Kill ‘em all! That’s what King Herod said when he learned that a rival King had been born.
Magi had come from the east, inquiring, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). When Herod couldn’t find the child, he “flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under” (Matthew 2:16). “Kill ‘em all!”
Hundreds of years earlier, in Egypt, God blessed the Israelites, and their population multiplied. When the Egyptians worried that the slaves might revolt, the evil Pharoah determined to curtail their population growth. “You must throw every son born to the Hebrews into the Nile” (Exodus 1:22). “Kill ‘em all!”
It wasn’t a suggestion. It was an edict that was enforced by the Egyptian government and their powerful military! Every male child born to the Israelites was to be drowned in the Nile.
Did God step in and grant protection to the infant Jesus? He sure did! He forewarned Joseph and Mary, and they escaped the massacre by traveling far away.
And Moses? “By faith Moses, after he was born, was hidden by his parents for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they didn’t fear the king’s edict” (Hebrews 11:23). God miraculously orchestrated Moses deliverance from death… He used a brave momma, a courageous sister, a tiny ark, and the Pharoah’s daughter. Read the story in the second chapter of Exodus.
The Enemy’s strategy hasn’t changed. He still wants to “steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10). When Satan talks to his minions, he says, “kill ‘em all!”
But, Jesus came to save, to give life, and to give it with abundance. He is “the way, the truth, and the life!” (John 14:6) … “eternal life” (John 3:16).
“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).
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