The Crown and the Cross: The Life of Christ by Frank G. Slaughter

subjects by building the great new temple which quickly began drawing Jews from all over the world to reconsecrate themselves to the worship of their God. It also brought money to Jerusalem, both in tribute and in business, and the whole area entered upon a season of unparalleled prosperity.
    Prosperity for the Jews, as for many another people in history, had the effect of lessening nationalistic fervor. Weakening the opposition to Rome and Herod, it at the same time encouraged religious conservatism. A few zealots, often called sicarii because they carried daggers and occasionally used them, sporadically demonstrated against the foreign rulers with short-lived uprisings, but were put down ruthlessly.
    Evidence of Herod’s greatness as a temporal king, if not of his subservience to the Jewish God whom he at least pretended to worship, was everywhere: in the glorious beauty of the temple, the great arenas and amphitheaters that dotted the land, beautiful cities like Sepphoris, Sebaste, and of course the new city of Caesarea, erected upon the site of what had been called Strato’s Tower, with a fine harbor formed by extending a great stone mole into the sea. But though honored by Rome and valued as one of the most dependable of the secondary rulers by Augustus Caesar, Herod found no peace in his latter days. His body wracked by illness, he was forced even on his sickbed to keep a constant watch for those who plotted against him, including his own sons.
    Small wonder was it then that Herod felt the cold hand of fear gripping his heart when word was brought to him one day that three wise men from Arabia sought audience inquiring, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?”
II
    Herod’s pale, almost colorless eyes were unmoved as he heard his chamberlain repeat the question of the wise men. He had killed thousands in order to erase all who might have a claim to the throne he occupied, at one time destroying forty-five members of the highest court, the Sanhedrin, including many prominent members of the Hasmonean dynasty which had furnished kings to Israel. With this record of treachery and murder behind him, he would have no hesitation in putting to death, if he could locate Him, any newborn king.
    For many hundreds of years the Jews had longed for the coming of the one they called the Messiah, or the Lord’s Anointed, but no two of them seemed to have the same opinion concerning this Expected One. That He would be among the descendants of David was generally accepted, since the bloodline of the first really great king of Israel was the noblest and most honored among the Jews.
    “Before the first oppressor was born,” the ancient writings said of the Messiah, “the final Deliverer was already born.” This could only mean that the leader would be a true “Son of the Living God,” another Moses sent to free Israel from the present oppression as truly as it had been delivered from slavery under Pharaoh and led out of Egypt. News of the birth of a new king indicated to Herod that this might possibly be the expected Messiah; hence his fear.
    “Shall I send the wise men on their way, noble Herod?” asked the chamberlain who had brought word of them.
    The king shook his head. “Bring them in. I will question them myself.”
    Tall and dark-skinned, richly dressed and assured in manner, the men were far different from the rascally soothsayers of Arabia and the countries east of the Jordan who thronged to Jerusalem to prey upon travelers. They bowed courteously before Herod, showing the homage due him as king of Israel.
    “What question would you ask me?” Herod inquired.
    The tallest and eldest of the ambassadors answered for the group. “We would know where is He that is born King of the Jews.”
    “I am King of the Jews.”
    The soothsayer shrugged. “It is written, ‘No man shall live forever.’”
    “My sons shall rule in my stead,” Herod insisted.
    The question might well have been asked whether Herod