When I Survey
H. Hoeksema
Book 2, Chapter 4
The King Deprived of His Birthright

"He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God." (Hos. 12:3)

To the history of Jesus' final "hour", the hour in which He was delivered into the hands of the ungodly, tried by them, condemned to death and killed by being nailed to the accursed tree, also belongs the incident of His appearance before Herod to be tried by that representative of royalty on the throne of Israel. We are, of course, acquainted with the main facts of this trial, as well as with the occasion that led up to it. Already the Lord had been tried and condemned by the Jewish council, and found worthy of death. Already He had been taken to the Roman governor, that this representative of Caesar might confirm their sentence and execute it. And before the Roman judge the leaders of the Jews had accused the Savior of perverting the nation, forbidding to pay tribute to Caesar, and making Himself a king. And Pilate had examined Jesus, with the result that he found no fault in Him at all, and frankly declared this result of his investigation to the Jews.

One would have thought that this must needs be the end of the trial, and that upon this official verdict of the Roman judge, the case would have been dismissed, and Jesus would have been acquitted and set free. But Pilate was by no means determined as to the course he was to follow in this case. The matter would have been simple, of course, had he been motivated by the love of justice and a proper sense of his duty as judge. But this was not the case. The matter of truth and justice did not deeply trouble him. But somehow he was struck with fear of Jesus, partly, perhaps, because of what others had told him of this man, partly because of His extraordinary and majestically tranquil appearance, and partly because of the prayer of his wife that he should have nothing to do with this just man. On the other hand, he was also afraid of the Jews, who seemed to be determined to have Jesus put to death, and who became more vehement and fierce in their demands according as Pilate insisted more firmly that Christ was without guilt. And above all, he was afraid of Caesar. And so, he tried to find a way out of the difficulty. Various attempts he made to rid himself of the case. One of these was that he sent Jesus to Herod, as soon as he learned that the Lord was a Galilean, a matter which was the more easily arranged because Herod was in Jerusalem at the time.

What occurred at this trial of our Lord before Herod may be briefly told. Herod was exceeding glad when he saw Jesus. Whatever may have been the chief cause of this gladness, we may be sure that it was the wicked joy of the ungodly that filled his heart at the sight of Christ. He had heard a good deal about the strange power of this man; and his evil, superstitious heart had been troubled at the thought that this might be John the Baptist, whom he had murdered, risen from the dead. The sight of Jesus probably reassured him that there was no cause for this fear. He hoped now that Jesus would perform one of His miracles, but in this he was disappointed. He proceeded to question Jesus with many words but Jesus answered him nothing, from which we may conclude that all the questioning of Herod was quite irrelevant to the case over which he sat in judgment. In the meantime, the Jewish leaders vehemently accused the Lord, which probably had no effect upon the tetrarch at all. But he finally vented his wrath and disappointment upon the Savior, by setting Him at nought with the aid and in the presence of his soldiers, mocking Him, and expressing his contempt for His kingship by arraying Him in a gorgeous robe. However, after this, he too washed his hands of the case, and sent the Lord back to Pilate.

The question arises: what is the special significance of this brief trial of Jesus before Herod? What is the particular place this brief moment occupies in the hour of Jesus' reproach? This question has, of course, no meaning for those who fail to see in the suffering of Christ a complete program, not arranged by man, but by divine wisdom and sovereign determination. They are, perhaps, interested only in the final suffering of Jesus on the cross, pay little attention to what preceded Golgotha, and see in Jesus' trial before Herod nothing but a delay in the approach to the cross, interesting, perhaps, but quite unnecessary. However, if we believe that there was a definite measure of suffering our Lord had to bear, that He must needs suffer the whole of that measure but no more, and that this measure of Jesus' suffering, as well as every detail of its contents, was determined by the sovereign will of the Most High, we understand also that the way to the cross must needs pass through the court of the Galilean tetrarch. And then the question arises: why? Why must the Royal Sufferer meet this wicked descendant of a cruel and blood-stained royal house before He may pour out His soul unto death on the accursed tree?

