Why did King Herod kill children under two years old?

Answer 1

The story of the 'Slaughter of the Innocents', which tells of King Herod ordering the slaying of all the children under two years old, occurs only in Matthew's Gospel which is very much at variance with Luke's Gospel. There is no historical information about this event and even the first-century Jewish historian Josephus does not mention it, although it is clear that he would have written anything that was to the disgrace of Herod had he known of it. Since Matthew is the only record of this event, we must look to this Gospel and why the account was written.

Matthew says that King Herod feared for his kingdom because the magi, or wise men, had prophesied that a baby born in Bethlehem would become king of the Jews. The wise men did not return to tell him that they had found the baby, so Herod ordered the deaths of all the infant boys. For the story to be true, Herod must have been incredibly careless, not sending an escort with the wise men and relying on them to return to him. It seems improbable that even if they had returned, Herod would have known any more about the identity of the baby - after all, Bethlehem did not have street signs and house numbers as we have in our towns today.

The author of Matthew's Gospel was drawing a close parallel between Moses and Jesus. He begins with his genealogy of Jesus, which says that Jacob was the father of Joseph, just as Jacob was the father of Joseph in the Old Testament (Luke says that Joseph's father was called Heli, but it is recognised that this is no more likely to be historically true). Joseph takes Jesus to Egypt to mirror the Israelite Joseph's journey to Egypt, and just as Moses travelled back to the Promised Land to save his people, Jesus travelled back from Egypt to save his people. Which leads us to the birth of Moses, when the Egyptian king, the Pharaoh, ordered the slaughter of all the Israelite infants under two years old, just as Herod did at the birth of Jesus.

There is no evidence that King Herod committed this atrocity, but we can understand how the 'Slaughter of the Innocents' fitted into Matthew's account.

Answer 2

A closer read of Matthew 2 and Luke 2 will shed some interesting light on this matter. Herod inquired of the magi specifically when they saw the star and from where they travelled. He inquired of his priest/scribes where the Christ was to be born. Travel was not fast back then and so one can assume the Christ was no longer an infant or living in a stable as Matthew 2:10-11 indicates. Luke 2 speaks of the ceremonial cleansing of Mary which is some 40 days after birth. Further, in Luke 2:24, Mary offers a sacrifice of 2 turtle doves - not very significant if the wise men already arrived and gave gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh - just wouldn't happen.

Putting all the above together, it is easy to see how Herod, wanting to be sure no other King takes his throne, would order all males 2 yrs old and younger put to the sword. Jesus was obviously several months older than a new born infant depicted in today's manger scenes.

Answer 3

King Herod ordered that all babys two years and below should be killed.