Why Rachel's Tears?

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WebersHome
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Why Rachel's Tears?

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Post by WebersHome »

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Matt 2:16 . . When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

That's actually pretty good evidence that the wise men were not present for Jesus' birth. Upon their arrival in Jerusalem they didn't inquire as to where the Jews' king was to be born, but indicated by their question that he was already born; and two years suggests that he was born quite a bit before even mounting their expedition.


Matt 2:17-18 . .Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.

Ramah is located north of Jerusalem whereas Bethlehem is south. I suspect we're given Ramah because Rachel was buried up that way when she died in childbirth. (Gen 35:16-19)

Rachel's children consisted of two that were her own, and two by her maid, and two by means of posthumous adoption. The two of her own were Joseph and Benjamin, the two by her maid were Dan and Naphtali, and the two by posthumous adoption were Manasseh and Ephraim.

None of those six tribes settled Bethlehem; that was Judah's turf.

However, Ramah belonged to Benjamin's tribe; strongly suggesting to me that Rachel's weeping was due to Herod's assassins murdering children up that way too rather than only in and around Bethlehem.

Now, whether Rachel's weeping is meant to be taken literally or poetically I cannot be certain. It's possibly a figure of speech sort of like saying so and so must be rolling over in their grave.

If taken literally; it would indicate that a woman who had been deceased for 1,000+ years was conscious when Christ was born. This is not impossible because Jesus said that the patriarchs, though deceased, live unto God. (Luke 20:37-38)
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Re: Why Rachel's Tears?

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Ironically, Jesus and his family pulled up stakes and migrated to Egypt before Herod's assassins began searching for him. Thus the death squads were like blind men in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. (Matt 2:13-14)
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Re: Why Rachel's Tears?

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Post by Athetotheist »

Matthew took a snippet of text from Jeremiah about the end of the Babylonian exile and repackaged it as a messianic prophecy, just as he did with a snippet of text from Hosea 11:1 which refers to Egypt.

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Re: Why Rachel's Tears?

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Post by Difflugia »

WebersHome wrote: Sat Dec 25, 2021 9:33 amIronically, Jesus and his family pulled up stakes and migrated to Egypt before Herod's assassins began searching for him. Thus the death squads were like blind men in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. (Matt 2:13-14)
And since the story probably never happened at all, would modern Christians be like blind hunters that are hunting for blind cat hunters?

They're blind blind cat hunter hunters.
My pronouns are he, him, and his.

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