The Product of the Seed

It's Christmas again. My favorite part of the Christmas story is the wise men. I get so much joy reading and studying them. Here is just one thing that exploded inside of me some years ago.

I was preaching on the wise men on a Sunday morning. Somehow I got to church early with a lot of time on my hands, so I decided to sit down and re-read Matthew 2:1-12 in the Greek testament. In reading, I came to verse 2, the wise men asking Herod, "Where is He That is born King of the Jews?"

Now you must know that for years I had wondered why Herod went so ballistic when the wise men showed up with their question. Why was a baby so unsettling to Herod? Why did he kill all the babies in Bethlehem, just to get at Jesus? I know he was very insecure, but really....

So...reading this verse, I stopped short. Wait a minute! That is not the word for "born". This is a weird choice of words here. It was not gennao or apokueo. Instead the word was tikto (pronounced kind of like "tiptoe through the tulips", except "ticktoe"). Tikto has to do with fruit production, and is literally translated "that which comes from the planted seed", "the fruit of the seed".


So the wise men said to Herod, "Where is He That is the product of the seed, the King of the Jews." They were specifically referring to Genesis 3:15, "the seed of the woman." And they were telling Herod, "Your time is up, the real, long-awaited King of the Jews has come. We want to see THAT King, if you know where he is, please."

And, today, people have no problem with "Merry Christmas" and Christmas trees and gifts, etc. But when people truly worship the "Product of the Seed", bombs go off. People go ballistic. Play your holiday games - fine. But really bring Jesus into the mix - uh oh!

This year, may you come face-to-face with the Product of the Seed! Merry Christmas!