Leader Who Ordered Killing of All Babies in Jesus Times

upon
The Massacre of the Innocents
(Giotto di Bondone / more than)

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Matthew 2:16 records Herod the Great's reaction when he learned the wise men (Magi), who had come to Judea looking for the ane born Rex of the Jews (Jesus), left Bethlehem without reporting the whereabouts of the Jewish king to Herod:

"… [Herod] was furious, and he gave orders to impale all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were ii years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.'"

Because the event (oftentimes referred to as the "Massacre of the Innocents") isn't referenced in any historical text outside of Matthew 2, many skeptics reject the account equally mere fiction.

Is Matthew's account of the "Massacre of the Innocents" based in historical fact or fiction?

Did Herod Really Lodge the Execution of
Male Babies in Bethlehem equally Reported in Matthew 2?

Introduction
(skip introduction)

The following description of events is set along in chapter 2 of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament.

Magi from the east (pseudo scientists and astronomers probably from Babylon or Persia more than) arrived in Jerusalem saying they had seen the "star" (aster) of the one born king of the Jews (more) and had come to worship him (Matt. two:1-2).  That proclamation disturbed Herod (aka Herod the Great) and all of Jerusalem (more than) (Matt. 2:3).

While in Jerusalem, the Magi learned it had been prophesied in the Old Testament that the predictable Jewish king would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matt. 2:iv-6).  However, before the Magi left Jerusalem for Bethlehem in search of the Jewish king, Herod secretly met with them to definewhen they had seen the "star" (aster) of the king appear.  Then, nether the guise of desiring to pay homage to the new male monarch, Herod told the Magi to report back the whereabouts of the king when they found him (Matt. 2:seven-eight).

The Magi plant Jesus in a house in Bethlehem with his mother (Matt. 2:11), only considering they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left Bethlehem for their homeland in the east by another route (Matt. 2:12).

When Herod the Keen learned the Magi had left for their homeland without reporting back to him, he was "furious" (Matt. 2:xvi).  To ensure any potential threat to his throne was eliminated, Herod ordered all the infant boys living in and effectually Bethlehem who were two years old and younger be killed, co-ordinate to the time he had ascertained from the wise men (Matt. 2:sixteen). The infanticide that ensued in and around Bethlehem is normally referred to as the "Massacre of the Innocents" or the "Slaughter of the Innocents."

Many skeptics reject Matthew's business relationship of the "Massacre of the Innocents" considering the issue is not referenced in whatever historical record other than Matthew ii:one-sixteen.  Most notably, fifty-fifty the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus did not reference the event.

Response to the Criticism that Matthew is the
Simply Historian to Reference the "Massacre of the Innocents"

In response to the criticism that Matthew 2:16-17 contains the but known historical reference to the "Massacre of the Innocents", Christian apologists make the following points:

• Indicate No. 1 — Challenges to the historicity of Matthew's account of the "Massacre of the Innocents" are imprudent and solely of contempo construct skip to

• Point No. 2 — Matthew'due south business relationship of the "Massacre of the Innocents" is consistent with Herod's well-documented murderous reputation skip to

• Bespeak No. 3 — Matthew's account of the "Massacre of the Innocents" is consistent with Herod's psychological profile (Paranoid Personality Disorder) skip to
• Betoken No. four — Except to the Jewish audience Matthew was writing to, the execution of several babies in Bethlehem may not have seemed noteworthy against the backdrop of Herod'due south numerous roughshod murders skip to

Signal No. 1

Challenges to the Historicity of Matthew's
Business relationship of the "Massacre of the Innocents" are
Imprudent and Solely of Recent Construct

Admittedly, the only known ancient author to reference the "Massacre of the Innocents" is the Apostle Matthew:

Notwithstanding, information technology seems imprudent to write off any ancient historical event (including Matthew 2) as made-up fictionsolely on the basis that the event is referenced past only i known historical source.  There are at least 2 reasons for this:

1. Every bit compared to modern-day historians, ancient historians were greatly hampered in their power to gather and record information; consequently, notall the events which occurred during any ancient catamenia were, or could be, documented;

2. Only a fraction of the ancient historical documents originally produced by ancient historians accept actually survived to the present fourth dimension.

