Fearful possibilities had begun to suggest themselves to the new convert.

Now had he the flinty heart and the cunning mind of his fathers.

The darkness had begun to smother and sicken him.
"Hear me now, good friends," said a low, calm, but unfamiliar voice, "and let my words enter your hearts and be there cherished in secret, for I shall tell you a name, and for its safe-keeping you shall answer to the Most High.

Know you, then, that the new king is no other than the son of Herod and his name is Antipater--a man of great valor, learned in all wisdom and all mystery, who loves the people of God.
His heart has suffered, feeling the wrongs of Israel.

He has the voice of wrath, the hand of power, and the claim of a just and natural inheritor.