The Lesser of Two Lies

Okay, let's pray and we will get started. Lord God, bless Your Word wherever it is proclaimed. Make it a Word of power and peace to convert those not yet Your own and to confirm those who have come to saving faith in You.

May Your Word pass from the ear to the heart, from the heart to the lip, from the lip to the life, that as You have promised, Your Word may achieve the purpose for which You send it. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

With that then, we're gonna return to the story of 1 Samuel. We're gonna be in chapter 21. Little bit of a warning. Today's texts are gonna be gritty. There's just no way around it. Some of the stuff we're going to be reading, you're gonna notice it's very earthly.

The scriptures do not try to shave off some of the hard, ugly edges, especially as it relates to our sin. And I think this is comforting in this sense. I don't know if any of you ever noticed that life can be a bit messy.

Now let me get this off my chest so that I don't have to do this as part of the lesson. But you're gonna note that there's a name in verse 21 and the name is Ahimelech. Ahimelech. Y 'all just kind of sing along if you know how this works.

Ready?

Okay.

Ahimelech, Ahimelech, Ahimelech. Come on, come on, come on. Ahimelech, Ahimelech. Mikey's got it. Ahimelech.

You got it.

I just had to get that off my chest. This is the kind of weird stuff that I did when my kids were growing up and I would read the Bible to them. We'd always take advantage of things like this. And then one of our favorite things to do as a family, I would say, and there was much rejoicing in the land and the kids would go, yay.

First Samuel 21, verse one. David came to Nob. So just by way of reminder, David at this point is on the run. If you remember, Saul has it out for him. And the typology in this story is quite fascinating.

And I mean it. It really is very interesting, but we're gonna have to kind of work through the text and then pull out the typology that points us to Christ. So David is on the run. And as we listen to this first part, pay attention to what the real narrative is because we're gonna see something about how slander works, how lies work.

Lies take facts and spin a false narrative around them. But this early part of our story today is gonna give us the correct narrative, which is important. David came to Nob, Ahimelech the priest, and Ahimelech came to meet David, trembling and said to him, why are you alone and no one is with you?

David said to Ahimelech the priest, the king has charged me with a matter. And he said to me, let no one know anything of the matter about which I send you and with which I have charged you. I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place.

Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread or whatever is here. And the priest answered David, I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread if the young men have kept themselves from women.

David answered the priest, well, truly women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of the young men are holy even when it is an ordinary journey. How much more today will their vessels be holy?

So the priest gave him the holy bread for there was no bread there, but the bread of the presence which is removed from before the Lord to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. Hmm, bread of the presence, hmm, that's weird.

What an interesting name. How fascinating that when we have the Lord's Supper, we believe that it is the bread of Christ's real presence. Just a little bit of a note here. In the setup here, let's make sure we got the facts of the actual narrative correct.

Is Ahimelech aware that David is on the run?

No.

Has David given him any reason to believe that he's on the run? No, in fact, you're gonna note this. David is flat out lying. He's saying things that are not true. They are not true at all. Note, by David not telling the truth to Ahimelech, I would surmise that David here is trying to protect him.

Because if Ahimelech had known that David was on the run and Ahimelech helped David, what would the result be for Ahimelech? Yeah, that's right. He would be acting treasonously. So he is unaware of what's really going on.

David has not told him the truth. And this is going to be vital information because we're gonna see how lies work. Lies take facts and spin a false narrative. That's always how they work. Just keep that in mind.

But in this particular case, Ahimelech totally is acting with integrity, with honesty. He's not doing anything that's treasonous or anything of the sort. This text, by the way, is referenced by Christ himself.

And let's take a look at the cross-reference. And you're gonna note, this is a very fascinating text, Matthew chapter 12. Now I've noted this before, it bears repeating, that the Pharisees were heretics.

They were not true Jews. And I mean this. They had a secondary body of work that they believed was also as equally inspired as the written word of God in their day. And the name of that body of work was called the oral tradition, or the tradition of the elders.

And it was an oral tradition that they say, they claim, God also gave the oral Torah, the oral tradition to Moses on Mount Sinai, and that that was passed down from generation to generation and is equally on par with the word of God.

And in the tradition of the elders, there are very specific and extensive rules as it relates to keeping the Sabbath. And what we're gonna find here is that Jesus' disciples are going to break the Sabbath.

And I have to put that in air quotes. Because the tradition of the elders, which is not biblical, stated that if you were traveling through a grain field and you took standing grain that had matured and was ripe, and took the wheat into your hands and did this with it to get at the kernels, that you were harvesting, and harvesting is work, and work is breaking the Sabbath.