We answer that there, in the courtroom of Herod, between the cruel king and the Royal Sufferer, the judge and the Defendant, in those few brief moments a battle was fought for Christ's birthright, and, therefore, for His kingship. It is a battle which, on the part of Herod is fought by tempting Him to perform a wonder, a sign, and that, too, while the Jewish leaders vehemently hurl accusations against Him; and by putting Him to nought and mocking Him with respect to His kingship and, therefore, with regard to His birthright, thus making Him feel deeply that according to all human standards of judging the matter, Christ has been deprived of this birthright; while, on the part of Christ, this same battle is fought by His absolute silence, by consistently refusing to show His power by giving them a sign, and by trusting for His birthright absolutely in God alone. Once more, but now in very pressing circumstances, the Royal Sufferer decides to receive His kingdom only in the way of obedience to the Father, i.e. in the way of the cross.

Let us attempt to understand the situation in the light of Scripture.

In Christ and Herod we must see two firstborn, the final representatives of two distinct lines of firstborn, that had fought a mortal battle for the birthright all through the old dispensation. You know that the firstborn of man and beast had special significance among Israel. The firstborn was he that opened the womb, that prepared the way into life for his brethren, that was entitled to a double portion of the inheritance, that had the rule over his brethren, and that, in patriarchal times was heir to the covenant blessing in the special sense of the word. Now, Christ is the Firstborn, of Whom all the firstborn in the old dispensation were types. He was the Firstborn of every creature, by whom and unto whom all things were created, whether things in heaven or things on earth, Col. 1:15ff. He was the firstborn among many brethren, Who was to open the way for these brethren, and lead them into the glory of eternal life. And He was to enter into His birthright as the Firstborn out of the dead. His, therefore, was the birthright. Upon Him was the promise. He was to have the rule over His brethren, and He was to be king for ever in the kingdom of God, Lord of all under God. He was the King God had set upon His holy hill of Zion. And to Him the Lord had said according to His eternal decree: "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost part of the earth for thy possession." Ps. 2:6-8. Upon Him were the sure mercies of David, and of Him the psalmist of old had sung the Word of God: "Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and His throne as the days of heaven." Unto Him the Lord had said: "Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies." Ps. 110:1,2. And had not Gabriel, when he had announced His birth to the virgin of Nazareth, predicted that the Lord would give unto Him the throne of His father David, that He would rule over the house of Jacob for ever, and that of His kingdom there would be no end? Lu. 1:32,33.

That Firstborn, with that glorious birthright, that legal heir to the throne of His father David, was here standing as the defendant before Herod, the only king that occupied a throne in Israel in those days.

He was the firstborn, not according to the flesh, and not by actual birth, but by God's immutable decree, the firstborn according to God's free election, and according to God's sovereign promise. According to the flesh, He was not the firstborn, for always it had pleased the Most High to let the elder serve the younger, that His purpose according to election might stand. For Christ was of the lineage of David, and David was not the firstborn, but the youngest among his brethren. And David was of the tribe of Judah, and Judah was not the firstborn, but the fourth of Israel, yet of him it was said: "thee shall thy brethren serve." And Judah was of Israel, yet again, Israel was not the firstborn, but Esau was, yet it was declared unto Rebekah: "the elder shall serve the younger." Always the child of the flesh occupied the place of the firstborn, and the firstborn according to election came into the world without the birthright! That firstborn, not according to the flesh, but according to the promise of God, and according to sovereign election, now stands face to face with Herod, the king of Israel! And He stands there without birthright, without a throne, without royal dominion and glory, in fact, without any right whatsoever, bound and humiliated, accused and condemned, the wholly disinherited One, the outcast! The Royal Sufferer!

And He stands before Herod!

Who was Herod? He was the last representative of the old dispensational line of the firstborn according to the flesh. Some would recognize in him a very distant descendant of the royal house of David, and thus they would try to explain the fulfillment of the prophecy of dying Israel, that the scepter should not depart from Judah until Shiloh should come. But Herod was an Idumaean, a descendant of Esau, the reprobate standing in the place of the firstborn according to election! There was not a drop of Jewish, let alone Davidic, blood in his veins. After the captivity of Judah, the Edomites had occupied the lands south of Judah, and had become known as Idumaeans. Antipater, the grandfather of Herod Antipas, was governor of Idumaea, and was made procurator of Judaea by the favor of Julius Caesar. And his son, the terrible and cruel Herod the Great, was made king after his father's death. And after the death of that bloody tyrant, his son, Herod Antipas, the same to whom Christ was sent by Pilate, received part of his father's dominion, and became tetrarch of Galilee. Herod was an Edomite! He represented the reprobate line of the firstborn according to the flesh, that had always hated the firstborn according to the election of grace.

