Herod the Great

It is hard to think this way as each day is near 80 degrees, and there are no red and green decorations to be seen, but for those in the US - Christmas is coming.  In the recounting of Jesus' birth in the book of Matthew the story starts, "Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod."  Before this trip my thoughts on Herod did not go very far.  I knew he was not a very nice ruler (not only did he order the killing of infants and toddlers in the Bible, but he also ordered the killing of multiple of his own sons), and that he was feared, but not much more.  But the man was "The Man" of the times.  We have visited Ceasarea Maritima (by the way, in order to save time, I'm not looking up the spelling within my blogs), the port he created, along with a full city, and 13 mile aqueduct in 12 years.  We hiked up to Herodion - the massive fort/palace which stood between Jerusalem and Bethlehem - build upon a man made mountain, and then heading close to 100' into the air.  Today we went to Masada.  Another mind-blowing building accomplishment of Herod.  A completely defensible palace, built on a cliff over looking he Dead Sea. 


We hiked up to Masada today, climbing 1000' vertically.  The altitude of the palace is 100' above sea level, a reminder of how far below sea level the dead sea (we even start the climb at Dead Sea level) is (the lowest place on earth.   Masada was a multi-level palace, with 15 huge storerooms for all the supplies Herod could ever want.  Herod is rightly called "Herod the Great"  He was a political genius, an organizer, a builder, (not such a good father), and he really wanted to be loved by the Jewish population (he was half Jew, which meant that he wasn't one of them).  He dramatically expanded the Temple Mount, and made the Temple as grand as it ever was.  Jesus was born about two years before his death.

Herod's Massive, beveled stones...

Jesus never built grand palaces, never controlled large groups, never manipulated Roman politics, never married and raised three new rulers (via 10 wives).  Herod only build with stones which were perfectly square and beveled around the edges so they looked wonderful.  Jesus built with living stones.  Herod hired a biographer which recorded all the grandeur of Herod, Jesus called 12 disciples, only a few of which put anything into writing (we know much more details about Herod than Jesus).  While Herod was great by the worlds standards, he died.  He is called great, but his greatness did not last.  It is remembered, but not enjoyed.  How different the legacy of Jesus.  Not so great when measured in what he did in his 33 years on this planet - but his greatness has continued to grow, expand, deepen.  Jesus poured into a few, Jesus lived sacrificially, Jesus served others rather than seeking to be served...and today he is still transforming to world.


Am I building the greatness of Herod, or the legacy of Jesus?


Tomorrow is our last day with the group.  Today we also hiked on the Road to Jericho.  If you have ever tried to picture that road described in the Bible, as Jesus headed to Jerusalem, your picture is almost guaranteed to be wrong...

















Well, we are heading to the Church of the Resurrection at 6:15am - so once again,
Good Night.