Herod the Great—better titled Herod the Ingrate—was a vicious man. Enraged by the wise men fooling him, he slaughtered the boys in Bethlehem, two years old and under (Matthew 2:16). He also drowned the high priest, slaughtered most of the Sanhedrin, and murdered his mother-in-law, his wife, and two of their sons. Augustus Caesar said it well: “It is better to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son.” Now you have heard of the Herodian dynasty, but look into the Herodian mirror.
How do you respond when your plans don’t work out? What are you going to do when three toddlers from the east bring the gifts of flu, stomach bug, and upper respiratory infection into your home? Should we prepare a shelter-in-place notice for when your New Year’s resolutions are scuttled?
Herod was a king—shrewd enough, vividly aware of hierarchies, initiatives, schedules, threats, and objectives. So too are you. So see that you are not given to wrath as he was. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” (Proverbs 16:32).
