Matthew 2:18 - Printer Friendly

ESV: "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."

NIV: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

NASB: 'A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE.'

CSB: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.

NLT: 'A cry was heard in Ramah — weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.'

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.

NKJV: “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted, Because they are no more.”

Herod's act of killing all the baby boys, age two and under, in and around Bethlehem was monstrous for two reasons. First, of course, Herod's act was a vicious and cold-blooded massacre. He stole from Bethlehem as many as 30 baby boys, according to scholars. The grieving of those people was intense, and Matthew quotes from Jeremiah 31:15 to connect their tears to another moment of weeping in Israel's history.

Rachel is often cited as a representation of the mothers of Israel. Jeremiah described the nation's weeping and loud crying for the death and departure of Israel's children at the time of the Babylonian Captivity in 586 BC. Some hope is found in the quote from Jeremiah: despite the grieving of that moment, Israel survived. In the same way, Jesus survived the attempt to end His life, amid the weeping in Bethlehem for the babies killed by Herod.

Beyond the atrocity itself, Herod was blatantly attempting to destroy God's chosen Messiah. He seemed to have believed the wise men, on some level, when they said the long-promised "king of the Jews" was born. Herod saw God's provision of a savior as a threat to his own power instead of the answer to Israel's prayer. He attempted to kill the Messiah before the Messiah could take his throne.

Matthew 2:16–18 describes Herod's slaughter of all boys in Bethlehem two years old and younger. Herod was furious when he learned the wise men left without telling him where the Christ child was. Not knowing the Messiah's family has already fled, Herod kills all the young boys that could have been born since the star of the king of the Jews appeared in the sky. In a smaller town like Bethlehem, this would have been well within his power. Herod hopes to keep anyone from taking the throne from his family. Matthew connects the grieving of Bethlehem to Jeremiah 31:15, where the mother of Israel, Rachel, weeps for her lost children.

King Herod is surprised and troubled by the arrival of wise men from the east. They have come looking for a newborn king of the Jews. Herod directs the men to Bethlehem to find the boy for him. The wise men find and worship Jesus. Rather than cooperating with the wicked Herod, the wise men slip away. An angel warns Joseph to flee to Egypt with his family before Herod kills all the boys in Bethlehem two years old and younger to protect his throne. After Herod's death, an angel sends Joseph back to Israel and then God directs him to settle with Mary and Jesus in Nazareth in the region of Galilee.

Chapter 1 established the genealogy and miraculous conception of Jesus Christ. Sometime after Jesus' birth, a group of wise men from the east arrive in Jerusalem. They have been tracking a star that points to the birth of the king of the Jews. They find and worship Jesus, then leave without telling the wicked king, Herod, where to find the boy. Warned by an angel, Joseph flees with Jesus and Mary to Egypt before Herod orders the execution of all the boys in Bethlehem two years old and younger. When notified by an angel again, they return to Israel and settle in Nazareth, in the northern region of Israel known as Galilee. This leads into chapter 3, which leaps forward to Jesus' adulthood, and the ministry of John the Baptist.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.