~ Bible Study » Daily Devotional~
AN AMAZING FACT: From the Latin gladius, which means
“sword,” gladiators were professional fighters who performed spectacles
of armed combat in the amphitheaters of ancient Rome. The practice of
armed slaves fighting to the death originated in central Italy and
lasted for more than 700 years.
The first gladiator exhibition in Rome was in 264 B.C., when
three pairs of gladiators fought as part of a funeral celebration. By
174 B.C., 37 pairs were participating. On one occasion, Julius Caesar
ordered large-scale exhibitions with 300 pairs of combatants! But the
largest contest of gladiators was ordered by the emperor Trajan as part
of a victory celebration in A.D. 107. It included 5,000 pairs of
fighters! It appears that as the years went by, each generation of
leaders wanted something more horrific, violent, and perverted to keep
the masses entertained.
Gladiators were typically male slaves, condemned criminals, prisoners of war, and sometimes Christians. Forced to become swordsmen, they were trained in schools called ludi, and special measures were taken to discipline them and prevent suicides. Occasionally, freedmen and Roman citizens entered the arena, as did the insane Emperor Commodus. The escaped gladiator Spartacus avenged his captivity by leading an army of slaves in an insurrection that terrorized southern Italy from 73 to 71 B.C.
Sir Edward Gibbon wrote in his classic The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that the mad craze for pleasure and sports is one of the five reasons the empire fell. Is it possible that the world today is following the same yearning for carnal entertainment that lead to the fall of Rome?
Revelation tells us Babylon fell. It says the beast and the false prophet are to be cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, “And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse” (Revelation 19:21).
On this day in which many remember the birth of Christ, let us remember Herod’s horrific murder of innocent children by the sword. The enemies of God’s people who killed with the sword will someday fall by the sword.
Gladiators were typically male slaves, condemned criminals, prisoners of war, and sometimes Christians. Forced to become swordsmen, they were trained in schools called ludi, and special measures were taken to discipline them and prevent suicides. Occasionally, freedmen and Roman citizens entered the arena, as did the insane Emperor Commodus. The escaped gladiator Spartacus avenged his captivity by leading an army of slaves in an insurrection that terrorized southern Italy from 73 to 71 B.C.
Sir Edward Gibbon wrote in his classic The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that the mad craze for pleasure and sports is one of the five reasons the empire fell. Is it possible that the world today is following the same yearning for carnal entertainment that lead to the fall of Rome?
Revelation tells us Babylon fell. It says the beast and the false prophet are to be cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, “And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse” (Revelation 19:21).
On this day in which many remember the birth of Christ, let us remember Herod’s horrific murder of innocent children by the sword. The enemies of God’s people who killed with the sword will someday fall by the sword.
KEY BIBLE TEXTS
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Matthew 26:52
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