy power and fame dearly from the Romans. He maintained power by force and deceit. Without shells, he shed the blood of his opponents, who did not comply with him. Right at the beginning, he had 45 leading Jews murdered, for which the synagogue convicted him. The wife of Herod Miriam 1. Achieved that she named her 16-year-old brother a high priest. Because people liked him, Herod had him murdered because he suspected him of being an adult with Queen Miriam. He was very jealous of his wife, and therefore everyone who fell under the shadow of suspicion died. His sister Salome fought Miriam and falsely accused her of her husband. Herod also had his innocent wife killed. Also, her mother, that is, mother-in-law. He was afraid of the throne being taken over once by two sons from his wife, Mariana – Aristobulus and Alexander. Therefore, he gave them to Sebastra in 7 to hang before Christ as soon as they returned from Rome. He also secretly killed three hundred officers who allegedly conspired against him with his sons. Therefore, it is not surprising that the murder of the boys of Bethlehem was a corresponding act to Herod’s cruel nature.

Herod’s old age was terrible. We know this from the writings of Josef Flavius, who describes all this in his historical writings. Herod had internal pains, watermelon, worms in the rectum, purulent wounds all over his body, maybe cancer. He ordered his sister Salome that when he died, to have the Jewish nobles murdered so that the Jews would be forced to mourn, at least seemingly, his death. However, this murder did not take place. He died r—749 since the founding of Rome. Josef Flavius called him “big,” but how big ?! What to say at this time? By allowing such suffering on the Jewish people just before the coming of the Messiah, God wanted to point out to the Israelites the spiritual and moral qualities of the Messiah because he comes as the Prince of Peace to redeem all nations from sin and save them, not by the sword and blood of the innocent. But with love and one’s own blood. Let us realize that by doing so, Herod also indirectly contributed to the fulfillment of the messianic “fullness of time” and its important milestone in the history of the economy of salvation of humanity.

The death of innocent children in Bethlehem is still calling for life. Don’t kill our brothers and sisters who weren’t born and say the name father, mom! Realize, brothers and sisters, that an unborn child’s death is always just murder! Herod was not as bleeding as today’s hospitals. He was a soldier, a pagan, an ignoramus. Today, educated, believing, and civilized mothers beg, complain, bribe just so that the child does not interfere with their career, comfort, beauty. Modern times are getting rid of their personalities. He will not allow them to develop talent because he will kill them before they can develop. The nation kills artists, scientists, scholars, and builders before putting their hands to the work. The nation gets rid of its personality and thus prepares a coffin for itself. The nation dies in the unborn. Long live the nation that will triumph over the idea of ​​abortion! Amen.