This is how they argue. Those of you who grow wheat, or you've maybe done this before, right? I've never done it. I've never grown wheat. I've only done it with weeds. So that's kind of the setup here for the story.

So at that time, Jesus went to the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry. They began to pluck the heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to Jesus, look, look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

Sorry to interrupt you.

Are any of those oral traditions,.

Actually, any of them. Actually?

Modern Orthodox Judaism is a direct theological descendant of Pharisaical Judaism. And the Talmuds and the Mishnah all come from that tradition. Today's Orthodox Judaism is a direct descendant.

So yeah.

Well, it kind of shows up in the intertestamental period during the 400 years between Malachi and the Gospel of Matthew. It comes full-blown with its own backstory that is totally false. Totally false.

So that's where it comes from. Now note here, the Pharisees are accusing Jesus and his disciples. His disciples directly, Jesus indirectly, because he's allowing it, because Jesus is their rabbi, that they are breaking the Sabbath.

Now I gotta make something clear. I have heard this from so many Christians, evangelicals. They actually believe that Jesus broke the laws of the Sabbath. He never once broke the Sabbath laws, ever. Did he keep the tradition of the elders?

Not at all.

He's guilty of breaking the tradition of the elders, and the tradition of the elders is not authoritative. It's not from God. It's not biblical. No one's bound by it. And so this is part of kind of the subtext of what's going on here.

So look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath. He said to them, have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God, ate the bread of the presence.

Hmm, bread of the presence.

Hmm.

Just saying.

The bread of the presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests. And this is absolutely explicitly stated in scripture, that the bread of the presence is for the Levites, it's for the priests, period.

But here, Christ imputes no fault to Ahimelech. None whatsoever. And watch what it says. Or have you not read in the law, the Torah, how on the Sabbath, the priests in the temple, they profane the Sabbath, and they are guiltless.

So I tell you something, or someone greater than the temple is here, and if you had known what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.

And so now we can see from Christ's own teaching, that in a very real way, because we are put into situations where the only right thing to do is technically the wrong thing, that in that case, we are guiltless, because God requires mercy from us, rather than sacrifice.

That's the idea. So note, David is not condemned for lying. Ahimelech is not condemned by God or Jesus, in either the Old or the New Testament, for giving to David what only should be eaten by priests.

Why?

Because God requires mercy, not sacrifice. Sometimes in this world, the only right thing to do is the wrong thing. And I cannot begin to tell you how many disconcerting conversations I've had with evangelicals when I've taught at different venues around the country, where talking about this very fact, and then invoking Nazi Germany.

You're a Christian in Nazi Germany. You are hiding Jews in your basement in order so that they will not be murdered. And the Gestapo knocks on your door. Are you hiding Jews in your basement? The answer to the question is no.

But I cannot begin to tell you how many Christians I've spoken to who would say, well, it's a sin to lie, so I'm just gonna tell them the truth and trust God will get us out of this.

Yeah, no.

And we actually have godly biblical examples in a situation like that, to lie through our teeth for the mercy and sake of our neighbor. It's scary, but that's actually what these texts are saying. Because we, in this life, are not getting out of this sinless.

And sometimes we will be put into a situation where we're gonna have to make a decision.

Between two wrongs.

And that's the only way out of it. Make the error, make the error, when you have to choose between two wrongs, make the error on the side of saving life rather than killing it, of having mercy. And then come see your pastor and hear the words of absolution for the other one.

That's the idea. So tough stuff here, tough stuff. But Christ himself makes something very clear here in this teaching, which is the straight-up cross-reference to what we just read. Now, our story continues back in 1 Samuel.

Now, a certain man of the servants of Saul was there while David was talking to Ahimelech. And he was detained before the Lord. His name was Doeg the Edomite. This little bit of information is going to be really, really interesting when we take a look at the typology.

Doeg the Edomite. Who were the Edomites? Yeah, well, yes, they did live in Edom. Okay, Jacob and Esau, the descendants of Esau. Esau, his name was also Red. Yeah, because he was red and hairy. The descendants of Esau become known as the Edomites.

And then later in the ancient world, the same area where they are from becomes inhabited by what later become known as the Idumaeans, the Idumaeans. Now, just, I know, hold on, just, Janet. Janet's sitting there going, wow, now the lights are coming on.

No, I know.

Just hang on to this bit of information. It's going to be critical when we get to the typology because this story prefigures something very interesting in the New Testament, but you're not quite seeing it yet.

