“Herod’s
Evil”
[Matthew
2:16-18]
December
27, 2020 YouTube
We have remembered the Incarnation of God in the person
of Jesus – the baby born on Christmas.
We continue through the Christian year – with the next major liturgical
event being Epiphany – the coming of the Magi – which, Lord willing – we will
look at next week.
A so-called “minor” liturgical event is celebrated on the
Western liturgical calendar tomorrow – Monday – happens immediately after the
history of the magi – the slaughter of the infants of Bethlehem. We will consider this text today, even though
it happens after the text we plan to look at next week.
In the text preceding this morning’s reading, we read
about magi – astrologers – who come from the east – possibly from Iran or Iraq. They have followed a star which moves and leads
them to Judah. They determine that the
star is a sign of the birth of a new King of the Jews, so they go to the palace
in Jerusalem to look for him. But he is
not there. Instead, they find King Herod,
who ask his wise men who say the prophets say the King of the Jews will be born
in Bethlehem.
Herod sends the magi on their way and tells them that he
wants them to return and tell him exactly where the newborn King is so he can
worship him, and off they go.
Herod the Great – called such because of his great
building projects – including the renovation and expansion of the Temple in
Jerusalem – lived from 72 B. C. to 4 A. D.
He was a descendant of the Edomites – of Esau – enemies of Israel – and
a Hellenist – He favored all things Greek and Roman over traditional – biblical
– Judaism. So, he reigned as an
intermediary between the Romans and the Jews, though his first allegiance was
to the Romans.
Besides being a great builder and ally of Rome, he was a
wicked and paranoid man. During his
reign, he killed off most of his family members – including most of his
children – sure they were conspiring against him, and at one point he killed
off the members of the Sanhedrin – the ruling body over the Jews. And just before his death – realizing that no
one would mourn his death – Herod instructed his soldiers to gather the most
respected people of Judah at the moment of his death and slaughter them so there
would be weeping and mourning when he died – even if it were not for him. This penchant for slaughtering people led Caesar
Augustus to say, “It is safer to be Herod’s pig than it is to be his son.”
This all being the case, we are not surprised to read:
“Then
Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious,
and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that
region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had
ascertained from the wise men.”
The
magi agree to come back to tell Herod where the newborn King is so Herod can go
and worship Him, but an angel warns the magi against going back to Herod, so
they return home by another way. The
angel also warns Mary and Joseph, and they take Jesus and settle in Egypt.
After
a while – we don’t know exactly how long – Herod realizes that the magi are not
going to return – they are not going to tell him where in Bethlehem to find
Jesus. And Herod becomes furious. In his paranoia, he thinks the baby will be
coming after him to steal the throne from him.
There is left to him only one course of action – kill all the male
children under two years old – including one of his sons – to make sure the
King is dead. What he didn’t know is
that Jesus is in Egypt, not Bethlehem.
Scholars
estimate that some twenty-five children were killed in Bethlehem that day.
“Then
was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in
Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused
to be comforted, because they are no more.’”
We
have talked about types in the Bible – shadows – parallels – things that really
do happen in history but also point to something else that will happen in history
or that did happen in history – especially with regards to Jesus and His ministry.
Matthew
tells us that these children are slaughtered to fulfill the prophecy of Jeremiah. The prophecy reads:
“Thus
says the LORD: ‘A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel
is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because
they are no more’” (Jeremiah 31:15, ESV).
This prophecy – in the first place – concerns the
conquest of Judah by the Babylonians and their being taken into captivity. After the Babylonians conquer Benjamin, they
have the captives gather on a hill in Ramah, where their ancestor, Rachel, was
buried. When they gather there, they weep
for their children – who will be taken with them to a foreign land and might
never return to the Promised Land and the Temple. It is a time of great mourning and weeping
for them and their children.
Ramah is a significant place in biblical history: it is also where Benjamin is buried, Ramah is
called “Arimathea” in the New Testament – where Joseph who took Jesus’ body is
from, Samuel is born there, and Saul is anointed King there. It is near to Bethlehem.
They might have looked back to another time when children
are killed en masse – though not the children of Judah:
Moses brings nine plagues upon Egypt by the Hand of God –
and a tenth is announced if Pharaoh does not set Israel free. Pharaoh refuses, and we read:
“At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in
the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the
firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the
livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all
the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house
where someone was not dead” (Exodus 12:29-30, ESV).
Likewise, the children of Ramah – Bethlehem – are taken
away. And the mothers of the children
will not be comforted – they are not just taken into a foreign land, but they
are slaughtered before them by the emissaries of their wicked king.
We might wonder why this is a feast day – even a minor one
– why is it on the liturgical calendar?
Why would we want to remember this slaughter? What good did it accomplish?
Matthew Henry writes, “They are a noble army of martyrs.
… They shed their blood for him, who afterwards shed his blood for them.”
King Herod does this evil to make sure that the newborn
King of the Jews – Jesus – is dead. The
angel has Mary, Joseph, and Jesus escape to Egypt. And the male children under two in Ramah are
slaughtered so Herod will believe that Jesus is dead. The slaughter of these children was part of
God’s plan to save Jesus that He could die for all those who will believe.
Mary and Joseph know what will come one day. At Jesus’ bris, we read:
“And
Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘Behold, this child is
appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is
opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts
from many hearts may be revealed’” (Luke 2:34-35, ESV).
Jesus
is prepared to die at the hands of wicked men to save all those who will
believe, “saying, ‘The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by
the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day
be raised’” (Luke 9:22, ESV).
And
Peter preaches, “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man
attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did
through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up
according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and
killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of
death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:22-24, ESV).
Why
ought we remember and rejoice in such a wicked event? Because the death of those children keeps
Jesus safe, so He can live a perfect life under the Law, die for the sins of
all those who will believe, physically rise, and ascend back to the Father –
having saved all those He came to save – making us right with God – and assuring
us eternal life in His Kingdom.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, we are horrified at the wickedness of King Herod, and we weep at the slaughter
of the children of Ramah, yet we rejoice that You kept Your Son safe through
their death that He would live and die for all those who will believe that He
is God the Savior. Help us to be
confident that You are working all things together for the good of those who love
You. We pray that Your will would be
done, and we believe that no matter what happens, You will is being
accomplished. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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