Contemplative Bible Reading

Matthew 2:1-7 (New Living Translation)

Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, 2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

3 King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. 4 He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”

5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:

6 ‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’ ”

7 Then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. 8 Then he told them, “Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!”

King Herod was a villain. There is little doubt about this as he killed a group of babies two years old and younger later in Matthew chapter 2.

The verses shown above show that faith does not always mean righteous. Faith means believing in something you cannot see. It seems clear to me that King Herod had faith in that he believed that the Jews had a newborn king. He had no real evidence of this, but he believed and acted.

Based on faith, Herod

(1) told the wise men to  tell him where the newborn king was

(2) murdered innocent toddlers (later in verse 16)