Herod, the king of Judea, was troubled to hear that a new king has just been born. He was also troubled to learn that he had been foiled in his initial attempt to find this child through the wise men that had come to visit him. Herod's solution – fly into a fit of rage and kill all the children in Bethlehem. It is horrible to kill any children, but to kill your own people is particularly barbaric. Commentators have no problem with this event not being discovered in extra-biblical sources – this is the M.O. of Herod the king. And this is what the Jews were used to – horrendous deeds to insure the throne. This vision of a king could be why Jesus wasn't recognized for who he really was.