But this Doeg the Edomite, think of him as an ancient relative of the Idumaeans. Just keep that in mind. Janet, stop rolling your eyes. Just write it down. Just write it down. Idumaean, I-D-E-U. All right, so Doeg the Edomite's there.

He's the chief of Saul's herdsmen. So then David said to Ahimelech, Ahimelech, they have you, then have you not here a spear or a sword at hand? For I have brought neither my sword nor my weapons with me because the king's business required haste.

The priest said, the sword of the Goliath, the Philistine, whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah, behold, it is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it, for there is none but that here.

David said, there is none like that. Give it to me. So note, Ahimelech still doesn't know, has no clue David's on the run. He's not acting treacherously or treasonously. He's acting in good faith, believing that David is on a special secret mission from Saul.

So David rose and fled that day from Saul and went to Achish, the king of Gath. The story here is gonna get even more interesting. Achish, the king of Gath. I want you to think for a second here. David is going to the land of his enemies.

He's left Israel and gone to the big enemy state. Who has David made a career out of killing? Philistines. If you're not sure about this, remember the bride price for Michal. It was 100 Philistine foreskins.

He gave him two, 200. David and the Philistines are not exactly chummy, is a good way of putting it. So David rose and fled. Saul went to Achish, the king of Gath. Gath is in the land of the Philistines.

And the servants of Achish said to him, is not this David, the king of the land? Love it how the Philistines recognize that David's the king. Did not they sing to one another of him in dances? Saul has struck down his thousands.

David, his 10 ,000s. And 10 ,000 who's?

Philistines.

So David's life is in danger. And so his solution to this problem is quite fascinating. So David took these words to heart and he was much afraid of Achish, the king of Gath. So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let a spittle run down his beard.

Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da.

Is that lying?

Yes.

It's lying, not with words, but lying with your actions.

I plead insanity.

Let's go fly a kite.

Anyway.

But it saves his life.

It's just rather fascinating. So Achish said to his servants,.

Behold, see this man is mad.

Why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this fellow to behave as a madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? We're just gonna let this sit here for a second because there's a little bit of typology here.

But let us kind of sit here. Let's continue with the story and then we'll come back. Chapter 22. So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adulam. And when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him and everyone who was in distress and everyone who was in debt and everyone who was bitter in soul gathered to him and he became commander over them.

And there were with him about 400 men. David went from there to Mizpah of Moab and he said to the king of Moab, let, please let my father and my mother stay with you till I know what God will do for me.

And he left them with the king of Moab. They stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold. And the prophet Gad said to David, do not remain in the stronghold. Depart, go into the land of Judah.

So David departed and went into the forest of Horeb. Now Saul heard that David was discovered and the men who were with him, Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with a spear in his hand and all the servants were standing about him backing up just a smidge.

David departed from there and everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, everyone who was bitter in soul gathered to him. A little bit of a note here. Does that not sound like Jesus? When Jesus is out in the wilderness or he's teaching, who comes to Jesus?

Who are the multitudes that come to Jesus? The sick, the lame, the lepers, the blind, the mute, the deaf, the demonized, all this. So you'll notice that David's posse is made up of all of the outcasts of Israel.

The down and out. How does this not prefigure Christ? Jesus in his ministry, this was his wheelhouse. These were the people he reached out to who he had mercy on. And it's this exact same kind of motley crew that David now is surrounded by.

It's wonderful how it's prefigured there. Wonderful. So we see now that David is in Judah but before we talk about that a little bit, the question is how do we resolve typologically this idea that King David was supposedly insane?

Now granted, Janice already pointed out that he was engaging in, well, an Academy Award winning performance and it was quite deceptive and it saved his bacon. Now I would note here, since we're always trying to figure out where Christ is in all of this, let's take a look at a cross reference.

Mark chapter three. I want you to see this because it's just fascinating.

Verse 20.

Then he went home, Jesus went home, the crowd gathered again so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him for they were saying he is out of his mind. Isn't that interesting?

In Jesus' own ministry, there was a time when they thought Jesus had lost his cookies. That he was not playing with the full deck. That he was a taco short of a combo plate. All of these things. And yet he wasn't.

And isn't it fascinating that King David put on the pretense of being insane? Again, all of this in weird typology, you can draw connections between David, the anointed but not yet coronated King of Israel, which makes him a Messiah in type and shadow, and the Messiah where all of this resolves.

