Transcription of the Video: The Shadow of Herod

The audio with transcript: https://otter.ai/s/KSBCygorTWa7x5nXv3gQtQ

The ancient land of Israel is a testimony and evidence of the greatness of what God did in that country, a testimony to the truth of the words that we find in the pages of the Bible. The people who lived here have left behind a record, an indelible record, if you will, of their lives. An important part of that record is the cities where they lived - ancient piles of debris that contain their culture, architecture, art, their diet, the weapons they used, and even on occasion, their writings.

These piles of ancient cities often built one on top of the other are called tells. People in ancient times tended to build and live in the same places. Maybe because there were occupations there or the main road went nearby, or maybe most likely of all, a source of freshwater. As archaeologists began to peel away the layers of this ancient civilization, the culture and even the people of the Bible come to light.

I'd like to ask you to join us on this adventure. We're going to try and understand the people, the context of the Bible. It'll mean some extra hiking, some climbing, some travel to out-of-the-way places, but the end result, I think, will be well worth the effort as we discover, again, that God's word, God's message is as relevant for us as it was for them.

The location Herod picked for the awesome fortress that he named after himself (the Herodion) is a place, an area rich in biblical history. Jacob buried his beloved Rachel just over here on the hills near Bethlehem. Sometime later, two women coming down out of the hills toward this area, as Naomi and Ruth came back from their time when they were away because the land had been under famine. Ruth goes down to one of the fields below and begins to glean from a farmer named Boaz. Ruth and Boaz are married and eventually become the great-great-grandparents of David. And young David becomes the newly anointed king of Israel - the one whose reign and even whose character would become the pattern for the Messiah to come.

And finally, the greatest act, the greatest historical event of all - the birth of Jesus. As the sun rises and sets on the Judean mountains, the shadow of the Herodion is thrown on the small villages around, including Bethlehem itself. And somewhere within that shadow, Jesus was born. 

The palace-fortress that Herod built here was the third-largest in the entire world at the time and certainly one of the most glorious. It's divided into an upper and a lower palace, covering more than 45 acres of territory. The upper palace can be seen for miles. Around the outside, double walls about 15 feet apart, and between those two walls, the chambers, and rooms that were necessary for all of his servants and palace staff. 

On each of the four sides of that upper fortress, a tower several stories high. In these towers were the rooms for the royal family and the government officials. And on the east, the greatest tower of all - more than 100 feet high where Herod and his own family could live and catch the breezes from the Mediterranean on hot summer days.

When one walks through the glory of this palace complex, we're struck by the great vision and the great power that was Herod. And it becomes more obvious what an act of faith it was for the Jewish people to be willing to commit to the fact that Jesus was Messiah and king. 

This place is called the Herodion, built by King Herod. If you look here to the east, you can see in the distance the water of the Dead Sea. And just beyond the water, the mountains across the Dead Sea, the mountains of Moab. And then coming from the Dead Sea, in this direction, you see the hills of the Judea wilderness. Notice how clearly the wilderness begins and the farmland ends. To the west of us, the Judea mountains. You can see that block of mountains not so very far away from here. Almost straight across from us, the Valley of Elah.

Just a little bit to our north, kind of sprawling down the hillside over here, you see the town of Bethlehem - today, a pretty large city, a pretty modern city in a way. We sit, then, at the edge of Bethlehem, which is a frontier town. It's a very clear distinction between the wilderness out here, the land of the shepherd. We've seen the green pastures. David wrote about the green pastures, and if you want to see the green pastures, he's talking about, you need to look to the east. Because that's where the shepherd went. The shepherd wouldn't come here on the farmland because as you can tell, there's not a lot of good farmland. So the shepherd stays out there, and the farmer goes over here. 

The structure we're actually sitting on takes us to the New Testament time. Herod was living and ruling in Jerusalem, but his fear, of course, was Cleopatra to the south and west. And so, he had a line of escape routes that allowed him to leave Jerusalem to come down to this area only at about eight or ten miles or so and to find safety. Then just beyond us, Masada and very soon he'd be back home to where he came from which is the country of Idumea.

One of the largest palaces in the world. The whole complex itself may have been several hundred acres of area. Down below, a huge swimming pool, a colonnade around it, a beautiful garden with all kinds of exotic plants. Then up on the top of this hill stands the fortress called the Herodion. You can see across the diameter of this huge, open area here. And several stories still left of that glorious palace that was open to the sky. 

