The Trojan Horse

“And Jesus answered and said to them: ‘Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, “I am the Christ,” and will deceive many’.” [Matthew 24:4,5]

Legend has it that when the Greeks were unable to capture the city of Troy, even after imposing a 10-year siege, they finally resorted to a clever stratagem. The Greek army pretended to sail away and left on the shore a huge, hollow wooden horse as an apparent victory gift. However, the gift was actually filled with several armed warriors!

Sinon, a Greek warrior, is the only volunteer to be “left behind” and become a spy inside Troy. The Greeks pretend to sail away, but plan to come back under the cover of night. Sinon then tells the people of Troy that the horse is a gift to the god Athena to atone for their evil acts against their city. He then persuades the Trojans to bring the horse within the city walls, saying it will mysteriously make Troy invincible. That night Sinon releases the troops hiding in the gigantic horse. After killing the Trojan guards, they open the gates to the waiting Greek soldiers, and Troy is captured and burned.

There are various accounts of different characters who try to warn the Trojans not to accept the gift horse. A Trojan priest expresses, in Virgil’s famous poetic words, “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts,” but is strangled by the god Poseidon before the townspeople hear and believe his warning. Modern historians suggest the horse may have originally been a battering ram. Others think an earthquake provided the necessary break down of walls for soldiers to enter the city. Today we think of a “Trojan horse” as any deceptive strategy used to trick people into bringing an enemy into one’s protected space – such as innocently opening a computer file and infecting your hard drive.

The Trojan horse is a clear illustration for the work of Satan in seeking to deceive people just before Jesus returns. Christ warns us that in the last days “many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many” (Matthew 24:5). The devil will not try to send false Christs only once or twice. Many deceivers will come. Jesus tells us to be careful. Like Virgil’s famous words, we too should “beware of the devil bearing gifts!”