Matt 2:16-18

The New American Commentary: Matthew 6. Ramah: Weeping for Dead Children (2:16–18)

Herod behaves in keeping with his murderous and paranoiac personality.

Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary iv. The Flight to Egypt and the Return (2:13–23)

the victims included three of his own sons

The New American Commentary: Matthew 6. Ramah: Weeping for Dead Children (2:16–18)

But given the small size of Bethlehem and the rural nature of the surrounding region, there may have been as few as twenty children involved, and the killings would have represented a relatively minor incident in Herod’s career, worthy of little notice by ancient historians who concentrated on great political and military exploits.

Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary iv. The Flight to Egypt and the Return (2:13–23)

Perhaps Matthew intends us to see also in Bethlehem’s mourning a temporary sorrow, out of which God will bring joy and deliverance through Bethlehem’s Messiah, returning from a foreign land; there is no precise correspondence, but the relevance lies in the perception of God’s working through disaster to blessing, through death to life.