At the Hands of Evil Men

Prayer

Our Righteous and Almighty Ruler,

We thank you that all authority that ever was or ever will be in under your perfect domain, for you alone are worthy to have it and you alone are able to rule in justice and love. We praise you for your gracious condescendance in sending Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest and King, to redeem us from the tyranny of this world and present us before you as sons and daughters of your Kingdom by faith in his work of redemption.

Lord, just as Christ was born under the rule of a great tyrant, we are born in a world full of tyrannies and with hearts ready to abuse your power and resources for our own ends. From this inward slavery to sin you have redeemed us who have believed, and your Spirit destroys it in us day by day. But just as Christ remained in a world of evil men and died at the hands of evil men, so we also continue to live in this world of evil for a time. Grant us, O God, the patience and Christ-likenness to endure every abuse with love, and overcome every evil with good. Help us to trust your perfect hand over the imperfect forces of this world, that you will continue to care for us and provide for us as we endure this short time of exile. Jesus walked this earth ahead of us to shepherd us out of its corrupting crags and into the rich valleys of your heavenly garden. Keep us faithful in that hope and guard our hearts from both a false trust in this world and a cynical view of this life, knowing that your hand softens and hardens hearts and guides our lives.

May this text work in our hearts, through your gracious Spirit, to establish every truth, convict us of sin, direct us to the cross, sanctify the converted and convert those who are still enslaved by a tyrannical heart.

In Christ our Lord we pray,

Amen.

Introduction

The essense of the idea of power is that it is the ability to bring about whatever you want. Someone is powerful if they, through designated authority, brute strength, or manipulative cunning, are able to bring about events and circumstances that they wish. The means does not matter so much. Many queens throughout history never made a speech or commanded armies, but their ability to manipulate the king gave them a power that put them in control.

We tend to have a negative view of power because of how easily evil men take it. The Greek Philosopher’s biggest problem with democracy is that, if you have a system where those who pursue power are those who are likely to obtain it, then eventually everyone in power will be power hungry and the rise of a tyrant is imminant. He argued for a philosopher King, that only one whose heart was purely set on loving wisdom (literally, philosophy) and truth should be given power. To an extent, I think we can find biblical agreement with Plato on this. However, with two clarifications. First, that true philosophy, that is a love of wisdom, starts with a fear of God and recognition of his authority. Second, that no one is born with this fear of God because of our sinful nature, and therefore true philosophy is unattainable in our sin. So when you have a world full of people unable to love true wisdom vying for power, it is no wonder that those in power are quick to abuse it. The phrase, “power corrupts,” is a witness to our own belief that no one can have power without giving in, in some measure, to tyranny because of our sin.

This tyranny that exists in the human heart is manifested in our text in the person of Herod, the so-called king of Judah. In him we get a view of the human heart without God: an insecure powerhungry tyrant. It is no surprise that someone like him comes to reign in a world full of people just like him. But what about when a redeemer comes? What about those who are brought from death to life? What about those who are not citizens of this evil world ruled by evil, but sons and daughters of a kingdom ruled by love and righteousness? Today we will see, in the first years of the Divine nature manifested in human flesh, the Father’s care for his Son through providential work while that son remains in a world full of evil men, for it is evil men, and women, and he came to save.

Jesus at the hands of an Evil Man

While we haven’t been told of Herod’s plan explicitly up to this point, there have been several hints at it.

When the Magi came to Jerusalem, Herod was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. Most likely, Jerusalem was disturbed because they had a pretty good idea as to the extreme measures that Herod would go through to rid the world of a potential King of Judah.

Anyone familiar with the legacy of Herod the Great would know how violent this man could be. He had his wife and three sons put to death because he suspected a plot. Josephus tells us of another horrible command he gave near his death,

when he (Herod) was departing out of this life, that the whole nation should be put into mourning, and indeed made desolate of their dearest kindred, when he gave order that one out of every family should be slain, although they had done nothing that was unjust, or against him, nor were they accused of any other crimes”

So the news of a rival king being born is troubling for the citizens of Jerusalem because who knows what he will do.

