Church Fathers Commentary Matthew 2:17-18

"Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, A voice was heard in Ramah, Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; And she would not be comforted, because they are not." — Matthew 2:17-18 (ASV)

St. John Chrysostom: The Evangelist, by this history of so bloody a massacre, having filled the reader with horror, now again soothes his feelings, showing that these things were not done because God could not prevent them or did not know of them, but as the prophet had foretold.¹

St. Jerome: Matthew has quoted this passage from Jeremiah according to neither the Hebrew nor the Septuagint version. This shows that the Evangelists and Apostles did not follow any single translation but, in the manner of the Hebrews, expressed in their own words what they had read in the original Hebrew.²

By Ramah, we need not suppose that the town of that name near Gibeah is meant, but should take it as signifying "high." A voice was heard "on high"—that is, it spread far and wide.

Pseudo-Chrysostom: Or, it was heard on high because it was uttered for the death of the innocent, according to the saying, "The voice of the poor enters into the heavens." The "weeping" refers to the cries of the children, while the "lamentation" refers to the mothers. For the infants, death ends their cries; but for the mothers, the grief is continually renewed by the memory of their loss.

St. Jerome: Rachel's son was Benjamin, in whose tribe Bethlehem is not situated. How then does Rachel weep for the children of Judah as if they were her own? We answer briefly: She was buried near Bethlehem in Ephrathah and was regarded as their mother because her body was laid to rest there.

Or, since the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin were adjacent, and Herod's command extended to the region surrounding Bethlehem as well as to the town itself, we may suppose that many were also slain in the territory of Benjamin.

Pseudo-Augustine: Or, the sons of Benjamin, who were related to Rachel, were formerly cut off by the other tribes and thus were extinct both then and forever after. Therefore, Rachel began to mourn her sons at that time, when she saw her sister's sons cut off for a cause that would make them heirs of eternal life.

For someone who has experienced a misfortune is made more aware of his own losses by the good fortune of a neighbor.³

Remigius of Auxerre: The sacred Evangelist adds, to show the greatness of the mourning, that even the deceased Rachel was roused to mourn her sons, and would not be comforted, because they were not.

St. Jerome: This may be understood in two ways: either she thought them dead for all eternity, so that no consolation could comfort her; or, she did not desire to receive any comfort for those whom she knew had entered into eternal life.

St. Hilary of Poitiers: It could not be that they "were not" who now seemed dead; rather, by a glorious martyrdom they were advanced to eternal life. Consolation is for those who have suffered a loss, not for those who have reaped a gain.

Rachel provides a type of the Church, which was long barren but is now at last fruitful. She is heard weeping for her children, not because she mourned them as dead, but because they were slaughtered by those whom she would have retained as her first-born sons.

Rabanus Maurus: Or, the Church weeps for the removal of the saints from this earth but does not wish to be comforted as though they should return again to the struggles of this life, for they are not to be recalled to it.

Glossa Ordinaria: She "will not be comforted" in this present life, because they are not here, but instead transfers all her hope and comfort to the life to come.⁴

Rabanus Maurus: Rachel is well-suited as a type of the Church, as the name signifies "a sheep" or "seeing."ⁱ Her whole thought is to fix her eye on the contemplation of God, and she is the hundredth sheep that the shepherd lays on his shoulder.

1. Hom. ix
2. Hierem, 31, 15
3. Hil. Quaest. N. and N. Test. 9. 62
4. ord.