Insisting that whatsoever single-sourced account of a particular aboriginal effect be written off equally fiction is especially troublesome when the merely claiming made to the historicity of the account is of recent construct. Specifically, with respect to Matthew's account of the "Massacre of the Innocents", non only is there no record that anyone with admission to kickoff hand knowledge challenged the reliability of the account, but even every bit late as ≈ 430 A.D. Macrobius (a heathen writer in Rome) treated the "Massacre of the Innocents" equally a truthful historical event:

When it was heard that, as part of the slaughter of boys up to two years onetime, Herod, king of the Jews, had ordered his own son to be killed, he [the Emperor Augustus] remarked, 'It is meliorate to be Herod'south pig [Gr. hys] than his son' [Gr. huios] [See, Macrobius, Saturnalia, Book II, chap. iv:eleven (c. 430 A.D.)]

For the foregoing reasons, Christian apologists maintain information technology is both arbitrary and unfair for skeptics to insist Matthew'due south account of the "Massacre of the Innocents" be disregarded as fiction solely because no other reference to the event has been found.

Additionally, as set up forth below, not only does Matthew's account of the "Massacre of the Innocents" ring true because information technology is consistent with Herod's murderous reputation (see, Point No. two below) and his psychological contour (see Point No. 3 beneath), but proficient reasons have been proffered to explain why Matthew may have included the outcome information technology in his writings while other writers did not (see, Signal No. 4 below).

Point No. two

Matthew's Account of the "Massacre of the Innocents" is
Consequent with Herod's Well-Documented Murderous Reputation

By the fourth dimension Herod the Great died (four B.C. or one B.C.), he had adult a widespread reputation as a ruthless ruler who committed multiple acts of murder, even against members of his own family.

The post-obit accusations fabricated by Jews against Herod were recorded by Josephus:

[U]pon the permission that was given the accusers [of Herod] to speak, they, in the first identify, went over Herod'south breaches of their police force, and said that he was not a king, but the most barbarous of all tyrants, and that they had found him to be such by the sufferings they underwent from him; that when a very great number had been slain by him, those that were left had endured such miseries, that they called those that were expressionless happy men; that he had not only tortured the bodies of his subjects, merely entire cities, … and of the greatest iniquity, instead of that happiness and those laws which they had anciently enjoyed; that, in brusk, the Jews had borne more calamities from Herod, in a few years, than had their forefathers during all that interval of time that had passed since they had come up out of Babylon …. Josephus[The War of the Jews, Book Two, chap. half dozen, No. 2 (c 75 A.D.)]

In his book,The Bible equally History, Werner Keller provides a broader summary of Herod'due south atrocities:

"In thirty-six years [of Herod'due south reign] hardly a solar day passed without someone being sentenced to death. Herod spared no 1, neither his ain family nor his closest friends, neither the priests nor to the lowest degree of all the people. On his list of victims stand up the names of the ii husbands of his sis…, his wife Mariamne and his sons Alexander and Aristobulus. He had his blood brother-in-police force drowned in the Jordan and his mother-in-law Alexandra put out of the way. Ii scholars who had torn down the golden Roman eagle from the gateway of the Temple were burned alive. Hyrcanus the last of the Hasmoneans was killed. Noble families were exterminated root and branch. Many of the Pharisees were done away with. V days before his decease the quondam homo had his son Antipater assassinated. And that is only a fraction of the crimes of this homo who 'ruled like a wild beast'". [Werner Keller, The Bible as History, pgs. 334-335 (1981)]