The idea that this jealous king would worship another King of the Jews is rediculous, and if the Magi had known more about Herod the Great they probably would have realized this.

Verse 12 tells us that the Magi were warned not to return to Jerusalem. This doesn’t seem to be for the sake of the child, since Jesus will be saved by another dream given to Joseph, but likely they have saved themselves.

It is in the second appearance of the angel into Joseph’s dreams that Herod’s intentions are explicitly made known. The words used in this dream are intense intense and also loaded with the typology that Matthew uses so richly in this text. The child is mentioned before the mother because Jesus is the main character in this story. Somehow, the Christmas story is often told with little attention paid to Christ being the centre of the story. It’s not about the drummer boy, the shepherds, the donkey that Mary rode, or the magi. It’s about Jesus and specifically Jesus’ incarnation and ultimately the point, the redemption of his people by his work on the cross.

Just like the first time, Joseph’s obedience is decisive and immediate. The detail that it was at night suggests that Joseph did not even wait until morning to obey God’s directions. Like before, Joseph’s obedience to the Word of God given by the angel is used to preserve the eternal promises of God through the Messiah.

Herod died in 4 BC, meaning Jesus was likely born between 6-8 BC. Until that time Jesus lives in Egypt, which had a thriving Jewish community at the time of around one million according to one contemporary historian. In fact, after Herod died many of those Jews would return to Judah, showing just how frightened people were to live under his rule.

But beyond it being a sensible place for this young famly to run, Matthew brings typological meaning into this trip. In fact, the word for “flee” used here is often used in reference to exile, similar to the exile of Israel in Egypt. When Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1 he is aware the the text is talking about Israel, not specifically the Messianic King. However, Matthew intends to relate the Christ as the true Israel, walking in their steps, the true child of God. There is a contrast highlighted, as Hosea will go on to talk about how, despite God’s salvation of them from Egypt, Israel continued to worship false gods. However, this son will accomplish the divine purpose. Jesus is beginning to walk in the path of Israel but without their sin and hardheartedness.

Matthew is also making a statement about the progressive nature of revelation. In a sense, he is referring to Hosea and saying that the actual meaning of the words in that verse is most perfectly fulfilled in Christ. D. A. Carson says with this text in mind, “The NT writers insist that the OT can be rightly interpreted only if the entire revelation is kept in perspective as it is historically unfolded.” In other words, Matthew insists that the true, deeper meaning of the OT cannot be known apart from the revelation unfolded in the coming of Christ. In Carson’s words, “Jesus himself is the locus of true Israel.” It’s where true Israel is located, in him and all of Scripture points to that true, so it is right to read Hosea 11 in light of Christ’s coming and fulfilment of true Israel.

This is also the first time Jesus is referred to as the Son of God, a motif that will surface often in the book.

God’s Powerful Hand Overcomes the Evil Man

Verse 16. The word “tricked” means to be made a fool of, taken advantage of, or having your gullability exploited. Perhaps the one thing an insecure man in power hates more than competition is being made a fool. As with any tyrant, he is even more dangerous when insulted as he is when threatened. When you threaten a tyrant, you take their power. But when you insult or humiliate them, you take their pride, which they hold to even more dearly.

In a crime of violent passion, Herod goes ahead and brutally murders all the boys in Bethlehem two year or younger. Judging by the size of Bethlehem, this would have been around 20 baby boys, which compared with some of Herod’s other deeds later in his life, is not his most horrific acts and is probably why there is no other account of this act in existing sources.

French theologian Suzanne de Dietrich gives a helpful reminder when we think of the horror of so many young lives thoughtlessly snuffed out,

“the history of the People of God is all strewn with blood and tears.… The rage of man is unfurled upon the Elect of God.… Our own time has seen massacres equally shameless. The testimony of (Matthew) is that God nonetheless pursues the purpose of salvation.”

