This day commemorates the slaughter of Bethlehem's children by Herod the Great (Matthew 2:16-18), as he attempted to destroy the Usurper to his throne. Herod, his jealousy inflamed by the account given by the Wise Men (Matthew 2:7), sent his soldiers to kill all the town's boys two years old and younger in order to protect his throne and lineage. This was one of the last major decisions made in a life filled with vainglory and increasing insanity. His plan went awry, since the Lord sent an angel to warn Joseph, who led Jesus and Mary to safety in Egypt, where they stayed until the tyrant's death.Yes we do look back on such an episode with horror and shock. We're too civilized today to allow such a thing to happen. Aren't we? Look at some recent history. Pol Pot's Cambodia, North Korea, Nazi Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union. How about the innocent unborn children in our own nation?
Concluding his own blog post The Feast of the Holy Innocents, here's Pastor Walter Snyder:
May the Lord use the account of the Holy Innocents to lead us to sorrow over our sins and joy in His redemption. So we ask in the traditional prayer for this day: “Almighty God, the martyred innocents of Bethlehem showed forth Your praise not by speaking but by dying. Put to death in us all that is in conflict with Your will that our lives may bear witness to the faith we profess with our lips; through Lord Jesus, our Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.”
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