Even at the end of Herod'due south life when he knew he was facing death from a long-term affliction, he was and then disturbed that the Jews would rejoice upon his expiry that he came up with a plan to make sure that wouldn't happen. He ordered a group of distinguished Jews from various parts of the land to written report to Jericho; and, when they arrived, he imprisoned them in the Jericho hippodrome with orders they exist executed upon his death.  That way, the Jews would have something to weep about when he died. [Notation:  After Herod's decease, his sister countermanded the lodge and the Jews were released].[See, Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews,17:174-181 (c 94 A.D.); Ehud Netzer, The Palaces of the Hasmoneans and Herod the Corking, 64-67 (2001)]

HEROD'South HIPPODROME IN CAESAREA MARITIMA  (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

As referenced above, Herod the Corking's reputation for ordering the execution of anyone he perceived to be a threat to his throne (including his ain sons) was so widespread that Caesar Augustus (the emperor of Rome), commented information technology was preferable to be Herod's squealer than his son.  In other words, because Herod practiced Judaism (at least nominally), he wouldn't swallow pork so Herod'southward pigs had improve odds of surviving than his own sons.[See, Macrobius, Saturnalia, 2.4.eleven cited past  Raymond Dark-brown, The Nativity of the Messiah, A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, pg. 226 (1993); encounter too, Unearthed, aired on TBN on i/v/10]

Moreover, the Roman Senate had set precedent for ordering the killing of all male babies in a certain age range to eliminate a threat to its power.  Equally noted by Rick Larson (a proponent of the Jupiter proposal for the Christmas "star" more), threescore years earlier when the Roman Senate heard a new ruler may take been born, information technology ordered the death of all baby boys covering the applicable an age range.[Rick Larson, "The Bethlehem Star" (2007)] This precedent not only could accept given Herod the idea to execute all the babe boys in Bethlehem under the age of ii to eliminate the potential threat from the newborn Jewish male monarch, but as a Roman customer king, it would take given him the license to do and so.

Given the above, Matthew's business relationship of the "Massacre of the Innocents" certainly has historical support.

Betoken No. 3

Matthew'southward Business relationship of the "Massacre of the Innocents"
is Consistent  with Herod'south Psychological Contour
(Paranoid Personality Disorder)

In 2007, Aryeh Kasher, Ph.D. (an expert in Jewish history during the 2nd Temple period from 530 B.C. to 70 A.D.) collaborated with psychiatrist, Eliezer Witztum, M.D. (a senior staff psychiatrist) to develop a psychological contour of Herod the Great based on the facts recorded past Josephus whose sources included Nicholas of Damascus (a tutor to Herod'south sons and 1 of Herod'south advisors).

As documented by Kasher and Witztum in their 514 page textbook, Herod began exhibiting signs of paranoia and pathological suspiciousness every bit an adolescent.  Throughout his life, he suffered from ongoing tearing mood swings and was haunted past persecutory delusions most plots being formed against him.  Non only did Herod execute numerous people (including several members of his own family), he exhibited sadistic tendencies by cruelly torturing many of his victims before killing them. [See, Aryeh Kasher and Elizer Witztum,Rex Herod: A Persecuted Persecutor, a Case Study in Psychohistory and Psychobiography (2007)]

Equally summed up by Kasher and Wiztum (see page 405 of their book), Herod was "a brutal individual, furious and sullen — a slave to his anger who twisted justice to suit his ends — fit[ting] the portrait of a mentally unstable person with obsessive tendencies and unrestrained impulses" which led Kasher and Witztum to come to the following conclusion:

"[T]at that place is reason to believe that [Herod] suffered from Paranoid Personality Disorder, in the terminology of the DSM-Iv system of psychiatric classification.  In addition, as we will endeavour to demonstrate, his condition subsequently deteriorated into what is known in modern psychiatric terminology every bit Delusional Disorder, whose recurrent episodes brought the paranoid elements of his disorder to psychotic levels, causing grave harm and ultimately fifty-fifty a loss of judgment, insight, and the power to comprehend reality. At times, these were compounded by depressive states that exacerbated his condition."[See, Aryeh Kasher and Elizer Witztum,Male monarch Herod: A Persecuted Persecutor, a Instance Study in Psychohistory and Psychobiography, pg. xv(2007)]

[Note: DSM IV refers to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Four of the American Psychiatric Association]

Indicate No. four

Except to the Jewish Audition Matthew was
Writing to, the Execution of Several Babies in Bethlehem
May Not Take Seemed Noteworthy Against the Backdrop
of Herod'south Numerous Vicious Murders

Why Matthew Included the Effect in His Gospel

As recognized by many biblical scholars, the authors of the 4 gospels directed their writings to different audiences.

