or Two Days to Christmas
Sometime between Jesus’ birth and
Herod’s death (v.19) some wise men from the east came to the king in Jerusalem
and wanted to know, “…Where is He who is
born king of the Jews?...” (Mt. 2:2)
Herod was troubled when he heard the things of which they spoke
(v.3). His own men told him the baby was
to be born in Bethlehem (v.5), so
Herod inquired exactly when the star appeared (v.7). He asked that when they find the king of the
Jews that they return and tell Herod where the lad was, but they never
returned.
Joseph was warned to flee to Egypt
with Mary and the young child. Enraged
and afraid there was a contender for his throne, Herod set out to kill
Jesus.
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise
men, was greatly enraged. And he sent and killed all the boys in Bethlehem, and in all its districts, from two years old and
under, according to the time which he had carefully inquired of the wise men.
v.16
Herod chose that age carefully factoring
in the information the wise men gave him.
To be certain Jesus would die, all those that were two and under in Bethlehem and surrounding area were to be murdered. In fulfillment of Jr. 31:15, these words were
written:
"A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and weeping
and great mourning, Rachel weeping for
her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not." v.18
Weeping, wailing, screaming, and
mourning over two years worth of babies.
I can’t imagine what it was like having your child (or possibly 2)
ripped out of your arms only to be slaughtered.
Remember, they didn’t have birth certificates back then so to ensure the
job was done, they probably erred on the ‘older than’ side. For two years there were no birthdays around Bethlehem
for two year old boys because one man was afraid to lose his power… How sad is that!