The Case For Christ

citing pre-Christian remains found in 1955 under the Church of
the Annunciation in present-day Nazareth, has managed to concede,
"Such findings suggest that Nazareth may have existed in Jesus'
time, but there is no doubt that it must have been a very small
and insignificant place. 1"
So insignificant that Nathanael's musings in John 1:46 now make
more sense: "Nazareth!" he said. "Can anything good come from
there?'
PUZZLE 3: SLAUGHTER AT BETHLEHEM
The gospel of Matthew paints a grisly scene: Herod the Great, the
king of Judea, feeling threatened by the birth of a baby who he
feared would eventually seize his throne, dispatches his troops
to murder all the children under the age of two in Bethlehem.
Warned by an angel, however, Joseph escapes to Egypt with Mary
and Jesus. Only after Herod dies do they return to settle in
Nazareth, the entire episode having fulfilled three ancient
prophecies about the Messiah. (See Matt. 2:13-23.)
The problem: there is no independent confirmation that this mass
murder ever took place. There's nothing in the writings of
Josephus or other historians. There's no archaeological support.
There are no records or documents.
"Certainly an event of this magnitude would have been noticed by
someone other than Matthew," I insisted. "With the complete
absence of any historical or archaeological corroboration, isn't
it logical to conclude that this slaughter never occurred?"
"I can see why you'd say that," McRay replied, "since today an
event like that would probably be splashed all over CNN and the
rest of the news media."
I agreed. In fact, in 1997 and 1998 there was a steady stream ol
news accounts about Muslim extremists repeatedly staging commando
raids and slaying virtually entire villages, including women and
children, in Algeria. The entire world was taking notice. "But,"
added McRay, "you have to put yourself back in the first century
and keep a few things in mind. First, Bethlehem was probably no
bigger than Nazareth, so how many babies of that age would there
be in a village of five hundred or six hundred people? Not
thousands, not hundreds, although certainly a few.
"Second, Herod the Great was a bloodthirsty king: he killed
members of his own family; he executed lots of people who he