Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - THE BLESSING?

                                                                         

                                  THE BLESSING?

One of the most disturbing stories surrounding the birth of Christ is tol in the book of Matthew in chapter 2.

Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, 

was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death 

all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, 

from two years old and under…

(Matthew 2:16)

This gives further evidence that the wise men did not visit Jesus at His birth but a number of years later - but why such a scene? Was Herod really so cruel or was there something else involved?

This atrocity and its inception really goes back to the days of Issac, Rebekah, and their sons Esau and Jacob. It involves the situation where Jacob, with the help of his mother Rebekah, tricked his father Issac into giving him his father’s blessing instead of his older brother Esau, to whom it rightfully belonged. Esau became very angry at this turn of events and…  

So [he] hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father blessed him, 

and Esau said in his heart "…I will kill my brother Jacob.” 

(Genesis 27:41)

Now Esau went on to have many offspring and…

 

…Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. Esau is Edom.

…the father of the Edomites in Mount Seir. 

(Genesis 36:8-9)

Now, the Edomite people lived in an area south of Judah until they were displaced by conflict and eventually settled again in a portion of Judah and became known as the Idumaeans but still descendants of Esau.

Antipaster, the progenitor of the Herodian dynasty that ruled Judea under the Romans after the Roman conquest of that area, was an Idumaean and the antecedent of the Herod in the Biblical story of Jesus. Thus, Herod himself was really a descendent of Esau. Therefore, trying to kill the Messiah, of the lineage of Judah, was really an attempt to carry out the old threat of Esau to kill his brother Jacob.

It’s amazing how events related in ancient history have an influence on events many years and centuries later and how they still influence world events today. An ancient curse by Esau was the trigger for the Slaughter of the Innocents by Herod as well as the attempt to kill the Messiah shortly after His birth.

It all gives one something more to think about.