Herod the Great; Jesus the Fit (part 1)

Everyone who’s ever gone to Israel seems to come back saying, “It makes the Bible come alive.” I longed to experience that for myself but never had the opportunity until last month, when the Israeli Ministry of Tourism invited several Christian journalists and radio producers to be their guests to visit biblical sites and “walk where Jesus walked.” I quickly accepted the invitation.

In what ways will the Bible come alive? I wondered as I packed. What I knew I was eager to experience was a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee (Could I possibly take a nap on the boat like Jesus did? Would I have the nerve to try walking on that water?). I also wanted to see the Galilean slopes where 2,000 demonized pigs rushed into the water and drowned.

Well, after touring Israel for a week, I can tell you my favorite site was indeed the Sea of Galilee. Yes, I took the boat ride. I neither slept nor had the nerve to step out of the boat. But I did lie down and close my eyes and felt the gentle rocking. And I stood at the edge of the boat and listened for an invitation to step out, but hearing none, I decided to stay dry. And while no one knows which exact hillside the pigs stampeded, I carefully viewed all the possibilities and the mental image is now clearer.

But interestingly, the way this trip made the Bible come alive was in a way I did not foresee. It gave me a whole new appreciation for two characters I thought I knew. In part one of this article, I’ll sketch the new side of Herod I saw. In part two, some aspects of Jesus I’d never considered before.

First, Herod the Great. Prior to this trip, I’d only considered Herod a paranoid psychopath, ordering the deaths of infant boys in Bethlehem, murdering at least one wife and a couple of sons for perceived disloyalty, and prompting Caesar Augustus to quip, “I’d rather be one of Herod’s pigs than one of his sons.” I couldn’t understand why anyone would ever call a man like that “the Great.”

But that’s until I saw the mark Herod made on Israel that’s clearly visible 2,000 years later. While he died while Jesus was a child, Herod’s influence was felt throughout Jesus’ life and beyond. He was one of the world’s most ambitious and prodigious builders. Among his achievements:

Multiple fortress-palaces, including (1) the Antonia (named in honor of one-time patron Marc Antony) in Jerusalem, which was the facility from which Pilate passed judgment on Jesus; (2) Herodion (no qualms about personal use of naming rights here), the massive redoubt that overlooks Bethlehem; (3) Masada (a name simply meaning “fortress”), a posh palace above the Dead Sea with heated baths, vast food storage, and an ingenious water-collecting system on a clifftop that made the place near impregnable. Located near the border with his native Idumea, Herod probably envisioned this as a refuge/getaway in case his enemies threatened him. What remains of each of these facilities still testifies to Herod’s enormous ambition and imagination.

The Temple in Jerusalem. What kind of man is grandiose enough to think he could replace Solomon’s Temple, the sacred Holy of Holies which had been destroyed more than 400 years earlier? Herod not only conceived it, he constructed it! The Second Temple was even more impressive than the first. Still today, looking simply at the surviving base of the Temple and the size of the stones required to make the site level (I saw one massive stone 27 feet long and 9 feet high!), you can’t help but admire the engineers, the construction workers, and, yes, the man of gargantuan ego who initiated the project and whose force of will made it happen.

Caesarea. Herod built an entire city on the Mediterranean coast to honor Rome and to provide Israel with a deep-water port. The evidences of Roman architecture and culture remain today. On our tour, we sat in the majestic amphitheater, which uses the prevailing winds off the sea to carry the sound of voices onstage to the uppermost seats. We walked the hippodrome, where horse races and chariot races and wild animal combat entertained the population. We saw the surviving parts of a 17-mile aqueduct that brought fresh water to the city. We stepped inside the foundations of the government buildings where Paul, after being arrested during riots in Jerusalem, likely made his “I appeal to Caesar” request, which led to his being transported to Rome for eventual sentencing by the emperor. Herod built this city to impress Rome, and even the ruins are still impressive today.

This too was the city to which Peter was invited by Cornelius, a Roman soldier and captain of the Italian Regiment stationed in this new and imperial city (Acts 10). For the first time, I saw how hard it must have been for Peter to go there, to the city build by the hated Herod, a city that represented so many values that would have been abhorrent to faithful Jews. I now understood, at a level I had not previously, why God had to send three visions to Peter to convince him, “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”

These construction projects are only the most lasting and visible of Herod’s achievements. What I hadn’t realized was that Herod wasn’t just interested in his legacy. The massive public works also had a very practical purpose. They employed tens of thousands of workers. And even if they resented the regime over them, men who are employed are not as likely to risk their income by starting a revolt. Herod was no fool. He knew he was hated, but he lowered the risk of an uprising by this enormous economic stimulus.

It is no coincidence that after these projects were ended, when unemployment was high, that a revolt erupted in A.D. 66 that led to Rome crushing the insurrection and destroying Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70.

After this trip, for the first time I could see why, despite his status as one of history’s true villains, he also earned, during his lifetime, the title of Herod the Great.

Coming in part 2: what I learned about Jesus’ fitness.

Marshall Shelley is editor in chief of Leadership.