Matthew 2:16-18

 (Matthew 2:16-18)

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.  Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,  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.

As a result of this, Matthew saw the wailing of the mothers of Bethlehem, who had lost children, as compared to the mourning of Jacob's wife Rachel, and at the same time saw the prophecy of Jeremiah 31 as a prophecy fulfilled.『,  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. 』 This is what Jeremiah said as he watched Judah and Israel die and were taken captive by the invasion of Babylon and Assyria, respectively.

Here, "Lama" is the place where the captives of Judah and Israel were gathered and is the local name that symbolizes all of God's people, Israel. Rachel, the mother of Judah and Israel, is also a symbol of all Israel, including Judah and Israel.

In the Old Testament period, Rama was located on the border between Israel and the kingdom of Judah (1 Kings 15:17).
Lama was located 8 km north of Jerusalem, where foreign conquistadors gathered to transport the defeated crowds to a distant place.

This position made Rama the name of both kingdoms simultaneously. Rachel, like the name of Rama, can also be a representative name for both countries because she gave birth to Joseph and Benjamin. Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, belonged to North Israel, and North Israel was called the nation of Ephraim. Therefore, Rachel can be said to be the mother of (North) Israel. He was also the mother of Judah because he gave birth to Benjamin, who became one of the two tribes of Judah.

In 31:15, Jeremiah describes Rachel as the mother of Israel still alive. Rachel was looking at her miserable children who had been disciplined by God because of their sins and were gathered at Ramah. Rachel, who was listening to the cries of the crowd, cried herself. Rachel was very sad and weeping because of her children's ointment. First, his eldest son Israel was taken captive to Assyria (2 Kings 17:8-9), and then his little son Judah was taken to Babylon (2 Chronicles 36:17,20).

『When Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. 』(Genesis 30:1) Rachel, longing to have children, now had to witness that the children he gave birth to were terribly killed and the remaining children to be taken to another country. The powers of the world (Assyria, Babylon) took the most precious thing from her.

Rachel's cry for her child, described in the parable as the mother of Israel, can be applied to three different situations. First, Jacob's wife, the real person, Rachel, had no children at first. In addition, although it was after Rachel's death, Rachel's two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, died. Second, Judah was slaughtered and captured. Third, because the babies of Bethlehem were slaughtered. But God was preparing comfort for Rachel.

The content can also be explained in three ways. First, because Rachel, who had no children, would get Joseph and Benjamin. And because she will return to the lost Joseph and Benjamin. Second, because the captives who were taken to Babylon will return again (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Third, because the time of suffering and curse will end because of Jesus, and the kingdom of God will come.

Jeremiah 31, quoted by Matthew, is comforting. If you take a rough look at the words of comfort, it is for both Israel and Judah. (Jeremiah 31:27,31, 33:14) God truly loves his people with great love and will gather them back from the nations. .Therefore, Rachel will stop crying. God would make a new covenant with his people, forgive their sins, and never remember them again. The remnant would return.

The purpose of their return, however, was to “make a righteous branch for David” (Jeremiah 33:14,15). It was that one righteous branch (Jesus Christ) who practiced justice and justice on this earth. Jeremiah compared, "Rachel's cry for her childlessness and the loss of her children (the loss of Joseph and Benjamin) that the Israelites were slaughtered and taken into captivity by Assyria and Babylon for their crimes."

And Matthew compared Bethlehem's mothers to the loss and weeping of their children by Herod's slaughter, and the escape of Baby Jesus to the distant Egypt by Rachel's children, the Israelites, slaughtered and captured by Assyria and Babylon.

 『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.  Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border. 』(Jeremiah 31:15-17) Matthew quotes here because "the words of comfort for the remnant of the Lord's people will surely be fulfilled through the birth of Jesus." When we picture this scene at the time of the Second Coming of Jesus, Pharaoh and Herod represent the Antichrist in Revelation. And you can see that all who have not received his mark are ordered to be killed.

 (Matthew 2:19-23)

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,  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. And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. (Matthew 2:19-23)

Through the old covenant, God became a husband to the Israelites and held hands and led them. Nevertheless, the Israelites did obscene acts of shaking their hands and worshiping idols. So the marriage relationship between God and Israel was broken, and Israel could no longer live in the promised land of Canaan. However, there will be a day when everything will recover without being over. At that time, God will establish a new covenant.

Although God was the husband of Israel in the old covenant and took responsibility for their lives, Israel broke the marriage. But God is going to engrave God's law in his heart with a new covenant. It is said that it is Jesus Christ who will accomplish this. Those who are in Christ through Jesus Christ are reborn as spirit bodies. The person who signed the new covenant becomes two bodies. One is the body of fresh from the parents, and the other is the body of the spirit from God. The Bible says that the body of the Spirit is on the right hand of God in Christ. The flesh body received from the parents was buried on the cross with Jesus. However, the physical body that exists in reality becomes a sacrifice to God. It is a body that exists for evangelism. That is why we should not follow the flesh passions before the Word of God.

Herod the Great realizes that he has been deceived by the Magi, and is terrifying to kill children near Bethlehem to get rid of the baby Jesus. However, when Jesus fled to Egypt and Herod died, he returned to the land of Israel under the guidance of an angel and spent his childhood in a town called Nazareth. 『It might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene』

In the typical Messiah verse, Isaiah 53:1-3『who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 』

The expression Nazareth means that Jesus is not a person of interest. Jesus is said to be called a Nazarene, a town that has never been noticed by the Old Testament, far from Bethlehem pointed to by the Old Testament (Micah 5:2). Regarding why Jesus was called Nazarene despite being born in Bethlehem, it is recorded in Matthew's Gospel as if Jesus accidentally arrived in the town of Nazareth through the guidance of an angel in the process of avoiding various adversities and dangers. However, the Gospel of Luke is written quite differently. In Luke 2:2-5『 (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. 』

The Gospel of Luke records that Joseph's "Jesus' Father" was the home of Bethlehem, and that the place of life at that time was Nazareth. Joseph was ordered to clear the family register, so he went to Bethlehem, where he had been, with his fiancé, Mary. It is quite natural to return to Nazareth, a town where he lived after work there. However, the Gospel of Matthew says that Jesus happened to live in a strange neighborhood called Nazareth. The reason is Jesus' parents, Joseph.

When Jesus fled to Egypt and Herod the Great died, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and told him to go to the land of Israel. Following this, Joseph returned to the land of Israel, but when he heard that Akelao succeeded his father Herod as king of Judea and was afraid to go there, he was guided by his dream and went to the region of Galilee. So Joseph and Mary happened to go to Nazareth.