Hi,
Saint of the Day December 28, 2002
Feast of the Holy Innocents
Herod “the Great,” king of Judea, was unpopular with
his people because of his connections with the Romans
and his religious indifference. Hence he was insecure
and fearful of any threat to his throne. He was a
master politician and a tyrant capable of extreme
brutality. He killed his wife, his brother and his
sister’s two husbands, to name only a few.
Matthew 2:1–18 tells this story: Herod was “greatly
troubled” when astrologers from the east came asking
the whereabouts of “the newborn king of the Jews,”
whose star they had seen. They were told that the
Jewish Scriptures named Bethlehem as the place where
the Messiah would be born. Herod cunningly told them
to report back to him so that he could also “do him
homage.” They found Jesus, offered him their gifts
and, warned by an angel, avoided Herod on their way
home. Jesus escaped to Egypt.
Herod became furious and “ordered the massacre of all
the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old
and under.” Since Bethlehem was a small town, the
number of babies killed was perhaps 20 or 25. The
horror of the massacre and the devastation of the
mothers and fathers led Matthew to quote Jeremiah: “A
voice was heard in Ramah,/sobbing and loud
lamentation;/Rachel weeping for her children...”
(Matthew 2:18). Rachel was the wife of Jacob/Israel.
She is pictured as weeping at the place where the
Israelites were herded together by the conquering
Assyrians for their march into captivity.
love + prayers,
Joseachayan / Jeddah
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