What is the Massacre of the Innocents?

His anxieties were heightened by the visit of the Magi to Jerusalem, inquiring for the child who had been born KING OF THE JEWS. Herod cunningly sought to find out what child was to have this honour, that he might at once cut him off. Being thwarted by the Magi he ordered the massacre of all the infants in the district; but God had sent away His Son from his power. Matt. 2:1-22. Herod died B.C. 4. This was the first earthly 'power' that had anything to do with the Lord Jesus. We know from Rev. 12:1-5 that Satan was really the actor through Herod; but he was defeated then and will be again and again until his final doom.

Herod, however, angry because the wise men did not return to him, gave orders for the murder of every boy up to two years of age in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. This accorded with the time the wise men had told him the star appeared. One might question why he included even new-born babies; but no doubt he was determined to allow no possibility of any margin of error; in Case, for instance, that the star appeared earlier than the child's birth, so as to bring the wise men to Bethlehem about the time of his birth. On the other hand, if it were over a year since the child had been born, then he would make it two years, to be sure that his evil plan should work. How foolishly ignorant and vain is the enmity of man against God! Contemporary history also reports that Herod was a dying man at this time. Yet his self-centered pride could tolerate no thought of a rival, though only a child!

Another Scripture (Jer.31:15) is here fulfilled in the pathetic weeping and great mourning of Rachel. She is used of course as symbolical of the many mothers of Israel's children. Herod's wicked cruelty does not succeed in its purpose, but inflicts suffering and sorrow on large numbers.

Here in Matthew 2 we read of the calculating cruelty of Herod, who in aiming his blow at the children clearly intended to put an end to the One who threatened his throne. No doubt it was the devil who, well knowing Who it was that had been born, moved Herod to perpetrate such an atrocity (Revelation 12:4). Its purpose fails. Joseph is warned of the danger and takes "the young child and His mother" and flees into Egypt. Nevertheless the blow falls and who can tell the sorrow that it must have entailed? Though the circumstances and geographical location were different Jeremiah 31 verse 15 is applied as expressing the grief of those affected. The very next verse in Matthew 2 records the death of Herod. He was soon called from his seat and will stand before the great white throne for judgment as Revelation 20:11-15 describes. The remainder of the chapter explains why, though born in Bethlehem, our Lord was brought up in Nazareth, and notices the general testimony of the Old Testament prophets that He would be the more despised and rejected on that account.

In Herod we see unscrupulous power allied with craft. When thwarted by the action of the wise men, he took, as he thought, no chances in his murderous onslaught on the children of Bethlehem. The fact that he fixed the limit of exemption at two years would indicate that the period between the appearing of the star and the arrival of the wise men at Jerusalem must have run into months. His ruthless and wicked action brought about a fulfilment of Jeremiah 31:15. If that verse be read with its context it will be seen that its final and complete fulfilment will be in the last days, when God will finally cause Rachel's weeping to cease by bringing her children back from the land of the enemy. Nevertheless what took place at Bethlehem was the same kind of thing on a smaller scale.

"Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared" (ver. 7). I call your attention to that, as confirming what I said before. It was after the diligent enquiry of the king from the wise men that he settled in his own mind at what time the Child must have been born. When they, warned of God, had withdrawn themselves instead of returning to Herod, he sent forth the cruel command to kill the children in Bethlehem and all the coasts "from two years old and under" - he naturally inferred that there had been a considerable lapse of time between the birth of Christ and the giving of his wicked order.

Mark the next phase. You will remember that Herod had diligently enquired what time the star appeared. Now he is enraged, and commands that all the children, or more correctly male children, in Bethlehem and all the coasts thereof are to be slain, from TWO YEARS OLD AND UNDER, "according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men" (verse 16).

The great red dragon stood up to destroy the Man-child as soon as He was born (Rev. 12), and to escape his murderous intention through Herod, Joseph, at God's bidding, took the young Child and His mother by night and departed into Egypt, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son.”

But there was bitter sorrow for the mothers of Bethlehem , “for Herod was exceeding wroth 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 that he had diligently enquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet saying, 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.” But what comfort there would have been for them if they had turned to the Scripture which spoke of their sorrow. There we read, “The Lord hath appeared of old unto Me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an ever-lasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. . . Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears, for thy work shall he rewarded saith the Lord, and they shall come again from the land of the enemy; and there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border” (Jer. 31).

But at this point a problem faces us. Micah had said that Bethlehem was to be the place of the birth of Christ, but fifty years earlier Hosea had spoken the word of God saying, "I … called my son out of Egypt." This problem, however, is solved by the fact that the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and warned him that Herod would seek the young child's life. So be arose and "he took the young child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt" (2:14). And when this was done we read, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet [note again that the Lord is the speaker] saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son" (2:15).

We should have thought that the birth of the long-promised Deliverer would have filled the land with joy, but instead Jeremiah had spoken of lamentation and bitter weeping. This also was fulfilled when Herod in his determination to destroy Jesus commanded that all the children in Bethlehem under the age of two should be slain, for we read, "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 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" (2:17-18).

