Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
Herod the Great is often remembered for the biblical account that never appears on Christmas cards. Hearing from the Magi that the “king of the Jews” was born, the paranoid Herod slew all boys under two years old in Bethlehem—a cryptic fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:15.
(Photo: The Herodium, courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Of course, Jesus’ family got word of the impending threat and escaped by night to sojourn in Egypt until Herod’s death (Matthew 2:13-18).
When I visited the Herodium in March, I couldn’t help but remember the historical irony that Herod tried to kill Jesus—but failed. Instead, Herod himself died and was buried in the Herodium overlooking the very city where the true King of the Jews was born (Micah 5:2).
The Herodium offers a lesson of great encouragement in God’s sovereignty in our lives today.
Appearing like a mix between a volcano and a New Mexico mesa, the Herodium dominates the landscape southeast of Bethlehem. Like Mount Tabor in the north, the Herodium has its own inimitable profile. Once you’ve seen it, you recognize it from then on.
Herod the Great named the site of the Herodium after himself as a memorial to a battle he had won there in 40 BC.
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(All pics courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Making use of an already-existing hillside, Herod constructed a 200-foot double wall around the top of the hill. This wall towered seven stories high, and fill dirt supported the wall all around—enlarging the appearance of the hill and giving it its unique flattop appearance.
The Herodium served as more than Herod’s summer country club. It was a place of security.
Constantly fearing rebellion from his own subjects, the paranoid Herod constructed a series of palaces and fortresses—including the Herodium—to which he could flee in a moment’s notice. His paranoia also urged him to execute any whom he feared were plotting against him—including his wife and several of his own children.
But God’s sovereignty wouldn’t allow him to kill Jesus.
Maybe because Herod contemplated taking his life in this area decades earlier, he chose the Herodium as his final resting place.
(Photo: Herod the Great’s tomb at the Herodium. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)
Josephus recounts Herod’s excruciating death at the Jericho palace. Dignitaries accompanied the funeral procession partway, and the pallbearers bore the coffin to Herodium (Antiquities 17:199; War 1:673).
Herod the Great constructed the Herodium as a victory memorial. But ironically, the site stands as a monument of a paranoid king.
Even better, it’s a monument to God’s sovereignty in our lives.
God warned Joseph in a dream to take Jesus and Mary and flee to Egypt (see Matthew 2:1-18). In a wonderful twist of poetic irony (i.e. God’s sovereignty), the raving King Herod died and was buried in the Herodium, overlooking the birthplace of the true King of Israel.
This wasn’t the first Joseph, by the way, whom God spoke to in dreams and sent to Egypt. What Joseph the patriarch said 2000 years before Jesus was born was just as true with Jesus’ move to Egypt: “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Genesis 50:20).
We can take encouragement that though the most powerful rulers in world make decrees and decisions that require us to move on, they only play into God’s sovereignty.
The Lord’s will for our lives is never thwarted by godless decisions. Instead He uses them for His purposes and for our good.
Tell me what you think: How has God’s sovereignty used evil for good in your life? To leave a comment, just click here.
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