He ordered the killing of every boy under two. He was trying to eliminate one child.
📖Based on Matthew 2:16
Herod had asked the wise men to come back.
He said he wanted to worship the child too.
He didn't.
The wise men were warned in a dream not to return to him.
They went home another way.
Joseph was also warned in a dream.
Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt.
Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him.
They left at night.
When Herod realized he had been tricked, he was furious.
He sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region.
Two years old and under.
According to the time he had calculated from the wise men.
He set the age limit based on the star's appearance.
Which was based on the wise men's report.
He couldn't find one child.
So he killed all of them.
A voice was heard in Ramah.
Weeping and loud lamentation.
Rachel weeping for her children.
Refusing to be comforted.
Because they were no more.
Bethlehem was a small village.
The number of children under two would not have been large.
Each one was someone's son.
Each one was killed because a king was afraid of losing his throne.
To a child.
In a manger.
Who was already gone.
Who was already in Egypt.
Herod died of a terrible illness not long after.
The children in Bethlehem were still dead.
The one he was trying to kill lived on.
Scripture — Matthew 2:16
"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 inquired of the wise men."
Reflection
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He killed many to eliminate one. The one was already gone. The many were not.
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His rage was at being tricked. The children were not part of the offense. They became the consequence of it.