A few OT concepts are in mind as Matthew quotes Jeremiah 31:15

Jeremiah 31:15 ESV

Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

First, Herod is an example of Gentile judgement on the people of God. Jeremiah was speaking about exiles being led out of Jerusalem. Rachel was said to be buried in Ramah, which was on the way that exiles would have walked as they were led out of the land. Rachel is pictured weeping for the Israelites because they are being led away because they are no longer living as children of God and the oppression they are under is evidence of that. Herod is thus no king of Judah, he is a gentile oppressor of Judah. He is the Pharoah of Judah, oppressing the people of God until the deliverer comes. Although this time the deliverer is in Egypt and the people being oppressed are in the promised land.

This leads to another OT picture here, that again of Pharoah killing the baby boys in Egypt and Moses being saved to one day be the one to deliver his people from this tyranny, which is really the tyranny of sin which brought about their judgement.

Finally, the weeping is for the saviour leaving Bethleham for a king of exile. Bethleham is left with the tyrant child-killer and there is a sense of grief in this. However, if we actually turn the the referenced text we see a sign of hope

Jeremiah 31:16–17 ESV

Thus says the Lord: “Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, declares the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country.

Within a few short years, Herod would die and his kingdom would be divided among his sons. Joseph would bring his family back to Israel, although avoiding Bethleham because in a dream he is warned about not living in the area where Archelaus was reigning, who was arguably as violent and jealous as his father.

A final prophecy is fulfilled, or rather a deduction that Matthew makes from the OT that Jesus would be called a Nazarene. It may be that he is equating Jesus’ devotion to God at birth to that of a Nazarite like Samson or a general idea that the Messiah’s roots would be obscure, a Nazarene being sort of the equivilant of a hillbilly or redneck, someone from out in the bush. regardless, the text ends with two general ideas in our minds about the birth of Jesus,

He is born into a sinful world, among Israelites facing God’s judgement, in exile, and persecuted by a jealous and violent king.

He is born with God’s sovereign protection from this evil man and his son so that, even in the midst of the difficulty and pain Israel endures because of their covenant breaking, Jesus is protected by a greater force signifying God’s sovereign plan to redeem his people from this painful tyranny as well.

Living in a world of Anti-Christs and Beasts

And so the application is one of seeing ourselves as followers of Christ in every way, and thus those who will find themselves in the same horrific circumstances as those whose sins are condmned in them everyday, and yet with God’s sovereign hand over us to deliver us from every evil and from the sin that brings this evil about. Jesus was born in the midst of people suffering from their sins in order to redeem them from the sins for which they suffer. Christians, as they continue the mission of Christ in this world, are redeemed to do the same thing. This means we will suffer like the world, but only under God’s loving providence and in his perfect plan, not as those who suffer justly for their sin and without hope. It remains true, then, that no hair on our head will be touched outside God’s sovereign purpose.

Conclusion

Tyrants and evil men, although thoroughly against God in their hearts and actions, are never outside the sovereign will of God. John Calvin argued that even the most detestible ruler is still invested with divine authority to carry out God’s plans. He wrote, “Those, indeed, who rule for the public good, are true examples and specimens of (God’s kindness), while those who domineer unjustly and tyrannically are raised up by him to punish the people for their iniquity. Still all alike possess that sacred majesty with which he has invested lawful power.”

In other words, even the evil man has his place in God’s sovereign plan to punish evil people who are just like him. So what about the Christian who finds themselves under this curse of God? Why is it that we who have been declared righteous suffer under the tyrants hand? The answer is simple: because Jesus did. 1 Peter 2:20-21 “But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.” Two weeks ago we saw that the Virgin born Christ, mentioned in Isaiah 7, would eat curds and wild honey along with the others in their homebased exile. That is, he would partake in the exile they had brough on themselves by their sin in order to overcome it. Evil can be opposed, but true victory is when evil is overcome by good. Just as Christ came into a world tarnished by sin and its consequences, we continue to live here as well experiencing the consequences for the world’s sin, but not our own. For our sins have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, and so when we find ourselves at the hands of evil men we have reason to endure hopefully, knowing that our endurance is not in vain. For by it we know that by our patience, agreeableness, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness to the true, loving care for each other, and even submissive obedience to tyrants Christ will redeem many just like us.