What does Herod have to do with Genesis 36? Well, Herod the Great was an Idumean – an Edomite, descended from Esau.
1800 years before it had been said, “the older shall serve the younger.” Nearly two millennia ago Isaac had blessed Jacob, saying “May your brothers bow before you.”
And in the days of David and Solomon the Edomites did bow to the sons of Israel. But Isaac had also said to Esau, “By your sword you shall live, and you shall serve your brother; but when you grow restless you shall break his yoke from your neck.”
And as Psalm 137 suggests, even during the days of the kings, Edom had already done this.
But in Herod, Edom now rules over Israel. And so no doubt Herod enjoyed those passages that spoke of Esau “bowing” to Jacob – especially when he saw the heirs of Jacob prostrated before him! And that is also no doubt why Herod is so troubled about this “King of the Jews”!
And so he commands the slaughter of all the young boys in Bethlehem. And when Matthew hears the weeping of the mothers of these boys he hears the weeping of Rachel, spoken of in Jeremiah 31.
Why does Matthew connect the weeping of Rachel with Herod? Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin – but Bethlehem is in the land of Judah.
The point of Rachel's weeping in Jeremiah 31 is that she is weeping over the exile of her children (especially the northern Kingdom – Ephraim), and so when Matthew speaks of Rachel's weeping he sees her weeping as a sign of the coming restoration.
When Rachel weeps, then God will restore her exiled children.
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