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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
Gerald Sigal: Matthew 2
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- from Gerald Sigal's The Jew and the Christian Missionary: A Jewish Response to Missionary Chrisitanity
Rachel Weeping: Mat. 2:16-18
- Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its environs, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the magi. Then that which was spoken of through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying: "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and much wailing, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more." (Matthew 2:16-18)
Eager to show fulfillment of prophecy in the life of Jesus, Matthew refers to Jeremiah 31:15 as a proof-text that Rachel wept for the allegedly slain children of Bethlehem. (It is strange that so outstanding an event was not reported by the historian Josephus.) However, an examination of this quotation within its biblical context plainly shows us that it does not refer to slain, but rather to captive children.
- Thus says the Lord: A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more. Thus says the Lord: Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the Lord; and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, says the Lord; and your children shall return to their own border. I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: "You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf; bring me back and I shall be restored, for You are the Lord my God. For after I was turned, I repented, and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh; I was ashamed, and also humiliated, because I bore the disgrace of my youth." (Jeremiah 31:15-19)
The exiled Ten Tribes are collectively referred to by the name Ephraim, the leading northern tribe. Ephraim was the son of Joseph, whose mother was Rachel.
If Jeremiah's prophecy was meant to be connected with the alleged massacre of the innocent children of Bethlehem, it would not have been Rachel weeping, but Leah, the ancestress of the tribe of Judah, in whose tribal area that town is situated.
This is the substance of which New Testament fulfillment of prophecy is made. Let the believer beware.
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