Continuing from the story where Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus flee from the wrath of king Herod to save the baby’s life: According to the story, when Herod saw that he had been “mocked”, he went crazy and had all the children under 2 years killed in Bethlehem in order to try to kill baby Jesus. (Mat 2:16)
Is this true?
So here is where the writer of Matthew abuses the writings of the Old Testament to try to convince his readers that this happening was NOT a fulfillment of a supposed “prophecy”:
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 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 ([there] — NOT because they are dead). (Mat 2:17,18)
The so-called “prophecy” that the writer refers to is Jeremiah 31:
Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not [there] (the children were taken captive, they are NOT dead).
Thus saith the Lord; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy (the children who were NOT THERE, NOT dead — will return).
And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border. (the children come back home — they were NOT dead) (Jer 31:15-17)
Taken out of context, misinterpreted and NOT even a prophecy: A LIE!
This whole passage of scripture is not only taken out of context and purposely interpreted incorrectly, but also quoted AS IF it were prophecy about a future event in Bethlehem — which it is NOT.
Notice that if a certain key word, “there”, is inserted the true meaning becomes clearer: that the children simply were not there in the passages of Jeremiah, and taken as prisoners — they were NOT slaughtered. This is purposeful biblical corruption, expressly for the purpose of deceiving the reader!
Jeremiah is speaking about the Israel being taken into bondage for their waywardness hundreds of years before, and their enemies are taking away their children also — for this they are weeping, NOT because of some future babies killed by a future king.
This is obvious when we see that the very next verses the prophet promises that the children will come back from the land of their enemies into their own country (Jer 31:16,17), and it is NOT about all the children under 2 being slaughtered in the city of Bethlehem, as the writer makes it look. This is a plain and simple LIE!
From the very beginning of chapter 31 of Jeremiah it talks about how it will be when Israel comes back from captivity after being chastised by God who is merciful to them and restore them to Him and make a new covenant with them.
What’s more is that even though Herod was capable of such an atrocity, there is no archeological evidence or historical evidence that any such thing actually happened.
Conclusion:
Here is just another example of how the The New Testament Scriptures of the ‘Holy’ Bible have been twisted to make a convincing story to deceive the reader.
Next: Jesus’ Childhood | Bethlehem