Sunday Sermon: Massacre of the Innocents (Matthew 2:16-23)

You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on this podcast we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a New Testament book.

On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday. Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe.

The Flight to Egypt and the Return to Nazareth

Matthew chapter 2 verses 16 through 23. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious and sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

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 were no more.

But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. For those who sought the child's life are dead.

And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he had heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there and being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee.

He went and lived in a city called Nazareth so that what was spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, as we come to this text today, I pray that we continue to see in this the wonderful working of God, that even in the midst of tragedy and chaos, the midst of sin and evil that goes on in this world, God was still ultimately working something great for a good that we could never have comprehended until it came to us and was shown to us.

The giving of your son, Christ, who would die for sin and rise again from the grave so that all who believe in him will not perish, but will have everlasting life with God forever in glory. It is to the glory of your great name that we pray and all God's people said, Amen.

Thank you. You may be seated. So last week, we looked at the flight to Egypt, verses 13 through 15. When the wise men, when the Magi had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you.

For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he took and he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, out of Egypt I called my son.

Now we kind of backtrack a little bit. We followed Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus to Egypt so that what would be fulfilled or what had been spoken by the prophet would be fulfilled. And now we come back to Bethlehem to see what was going on in the midst of this place from Jerusalem to Bethlehem to Ramah and the surrounding region after Mary and Joseph and Jesus had fled.

Just as last week we saw a reference to Hosea 11 .1, out of Egypt I called my son, we went to Hosea together, we looked at that passage in context, and we came to understand the type or the shadow that had been presented there through this foretelling by the prophet.

Yes, it absolutely had to do with Israel, but there was even a macro-fulfillment that was going to be accomplished through this, and that was in the giving of the Son of God, who like Israel would also be called out of Egypt so that He might fulfill what Israel failed to keep.

In every way that God had commanded Israel, they failed, they sinned, they rebelled against God and had gone astray. In fact, even as we're reading this saga in Matthew chapter 2, Israel has gone astray.

The Magi come looking for Jesus. Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? The rest of Jerusalem and all of Israel with them were going, what are you talking about? When they had the Scriptures and they should have known exactly who the Magi were looking for.

The Magi should have been able to come into the capital city of Judah and say, where is He who has been born King of the Jews? And everybody there in Jerusalem, if the Word of God had been preached and followed, should have been able to say, oh yeah, we know He's over there in Bethlehem.

Come, let's all go together and worship the King. But the people had no idea what the Magi were on about. These foreigners who had come in saying King of the Jews, what? We know Herod. He hadn't had a kid in a while.

What are you talking about? He who has been born King of the Jews. Herod was in a panic over this. Somebody's going to take my throne? Really? Who is this King? So he comes up with this a little bit of trickery here with the Magi.

Oh, well, my wise men tell me that this baby is born in Bethlehem. So that's where you're to go. And when you've found this child, come back and tell me that I too may go and worship Him. But of course, as we know here, in the heart of Herod was a murderer who wanted to destroy Jesus in an attempt to protect what he thought was his throne.

And then in verse 16, we see that Herod believed he had been tricked by the wise men. He sent the wise men on their way. They went and worshiped Jesus, presented their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

But then as it says in Matthew 2 .12, they also, like Joseph, were warned in a dream not to return to Herod. So they departed to their own country by another way. Joseph and Mary were warned. They fled with Jesus to Egypt to fulfill what had been spoken about by the prophet.

And just as we saw a reference to Hosea 11 .1 last week, so we have another Old Testament reference this week, and this one from Jeremiah 31 .15. And it's in fulfillment of something that was actually going to happen that was a great tragedy.

The slaughter, or what we have come to refer to today as the massacre of the innocents. Verse 16, then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he 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.

Herod was a very insecure king, as is every ruler who does not believe that Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. If Jesus is king, then Herod is not. And that's what he understood when you have this band of foreigners that come in saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

See Herod knew in his heart, he knew the entire time, he was not actually the bonafide king of the Jews because he was an Edomite. He wasn't even a Jew himself. And he had been positioned on that throne by the Romans.

So there was some, a little bit of fear in his heart. There was a fear of the true and living God, not enough that it convicted him of his sin, but there was a fear and a trembling there that he thought he could control his circumstances and his situation that he would never have to answer to God.

But there still was something in his heart there that gravely feared that he was going to be found out, that he really was not the authentic, the genuine king of the Jews. And if this true king of the Jews were to rise up, well, he would destroy Herod.