I just think that's kind of fascinating. Yes, sir. Yeah, it's kind of one of the mercy things that many cultures still kind of hold on to today. I mean, even in our own law, somebody can plead insanity.

If they've committed a crime and it can actually be demonstrated that they're out of their mind, our legal system has mercy on them and doesn't give them the full measure of justice in that case. And they may end up in an institution for the rest of their life and being cared for.

But even we recognize that when somebody's mental faculties are not there, that we mercifully do not hold them accountable for stuff. That's kind of the idea. So, and that's a practice that goes all the way back into the ancient world.

Like natural law.

Yeah, it is kind of, it is natural law. If it's really somebody's out of their mind, they're not in control of what they're doing.

They're not.

So we'll note that Jesus was accused of being insane by his family nonetheless. But we come back now to the story. So David is in Moab and he's told by the prophet Gad to not remain in the stronghold where he's at.

And you'll notice over and again,.

God directly intervenes on behalf of David. And without God's intervention, David would not have made it through this period in his life. So Saul heard that David was discovered. We got that. Saul was sitting in Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand and all his servants were standing about him.

We noted last week that spear. I like to, again, it never hits David. But there's that spear. And you gotta think of Saul at this point as kind of like a stand in for the devil. He has these murder thoughts.

He wants David killed. And so that spear ultimately does hit the son of David, which is Jesus. So I always find that spear element to a great kind of meditative reminder of Christ being literally speared by a Roman soldier.

Saul said to his servants who stood about him, here now, people of Benjamin, will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards? Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that all of you have conspired against me?

No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse, none of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie and wait as at this day.

Now, isn't that backwards? Saul is literally putting this narrative out that David is out to get Saul. That the reason why he's on the run is so that ultimately he could kill Saul. In psychological terms, we call this projecting.

Who's the one harboring the murderous thoughts? Saul is. So Saul is taking his murderous intent and projecting it onto David. David is trying his darndest to not come in contact with Saul, lest he be killed, God intervening on his behalf, and yet Saul is the one saying, David's out to get me, we better kill him.

Notice how backwards, upside down, inside out his mind is. This is what sin does, it twists and it distorts. So the narrative is false. The narrative that Saul is spewing is total nonsense. The truth of the matter is, he's the one who has it out for David.

It's not the other way around. Isn't that interesting? That's the nature of these things. So then answered Doeg the Edomite. Remember, Doeg the Edomite and the Idumeans, there's a connection there, but just note here, Doeg the Edomite now shows up, who stood by the servants of Saul.

He said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahuthab. And he inquired of Yahweh for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath, the Philistine. Now a little bit of a note here.

Has Doeg the Edomite said anything that is factually untrue?

No.

Every one of those facts are straight up the truth. Watch the narrative that Saul spins around these facts. So then the king sent to summon Ahimelech, the priest, the son of Ahuthab, and all his father's house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king.

And Saul said, hear now, son of Ahuthab. And he answered, here I am, my lord. And Saul said to him, why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, and that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him so that he has arisen against me to lie in wait as at this day?

That's what we call a loaded question. A loaded question has an assumption in it that is not true. So you'll note he's taken the facts and now here's the narrative. The new narrative is that Ahimelech has conspired with David and helped David as David has it out for Saul and wants to kill him.

And that giving him provisions, inquiring of the Lord for him, and giving him a sword were all part of the conspiracy. Is that how it happened?

Nope.

He didn't even know who he was.

Well, he knew who he was, but David never told him the truth about why he was there. Never once told the truth.

David clearly

He didn't ask, did he?

He was asked. Ahimelech asked David, why are you here? And David said, I'm on a secret mission. So David lied to Ahimelech. And I think in order to save his own life so that Ahimelech was not part of any conspiracy.

So is Ahimelech truly innocent or is he guilty?

He's innocent because he doesn't know us.

Yeah, he's totally innocent. Totally innocent. He's done nothing wrong. Nothing. He has not been part of a conspiracy, but notice what Saul has done. Why have you conspired against me? And he spun the facts with a different narrative around it that is totally false.

So it makes him look guilty.

Right, exactly.

Yeah.

And I'm gonna just say this. In our postmodern culture, one of the reasons why I have a hard time watching the news, and it doesn't matter if the news is left or right, one of the things I have noticed is that, what you'll see is that two different news outlets are reporting on the same facts and each of them have spun different narratives around those facts.

That's a problem. When we think that we can somehow know what somebody is thinking or feeling or what they're motivated by without actual evidence, that somehow we can look into their mind and know what their motive is, and then take facts and spin a false narrative around that, that's just wickedness.

