Matthew’s Christmas story includes something many of us would rather skip: murdered children and grieving mothers. When King Herod realizes that a rival King has been born, he orders the execution of every boy in Bethlehem under the age of two. It is horrifying, and yet Matthew deliberately places it in the center of the story of Christ’s birth. Why?
Matthew does not soften the horror or try to justify it. He places it inside a larger story that stretches back through Israel’s history, and he does that by pointing us to two Old Testament passages that do not look like Christmas promises at first glance.
The first comes from Hosea 11: “Out of Egypt I called My son.” In its original setting, that verse refers to Israel and the Exodus, when God rescued His people from slavery and death and led them into freedom and life. So why does Matthew apply it to Jesus?
The reason is because Matthew wants us to see that Jesus is not merely participating in Israel’s story, He IS Israel’s story. The pattern of rescue that defined Israel’s past now converges on one person. Israel went down into Egypt because of danger; Jesus goes down into Egypt because of danger. Israel came out of Egypt by God’s saving power; Jesus comes out of Egypt by God’s saving power. Israel was called God’s son, yet failed in obedience; Jesus is God’s Son who obeys perfectly. Matthew is showing us that Jesus is walking the same road, but this time without failure. The rescue story is being retold, but now with a victorious ending.
Next, Matthew quotes a second passage, this time from the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children for they are no more.” For an Israelite, Ramah was a place of old wounds. It was where families were gathered before being marched off into exile. Families ripped apart. Children taken from their parents. Death, sorrow, and deep sadness. Jeremiah pictures Rachel as the symbolic mother of Israel, standing over her people and weeping as they disappear into judgment and loss. But Jeremiah’s story does not end with grief, it ends with promise. God speaks to Rachel and says, in effect, “Do not weep forever. There is hope for your future. Your children will come home.”
When Matthew references this, he is using exile language. He is saying that what happens in Bethlehem echoes one of the darkest chapters in Israel’s past. Yes, Rachel is weeping again, but this time the story does not end in exile. This time, the child who escapes Herod will grow up to walk straight into suffering. He will not avoid death; He will enter it willingly. He will bear the judgment exile pointed toward, so the ultimate exile between God and Man can finally end. That is the thread Matthew wants us to see. Every rescue from slavery, every return from exile, every moment when God brought life out of death was pointing forward to Jesus, the light of the world, entering into and defeating the darkness.
Matthew does not tell a sentimental Christmas story because Jesus came to do something serious and costly. He entered our broken world to take upon Himself what we could not bear. At the cross, He receives judgment and death so that we can receive mercy, grace, and life through faith in Him. The child born under threat has removed our ultimate threat and will one day wipe away every tear.
That’s why Matthew includes the tragedy of Bethlehem. The exile that began long ago will finally end. Death, pain, and sorrow will cease. And the light that dawned in Bethlehem will not stop shining until the King returns and all things are made new.
Zach Broom is the pastor of Eagles Nest Church in Breezy Point, Minnesota, and the author of Without God: Science, Belief, Morality, and the Meaning of Life. He writes about Christian belief, biblical interpretation, and the relationship between faith and everyday life.