We're sitting on the defensive tower. And again, you see the diameter. That tower probably went 60, 70 feet in the air. It kind of stood here as a lookout. You could see it for miles and miles and miles. So you need to feel the dominance of Herod in this particular place.

Josephus does tell us that Herod was buried here. He died in Jericho, and the funeral procession Josephus describes comes up from Jericho through that wilderness and then comes down in a glorious funeral procession. And somewhere, without Josephus telling us where Herod was buried. And as far as scholars know, his body was never found. 

The reason we really come here for our faith lesson is because of its proximity to Bethlehem. I wanted you to have a sense of where Bethlehem was and what the land around Bethlehem is like. I like to think that Bethlehem probably looked very much like that little village on top of the hill over there. 

"Isaac prayed to the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was barren. The Lord answered his prayer and his wife, Rebekah, became pregnant. The babies jostled each other within her and she said, 'Why is this happening to me?' So she went to ask the Lord. The Lord said, 'Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples from within you will be separated. One people will be stronger than the other and the older brother will become the younger brother's servant.'" (Genesis 25:21-23)

So Esau is born. He's the older. Jacob is born, and he's the younger. Out of Jacob comes the Jews, and out of Esau comes the people of Edom. They lived down across the Dead Sea but to the south a ways in the mountains of Edom.

But the prophesy was that the older - Esau and his family - will serve the younger, Jacob. In fact, that's even reiterated, if I could read it in the book of Numbers where that prophet-- just across the sea from us here, the prophet Balaam said, "A star will come out of Jacob, a scepter out of Israel," - Jacob's other name. "And he will crush Edom. Edom will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong." Jacob will be strong. (Numbers 24:17) 

So the Jewish people had in their minds that ultimately someday that line of Jacob was going to be in power. We're sitting in a strange place here. Because, you see, Herod was from Idumea. Herod was an Edomite. Herod was a descendant of Esau. And all the glory and all the power and everything magnificent in the whole world belonged to Herod. And in that town over there, a baby is born. And you're asked to believe that that baby is the descendant of Jacob, who is Lord and king of everything. 

I want you to look at where you are because this whole countryside and every town and village and every place in it is dominated by what stands right here. Look what Herod left - glorious. I mean, unbelievable stuff. He was an awesome builder and king. But it's all in ruins. And for most of you, if not all of you, the only thing you ever knew about Herod was that he killed little babies at Christmas time. Because Herod was just in it for himself. And worse than that, he was as much of a descendant of Edom spiritually as he was physically. 

Jesus, as far as I know, he didn't leave one single building, not one stone you can point on that he ever touched for sure. Not even a mark on the place he was born. We probably don't even know the place that he died and rose again - at least, not for sure.

But look what he left behind. The world has never been the same. We come as 33 people of varying degrees of influence, but I don't think anyone would look at us and say that we're the power brokers in our world. There are no presidents here. There are no Supreme Court justices. There are no famous movie actors. There are no great musicians or professional athletes - at least not yet. But do you know what? When we look at our world, the power - particularly the power of evil - seems to be so big and so strong and so awesome that what could we 33 people do?

But do you know what you're asked to believe? That no matter what it looks like out there, no matter how big Hollywood looks, no matter how powerful Wall Street looks, no matter how evil pornography seems, no matter how undefeatable hunger and racism and AIDS appear to be, Jesus Christ is king.

It's not Herod. It's not the devil. It's not evil. It's God.

Now, there weren't many people that could come and look at that baby and say, "I believe it." Now the question that I have for you and that I have to answer for myself is, "Do you dare to live as if God is stronger than the evil we face in our own lives and in our own culture? Do you dare to live as if the power we have with us is greater than any power and anything you face in your life that's against you?"

And I maintain, we haven't lived that way. I maintain we've lived as if Herod or the modern Herod, meaning the evil power of today, is really the stronger. And so we've gone to our convents and our monasteries and we've said, "Evil is too big, too strong. God is not big enough, strong enough to do what we want him to do."

People, this palace, this fort right here says, "No matter what it looks like, no matter how strong it seems, no matter how glorious it is, it's the baby in the manger that's Lord of Heaven and earth."

And so Matthew the Jew starts his Gospel story about Jesus with these incredible words, "In the days of Herod, the king, Jesus was born."