The Rejection of Israel’s King Finds Its Roots in History
Julius was the governor of Gaul, and had been elected to serve as a member of the Roman council, no doubt, to help Rome govern that region of the Republic by receiving regular updates.
Julius was known to be a ruthless and cunning commander, and proved this to be so in the Gallic Wars. He was responsible for building a bridge across the Rhine River in order to make it to English Channel.
When Pompey and his supporters decided Julius was amassing too much power, they ordered him to return to Rome and give up the command of his armies. He refused. Instead, in a bold move, he “crossed the Rubicon” River and triggered a civil war with Pompey and his supporters.
Julius pursued Pompey through several areas, finally catching up to him in Egypt. Egypt’s leader, Ptolemy VIII, a child himself, ordered for Pompey to be captured, and to keep Julius from invading Egypt, he offered Pompey’s head in exchange for peace. Julius agreed, and Ptolemy obliged.
Soon, Julius found himself caught in a civil war between Ptolemy and co-regent, Cleopatra. He and Cleopatra aligned against Ptolemy and defeated him, lifting Cleopatra to the position of queen. And in the process, they became lovers who never married.
Such is the life of corrupt royalty. And to add to the drama, when you trace your lineage back and claim you are the offspring of the goddess, Venus, as Julius did, then your head swells to abnormal dimensions, both figuratively and spiritually.
The Rise and Fall of Julius Caesar
Julius spent the next two years chasing down Pompey’s supporters and eliminating his enemies. Then, in 46 B.C., he was declared dictator of the Republic for a period of ten years, claiming the name “Caesar” in the process.1
This act of naming him a dictator didn’t sit well with those still alive who sided with Pompey. But what prompted the beginning of the end was when Julius declared himself emperor for life in 44 B.C. Just two years in, and the power overtook him. Ten years wasn’t going to be long enough. He wanted it all, and he wanted it now. An all too familiar, oft-sang “tune” in human history.
Two men,
Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, better known as Brutus and
Cassius, believed assassinating the dictator for life Caesar would help restore
the Roman Republic to its former glory and take Rome back to a representative
republic. Thus, they conspired with another senator and stabbed Julius twenty-three times
on the Senate floor, in front of a statue of Pompey, no less.
However, their seditious act had the opposite effect of what they desired. It emboldened those who believed Brutus and Cassius were right. War broke out, and as a result, two others, both military men, led Roman forces against the sympathizers following Brutus and Cassius, winning a decisive battle in Philippi. The year was 42 B.C.
One of those two military men was Octavian, who would later, in 27 B.C., change his name to Augustus (see Luke 2:1) and become the first emperor of the newly established Roman Empire. The other military man was Marcus Antonius. You know him better as Marc Antony. He and Octavian were contemporaries of such notable historical figures as Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, Cicero, as well as an individual whose name you may also have heard: Herod.
Secular and Biblical History Collide
During this coup attempt of Brutus and Cassius, the ruler of Judea at the time, a man by the name of Antipater (pronounced An-TIP-pa-ter), was a loyal supporter of Julius Caesar and Rome. He remained in his position until his murder in 43 B.C., the year after Julius Caesar’s assassination. When Octavian and Marcus Antonius finally won the battle against Brutus and Cassius in Philippi in 42 B.C., which was the year after Antipater’s death, they appointed Antipater’s sons, Phasael and Herod, as joint rulers of Judea. The Romans referred to them as “governors” at that time, which was a common, official title the Romans used, even of their own people, as was mentioned earlier concerning Julius as the governor of Gaul (cf. Matthew 27:11; Mark 15:1; Luke 23:1; John 18:28-29).
Enter The Persians
Two years later, in 40 B.C., anti-Rome, pro-Brutus and Cassius sentiments were still running high, especially in the region we now call the Middle East. The Persian Empire (also called the Medo-Persian Empire, the Medes and the Persians, and the Parthian Empire) decided to take advantage of the situation. They invaded Judea in 40 B.C., towards the end of the Hasmonean dynasty which lasted from 140-37 B.C., and set up a Hasmonean leader, by the name of Antigonus (pronounced An-TIG-gon-us), to act as leader of that region. He was to be the “priest-king of Jerusalem.”
The Persians captured and killed one of the co-governors of Judea, Phasael. The other co-governor, Herod, escaped to Rome and no doubt, told them the entire story of the Persian invasion.
It was shortly thereafter that the Roman Senate, under the leadership of Octavian and Marcus Antonius, declared Herod “King of the Jews.” With the full support of the Roman Empire, Herod traveled back to retake that region of the Empire. It was no easy task, but with his Roman-supplied army, Herod laid siege to Jerusalem for three months before it fell in 37 B.C., thus ending the Hasmonean Dynasty and beginning the reign of King Herod.
The Plot Thickens
During this time when Herod was retaking Judea, the Persian Empire was undergoing some turmoil of its own. Their newly established king, Phraates IV, was just starting his reign, and he did so in a very violent manner. He murdered his own father and brothers so that he could usurp the throne. It was a case of “the apple and the tree” syndrome, for his father did the exact same thing.
