allegorical sense - Israel is "YHWH's son‖. He takes this allegorical concept of Israel being the Son of YHWH
and says Messiah is literally the first born Son of YHWH. Hos 11:1 ―When Israel was a child, then I loved
him, and called my son out of Egypt‖.
2:16 Herod slew all the children
―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 enquired of the wise men‖.
When Herod realised that the visitors from the East had tricked him, he was furious and gave orders to kill all
the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood that were two years old and younger.
It was the custom in ancient Israel to count the years of one‘s age from the date of conception.
Therefore, Herod actually killed children one year old and younger, according to the way age is
calculated today. When Herod killed the male children in Bethlehem, it was a satanic attempt to kill the ―seed
of the woman‖. The Bible describes this attack in this matter: ―and the dragon stood before the woman
(Israel) who was ready to be delivered, to devour the Child (Y‘shua) as son as He was born‖ (Rev 12:4). But,
forewarned by YHWH, Yoseph and Miriam fled to Egypt with the Child.
2:17- 18 "A voice was heard in Ramah..."
―(17) Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, (18) In Rama was there a
voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and
would not be comforted, because they are not‖.
The prophecy from Jeremiah (31:15) ―Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation,
and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because
they were not‖.
Another Remez is seen here, as this verse does not refer to Messiah but to the slaughter of the northern
tribes by the Assyrians. Just as Rachel from her tomb in Ramah grieves for those lost lives, so the women of
Beit-Lechem mourn for their slain infants.
There is also a deeper mystical meaning in this verse (at the sod level) where Rachel is compared to the
Shekinah (YHWH's presence in this world) who grieves for her children (of Israel).
These two verses demonstrate a way the New Covenant quotes the Original Testament. This way is called
―literal, plus application‖. If we go back to the text of Jer 31:15 and look at its original context, it is neither
history nor prophecy, but something that was already presently happening. It was a present contemporary
event of the prophet Jeremiah and is a reference to the Babylonian Captivity.
In this account, young Jewish men were being taken into captivity in Babylon. When they were taken away,
they were taken by the town of Ramah, which is near the place where Rachel was buried. Rachel had
become the symbol of Jewish motherhood. Rachel was a matriarch of Israel, wife of Jacob, and mother of
Yoseph and Benjamin. She died in childbirth on the way from Bethel to Eprath. As she lay dying, she named
her son ―Ben Oni‖, or ―son of my suffering‖. Yoseph always called him Benjamin. Jacob did not bury her in
the ancestral patriarchal cave at Machpelah, but interred her at the place of her death and set up a
monument over her grave.
As the young men went by Ramah, the mothers of the town came outside and were weeping for the sons of
Israel that they would never see again. Jeremiah pictures this as Rachel (Jewish motherhood) weeping.
When Herod ordered the male children to be killed, Jewish mothers were weeping again for sons that they
would never see again.
2:19-21 The return to the Promised Land
―(19) But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
(20) Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are
dead which sought the young child's life. (21) And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and
came into the land of Israel‖.