As demonstrated past the following, Matthew primarily directed his gospel to a Jewish audience:

• Things that would have merely been of interest to a Jewish audition were included in Matthew's gospel while omitted from other gospels.  For example, Matthew begins his gospel by tracing Jesus' genealogy back to David and Abraham (ancestors of the promised Jewish Messiah).

• Nearly 1,000 years before Jesus was born, information technology was prophesied that the Messiah would come up from the seed of David and Matthew consistently refers to Jesus every bit the "Son of David" (Matt. 1:1; 9:27; 12:23; fifteen:22; 20:xxx; 21:9,15; 22:42,45) which would only have had meaning to a Jewish community.

• While other gospels explain Jewish community (see, e.g., Marking vii:3-4; 14:12; 15:42), Matthew refers to Jewish customs without explaining them, an indication he believed his readers were familiar with the customs so did not need to accept them explained.

To establish that Jesus fulfilled Jewish prophecies nearly the Messiah, Matthew includes the virtually quotations from the Old Testament.  Indeed, specifically with regard to the "Massacre of the Innocents", Matthew two:18 says the outcome was a fulfillment of a prophecy of Jeremiah (run into Jer. 31:15):

"Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled

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

[Note:  Because Rachel was the married woman of the Jewish patriarch, Jacob (Abraham's grandson through Isaac), the reference to Rachel weeping for her children" would have had particular meaning to Matthew's Jewish audition.]

Based on the in a higher place, Matthew may have included the account of the "Massacre of the Innocents" (which took place in a small, ruralJewish town and involved Jewish babies) because the event would take been specially meaning to hisJewish audience .

Why Secular Historians like Josephus May
NotHave Referenced the Event in their Writings

Christian apologists further contend the post-obit factors reasonably explain why secular historians (specifically including Josephus) may not have referenced the "Massacre of the Innocents" in their writings:

• It is sometimes assumed a vast number of babies were killed in the "Massacre of the Innocents", merely the actual number was between six to thirty skip to

• Against the properties of Herod's murder of thousands of people, the death of half dozen to 30 Jewish babies in Bethlehem may not have seemed noteworthy to those writing to a Greco-Roman audience skip to

It is Sometimes Assumed a Vast Number of Babies Were Killed in the "Massacre of the Innocents", but the Actual Number was Six to Xxx

Apply of the Word "Massacre" Does Non Imply Vast Numbers of Murders

Matthew did not record how many babies were killed by Herod in Bethlehem, nor did Matthew use the give-and-take "massacre."

Matthew merely says Herod "gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years quondam and nether"; the term "massacre" wasn't associated with the upshot until much after.

Moreover, although "massacres" tin can involve the killing of large numbers of people, the term "massacre" can exist used to speak to the defenselessness of the victims killed as demonstrated by the following:

Massacre	Number of People Involved
The Boston Massacre (1770)	5
The Valentine Day Massacre (1929)	six
The Hula Massacre (1948)	35-48
The Avivim School Bus Massacre (1970)	12
The Mekong River Massacre (2011)	13

In that location are many other massacres documented by historians which involve only a handful of victims.  Therefore, the term "Massacre of the Innocents" does not hateful vast numbers of babies were killed in Bethlehem.  This is made even more clear since Bethlehem was a very small town.

Bethlehem was a Small Town with a Small Population

As reported in one Chronicles 2:50-51, Bethlehem was founded by Salma (Rex David's great great grandpa – Salma » Boaz » Obed » Jesse » David).  Salma is also found in Jesus' genealogy recorded in Matthew 1 (see, Matt. 1:four-5).

