Massacre of the Innocents
Overview
- Testament: New
- Book: Matthew
- Chapters: Matthew 2:16-18
- Summary: When Herod the Great perceived that the Magi had not returned as instructed, he sent soldiers to kill all male children two years old and under in Bethlehem and all its surrounding region, according to the time he had diligently enquired of the Magi. Matthew applies Jeremiah 31:15 to the event: “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 2:18). The infant Jesus had already been taken to Egypt by this time through the Flight to Egypt.
Significance
The Massacre of the Innocents reveals the depths of fallen human power’s hostility to the advent of the true King, and places the infancy of Jesus in direct parallel with the infancy of Moses, whose birth also was threatened by a royal decree to kill Hebrew male children (Exodus 1:15-22). Matthew’s quotation of Jeremiah 31:15 is laden with irony: the verse in its original context is immediately followed by a promise of restoration and return from exile, suggesting that even in this grief a reversal is coming. The blood of the innocents thus frames the Christ-child’s arrival as a recapitulation of Israel’s suffering and a foretaste of his own eventual death at the hands of political and religious authorities.
Key Verses
“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 enquired of the wise men.” — Matthew 2:16 (KJV)
“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 2:18 (KJV)
Cross-References
- Visit of the Magi — Herod’s plan to learn the child’s location from the Magi is the direct cause of the massacre
- Flight to Egypt — the divine warning that removes Jesus from Bethlehem before the slaughter
- Birth of Jesus — the broader context of the nativity narrative in which this event occurs
- Matthew — sole canonical account (Matthew 2:16-18)
- Bethlehem — the location of the massacre
- Jeremiah — source of the lament quotation applied to the slain children (Jeremiah 31:15)
Key Figures
- Herod the Great — orders the massacre in his attempt to destroy the infant king
- Jesus Christ — the intended victim who is providentially spared through the Flight to Egypt
- Mary (Mother of Jesus) — mother of the child who escapes while other mothers mourn