Rachel Weeping

Christmas is a time of great rejoicing as we celebrate the incarnation: Jesus Christ the Son took on flesh and dwelt among us as our Immanuel to seek and save the lost (John 1:14; Luke 19:10). However, the warmth and goodwill brought by the Christmas story is shockingly interrupted when we reach Matthew 2. After the star guided the Magi to the humble manger to worship the Child, the Lord warned the Wise Men to avoid King Herod. Troubled by the prophecy that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem and angered by the Magi’s trickery, Herod ordered the slaughter of all male children under two years old in Bethlehem (Matt 2:16). Why does this tragic atrocity punctuate the wonderful story of our Lord’s birth?

While Herod’s violent attempt to secure his throne was standard practice in antiquity (Judg 9:5; 2 Chron 22:10), the same prophecy of Christ’s birth that Herod resented also proclaimed that God will judge the evildoers who do not understand His purposes, and that He would send One Ruler to bring us peace (Mic 4:10–5:5).

For us, when faced with the heartbreaking effects of sin such as the loss of children, we cling to the assurance that our God is in complete control (Prov 21:1), His purposes for us are good even if we do not understand them (Gen 50:20; Rom 8:28), and that nothing could prevent His perfect plan to deliver us and restore us to Himself. Rachel weeping, refusing to be comforted, turns into the Lord’s declaration: “Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a delightful child? . . .

I will surely have mercy on him” (Jer 31:15, 20).

The Incarnate Babe would grow into the man who took little ones on His knee, who supplied the final offering for sin and remembers ours no more (Heb 10:8–10, 16–17 quoting Jer 31). As Herod inflicted corporate execution on the many for the sake of the One, so the One willingly laid down His life for the sake of the many (Rom 5:19).

Timothy Schoonhoven