Jeremiah's prophecy
Matthew wrote
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 care no more.”-- Matthew 2:16-18 (ESV)
This is a quote from:
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.”Thus says the Lord:
"Keep your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work" declares the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
"There is hope for your future", declares the Lord, and your children shall come back to their own country.-- Jeremiah 31:15-17 (ESV)
Who was Rachel?
Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni; but his father called him Benjamin. So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel’s tomb, which is there to this day. -- Genesis 35:16–20 (ESV)
Where is Ramah?
Now the cities of the tribe of the people of Benjamin according to their clans were
Jericho,
Beth-hoglah,
Emek-keziz,
Beth-arabah,
Zemaraim,
Bethel,
Avvim,
Parah,
Ophrah,
Chephar-ammoni,
Ophni,
Geba — twelve cities with their villages.
Gibeon,
Ramah,
Beeroth,
Mizpeh,
Chephirah,
Mozah,
Rekem,
Irpeel,
Taralah,
Zela,
Haeleph,
Jebus (that is, Jerusalem),
Gibeah and
Kiriath-jearim — fourteen cities with their villages.
This is the inheritance of the people of Benjamin according to its clans.
-- Joshua 18:21-28 (ESV)
Therefore, we can conclude that Ramah was a village in the tribe of Benjamin's inheritance, the children of the son whose birth cause Rachel's death.
Another clue is:
She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim (Bethlehem), and the people of Israel came up to her for judgment. -- Judges 4:5 (ESV)
If Rachel travelled from Bethel to Bethlehem and died on the way, there is a good chance that here tomb would be close to Ramah.
The prophecy hint that Rachel's children died, while history shows that Rachel died, not her child. Either way there would have been "lamentation and bitter weeping" which happened
- in Jacob's lifetime
- again after Jeremiah warned Israel about the invasions
- again when the prophecy was fulfilled according to Matthew when Herod killed the children in Bethlehem
However, the prophecy continue to say "your children shall come back". We know from history that Judah returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity, but it is a mystery how the children killed by Herod could return.
So why did Matthew brought this up?
- Perhaps it was Matthew's way to explain that the lamentation was as great as he could image it must have been during Jeremiah's lifetime.
- Perhaps the lamentation reminded Matthew of Jeremiah's already fulfilled prophecy.
- Perhaps this prophecy could be considered as a partial re-fulfillment.
- Perhaps it was a fulfillment of the prophecy and these "children" were literally the "children" that came back from the dead (Matthew 27:51-53).
Why was this event of people raising from the dead not recorded in history?
Perhaps these people only appeared selectively to certain people like Jesus did when he was raised from the dead.