Micah the prophet prophesied that even though Bethlehem was "small amid the clans of Judah", a ruler over Israel (whose origins are from ancient times) would come out of Bethlehem (Micah v:two) which is what the Magi were told when they arrived in Jerusalem looking for 1 born king of the Jews (Matt. 2:1-3).

Bethlehem was a rural community.  It was at or near Bethlehem where David was disposed sheep for his father (Jesse) when Samuel anointed him the future king of Israel (one Samuel 16:1-ii, 10-thirteen).

When the Magi visited Jesus in Bethlehem, information technology was still an area where shepherds tended flocks, especially the sheep used as sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem.  According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus' nascence was announced to shepherd's tending flocks in fields near Bethlehem and they went to Bethlehem and found Jesus lying in a manger Jesus (Luke two:4, 8-11, xv-xvi).

Bethlehem was a small-scale town. According to the Book of Ezra, simply 123 men returned to Bethlehem after the Jew's returned to the Promised State following their exile in Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar 2 (see Ezra 2:1, 21).  Even as late every bit 1596, tax and census records testify Bethlehem's total population was still simply 1,435. [See, Andrew Petersen, The Towns of Palestine Nether Muslim Rule, pg. 141(Archaeopress, 2005)]

Bethlehem c. 1854
by Auguste Salzmann

Effectually the time of Jesus' birth, scholars judge the total population of Bethlehem to have been virtually 300 to 1,000 people, including 6 – 30 male boys under the age of two.[Run across, Michael J. Wilkins, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, pg. 19 (2002), Raymond Eastward. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, pgs.104-121 (1993), Donald A. Hagner, World Biblical Commentary, Vol 33a, pg. 37 (1993), William Albright & C.Southward. Mann, The Anchor Bible, Vol. 26, pg. 19 (1971) and Paul Maier, "Herod and the Infants of Bethlehem", Chronos, Kairos, Christos II,pg. 178, fn 25 (1998)]. Accordingly, the full number of baby boys who could have been slaughtered in the "Massacre of the Innocents" was 6 – 30 and at least one baby escaped — Jesus (Matt. two:13-14, 19-23).

Against the Properties of Herod'due south Murder of Thousands of People, the Death of 6 to 30 Jewish Babies in Bethlehem May Non Take Seemed Noteworthy to Those Writing to a Greco-Roman Audience

As stated by Werner Keller, during Herod'southward thirty-six yr reign, hardly a day passed without someone being sentenced to decease.[Werner Keller,The Bible as History, pg. 334 (1981)] An average of one killing per day for 36 years totals over 13,000 killings.

Against a backdrop of the thousands of brutal killings committed by Herod, the killing of 6 – xxx Jewish baby boys may not take seemed significant to the Greeks and Romans who don't seem to have held the lives of babies in high regard.  As noted by Paul Maier, the Greeks (peculiarly in Sparta) used infanticide equally a type of birth control and the Romans permitted fathers to leave their newborn babies on the floor to dice if they so chose.[See, Paul Maier, "Herod and the Infants of Bethlehem", Chronos, Kairos, Christos Ii, pg. 169 (1998)]

Accordingly, Maier argues that although the massacre of babies in and effectually Bethlehem was certainly relevant to the Christian narrative and, therefore, included by Matthew in his gospel which was directed to a Jewish audience, the deaths of even a few dozen babies in a rural Jewish boondocks like Bethlehem could take seemed to have picayune upshot to Josephus when he recorded  facts nearly Herod 75 – 95 years later.  [NOTE:  Herod died between iv B.C. – 1 B.C. and Josephus wroteWar to the Jews in c. 75 and Antiquities of the Jews in c. 94 ] [See, Paul Maier, "Herod and the Infants of Bethlehem", Chronos, Kairos, Christos II, pg. 169 (1998)]

With the above in mind, Christian theologians and scholars maintain that the lack of known references to the "Massacre of the Innocents" in historical texts outside of Matthew 2 does not reasonably prove the event is made-upwardly fiction as some skeptics insist.

