Sababu ni kwamba mamajusi kutoka mashariki walikuwa wamefika Yerusalemu ili kumtafuta mfalme wa Wayahudi aliyezaliwa na hatimaye kumzawadia. Habari hiyo ilimshtusha Herode na kumfanya atake kumuua.
Aliposikia kwamba mamajusi walirudi kwao kutoka Bethlehemu bila kumpa taarifa kamili juu ya mtoto, aliagiza wauawe watoto wote wa kiume wa kijiji hicho wenye umri chini ya miaka 2.[1]
Imekadiriwa kwamba watoto hao waliweza kuwa 20-40 hivi[2][3].
Hata hivyo, mlengwa mwenyewe, Yesu, alinusurika kwa wazee wake kutoroka naye hadi Misri, waliposhi kama wakimbizi mpaka baada ya kifo cha Herode.
↑Matthew 2:17: "Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 'A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because her children are no more.'"
↑Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book XV (at Wikisource)
↑R. T. France, addressing the story's absence in Antiquities of the Jews, argues that "the murder of a few infants in a small village [is] not on a scale to match the more spectacular assassinations recorded by Josephus". R. T. France, "The Gospel of Matthew", NICNT (2007)
Makala hii kuhusu mtu wa Biblia bado ni mbegu. Je, unajua kitu kuhusu Watoto wa Bethlehemu kama habari za maisha au kazi yake? Labda unaona habari katika Wikipedia ya Kiingereza au lugha nyingine zinazofaa kutafsiriwa? Basi unaweza kuisaidia Wikipedia kwa kuihariri na kuongeza habari.