Entrance to Herod's Royal Colonnade

(Editor’s note: The following is the first in an occasional series of “Bible headlines” which will offer accounts of recorded biblical events in a contemporary news format.)

BETHLEHEM, Judaea – The cries could be heard for miles around.

As Roman soldiers trampled through the streets of this coastal city, situated five miles south of Jerusalem, mothers fled for refuge. Wails of agony and despair filled the provincial streets as one of the greatest tragedies this generation has ever witnessed painfully unfolded.

“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children…” (Jeremiah 31:15).

The news was bleak. Herod the Great, 71-year old Roman ruler of Jewish-populated Judaea, signed into law a deadly decree. All infants two years old and younger were ordered slain today, as the king made a bold display of brutal political power.

Word had reached the highest levels of his government that a new ruler, prophesied for centuries by the men of God, had been born in Bethlehem. The prophesy proclaimed God would be wrapped in the womb of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Herod received an urgent letter informing him that Mary, a young virgin engaged to a righteous man named Joseph, had given birth to the Christ child.

“When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet.” (St. Matthew 2:3-5).

The King moved swiftly. A small group of wise men from the East that had followed a star in the sky to see the Christ child was quickly summoned to the palace. Each man was questioned as to what time the star appeared.

Upon their departure, Herod issued a directive for them to travel to Bethlehem in search of the child. Under the false pretense of worship, Herod demanded they bring him word once they located the Christ child.

“And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child, and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.” (St. Matthew 2:8).

Late developments reveal that the babe, his mother Mary, and her fiancé Joseph have escaped to neighboring Egypt after being warned by an angel of the Lord in a dream to flee Judaea. The wise men received a similar warning in a dream and have taken an alternate route back to their country, further angering the king.

The enforcement of Herod’s bloody decree continues. It has been widely reported that the King has become increasingly unstable. As details continue to emerge of the tragedy, there are published reports that one of Herod’s sons may have been murdered during the infant slayings.

“It is better to be Herod’s hog than his son,” the Roman Emperor Augustus observed.

• Read more: King Herod’s tomb desecrated, but discovery ‘high point’

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