It is a striking testimony to the value of God's Word that Herod, in the middle of his confusion, is obliged to turn to, and listen to Scripture. When he gets the knowledge, he turns it to bad account, like many another sinner. "Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also." He had no thought of that. That was mere deceit on his lips. He was set on murder, not worship, in his heart. You know what took place. Although on his deathbed, as we are told, he sent out his headsmen, "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." Such is man's hatred, that he plots, as soon as he hears of His birth, to cut off the blessed Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now do you not think it startling when you come to look at Scripture, and at what God tells us about His Son? Yes, it is very startling! He was not wanted. Herod's awful project the magi did not aid in carrying out. When they had seen and worshipped the Lord, they repaired, warned of God, to their own country. Scripture tells us that "being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way."

And when they were departed Joseph had a dream. Joseph got a word from the Lord. And the wise men got a word from the Lord also, and they are obedient. They are obedient as well as worshipful. That same night apparently Joseph had a dream, saw an angel, and heard this word: "Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt." Only think that the Son of God, come here to save man, must flee the land of His nativity in order to escape the murderous intent of man. In the darkness of night — to evade observation — a start is made for Egypt. But why Egypt? "That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son." How wonderful are the ways of God! These words, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt" (Hosea 11:1), are to be fulfilled. You may say, How can that be? Christ retraces in His own Person the pathway of Israel, and He begins that history in Egypt, out of which He comes when Herod was dead. You then find Him at the Jordan, which Israel also crossed. And in the fourth chapter of Matthew we find Him in the wilderness, where Israel utterly failed, but He did not fail. In all this pathway of Jesus you are on truly historic ground. He was the true Israel — spoken of so often by Isaiah. Jesus was going to take up in His own history the responsibility of the people of God, and that is what enables Him to be a Saviour. Where every other man had failed, He glorified God, and then, in grace, died for those who had failed, and therefore needed redemption. His perfection as a Man qualified Him to be the Redeemer.

The going down into Egypt, then, was that Scripture might be fulfilled, and the next thing we read is that Herod sends out his bloody edict that another Scripture might be fulfilled. "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, "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" (Matt. 2:16-18; Jer. 31:15). Why Rachel's voice? While Bethlehem belonged to the tribe of Judah, Benjamin was next to them; and you recollect Benjamin was Rachel's son. Bethlehem is first mentioned in connection with Rachel's death (Gen. 35:16-20), and her sepulchre was "in the border of Benjamin, at Zelzah" (1 Sam. 10:2). This bit of land, belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, dipped down into the land of Judah; and about a mile north of Bethlehem, on the main road from Jerusalem and Bethel, the site of her tomb is marked by a little building to this day. Herod was so determined to sweep the coast clear, that not only in Bethlehem, but in "the coasts thereof," i.e., the parts of Benjamin just alluded to, were the children slain.

The quotation from Jeremiah is a remarkable application of Old Testament Scripture. Rachel had been dead for centuries and centuries, but the Spirit of God puts it in this remarkable way, as if her spirit had risen from the dead; and in connection with this fearful slaughter of so many of her own children, as well as the murdered infants of the tribe of Judah, Rachel's voice is lifted up in weeping, and her cries of sorrow are heard even in Ramah, the chief town of Benjamin. It is highly interesting to see how one passage of Scripture interprets another, and is interwoven with all Scripture. We should not have expected Rachel to meet us here, but, as I said before, Bethlehem was the place where she died. There also her children died, just because it was the spot where her Saviour and theirs, and thank God, my Saviour, was born. Is He your Saviour? If He is, we shall both thank God for Bethlehem by-and-by.

In the following three verses we read of the satanic rage of Herod when he finds that the wise men did not return and all the boys in Bethlehem and in all its borders from two years and under were slain. "Then it was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying: A voice has been heard in Rama, weeping and great lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not." The wicked deed is but a beginning of the sorrows of Israel on account of the rejection of the King. His blood indeed has been upon them and their children, the worst is still to come in the time of Jacob's trouble when the false Messiah will be like Herod, shedding their blood. The quotation is from Jeremiah 31:15. It is an application here of that prophecy. Rachel was buried near Bethlehem. Dying there she called the son who was born to her Ben-oni, which means the son of my sorrow, but his father Jacob soon changed his name, and the son of sorrow becomes Benjamin, which means, the son of the right hand. Rachel is seen here as weeping and lamenting over the slaughtered children, the children of Bethlehem. They were no more, and would not be comforted. What greater crying and lamentation there shall be in the future in the land! In Jeremiah, in the context, we read: "Thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears -- they shall come again from the land of the enemy." The child had escaped the murderous onslaught of Satan through Herod, but He comes back to lay down His life, that through death He might annul him who has the might of death, that is, the devil; and might set free all those who through fear of death through the whole of their life were subject to bondage (Hebrews 2). The return of the child, how long they stayed in Egypt is not said, is next described in our chapter and needs no further comment. The child is kept as He now keeps the feet of His saints, His church, and hades' gates shall not prevail against it.