Good morning,

You’ve heard of Herod the Great. His great vanity meant he served himself to the great detriment of others – but today I reflect on how God used Herod’s selfish endeavors for much greater purposes.

But first, here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, March 20, 2020
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• These are challenging times, but not as unique as the historically illiterate media and political class might us want to think. Over at PJ Media, Tyler O’Neil writes that an objective reading of history shows how the “selfless love” of early Christians saved lives during two plagues that killed up to a third of the Roman Empire’s population.
       
• Declaring a statewide public health emergency, Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the closure of all bars, dine-in restaurants, and schools. As Cary Cheshire reports, the closure runs through midnight on April 3, though takeout and drive-thru restaurants can continue to operate. His ban also orders a halt to nursing home visitations except for those in critical care.
      
• Meanwhile, Abbott has also issued a waiver to state law allowing dining establishments to deliver alcoholic beverages with food purchases.
            
• Lastly, in a statewide broadcast last night Abbott said the Republican and Democratic parties are working on an agreement to delay primary runoff elections. An announcement could come as soon as today. Check out TexasScorecard.com throughout the day, visit the Empower Texans Facebook page, or follow Brandon Waltens on Twitter!
     
• After two years of hiding public voter data, the state’s biggest county will finally disclose records of foreigners illegally voting in Texas elections, ending a court battle initiated by an election integrity group. Erin Anderson reports on the big win for clean elections and transparency.
      
• With states and localities postponing elections, the Wall Street Journal’s Bryon Tau looks at what would be involved if Congress wanted to move the November general election or mandate operational changes.
      
• Let’s be clear about something: it is the Chinese coronavirus. I get why the brutal, murderous communist government of China is haranguing its media puppets into manufactured outrage over a time-honored colloquial naming scheme as a way to protect its fragile PR image. Less evident is why some insist on capitulating to them. And, no, calling it “COVID-19” isn’t scientific, either. It’s just weak.
     
• Folks get to chose what they are outraged, inflamed, or insulted by; I refuse to expend energy keeping track of what triggers the countless (and constantly shifting) sensitivities of a culture that has capitulated to the cult of victimhood

Friday Reflection

by Michael Quinn Sullivan

Anyone remotely familiar with the New Testament, Roman history, or Middle Eastern archeology will have come across the name “Herod the Great.” A megalomaniacal, murderous ruler, he certainly wasn’t a great man.

But he can be remembered for some truly “great” structures. He is rightly known for colossal building projects during his 30-year reign over Judea as a vassal of the Roman empire.

Herod’s great construction projects remain impressive, even today. In addition to the remains of the Temple Mount, there is the massive fortress near the Dead Sea known as Masada, upon which he built not one but two palaces for himself. Yet there is no record he ever visited either one. Nothing, though, speaks to the selfishness of his “great” construction projects like the massive Herodium. Herod essentially built an entire mountain into a monument to himself.

Yet his most sprawling construction project was a massive maritime complex along the Mediterranean Sea. He named it Caesarea Maritima (with “maritima” meaning "by the sea"), as a way to appease his Roman overlord, Ceasar Augustus.

The manmade harbor was massive, the outlines of which are visible still today. While in use, it rivaled the largest harbors of Egypt and Italy. He built a royal palace equidistant between a theater complex and a hippodrome – the site of chariot races and other contests. The city itself became the seat of Roman government for the region; the port served as a superhighway from Israel to Rome and, therefore, the world.

One of the last things we know Herod the Great did was order the murder of all the young boys born in Bethlehem – worried about the message those wise men from the east had delivered about the birth of the Jewish messiah. 

How could Herod “the Great” do such a thing? Sick, old, and suffering from lifelong paranoia, Herod had grown increasingly suspicious of anyone and everyone as a threat to his rule. Several years before Jesus’ birth, Herod had two of his own sons executed on suspicions they were conspiring against him.

In a bit of eternal irony, Caesarea by the Sea is the place where the first Gentile – a ranking Roman soldier and his family – was baptized as a follower of Jesus. And so that port, named to honor a Roman pagan with delusions of divinity, became the place where the subversive Gospel of Christ left the backwaters of Israel and spread across the globe.

Herod built to promote himself, but God used those grandiose projects to advance His Kingdom. Herod’s greatest buildings are now little more than ordered rubble, but the church of Jesus thrives.

Each of us must ask ourselves if we are using our talents and abilities in service to self, or something bigger.