He would destroy the house of Herod. He would undo everything that Herod had ever done. And Herod did indeed do great things. He did a lot of evil, malicious things, but he did accomplish some of the most vast building projects that had ever been done in Judah by anyone other than Herod.

This is why Herod is referred to as Herod the Great, because of the great things that he did. He was an evil tyrant, don't get me wrong, but he did accomplish a lot of building projects and things of that nature.

And so because of his economic success, that's why Herod gets referred to as Herod the Great. But again, he was still great only from a certain standpoint. He certainly was not great in the eyes of God.

And Herod himself was very small in his own heart, knowing that if someone else could be called king, then he was not king. His power and authority is limited. And it's the same reason why governments today hate Christ.

The American government even has actively been at work to try to suppress any kind of mention of Christ. I love that I can walk into the city building here in Junction City and there's still a Ten Commandments out front.

Part of me doesn't want to make too big a deal out of it, because I even wonder how many people even know that's there. They just walk by it every day, they don't even know the Ten Commandments are there.

But there would surely be someone that would rise up and remove it if too big a deal got made out of it. As I understand it, it was even before I moved here to Junction City, there was somebody that tried to do that.

There was someone that wanted to have the Ten Commandments removed from our municipal building. But it's still there, and I love to see it every time that I walk in. I stop and look at it every time I go to pay my water and trash bill, which I do that in person and not by mail, so I can make sure it gets paid.

But these wise men from a distant land, they paid homage to another king. They did not pay homage to Herod. The gifts that they brought were for a king of the Jews that was not Herod. And Herod considered this a betrayal.

He thought it was a betrayal even as the Magi were standing there in his presence. But he wasn't going to destroy them, he had another use for them. They could lead him to whoever this baby was so that Herod could kill him.

The only reason Herod went along with the wise men's mission in the first place was so they could come back and tell him where they found the baby. Herod intended to murder the child that he believed was a threat to his kingship.

Verse 16 goes on to say that in his anger, Herod sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under. And this was even in fulfillment of a prophecy that was made by the prophet Jeremiah.

This event that happens here in the life of Christ, again when Jesus was less than two years old, even by what the text says to us here, this is known to history as the massacre of the innocents, and it's scarcely accepted by academics as true.

According to Lutheran minister and historian Paul L. Meir, the massacre has been drenched with doubt by historians, biblical commentators, and biographers of Herod the Great. In fact, except for the virgin birth, no aspect of the nativity has come under heavier critical challenge than the infant massacre at Bethlehem.

Apart from this account in the book of Matthew, there are no other ancient historical references to the massacre ordered by Herod. Josephus, the Jewish historian, does not mention it in his biography of Herod the Great in Antiquities of the Jews.

One theory regarding the lack of evidence is that though Herod had ordered the massacre, it was never carried out. However, this explanation would contradict Matthew, who said that the slaughter of these children was prophesied in Jeremiah 31 15, a cry heard in Ramah, Rachel weeping for her children.

Ramah was just a few miles north of Jerusalem, as far as Bethlehem was to the south. Ramah would have been in the vicinity of Herod's order. As it says here, once again, that he had this order carried out in Bethlehem and in all that region.

And so Ramah would have been a part of that region. Rachel, a voice was heard in Ramah, Rachel weeping for her children. She was the favorite wife of Jacob. And Jeremiah 31 15 is a reference to her offspring.

Herod had no problem killing his own people. As I mentioned to you earlier, I think I said this last week, he'd also killed a wife. He had killed his brother-in-law. He had killed three sons, as well as hundreds of others.

This is the kind of tyrant that Herod was. The reason that we're puzzled by a lack of extra biblical evidence for the massacre of the innocents is probably because the number of lives lost has been grossly overstated.

And when I say grossly overstated, I mean really, really overstated. The Byzantine liturgical calendar records that 14 ,000 holy innocents were slain by Herod at Bethlehem. There would not have even been 14 ,000 people living in Bethlehem.

In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the doxology for the 144 ,000, that's the name of the hymn in the Coptic Orthodox Church. It's the doxology for the 144 ,000. I've listened to it. I don't understand it, but that is the name of the hymn.

It is sung to remember 144 ,000 children who were killed by Herod. 144 ,000 is a crazy high number that would have been about a quarter of the population of Jerusalem at that time. Several Renaissance artists have illustrated the massacre of the innocents like Dutch painters Cornelius van Haarlem and Pieter Brueghel.

