Advent: 8 Days to Go
In this installment of our Christmas adventure, Herod’s wrath is unleashed...
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
--Matthew 2:16-18 KJV Bible
Herod the Great was guilty of many brutal acts during his reign as king of Judea. He solved many of his problems by executions and assassinations. In his family alone, Herod killed his brother-in-law, his wife and two of his sons. From the time that Herod heard from the magi of the coming of a “new king,” Herod probably considered this problem no different than any other problem he had gruesomely resolved.
When Herod realized that the magi had left the country without returning to tell him what he wanted to know, his brutality may have received some encouragement. Herod kept to his original plan, but expanded it a bit. Instead of one child, Herod ordered the execution of all the boy babies in the region of Bethlehem that were age 2 years and younger. Matthew tells us that this was based on the time that the magi first saw the “star.” This may not mean that the magi first saw the “star” 2 years earlier. Herod, in his effort to be thorough, may have increased the magi’s number just to be safe.
It has been suggested that since Bethlehem was a small village, the number of male children under the age of 2 years, would probably not have exceeded twenty. This number would not have included the few babies in the surrounding region that were also executed.
Mathew quotes the words of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:15), which depicted the wailing at the time of Israel’s exile. Matthew viewed that calamity and Herod’s new atrocity as part of the same broad picture.
Next time, Mary and Joseph return to Judea and Nazareth...
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16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
--Matthew 2:16-18 KJV Bible
Herod the Great was guilty of many brutal acts during his reign as king of Judea. He solved many of his problems by executions and assassinations. In his family alone, Herod killed his brother-in-law, his wife and two of his sons. From the time that Herod heard from the magi of the coming of a “new king,” Herod probably considered this problem no different than any other problem he had gruesomely resolved.
When Herod realized that the magi had left the country without returning to tell him what he wanted to know, his brutality may have received some encouragement. Herod kept to his original plan, but expanded it a bit. Instead of one child, Herod ordered the execution of all the boy babies in the region of Bethlehem that were age 2 years and younger. Matthew tells us that this was based on the time that the magi first saw the “star.” This may not mean that the magi first saw the “star” 2 years earlier. Herod, in his effort to be thorough, may have increased the magi’s number just to be safe.
It has been suggested that since Bethlehem was a small village, the number of male children under the age of 2 years, would probably not have exceeded twenty. This number would not have included the few babies in the surrounding region that were also executed.
Mathew quotes the words of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:15), which depicted the wailing at the time of Israel’s exile. Matthew viewed that calamity and Herod’s new atrocity as part of the same broad picture.
Next time, Mary and Joseph return to Judea and Nazareth...
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