When viewed in this Scriptural light, one begins to understand the special significance of this moment of Jesus' "hour", the specific nature of the suffering He here endured, and of the battle He here had to fight as the Royal Sufferer. There was Herod, the firstborn according to the flesh, the reprobate, the wicked, the profane, that despised God's covenant, and still preferred the mess of pottage. But he stood in the place of the firstborn according to the election! He was arrayed in royal purple, surrounded by his men of war. He sat on Zion's throne, or at least, on what was left of it. He had lived by the sword, and his sword had gained him the victory and the throne! And before him stands the Christ, the firstborn according to election, the Anointed of God upon Whom were the promises. But He is deprived of His birthright! He stands before the carnal and profane Edomite without power or glory, shackled and humiliated, accused on every side, judged as a criminal, completely overcome by His enemies! According to all outward appearances the promise had failed, election had been defeated, the power of the flesh had won! Christ is here the King without His birthright!

What shall He do?

Shall He use an arm of flesh, and show His power to overcome the profane firstborn according to the flesh? Thus Jacob, who even in the womb held his brother by the heel to gain the place of the firstborn, had done before he reached Peniel. Put at a disadvantage by his second place in birth, he had not put his trust in God, but devised human schemes to obtain the birthright. Shall this final descendant of Israel now do the same? He is, no doubt able! For He is the mighty Son of God in the flesh. One flash of His eye, one word from His mouth, and the enemy will lie prostrate at His feet! And He is sorely tempted. Herod, "that fox", presses Him to reveal His power, and to perform a miracle. Moreover he does all in his power to humiliate this firstborn according to the election of grace, to humiliate Him more deeply, to put Him to nought more completely, to expose Him as the king without a birthright, without power and glory and majesty! The firstborn according to the flesh here celebrates his victory over the firstborn according to the promise, and he gloats over it and is exceeding glad! He calls in his men of war to mock the Christ. He arrays the Royal Sufferer in the mock robe of royalty to impress more deeply upon Him His defeat. Shall, then, not the Christ consume these enemies by the breath of His mouth, and take His proper seat on Zion's throne. Shall He not take by force the birthright that is denied Him?

But no!

Even in His deepest humiliation He remembers that the way of force is not the Father's way. Or how shall He become the Firstborn among many brethren, of brethren that of themselves lie in the midst of death, if now He refuses to travel the way of His sorrow and humiliation even to the end? Must He not open the womb of death for those whom the Father gave Him, and must He not become the first begotten of the dead, before He can lead them out into liberty and life and glory? But how shall He become the first begotten of the dead, unless He first descends, voluntarily descends into the depth of death and hell? His way, then, the Father's way for Him, is the way of suffering, the way of death, yea, the death of the cross. For He must fight the battle for the righteousness of God against sin and death, and against all the powers of darkness. That battle He is fighting even now, as He stands before the vain and cruel reprobate that occupies the throne of Israel; and that battle He will presently fight to the finish on the accursed tree of Golgotha. And even this son of the flesh, this profane reprobate, can but serve to lead Him to that final battle ground.

That is the reason for His silent endurance.

Once more He refuses to use an arm of flesh, and once more He deliberately chooses the way of suffering and death as the sole way into the glory of His royal birthright. And He puts His trust in God. Of the courtyard of Herod He makes His Peniel, where He wrestles in princely fashion with God, until Israel's God shall have blessed Him. And in this confidence He shall not be put to shame. Not the son of the reprobate, but the Child of the promise shall have the ultimate victory. Yet a little while, and God will fulfill His promise unto Him, will exalt Him through the resurrection to the throne of the firstborn in heaven, and give Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father! The silent Royal Sufferer has the victory for ever!