Haarlem's scene is a depiction of a mass execution outside of a city with hundreds of lives lost. While Brueghel's version of the event happened in the middle of a town square with a band of foot soldiers carrying large spears, Italian painter Tintoretto also portrayed a public slaughter that looks like it happened in the streets of Jerusalem.

Outside of the Scriptures, the number of dead children and the size of the military campaign is believed to be so great that the story has become unbelievable. In reality, the number of lives lost was probably about 20.

So by comparison, you see just how large the estimates are versus what the reality of the situation would have been. About 20 children, a few in Bethlehem and then another dozen or so in surrounding towns.

Now that's still a massacre. Consider that on December 12, 2014, a crazed gunman entered a public elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut and killed 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7 years old as well as several adults before taking his own life.

America was stunned by this incredible tragedy and it occurred less than two weeks before Christmas. We still talk about the Newtown, Connecticut massacre. The number of lives lost in that massacre was probably equivalent to the number of lives lost by Herod's order in Bethlehem, Ramah and towns in the surrounding region.

It would not have been in Jerusalem. It would have been in the small towns outside of Jerusalem, but still a massacre of children. The number of soldiers deployed to carry out that order would not have been high either.

But if Herod demanded such an execution, why didn't Josephus bother to write about it? Well because Herod killed hundreds of people, including members of his own family. The drama throughout all of Judea immediately following the Magi's visit was vengeful chaos to say the least.

What was happening in the days immediately following the Magi's departure from Jerusalem and then Joseph and Mary with the baby Jesus even fleeing Bethlehem and going to Egypt? What was going on in Judea during that period of time?

Herod was ill at the time that the Magi came to Jerusalem and his health declined rapidly after they left. There's some divine sovereignty over that, by the way. The judgment of God upon the life of Herod.

This was surely by the just hand of God. Herod had such a thirst for blood toward the end of his life, the Jews were counting down the days till he died. To prevent a celebration among the people upon his death, Herod summoned all the notable Jews from all over the kingdom and shut them in the Hippodrome at Jericho.

He ordered that the moment he died, all of these officials, these important named persons in Judea, you would have known the names of these persons that have been locked in the Hippodrome. The moment that Herod died, they were to be killed so that there would be a national mourning instead of a rejoicing over the fact that Herod died.

Needless to say, no one carried out his demand. When Herod died, everyone who had been held captive was released. Again, all of this happened shortly after the Magi had visited. There was a lot going on in Judea apart from Herod's order to kill baby boys under the age of two in Bethlehem.

We have no reason to doubt the truthfulness of Matthew's account, but we should certainly doubt claims that the number of the dead ranged in the tens to hundreds of thousands. It simply wasn't the case.

But we see that in this first Christmas that had taken place, well, first, second, third, depending on how old Jesus was at the time that this had happened, but certainly after the visit of the Magi when they came to worship Jesus, we see that there was chaos, there was evil going on in the world around Jesus.

Even in those first two Christmases, we sing, Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. But the reality of those early Christmases is that it was anything but calm. It was bright in the sense that the light of God had come into the world, most certainly, but it was not bright in the sense that there was not peace on earth, goodwill towards men in the eyes of the people that were living in the surrounding towns outside of Jerusalem.

Where is this peace on earth and goodwill towards men that God was talking about? Well, believe it or not, it's in the prophecy that we read about being fulfilled here in Jeremiah 31 .15. In Matthew 2 .18, 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. Now, where is there a prophecy of good news in that? Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 31. So turn in your Bible over to the book of Jeremiah chapter 31.

Now to give you kind of some backstory a little bit while you're turning there, Jeremiah 31. To let you know what's been going on here, there's a section of Jeremiah that came just a couple of chapters before this.

That's probably the most popular section of the book of Jeremiah. Whenever somebody mentions Jeremiah, what probably comes to your mind is Jeremiah 29 .11. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, a plan to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.

You know that verse, right? You probably have it on a coffee cup. You might have it on a t-shirt. It may be your life verse. This verse always comes about in just about every graduation invitation that Becky and I get in the months of April and May.

Just about every Christian student that we know will send us some sort of an invitation that will have Jeremiah 29 .11 on it. Now I don't have a problem with anyone making that their life verse. It's a beautiful verse.