The next year, in 36 B.C., Marcus Antonius invaded the Persian Empire, but Phraates IV defeated Antonius’s army and sent them away with heavy losses.
Two years later, in 34 B.C., one of Phraates IV’s vassal kings aligned with the Romans and Marcus Antonius. They started a kerfuffle within the Persian Empire, challenging the Persian king.
This sequence of events started a civil war within the Persian Empire, and Tiridates II of Armenia drove Phraates IV from the throne in 32 B.C. Phraates IV escaped and lived with a ruthless band of cutthroat nomads known as “Scythians” for some time (see Colossians 3:11) until he came back and regained his throne years later. At that point, Tiridates II fled to Rome with one of Phraates IV’s sons as a hostage. This entire saga led Octavian to make peace with Phraates IV and return his son.
Octavian (his name was Augustus by this time) reigned as Emperor of Rome until 14 A.D. He had many other battles, one notable skirmish involved fighting against Marcus Antonius, who had aligned himself with Cleopatra after they had become lovers. The two lovebirds were defeated by Octavian and his general, Marcus Agrippa. Antonius and Cleopatra fled back to Egypt and eventually committed suicide. As a result, Octavian occupied Egypt and made it part of the Empire.
Phraates IV Opens the Door for the Magi
During his second stint, Phraates IV reigned as the Persian King until 2 B.C.2 In his last few years, Phraates IV’s health was declining, and decisions he was making didn’t make sense. Particularly, he was viewed as being a pawn of Rome, and corruption encircled his throne. As a result, the leaders within the Persian Empire knew his time was short, both physically and politically.
It was in these waning years when the leaders surrounding Phraates IV believed his frail leadership would cause other empires, namely Rome, to launch another offensive the Persian Empire could not overcome.
Therefore, they sent their “kingmakers” on a quest. A quest to find a new king. With that mandate, a band of Persian leaders, known as the Magi, left the region of the Medes and the Persians, heading east, following a “star.”
Thought for the Week:
Today, in the twenty-first century, I believe we read the biblical accounts of such figures as the Magi, Herod, and the like, and somehow, we see them as groups or individuals detached from reality, detached from history. We read these stories almost like the parables Jesus used to get across great spiritual truths to His disciples and the multitudes. Seeing them as historical fact is somewhat foreign to us.
Yet, when we dig, we see
that God’s Word is chocked full of historical events. These events sometimes happened
in conjunction with biblical accounts, like when Joseph and Mary had to go to
Bethlehem because of the census, recorded in Luke 2, ordered by none other than
Octavian, who by that time had changed his name to Augustus Caesar. Sometimes
historical events, recorded by secular writers, help to fill in gaps the Bible
doesn’t see necessary to record. Yet, when we get those details, the Word of
God and its meaning come alive for those of us living so many centuries
removed.
We never want to take the history surrounding the people and regions of the Bible for granted. Their lives and actions were all part of God’s plan, because as you may have heard, it’s all HIS-story anyway. As Christians, if you believe in Jesus, then you must believe God controls the destinies of men and women and uses them when He sees fit. If you don’t believe me, then ask Julius, Octavian, Brutus, Cassius, Cleopatra, Marc Antony, and Herod—just to name a few—and see if they agree.
If you still don’t believe me, then ask yourself this: How did the Magi know to look for a “star,” let alone follow it? Who told them? Who gave them that information? How did they know, when they got to Jerusalem, to ask for “the One who has been born ‘King of the Jews’?”
A careful study of Scripture shows us that centuries earlier, God made sure a faithful servant named Daniel was in a prominent, influential position within the Babylonian Empire. When the Medo-Persians defeated Babylon and became the reigning superpower, Daniel was elevated in that Empire as well. “Chief of the Magi,” he was called (Daniel 4:9; 5:11). Daniel was the president of the organization. He was the CEO. He was the “high priest.” And you have to believe someone as faithful as Daniel—who had survived hungry lions and a fiery furnace because of his unwavering faith—would be faithful enough to share the truth about the God of Israel, His introduction of a Messiah, and His redemptive plan for both Jew and Gentile with the bunch of Zoroastrianism-believing, Persian priests.
As you can see, God is in control of it all.
NEXT
WEEK:
The gripping conclusion
of the story of the Magi and Israel’s second rejection of their king.
Endnotes
1. Julius Caesar proclaimed himself as “Caesar,” which comes from the word cesar, which means “an emperor, a ruler, a dictator.” The word has been used across the world and transliterated into Russian (czar), Middle English (keiser), German (kaiser), among others.
He was also the person who developed the Julian calendar, and in
doing so, named a month after himself, which is now known as July. And his
successor, Augustus, named a month after himself as well. Guess which one that
is?
§
Regulating the distribution of
subsidized grain
§ Increasing the size of the Roman Senate to represent more people
§ Reduce government debt
§ Support military veterans
§ Granting Roman citizenship to people in Rome’s distant territories
§
Reform the tax codes
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