Read Advent Excerpts
Guided question at the bottom.
Read: Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:16-18
Jeremiah
This is what the Lord says:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
Matthew
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
Questions
Matthew records one of the most horrific decisions around Jesus’ birth and escape to Egypt. Because of his own insecurity, fear & pride Herod ordered the brutal massacre of children to secure his title as “King of the Jews”. Matthew understands this as a clear fulfillment of the prophecy found in Jeremiah, a prophecy all about Rachel’s sadness over children lost.
This one verse in Jeremiah is part of a larger prophecy rooted in a promise and hope that there will be a day with no more weeping because the children have come home & Israel has been reestablished.
How can these passages help you balance the difficulties and pain this season can bring alongside the hope and restoration we cling to through Jesus?