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cristyd
Guest
Is there any record about the number of babies killed in Bethlehem by Herod. I read somewhere an article about 14000, which seems very much to me for a small town like Bethlehem.
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JRKH
Guest
I agree. I recall hearing someone talking about this because it is not mentioned anywhere else in historical documents.
The conclusion of the speaker was that the number was relatively small. It was a geogrpahically small area and the killing was limited to boys under 2 years. The total was probably around 28-30.
Hence the “murder of the innocents” went relatively unnoticed in the wider world.
Peace
James
The conclusion of the speaker was that the number was relatively small. It was a geogrpahically small area and the killing was limited to boys under 2 years. The total was probably around 28-30.
Hence the “murder of the innocents” went relatively unnoticed in the wider world.
Peace
James
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JamesTheJust
Guest
I recall reading a devotional which said it was around 25 or so.
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Fidelis
Guest
I’ve heard anywhere between 20 and 30 because even if you include Bethlehem “and the surrounding region” the small population and limited target (males 2 and under) makes for a small number.
I think I’m like most people that in my mind growing up, I always imagined at least dozens, if not hundreds, were slain at the time. Same with the slaughter of the firstborn in Egypt in the Book of Exodus. Still, even the intentional killing of even one innocent baby, especially for ideological and financial reasons) even one is too many.
I think I’m like most people that in my mind growing up, I always imagined at least dozens, if not hundreds, were slain at the time. Same with the slaughter of the firstborn in Egypt in the Book of Exodus. Still, even the intentional killing of even one innocent baby, especially for ideological and financial reasons) even one is too many.
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Fidelis
Guest
The ironic thing is that the slaughter of the innocents in our own time through abortion is occurring in much larger numbers (in the range of a million a year) but it seems to likewise go unnoticed by the average person of the world. If you are going to commit mass murder, it surely helps to have the media on your side.
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patrick457
Guest
Correct. Some people assume that because it isn’t mentioned anywhere save for Matthew’s gospel then it didn’t happen. Assuming that it did happen though I’d probably put the same estimate at around the same number, if lower. (We can only estimate the population of Bethlehem - really a small village at the time - but one estimate puts it at only 300, which would make the number of victims like, only six or seven toddlers.I agree. I recall hearing someone talking about this because it is not mentioned anywhere else in historical documents.
The conclusion of the speaker was that the number was relatively small. It was a geogrpahically small area and the killing was limited to boys under 2 years. The total was probably around 28-30.
Hence the “murder of the innocents” went relatively unnoticed in the wider world.
Peace
James
) It isn’t probably the dramatic mass slaughter Pier Paolo Pasolini made it out to be, although for some reason my imagination of what could have happened doesn’t do it much justice. “Good morning, ma’am, we’re a couple of baby-exterminators from Herod and Sons. We were just wondering if you have any baby in the house you’d like to see exterminated?” 
The figure of 14,000, by the way, comes from the Byzantine liturgy, which is more than four times the body count in the 6th century apocryphal work Martyrdom of Matthew (3,000). Syrian calendars have an even higher number - 64,000 (!)
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