Chizuk Emunah Under the Microscope: Chapter 28

Thus says the Lord:

“A voice is heard in Ramah,

lamentation and bitter weeping.

Rachel is weeping for her children;

she refuses to be comforted for her children,

because they are no more.” (Jeremiah 31:15)

 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

“A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud lamentation,

Rachel weeping for her children;

she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:16-18)

As I have stated before, fulfillment does not imply prediction. The word in Greek is πληρόω (Strong's G4137) which occurs 91 times in the New Testament. Let me go over some examples:

But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented.(Matthew 3:15)

When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.(Matthew 13:48)

After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.(Luke 7:1)

 "Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. (Acts 7:30)

 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. (Romans 13:8)

 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Galatians 5:14)

 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"--and he was called a friend of God. (James 2:23)

 Those who have loved one another have fulfilled the law. This does not mean that when the law was written, your love for one another was predicted by the original writers. Yet, your love for one another fulfills the law in the same sense that Jesus fulfilled what was said by the prophets.

Jeremiah 31 is a series of independent oracles, and therefore context is of very limited value. The saying in verse 15 occurs pretty much in isolation. It applies to the immediate context of imminent destruction, as well as the massacre during the time of Jesus.

Troki states that there is no warrant for the application of this passage to Matthew. Perhaps this can be forgiven of him, since he is a Karaite. However, most Jews believe in oral tradition, which includes homiletical interpretations called midrashim. These midrashim take far more interpretive liberties with quoting the Bible than the New Testament authors ever do. Matthew's Jewish contemporaries were used to this homiletical style of interpretation. If Matthew had not interpreted the Tanakh homiletically, his contemporaries would have questioned his Jewishness.