January 6 is celebrated as Three Kings Day in many cultures. The Book of Matthew tells of the three Wise Kings who traveled with gifts to honor the New King who was born and for whom Christmas is celebrated. When the three arrived at Jerusalem they immediately went to Herod to honor who they thought had a Son. Herod, upset at the thought of a potential usurper, had all male children under the age of two killed. This became known as “the slaughter of the innocents.”

In thinking about this story at this time of year I realized that there are many parallels between Herod and Trump. Below are a few:

Collusion and support.

Herod was a Roman puppet. He colluded with Rome and maintained his kingship with the help of Rome. Trump colluded with Russia and is financed and supported by Russia.

Health.

Both Herod and Trump had heath problems. Herod died at the age of 69 of chronic kidney disease.

“Herod the Great expired from chronic kidney disease probably complicated by Fournier’s gangrene," according to the medical investigative work of  Dr. Jan Hirschmann, M.D., staff physician at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System and professor of medicine at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine.

“The texts that we depend on for a close description of Herod’s last days list several major features of the disease that caused his death—among them, intense itching, painful intestinal problems, breathlessness, convulsions in every limb, and gangrene of the genitalia," says Hirschmann.

Trump is suspected of having undisclosed health problems. His diet is poor and he wouldn’t know a salad if a rabbit came up and showed him. He doesn’t exercise and his recent visit to Walter Reed Hospital confirms this suspicion.

Psychological problems. 

https://www.britannica.com/contributor/Stewart-Henry-Perowne/2289 tells us that “Unfortunately, there was a dark and cruel streak in Herod’s character that showed itself increasingly as he grew older. His mental instability, moreover, was fed by the intrigue and deception that went on within his own family. Despite his affection for Mariamne, he was prone to violent attacks of jealousy; his sister Salome (not to be confused with her great-niece, Herodias’s daughter Salome) made good use of his natural suspicions and poisoned his mind against his wife in order to wreck the union. In the end Herod murdered Mariamne, her two sons, her brother, her grandfather, and her mother, a woman of the vilest stamp who had often aided his sister Salome’s schemes. Besides Doris and Mariamne, Herod had eight other wives and had children by six of them. He had 14 children.…He was a ruthless and paranoid tyrant. He would easily kill his own sons, or one of his wives, or the high priest, if he thought any of these were in any way conspiring against him. And so the thought of a king being born was an immediate threat. Especially if it was the promised Messiah, the king of the Jews.”

He was a narcissist who hand many monuments built to honor himself including the rebuilding of the Temple at Jerusalem. He even built the famous wall at this Temple.

Sounds like trump?

If you believe in reincarnation you might just wonder… Maybe? Just Maybe? If you don’t believe in reincarnation you cannot help but be surprised by the many similarities between the two. Either way one is amazed at how history repeats itself.