Where is He who is born king of the Jews? Matthew 2:2

All my adult life I wondered why Herod went ballistic when the wisemen came to him and asked this question of him. One Christmastime Sunday morning, I was preaching about the wisemen. I arrived a little early at the church and had time to review my message. I decided to read the passage from my Greek New Testament. In doing so, I suddenly stopped at verse 2 on the word "born". Something was wrong, this wasn't the normal Greek word for "born". And why was this word chosen over the normal word for born?

I began to research the issue, and found the answer to my long-asked question. There are four Greek words for "born", this being the last one normally used. This word (teek'-tow) places emphasis on the product, rather than the process. It doesn't focus on the conception or the gestation, but rather the finished product itself.

In a literal sense, the wisemen were asking Herod, "Where is he, the product of the seed, the king of the Jews?" And that is what made Herod go crazy (I should say, crazier). He wasn't the true king of the Jews. He had usurped that position and had gotten Rome to validate it. Inside, he always knew that his position was tenuous, at best. Now here come these wisemen (read, goofballs, to Herod) who want to know where the king of the Jews is. And they identify him perfectly, and separate him from Herod and his offspring. All in one word!

When Adam and Eve sinned, God promised the devil, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15). For centuries, the Jews had looked for the seed of the woman, the Messiah (read, Product of the Seed) to come. And Herod, being part Jew, would certainly be aware of this most prominent promise among the Jews. He knew his time was soon to be up, and the devil in him knew as well.

Thus begins the bruising of His (the Messiah's) heel with the killing of the babies in Bethlehem.
Thus begins the bruising of Satan's head with the birth of, the appearance of, the product of the seed, the Messiah.
And just mention Jesus in public, and watch "Herod" go ballistic. Same results today as when He was born a baby in Bethlehem.

This is a glorious season, Christmas, set in the midst of political, financial, social, and personal upheaval. Why does it happen that way? To remind us that the Product of the Seed has come, He has bruised Satan's head. And very soon, He will destroy Satan's influence over the people of the earth forever. Christmas is still a foretaste of that which is to come.