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The Massacre of the Innocents with Herod — Gerolamo Mocetto

King

Herod the Great

King of Judea · New Testament · 37–4 BC

The Massacre of the Innocents with Herod — Gerolamo Mocetto

The Massacre of the Innocents with Herod — Gerolamo Mocetto

The Massacre of the Innocents with Herod — Gerolamo Mocetto

Summary

The Idumean king appointed by Rome who rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem on a grand scale, and who tried to kill the infant Jesus by ordering the slaughter of the boys of Bethlehem, the first ruler to move against the Messiah.

  • The record places Herod the Great in New Testament.
  • 6 moments stand in order on this page, each with its verse.

On this page

Start here

When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.

Matthew 2:16→
  • 6 key events in order

Herod the Great

Role
King of Judea
Era
New Testament
Dates
37–4 BC
Tribe
Idumea / Roman Judea
Father
Antipater the Idumaean

The life in order

from the events the row records, with the first and last verse that names the person among the passages this page stands on

1What the record holds, in its own order

  1. Rebuilt the Temple magnificentlyJohn 2:20“This temple took forty-six years to build,” the Jews replied, “and You are going to raise it up in three days?”
  2. Inquired of the chief priests about the Messiah's birthplaceMatthew 2:4-6And when he had assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ was to be born.
  3. Deceived the MagiMatthew 2:7-8Then Herod called the Magi secretly and learned from them the exact time the star had appeared.
  4. Massacre of the InnocentsMatthew 2:16When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
  5. Death shortly afterMatthew 2:19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt.

Biography

Herod the Great was an Idumean (Edomite) who was appointed King of Judea by the Roman Senate in 37 BC. He was a brilliant and brutal ruler — simultaneously one of the ancient world's greatest builders and one of its most paranoid and murderous leaders. He rebuilt the Jerusalem Temple into a magnificent complex that astonished the ancient world, its stones so large that the disciples marveled at them.

He built Caesarea Maritima, Masada, Herodium, and dozens of other projects. However, he executed his wife Mariamne, several of his sons, and countless perceived rivals. When the Magi came asking where the King of the Jews was born, Herod was troubled and met with the chief priests and scribes to locate Bethlehem as the Messiah's birthplace. He sent the Magi to find the child, intending to kill him.

When they did not return, he ordered all boys under two in Bethlehem and its surroundings killed — the Massacre of the Innocents. An angel warned Joseph who fled to Egypt. Herod died shortly after, in great physical agony, and Joseph was then told to return.

Herod the Great in one verse
When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.

Matthew 2:16→

Key events

  1. 1
    Appointed King of Judea by RomeHistorical

    Roman Senate appointed the Idumean Antipater's son as King of Judea in 37 BC, making him a client king of Rome

What they got right, and what they got wrong

Strengths

Extraordinary builder, political genius, maintained relative peace in Judea for Rome, grand vision

Weaknesses

Paranoid cruelty, murdered family members including his wife and sons, ordered massacre of innocent children, illegitimate Idumean ruler who feared the true King

Lessons

Power that perceives the true King as a threat reveals its own illegitimacy. Herod's massacre of infants was an act of terror born of insecurity — a king threatened by a baby. When human power is used to oppose divine purposes, it becomes monstrous, and ultimately futile.

Spiritual significance

Herod the Great's attempt to kill the infant Jesus places him in the line of biblical tyrants who try to destroy God's redemptive plan — Pharaoh ordering the death of Hebrew infant boys, Haman planning genocide of the Jews. Each attempt fails; each attempt reveals the nature of the spiritual opposition to God's Messiah.

How Herod the Great points to Jesus

Herod's massacre of Bethlehem's infants echoes Pharaoh's massacre of Hebrew infants in Exodus — both are rulers who try to kill God's deliverer at birth, and both fail. The Holy Family's flight to Egypt recapitulates Israel's sojourn in Egypt, and the return parallels the Exodus.

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