Around thirty years before Jesus was born in the humble stable of Bethlehem, Cleopatra VII, Egypt’s most famous queen and the last of the Pharaohs, died in Alexandria from an apparent suicide. Her lover, Marc Antony, had died from his own self-inflicted wound just days before. Cleopatra’s kingdom was soon to fall to Octavian, the Roman emperor, and rather than surrender to him, she chose to take her own life in Egypt where she had ruled for 22 years.
In her fascinating book, Cleopatra: A Life, Stacy Schiff explains the queen’s morose decision. Octavian was determined to cart Cleopatra back to Rome and parade her through the streets as another of his conquered foes. Schiff writes, “[Cleopatra] has no intention of returning to a city, in chains, where she had once lived as Caesar’s honored guest. To her mind that humiliation is ‘worse than a thousand deaths’.”[i]
As I read over the account of Cleopatra’s life, I was struck by the contrasts between her and the King of Kings who would be born only shortly after her death. She lived in extravagant wealth and luxury. He had no place to lay His head. She was a ruthless politician who portrayed herself a reincarnated deity. He was a humble carpenter who demonstrated Himself to be the incarnate Son of God. When it came her time to die, she deemed suicide nobler than shame and self-destruction better than humiliation. Jesus willingly humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the cursed death of the cross.
In the end, Cleopatra sought to preserve her name, but because Jesus was willing to obediently suffer, God has given Him a name that is above every name; a name at which one day Cleopatra herself will bow the knee and confess that He is Lord. She was arguably history’s greatest queen, but she disappears beneath the shadow of Him who will reign forever over a kingdom without end. Amen.
Terry Trivette
[i] Schiff, Stacy, Cleopatra: A Life, (Hachette Book Group, New York, eBook edition, 2010), Amazon Kindle Edition
