Christ’s birth shines light on Herod’s darkness

The prologue to the Gospel of John announces that Christ’s coming into the world is countered with opposition. The Gospel of Matthew concretizes this hostility in the actions of King Herod, who ruled the land of Judea at the time of Jesus' birth. Herod is portrayed in the Gospels as being cruel and manipulative, and when frustrated in his attempts to find and kill the Christ child, he reacts violently by ordering a massacre of the children of Bethlehem, an event that is commemorated by Christians four days after Christmas on December 28.

Herod’s intrigues in the Gospel of Matthew signal the dark politics that were the norm for much of the world at the time of Christ, and in terms of those politics, Herod is paradigmatic. He came to power through a mixture of force and adept political instincts, overthrowing the Hasmonean dynasty that had ruled Judea for many years. Knowing that his grasp on power was tenuous without the support of Rome (which had conquered Judea in 63 B.C.), he was able to convince the Roman Senate to declare him king of Judea in 40 B.C. He successfully navigated the war between Marc Antony and Octavian, building alliances with both, and, in the aftermath of that conflict, securing his dynastic ambitions. In worldly terms, Herod was a success.

In our own times, tyrants like Herod remain thick on the ground, and the dark politics through which they ascend to and consolidate their power remain.

To secure his reign, Herod would have to legitimize his claims to kingship not just through political alliances but through propaganda. This meant co-opting the messianic expectations of the Israelites by accomplishing things that it was hoped that the Israelite messiah would do — such as extending the borders of his kingdom to those of the ancient kingdom of David and through stunning public works projects, notably the rebuilding the Temple of Jerusalem on a magnificent scale.

All this was expressive not only of his grandiosity but of his keen political sensibilities, as his many projects gained him constituents and provided vitality to the economy. His accomplishments were also making the case that Israel’s messiah had come, justifying Herod’s kingship and dynastic ambitions.

But it was not lost on many that Herod’s messianic pretenses were fraudulent. His reign did not bring the correlation of justice and mercy that was the hope of the Israelites, and his concessions to Rome made many even more suspicious. Herod was unapologetically a tyrant, and his reputation for cruelty is said to have even impressed Roman Emperor Augustus enough for him to comment, upon hearing of how Herod had executed his own sons in response to a palace coup, that it would be better to be Herod’s dog than his son.

This is the Herod that the Gospel of Matthew positions as the opponent of the Christ child, an anti-messiah of dark politics meant to be contrasted with the true Messiah who is the light of the world.

The infant Jesus manifested himself with none of the worldly power or pretense that characterized the likes of Herod, but it is this baby, not the tyrant, who rests under the light of a divinely appointed star. And it is for this child, not Herod, that legions of angels give glory to God. Herod mustered all his power to defy his rival, but his failure was inevitable. His messianic pretenses would be exposed, and at his death, his kingdom would be divided and his accomplishments would be reduced to ruin. Known as Herod the Great in his lifetime, history recalls him as a murderer of children.

In our own times, tyrants like Herod remain thick on the ground, and the dark politics through which they ascend and consolidate their power remain. Even the most secularist regimes present themselves as if they have divine authority or favor.

In our world, as it was in the time of Christ, we are faced with a choice between the true and false messiah. One of the great contributions of Christianity in its yearly celebrations of Christmas is that it taunts the real and would-be tyrants of our world with the story of the birth of the holy child of Bethlehem, casting light into the dark politics of our own time and reassuring us that there is only one true king who will endure, and the rest, like ignominious Herod, are inevitably destined to pass away.