Massacre of the Innocents

The slaughter of the babes of Bethlehem “from two years old and-under,” when Jesus was born. This was done at the command of Herod the Great in order to cut off “the babe” who was destined to become “King of the Jews.”

Micah v. 2 speaks of Bethlehem as a little place, a small village, probably containing about five hundred inhabitants. It will be easy to calculate the probable number of infants under two years of age in such a village. It would be about ten.