And it happens every day on the news. Every day in the newspapers, in the magazines, on the internet. And I have seen this happen to friends of mine in the ministry, and I myself have experienced this exact same tactic where facts are spoken and then a false narrative is woven around them.

This is a tactic of the devil. You'll note Saul's the one doing this, not David. Very dangerous stuff.

This is the whole,.

This is what makes gossip so juicy to listen to. You get the phone call from her.

Have you heard what so-and-so did? No, what they do. I saw them there. Oh, what does it mean?

Oh, well, we all know what that means.

The reason why he was there.

Is because he's a dirty, cheating, lying, filthy scumbag. Right, because that could be the only reason why he was there.

And then what do you do when you get off the phone? You call the next person. You call the next person. Did you hear that he was there?

No.

Right.

But here's the, okay, here's the idea. This is a flat-out breaking of the Eighth Commandment. It's a flat-out breaking of the Eighth Commandment. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

And when somebody calls you on the phone or posts something on social media and says,.

Have you heard the word about so-and-so?

Your response should be this. This is not your story to tell. This is not yours to tell. And even if your neighbor truly is in sin, the way sin is addressed is not by you and everybody else getting on the phone, getting on Facebook, and letting the whole world know about this person's sin.

The way sin is addressed is you lovingly go to your neighbor and you say, brother. Brother, you need to repent. But see, we live in an age where we get some juicy bit of information, a bunch of facts and a false narrative, and we want to let the whole world know what an evil, rotten scumbag that person is.

You know why?

Because in letting the whole world know what an evil, rotten scumbag that person is, we somehow make ourselves look like we're holy and righteous. Well, at least I'm not like him. So this is, you see this here in action now, kind of deconstructing it.

What Doeg the Edomite said, factually true. The narrative spun by Saul around the facts, totally bogus. And what's going to result here? So why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him so that he's risen against me to lie and wait as at this day?

Himalek answered the king. And who among all of your servants is so faithful as David? Who is the king's son-in-law and captain over your bodyguard and honored in your house? Is today the first time that I've inquired of God for him?

No, let not the king impute anything to a servant or to all the house of my father, for your servant has known nothing of all this much or little. Is a Himalek speaking the truth? Yes, he is, he is. So the king said, you shall surely die.

Guilty or innocent? Innocent, he has done nothing deserving death. So Himalek, you and all of your father's house or you're gonna die. King said to the guard who stood about him, turn and kill the priests of Yahweh because their hand is also with David and they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.

Did they know that he fled and didn't disclose it to them?

Nope.

So the king has now given the order for the priest to die. The servants of the king would not put out their hand to strike the priest of the Lord. No way, we are not killing these men of God.

No way.

So the king said to Doeg, all right, you turn and strike the priests. And Doeg, the Enamite, turned and struck down the priests and he killed on that day, 85 persons who wore the linen ephod and nob at the city of the priests, he put to the sword both man and woman, child and infant, ox, donkey and sheep, he put to the sword.

This is thick. They could have ended up dead as well, but they didn't. They wouldn't do this because they knew what he was doing was straight up wrong. They went against the king.

They had lived.

Now, this story is type in shadow of one y 'all are familiar with. Turn with me to Matthew chapter two. And Janet, this is where all that trivia comes into play. I hope you'll like it then. Sorry, ancient Hebrew names, not really compatible with modern.

You don't have to do said only in Hebrew.

Yeah.

Matthew chapter two. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. A little bit of a historical note here. Who's king of Israel at this time?

Text has said it. Herod, is he a Jew? Nope, nope. He's Idumean. No joke. He's an Idumean. Wise men came from the east to Jerusalem saying, where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? Yeah, Herod not so thrilled with this news that there's one who's been born the king of the Jews and he's an Idumean, which means the descendant of the Edomites.

We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. And Herod, the king, when he heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And the assembly of all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ, the Messiah was to be born.

They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet. And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

So then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go, search diligently for the child and when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him.

After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where this child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother and they fell down and worshiped him.

Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh and being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Now, when they had departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.

Remember, David fled to the land of the Philistines. Christ here is fleeing to Egypt.

Fascinating.

He rose, took the child and his mother by night, departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt, I have called my son.

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious. He sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem, the death of the innocents. And in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men, then what was fulfilled by the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled.

A voice was heard in Ramah weeping, loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more. Isn't that interesting? Death of the innocents, the murder of the innocents by a satanic, self-obsessed, power-hungry, power-protecting, murderous king like Herod.