16Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
| 18"A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more." |
There is one other time I remember reading about a king decreeing that all male children would be killed. When the children of Israel multiplied and grew in strength in Egypt, the king of Egypt made them slaves for fear that they would become too powerful. As they continued to grow, he decreed that all male children would be murdered. Moses was one who was saved when all the other children were murdered. Moses was to be the one to lead his people to the promised land. Again a king is decreeing that all male children be murdered. Not because of a fear of a multitude, but because of the fear of one. Here Jesus was the one who was saved when all the other children were murdered. Jesus would be the one to lead the people to their salvation.
I was surprised to see that Harod put to death all male children aged two and under. He had consulted with the wise men to determine when the King of the Jews had been born. Has it now been two years since Jesus was born? If so, why would Harod wait two years before taking action? How old was Jesus when the wise men came to visit him? Did the wise men visit a new born baby as I have set up in my nativity set every Christmas, or were they visiting Jesus as a 2-year-old? If Jesus was already 2 years old when the wise men came, why did Joseph and Mary spend two years in Bethlehem? Or did they leave Bethlehem right after Jesus birth then spend these two years in Egypt? I do not have the answers to these questions, but it does give other possible perspectives on the wise men's visit to Jesus.
What were the Jews in relation to the king at this time? It seems like they were still oppressed, but were they slaves again? Is a king's decree to murder children a very common occurrence in history? The question comes up later in Jesus' life about whether or not it is lawful to pay taxes to their king. This question has even more weight when you consider that their king does things like murder all male children ages two and under.
I have a tough time relating the scripture quoted with what happened at Bethlehem. I can easily understand how the women of Bethlehem would be weeping and could not be comforted when their children were murdered. But it is hard to see how that fulfills the prophesy of the text in Jeremiah.
I went back to read the text in Jeremiah: Jeremiah 31:15. Footnotes in my Bible say this text is about the time of the captivity of the Children of Israel in Babylon and that this is the same Rachel who was one of the wives of Jacob who was later renamed Israel. Why would she be weeping for the loss of her children? The only one who died before her as far as she knew was Joseph. Her other sons had claimed that Joseph was killed by a wild animal though in actuality they had sold him to Egypt. Rachel was dead many generations before the Children of Israel were taken captive by Babylon. In fact, she was dead before her children even went to Egypt. So why was she weeping that her children were no more?
The only connection that I can make is that Rachel was one of the mothers of Jacob's sons who formed the 12 tribes of Israel. With the children of Israel being captured, the 12 tribes were no more. The text from Jeremiah could be just a symbolic mourning of the end of the 12 tribes of Israel. It makes me wonder if it is mentioned now because it even more completely fulfills the prophesy, not because of the death of the children of Bethlehem, but because of the birth of Jesus. With Jesus there will be no more Children of Israel, no more chosen people. Jesus came for everyone.