Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 2:18

"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 2:18 (ASV)

To Matthew, the massacre fulfills Jer 31:15. This text probably refers to the deportation of Judah and Benjamin in 587–586 B. C. Nebuzaradan, commander of Nebuchadnezzar’s imperial guard, gathered the captives at Ramah before taking them into exile in Babylon (Jeremiah 40:1–2). Ramah lay north of Jerusalem on the way to Bethel; Rachel’s tomb was at Zelzah in the same vicinity (1 Samuel 10:2). Jeremiah 31:15 depicts Rachel as crying out from her tomb because her “children,” her descendants, are being removed from the land and are no longer a nation. Why does Matthew refer to this OT passage? First, Jeremiah 31:15 occurs in a setting of hope. Despite the tears, God says, the exiles will return; and now Matthew likewise suggests that, despite the tears of the Bethlehem mothers, there is hope because Messiah has escaped Herod and will ultimately reign.

But there may be a further reason, based on the differences between Matthew and the OT. Here Jesus does not, as in v.15, recapitulate an event from Israel’s history. The Exile sent Israel into captivity and thereby called forth tears. But in Matthew the tears are not for him who goes into “exile” but because of the children who stay behind and are slaughtered. Why, then, refer to the Exile at all? If we look at the broader context of both Jeremiah and Matthew, Jeremiah 31:9, 20 refers to Israel as God’s dear son and goes on to introduce the new covenant (31:31–34) that the Lord will make with his people. Therefore the tears associated with Exile (31:15) will end. Matthew has already made the Exile a turning point in his thought (1:11–12), for at that time the Davidic line was dethroned.

The tears of the Exile are now being “fulfilled”—i.e., the tears begun in Jeremiah’s day are climaxed and ended by the tears of the mothers of Bethlehem. The heir to David’s throne has come, the Exile is over, the true Son of God has arrived, and he will introduce the new covenant (26:28) that was promised by Jeremiah.