MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO

MONKEY SEE, MONKEY DO

Matthew 2
¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. (King James Version)

Matthew 2
¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the children who were in Bethlehem and in all the region thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. (KJ21 – King James 21^st Century)

Matthew 2
¹⁶ Then Herod seeing that he was scorned, either deceived, of the astrologers [Then Herod seeing that he was scorned, or deceived, of the kings], was full wroth; and he sent, and slew all the children, that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years age and within, after the time that he had inquired of the astrologers [after the time that he had sought out of the kings]. (Wycliffe New Testament (WYC)

Eventually, almost 300 years later, the other Christian bibles corrected the error in the King James Version, saying it was NOT all the children, meaning boys and girls – it was ONLY the males. For example, from the New International Version (NIV):

Matthew 2
¹⁶When 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.

The error had been made – the bell had been rung. If a Christian missionary went to country that had no religion, or its own religion, and these missionaries gave the people in this 3^rd world country the King James Version bible, what message would these people receive? That King Herod killed all the boys and girls under the age of three.

But, there is more to the story. Why would King Herod have to kill "all" children over one year old if, according to Matthew, Jesus was a new born baby? Is it logical that it would have taken the King over a year to seek to destroy these specific children in his kingdom? He had thousands of his soldiers roaming the countryside – do you really think it would have taken them over a year to find and kill these Jewish babies? I think not! Even the new translations (see NIV above) left in the part about killing children/males up to 35 months old (who were two years old and under).

Now don't you really wonder what happened to John the Baptist? How was he saved from Herod’s slaughter?

"Our god is vengeful! Oh spiteful one, show me who to smite and they shall be smoten." -Homer Simpson

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