it's the kind of story they told about herod, as a paranoid, neurotic king who was capable of acts of great barbarism. >> the massacre of the innocents is not historical, but what it does do for matthew is it makes jesus look like a new moses. in the old testament, pharaoh tries to kill baby moses by slaughtering all of the hebrew children. matthew, by showing herod slaughtering all of these children in bethlehem, is showing that jesus is like moses, and herod is like the pharaoh. >> so who is the true king herod, and can history and archaeology reveal the man behind the myth? billions of mouths.