Part of the Lord’s Prayer in MATTHEW 6 : 9-13 is “…lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…” Claudius contemplates prayer as a way to be delivered from the evil of his own making, but finds he cannot because his will to sin is stronger than his desire to turn away from it in order to seek forgiveness…
Cain’s Curse
GENESIS 4 offers the story of Cain, who killed his brother Abel out of jealousy and anger. In III, iii King Claudius surely recalls his reading of the Genesis account when he says, “O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven; / It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t, /A brother’s murder.” The “primal […]
Herod
MATTHEW 2 : 1-18 records Herod the Great as the insecure king who, upon hearing of Jesus’ birth, sent the wise men to search for the child, bring back word so that he could “come and worship Him also” (Matthew 2 : 8).
Human Sacrifice
Jephthah was an Israelite general who was raised up by God to free His people from 18 years of oppression under the Ammonites. He was a “mighty man of valor” (JUDGES 11 : 1), but he was also a hypocrite in religious devotion and allowed himself to be influenced by the pagan religions of the peoples living around him…
Human Nature
David considers the excellence of God’s creation in PSALM 8 : 4-5, saying, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels…”