Why did King Herod kill the infants in Bethlehem?

Answer 1

Opinion:Herod ordered this massacre because he was probably mentally unstable. His paranoia and atrocities on far greater scale than this relatively 'minor' incident is well documented outside of The Bible.

Answer 2

According to Matthew chapter 2, Herod ("and all Jerusalem with him") was "troubled" when he heard that wise men from the East were asking where they could find, "He who has been born King of the Jews." Such a question obviously wouldn't sit well with the current king.

Herod attempted to use the wise men to locate Jesus, telling them, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also." (Matthew 2:8)

After their visit to the Christ child, the wise men were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they "departed for their own country another way." An angel then appeared to Joseph in a dream, telling him to take Jesus and Mary and "flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him." (v.13)

Matthew 2:16 ultimately answers the question: Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

Fueled by anger and determined to do away with what he saw as a threat, Herod killed every male child in the entire region in the attempt.

[Quotes from NKJV]

Answer 3

It wasn't just "infants"... it was: "... all the children that were in Bethlehem, and IN ALL THE COASTS THEREOF, from two years and under..." (Matt.2:16).

As much as two years had passed since Herod had "diligently inquired of the wise men" about some "prophesied Jewish king" being born, who was supposed to crush the Roman Empire and set up His Kingdom in its place (Daniel's 2nd chapter's "iron" kingdom and chapter 7's "fourth Beast").

Besides being made a public fool of by the wise men two years earlier... (Matt.2:16)... Herod must have decided not to let this potentially serious threat to the empire continue and get out of hand through a rebellion, later... and took these drastic steps.

Joseph had already been warned, however, in a dream (Matt.2:12)... and he and his family were long gone to Egypt until Herod died.

Answer 4

According to Matthew's Gospel, King Herod ordered the deaths of all children in and around Bethlehem, under two years old. Matthew says that he feared that one of the infants, Jesus, would take over his reign as king.

However, there are problems with Matthew's account. Firstly, the story of the birth of Jesus in Luke's Gospel could scarcely be more different from Matthew's, and Luke seems to rule out the "slaughter of the innocents". Also, the Jewish historian, Josephus, does not mention this event, although his antipathy to King Herod means that he would have done so if he had known of it.

Some scholars say that the "slaughter of the innocents" is part of a literary device created by Matthew to draw a parallel between Jesus and Moses. The order supposedly given by the king to kill all the young male children in Bethlehem, because he feared Jesus, parallels the order given by the Egyptian king to kill all the young Hebrew males, because he feared Moses. On this view, Herod 'killed' the infants of Bethlehem so that a prophecy could be fulfilled.