2:16
We now come to the slaughter of the innocent, Herod’s order to have all the boys who were two years of age and under. Having failed to find the exact location of the birth of Jesus, Herod tried the blanket approach. There are parallels with Moses, whose own life was at risk at birth because of Pharaoh's edict that all Hebrew boy babies should be killed. We recoil in horror at this, but maybe we should remember the massive numbers of live in the womb that are ended by abortion. Maybe we are not much more civilised after all! It is estimated that Herod’s order would result in about thirty deaths. Herod was a very evil violent man, and this order was on a rather small scale compared to other death orders he issued.
2:17,18
We then get another quote from Scripture, this time from Jer 31:15. Ramah was a town about five miles north of Jerusalem, and was a place that the exiles would have passed through on their way to Babylon. Rachel was Jacob’s favourite wife, and personified the nation.
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