We must understand that in context, it was a proclamation given to a specific nation in a particular situation, prophesying the restoration of a future generation. But it's still a promise that is just as true for us, only in a different sense.

Does God have a plan to prosper and not harm you? Yes, he does. To give you a hope and a future? Amen, glory, hallelujah. Yes. In fact, I just read to you a couple of weeks ago from Hebrews chapter 11, where it says there that those who were seeking a land that had been promised to them were not looking for an earthly land.

Otherwise, they would have had the opportunity to return to that land. But they were looking for a heavenly kingdom. And when you understand that there is a heavenly kingdom that has been promised to us in Christ Jesus, then you can read Jeremiah 29 .11 with joy, and you know that the promise that God has for you is not in earthly wealth and fulfillment.

It is the heavenly kingdom that has been promised to us. Woe to those who use Jeremiah 29 .11 believing that. All my hopes and dreams are going to come true because Jeremiah 29 .11 says so. I'm going to win the lottery and I will drive a sports car someday.

That's not what that verse is saying. And if that's what they think it is saying, then they've created a God in their own imaginations, and they're going to find themselves woefully disappointed in this earthly made-up faith that they have conjured.

For the promises of our prosperity is not here on earth. Does God promise us prosperity? Yes, he does. In heaven where Christ is. Which is why Jesus said in Matthew 6 that we are to seek the things that are above, putting our hope and our treasure there for where our treasure is, our heart will be also.

So we have this promise that Jeremiah has given to the people of Israel. They were in despair at this particular time because they were being punished for their sin. They had turned against God. They had worshiped false gods.

And now God, fulfilling what he had said even through Moses, was going to punish them by turning them over to the hands of their enemies. They knew that this was coming upon them. And many of them were falling into despair.

God has turned us over to the Babylonians, and now the Babylonians are going to destroy us. But God sent his prophet Jeremiah, and even from him his scribe Baruch, to deliver a message to the people of Israel that God is not going to obliterate you.

He is not going to annihilate you by the hands of the Babylonians, even though that's what you deserve. But he is going to be faithful to a covenant promise that he made to your father Abraham, to your father David, of a Messiah that is to come.

This is still going to take place, and in fact, even through Jeremiah, the promise was given to them, you will come back to this land. And indeed they did. They didn't come back to the land the same way they first entered into it, for the honor of God was not there as it once was.

Now they were even much more defiled than they had been before, worshiping these false gods and even doing abominable practices before them, which we'll talk about here in just a moment. But nevertheless, God was faithful to deliver for them a Savior.

And so what we have in the prophecies that follow that, in Jeremiah chapters 30 and 31, we have how God is going to fulfill his promise to deliver them back into the land, but also to give them a Savior.

Look at Jeremiah 30 verse 10, before we get to chapter 31. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, declares the Lord, nor be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I will save you from far away and your offspring from the land of their captivity.

Jacob shall return and have quiet and ease, and none shall make him afraid, for I am with you to save you, declares the Lord. I will make a full end of all the nations among whom I scattered you, but of you I will not make a full end.

I will discipline you in just measure, and I will by no means leave you unpunished. For thus says the Lord, your hurt is incurable and your wound is grievous. There is none to uphold your cause, no medicine for your wound, no healing for you.

All your lovers have forgotten you, those that they had committed adultery with, had done abominable deeds with, whoring themselves with other gods and pagan peoples, as God had said of them. All your lovers have forgotten you.

They care nothing for you, for I have dealt you the blow of an enemy, the punishment of a merciless foe. Because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant, why do you cry out over your hurt?

Your pain is incurable, because your guilt is great, because your sins are flagrant. I have done these things to you. Therefore, all who devour you shall be devoured, and all your foes, every one of them, shall go into captivity.

Those who plunder you shall be plundered. And all who pray on you, I will make a prey, for I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the Lord, because they have called you an outcast.

It is Zion for whom no one cares. God is saying, I am the one punishing you. I am the one who will restore you. And we can relate this even to our own selves and our own situation when you read in Hebrews chapter 12 that God even disciplines us.

He disciplines those whom he loves. If he did not discipline us, then we would be illegitimate sons and daughters, and we would not be the sons and daughters of God. But when we have sinned and when we have gone astray, God visits our iniquity upon us as well in that we have to suffer the consequences for what we have done.

We are convicted of our sin. We come before God. We ask for his forgiveness. And 1 John 1, 9 says that if we ask forgiveness, God is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Why is he just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness?

