Matthew 2:18

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.

The passage as penned by the prophet, Jeremiah 31:15, is the narration of a vision with reference to the deportation of Israel into captivity, Rachel being the representative mother of the nation, and Ramah having been a fortress of Israel on the frontier where the captives were collected. This prophetic passage Matthew applies to the slaughter of the innocents. Rachel is represented as the mother of Bethlehem and its environs, because it was here that she died, in childbirth, Genesis 35:16. Her sympathy for her children's misfortunes would cause her to indulge in such bitter weeping and mourning as the mothers of Bethlehem doubtless gave themselves to at this exhibition of Revolting and senseless cruelty on the part of Herod. Consolation and comfort could avail but little when they were obliged to witness the murder of their children before their very eyes and could only wring their hands in helpless sorrow and agony.