Matthew 2:3-12
Yesterday, we explored wise men and came to the conclusion
that from the beginning, wise men have sought the Lord. But we understand from Scripture that “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” Not long ago, would any one have given thought to defining
wise men and fools, for there is such a wide gulf between the two. But in this time many who are fools see
themselves as wise. This is a definition;
A fool: a person who acts unwisely or imprudently; a silly person: what a fool I was to do this. I hope you enjoy these quotes: Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain
– and most fools do. (Benjamin
Franklin) A
fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool. (William Shakespeare) What about the word wise, as it relates to
mankind: (responding
sensibly or shrewdly to a particular situation). A Charles Spurgeon quote on being wise:
Wisdom is the right use of
knowledge. To know is not to be
wise. Many men know a great deal, and
are all the greater fool for it. There is
no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool.
But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom. Plato had this to say about wise men;
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to
say something.”
With
that as back drop let us look into Matthew 2:3-8, “When Herod the king heard this, he was
troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and
scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land
of Judah,
are by no means least among the
rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people
Israel.’”
Then Herod
summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had
appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for
the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and
worship him.” (Matthew
2:3-8 ESV)
The
wise men announced a king had been born to the Jews, but both king Herod and
his subjects were troubled at the news of a king being born. We can understand why Herod would want to
pass on the kingship to his sons, but it is not clear why the people would
care. Was it because Herod was such a
kind and gentle king, always putting the interest of his subjects first? He was anything but kind and gentle, in fact,
he killed his favorite wife and son in order to protect his rule. It may be the people were fearful of what
this paranoid king would do, and it did not take long before they found
out. The first thing he did was lie to
the wise men on why he wanted to know, then he called the scribes to find out where
the Scriptures said the Messiah would be born.
They told him in Bethlehem, and the king waited for the wise men to give
him the location of the Messiah, but not for worship but to kill the Son of
God. We know from Scripture that an
angel told them to go home without telling Herod, and once Herod discovered
that they were not returning, he had all the babies two and under killed.
So
what kind of man was Herod, a fool, for only a fool would believe that they
could kill the Son of God? And as we
look at the people who believe they are in charge today, are they much
different than king Herod, for he also believed that he was in charge.
From
the Back Porch,
Bob
Rice
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