Conclusion

Because historians tin can never document all the events that occurred during a particular point in history and because only a fraction of ancient historical documents have survived over time, on its face it seems imprudent to write off the historicity of any ancient historical writing (including Matthew ii)solely because the an event referenced in the text is not found in other historical writings (higher up).

Additionally, with respect to Matthew'due south account of the "Massacre of the Innocents", Christian apologists maintain the following boosted factors demonstrate information technology is unreasonable for skeptics to insist Matthew'due south account exist written off as mere fiction:

• Matthew'south account of the "Massacre of the Innocents" is consistent with Herod's well-documented murderous reputation (run into Point No. ii above)

• Matthew's account of the "Massacre of the Innocents" is consistent with Herod'south psychological profile — Paranoid Personality Disorder — (see Point No. 3 higher up)

• Except to the Jewish audition Matthew was writing to, the execution of several babies in a pocket-size Jewish town like Bethlehem may not have seemed noteworthy against the backdrop of Herod's numerous brutal murders (see Point No. four above)

Based on the in a higher place, Christian apologists maintain it is unreasonable for skeptics to insist Matthew'southward account of the "Massacre of the Innocents" be overlooked every bit mere fiction.

© 2022 by Andrina Thou. Hanson

Published: Dec 5, 2022 / Last Updated: December 10, 2014

__________________________________

QUICK LINKS TO SOURCES REFERENCED OR RELIED ON IN THIS ARTICLE

William Albright & C.S. Mann, The Anchor Bible, Vol. 26 (Doubleday, 1971)

Raymond Chocolate-brown,The Birth of the Messiah. A Commentary on the Infancy Narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke (New York: Doubleday, 1993)

Gordon Franz, "The Slaughter of the Innocents: Historical Fact or Legendary Fiction?" (2009) available hither

Donald A. Hagner, Globe Biblical Commentary, Vol 33a (Word Books: Dallas, Texas, 1993)

Aryeh Kasher (in collaboration with Eliezer Witztum)Male monarch Herod: A Persecuted Persecutor. A Case Report in Psychohistory and Psychobiography (Walter de Gruyter, Berlin-New York, March 2007)

Werner Keller,The Bible equally History, pg. 334 (William Morrow & Co., Inc.: New York, 1981) here

Paul Maier (Jerry Vardman, Ed.), "Herod and the Infants of Bethlehem", Chronos, Kairos, Christos Ii (Mercer University Press, 1998)

Ehud Netzer,The Palaces of the Hasmoneans and Herod the Bully (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi Institute and Israel Exploration Club, 2001)

Michael J. Wilkins (Clinton Arnold, Ed.), Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (G Rapids: Zondervan, 2002)

 Prototype CREDITS & LICENSING

Slideshow Photo: Giotto di Bondone (1267 – 1337) was an Italian painter and architect.  This slideshow photo is of Giotto's painting of the "Massacre of the Innocents" was done on the 1310'south.  The prototype was downloaded from www.wikimedia.org which states the image is a true-blue photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional work of art which is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the writer plus 100 years or less.

Herod the Great:  This image of an creative person's impression of Herod the Great was downloaded from www.wikimedia.org which states the epitome is in the public domain.

Herod'southward Hippodrome in Caesarea Maritima:  This photograph of the hippodrome built by Herod the Keen in Caesarea Maritima was taken by tango7174.  The image was downloaded from www.wikimedia.com which states the image is license under the Artistic Eatables Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license (CC-BY-SA-3.0)

Bethlehem c 1956: This piece of work of fine art by Auguste Salzmann was downloaed from www.wikimedia.org which states the image is in the public domain in the United States, and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 100 years or less.

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Source: http://factsandfaith.com/did-herod-really-order-the-execution-of-male-babies-in-bethlehem-as-reported-in-matthew-2/

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