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2020-02-26 to 28 Pictures: Charleston, South Carolina

One of the few upsides of having to cancel our Spring Break trip last March at the onset of the pandemic is that we are "stuck" with a rather large voucher from one of those discount airlines. Last autumn, Tricia and I spent a weekend in Savannah, Georgia and had a...

A John 3:16 Craft for Kids

John 3:16 is one of the most well known and reassuring verses in the Bible. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.John 3:16 (NIV) The following is a little craft I threw...

2020-03-01 Pictures: Lyndsey’s College Signing Day

This afternoon Lyndsey made it official, signing her letter of intent to play college basketball for the Hiram College Terriers starting next year. While she made the decision and committed to Hiram before Christmas, she has been looking forward to this day since her...

2020-02-13 Pictures: Lyndsey’s 18th Birthday

I am little behind on posting photos. These are some of my favorites from a couple of weekends ago when we got a chance to celebrate Lyndsey's 18th birthday. It's hard to believe that my little girl is officially an adult. It was nice to have the family all back...

What is DOCTRINE?

Introduction I love working with kids, and I love teaching them hard concepts in ways they can understand. To that end, for years I have been working on a dictionary of theological terms for kids and teens. In sharing those definitions, there seemed no better place to...

If You Want It Done Right

In all likelihood, you know how the phrase ends: If you want it done right, DO IT YOURSELF! This is a bit of a mantra for me, and frankly, something that I struggle with daily both in leadership and in my Christian walk.  In theory, this is easy to accept. ...

What Does God Hate?

This is the little and humble post that started it all. I happened to be reading through my Bible, and this passage impacted me so much that I posted a little blurb about it on Facebook. That was July 28, 2008, and I've been writing and sharing ever since. (Maybe...

Monday Morning Prophecy #13 – Herod Would Kill the Children

cross-pictureOver the last couple of weeks, we have looked at Old Testament prophecies indicating that angels and shepherds would worship Jesus.  This week we tackle a prophecy about how King Herod would react to the birth of Jesus.

Some 600 years or so before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Jeremiah recorded the words of the Lord:

Thus says the LORD: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”  [Jeremiah 31:15]

This is one of the prophecies of the Old Testament where we need to look at the New Testament to understand its fulfillment.  Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Matthew records what happened when King Herod realized that the wise men had not come back to tell him the location of the baby Jesus:

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”  [Matthew 2:16-18]

Herod ordered that all boys in the region two years old and younger be killed.  The mothers of those children surely wept over the loss of their new born children.  Matthew is clear that this is in fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy.

Some will argue that it is only the words of Matthew that “retroactively” made this prophecy.  However, as we continue with the Monday Morning Prophecy series, you will see that this is just one in the overwhelming number of prophecies fulfilled in the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Return to the Monday Morning Prophecy index page.

Image courtesy of Abby Reed

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3 Comments

  1. Eric

    Great article

  2. Nemi

    sorry but how is this a prophecy: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” ?

    • Wayne

      Nemi, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. This would be one of those prophecies which is recongnized and identified as prophecy in the New Testament. While some Old Testament prophecy is more clearly prophecy, this one qualifies because it is acknowledged as so in the Book of Matthew. When it comes to prophecy, I would encourage you to look at 115 prophecy in this series (which doesn’t even include all of them). Taking together, they are clear evidence of the inspiration of scripture.