The Gospel of Matthew reports that when Herod the Great realized that the Magi was not coming back to report to him where the "King of the Jews" was born, he ordered that "all boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under" to be killed (Matt 2:16).
In an article published by the National Geographic magazine in 2008, Mueller claimed that "Herod is best known for slaughtering every male infant in Bethlehem in an attempt to kill Jesus. He is almost certainly innocent of this crime." If Mueller had done a wee-bit more home-work he would not have the audacity, or the sensibility, to think that. Though the massacre of the innocent is not collaborated by other accounts, it is so true to Herod's character, only the most morally opague would doubt it plausibility.
As we have already suggested in (1), Herod was extremely paranoid about attempts at ousting him from the throne; it is not difficult to understand why. Antipater has been named sole heir when he managed to engineer the deaths of his two step-brothers in 7BC. Impatient to gain the throne he now attempted to poison Herod. But, via a complicated series of events, his plan was uncovered. He was arrested and imprisoned, while his father applied to Caesar for permission to have him put to death. Herod changed his will a fifth time, cutting out the two eldest remaining sons and naming Antipas as his heir.
In the midst of these events, came the Magi asking, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?" Anyone who has given care in their study of Herod's life knows that the murder of the children of Bethlehem was, for Herod, only a small sum to pay.
©ALBERITH
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