Matthew 2:16

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. THEN HEROD ... As Deborah, sang of the mother of Sisera, "She looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? Have they not sped?" so Herod wonders that his messengers, with pious zeal, are not hastening with the news that all is ready to receive him as a worshipper. What can be keeping them? Have they missed their way? Has any disaster befallen them? At length his patience is exhausted. He makes his inquiries, and finds they are already far beyond his reach on their way home. WHEN HE SAW THAT HE WAS MOCKED, [ ene...

16._Then Herod when he saw _Matthew speaks according to what Herod felt and thought about the matter. He believed that the Magi had deceived him, because they did not choose to take part in his wicked cruelty. He was rather taken in his own trickery, — in his base pretense, that he too intended to pay homage to the new King. Josephus makes no mention of this history. The only writer who mentions it is Macrobius, in the Second Book of his _Saturnalia, _where, relating the jokes and taunts of Augustus, he says: _When he heard that, by Herod’s command, the children in Syria under two years of age had been slain, and that his own son had been slain among the crowd, “I would rather,” said he, “have been Herod’s hog than his son.” _But the authority of Matthew alone is abundantly sufficient for us. Josephus certainly ought not to have passed over a crime so worthy of being put on record. But t...

13-15 Egypt had been a house of bondage to Israel, and particularly cruel to the infants of Israel; yet it is to be a place of refuge to the holy Child Jesus. God, when he pleases, can make the worst of places serve the best of purposes. This was a trial of the faith of Joseph and Mary. But their faith, being tried, was found firm. If we and our infants are at any time in trouble, let us remember the straits in which Christ was when an infant. Matthew 2:16 Herod killed all the male children, not only in Bethlehem, but in all the villages of that city. Unbridled wrath, armed with an unlawful power, often carries men to absurd cruelties. It was no unrighteous thing with God to permit this; every life is forfeited to his justice as soon as it begins. The diseases and deaths of little children are proofs of original sin. But the murder of these infants was their martyrdom. How early did per...

Verse Matthew 2:16. _SLEW ALL THE CHILDREN_] This cruelty of Herod seems alluded to in very decisive terms by _Macrobius_, who flourished toward the conclusion of the fourth Century. In his chapter _De_ _jocis Augusti in alios, et aliorum rursus in ipsum_, he says, _Cum_ _audisset inter pueros, quos in Syria Herodes, rex Judeorum, intra_ _bimatum jussit interfici, filium quoque ejus occisum, ait, Melius_ _est Herodis_ PORCUM _esse, quam_ FILIUM. "When he heard that among those male infants about two years old, which Herod, the king of the Jews, ordered to be slain in Syria, one of his sons was also murdered, he said: 'It is better to be Herod's HOG than his SON.'" Saturn. lib. ii. c. 4. The _point_ of this saying consists in this, that Herod, professing Judaism, his religion forbade his killing _swine_, or having any thing to do with...

THEN HEROD, WHEN HE SAW THAT HE WAS MOCKED OF THE WISE MEN - When he saw that he had been deceived by them; that is, that they did not return as he had expected. It does not mean that they did it for the purpose of mocking or deriding him, but that he was disappointed in their not returning, or that he had been trifled with. EXCEEDING WROTH - Very angry. He had been disappointed and deceived. He expected to send an executioner and kill Jesus alone. But, since he was disappointed in this, he thought he would accomplish the same thing, and be sure to destroy him, if he sent forth and put all the children in the place to death. This is an illustration of the power of anger. It stops at nothing. If it cannot accomplish just what it wishes, it does not hesitate to go much further, and accomplish much more evil than it at first designed. He that has a wicked heart, and indulges in anger, knows...

EXPOSITION JESUS THE CHRIST BY HIS EARLY HISTORY answering to the word of God by the prophets. This is shown by four particulars, for each of which a corresponding prophecy is adduced. (1) The place of his birth; where, further, he receives homage of Gentiles, though neglected by his own people (Matthew 2:1). (2) His stay in Egypt (Matthew 2:13). (3) The slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:16). (4) His dwelling at Nazareth, and consequent appellation ...

THEN HEROD, WHEN HE SAW THAT HE WAS MOCKED,.... Herod, having waited a proper time for the return of the wise men, and they not coming, concluded he was tricked by them; though, no doubt, when they promised to return, and bring him word how things were, they seriously meant and designed a performance; but having met with a divine oracle, which ordered them another way, they thought it most advisable to obey God rather than man. Upon this, HEROD WAS EXCEEDING WROTH; partly at the usage he met with from the wise men, who according to his apprehension had put a trick upon him; and chiefly because his scheme was broke, which was by them to come at the knowledge and sight of the young child, and privately dispatch him: and now he might fear, which increased his wrath, that the child would escape his hands, and in time be set up for king, to the prejudice of him and his family; wherefore, to...

Matthew 2:1. _Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,_ Probably from that Assyria which is joined with Israel and Egypt in the remarkable prophecy in Isaiah 19:24: «In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria even a blessing in the midst of the land: Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. «Behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,» Matthew 2:2. Saying, Where is he that is, born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the

2. THE KING WORSHIPPED BY GENTILES; Jerusalem in Ignorance of Him; the Child Persecuted. _ 1. The Visit of the Wise Men.(Matthew 2:1 .) 2. The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13 .) 3. The Return from Egypt. (Matthew 2:19 .)_ CHAPTER 2 The second chapter in Matthew relates events which are nowhere else recorded in the Gospels. For this reason, and this is the only reason, the authenticity of the chapter has been doubted more than once. All that which the second chapter contains belongs properly into the Jewish, dispensational Gospel, and would indeed be entirely out of place in the other three Gospels, therefore the Holy Spirit has seen fit to put it only in the first Gospel. The chapter

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT AND THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS. While Mt. says Jesus was born before Herod's death (how long before he does not say), Lk. suggests, by his reference to Quirinius, that it was after. But see Luke 2:1 *. MATTHEW 2:15. Hosea 11:1 *. It looks as though Mt. made the incident fit the quotation, _cf._ Abbott, _op. cit.,_ p. 413. A second-century Jewish tradition speaks of Jesus working as a labourer in Egypt, and practising magic ere he returned to Palestine and proclaimed Himself a God. There were a million Jews in Egypt in the first century A.D. In place of the slaughter of the Bethlehem children Lk. gives the story of the presentation in the Temple. The massacre is not narrated by Josep