Because he has paid the price for our unrighteousness through the giving of his son Jesus, who has died on the cross for our sins. So we don't have to fear the wrath or the final judgment of God. That's been taken care of by Christ.

But there's still going to be ramifications for our sin. So we must even understand, like Israel, that when we have fallen into those places and we have sinned against God, may we be grieved over that.

May we come back to him and be restored. And God says, I'm the one who punishes you. But because our God is gracious and merciful and good, he says, I am the one who restores you. So as that was said to Israel, may we understand that that is said to us as well.

Now let's look at Jeremiah chapter 31. I'm going to begin in verse 10. Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the coastlands far away. Say he who scattered Israel will gather him and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.

For the Lord has ransomed Jacob. Where have we seen that language before? Jesus said the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And remember, I showed you that even Israel here is a type.

And the church, those who are faithful to Christ, we are called Israel. Those who are the people of God are Israel, whether you call it church or whether you call it Israel. We are his people. And so God has ransomed us just as he ransoms Israel.

He ransoms us. Israel was a type. We are not of an ethnicity. We are not descendants in the bloodline of Abraham, but we have become recipients of promises that are given by the blood of Christ so that all who are in Christ Jesus are adopted his family.

We are his children, just as God referred to Israel as son, as we saw in the book of Hosea last week. So God refers to us as his sons and daughters. When we are in faith in Christ, we have been ransomed.

We have been delivered out of sin and captivity, the slavery that we were once in. For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, he has ransomed us as well. He has redeemed him from the hands too strong for him. We could not escape the clutches of sin and death and the schemes of Satan, but God delivered us.

Verse 12, they shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord. Over the grain, the wine and the oil and over the young of the flock and the herd, their life shall be like a watered garden and they shall languish no more.

Do we not flourish in sanctification when we grow in the knowledge of our God and his word and growing in holiness and righteousness before him? Verse 13, then shall the young women rejoice in the dance and the young men and the old shall be merry.

I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow. Pay attention to that because that's important. I will turn their mourning into joy. I will comfort them and give them gladness for sorrow.

Verse 14, I will feast the soul of the priest with abundance and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, declares the Lord. Then in the midst of all of these promises of goodness, of restoration, of joy that they will receive, what do we see in verse 15?

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. And notice that being in quotes there, thus says the Lord this thing.

And it became even a saying among the Jews that whenever the people of God were oppressed, it was a fulfillment of Jeremiah 31 15. Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel is weeping for her children. And here this was happening at the time of the birth of Christ, an announcement gave by the angels that he was going to be the savior and there was going to be peace on earth, goodwill towards men.

And yet what was taking place, Herod, the king who was over the Jews at that time, afflicts his very people with oppression, fulfilling what had even been said through the prophet Jeremiah. Rachel is weeping for her children.

She refuses to be comforted because they are no more. But then look at verse 16, thus says the Lord, keep your face from weeping and your eyes from tears for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord.

And they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope for your future, Jeremiah 29 11, and your children shall come back to their own country. What was about to happen? Jesus was about to come back from Egypt, back into his own land and save his people.

When we looked last week at Hosea 11 1, we observed that that passage doesn't exist in a vacuum. Matthew was not just grabbing some random Old Testament passage and just sticking it in there to say, look, see how this is fulfilled.

When we were examining Hosea in a broader context, we saw multiple statements there to a promise of a Messiah who was to come. So it wasn't meant, Matthew's reference wasn't just to isolate that one passage out of Hosea, but that we would go back to the whole book of Hosea and see what had been promised and was being fulfilled in Christ.

Likewise, when we have this statement that's made here regarding Jeremiah, we don't just look at Jeremiah 31 15 in a vacuum, but we go back to Jeremiah and we read and we see there's a lot going on here.

There's a lot of tragedy. And yet there is a wonderful, abundant promise from God to deliver us from that tragedy. We will experience evil in our world today. And some of that evil comes upon us because it's a judgment.

God was using even Herod to judge Israel at that time because of their unbelief. And we read about their unbelief in Matthew chapter two. This is all setting the stage for John the Baptist, who's going to come, which we'll read about in a couple of weeks in Matthew chapter three, who then stands before Israel and says, make way, the King is coming.

So you have to prepare yourselves. And how do you prepare yourself for the coming of the King? Well, first of all, you need to take a bath. And so John the Baptist begins his ministry of baptism, a practice we didn't see going on in Israel at that time.