When God became man: The slaughter of infants

“Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi” (Matthew 2:16).

Herod’s wickedness and viciousness were unleashed when he realized the magi were not returning to tell him the location of the King of the Jews. As a result, infant boys died and parents grieved. Herod ordered the slaying of every male child two years old and younger living in the vicinity of Bethlehem. The age range for his order was based on when the magi told Herod they had seen the star in their homeland.

Again, Matthew saw in the Old Testament a prophecy of Herod’s genocidal action. Jeremiah had written of this “weeping and great mourning” in Ramah (Jeremiah 31:15). While an undesignated number of sons died in this effort to destroy the King of the Jews, God the Father preserved the life of His Son so that at the right time He would “give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28).