how did John the Baptitst survive the mass killing of the Jewish children when ordered?

Question

In the Bible it tells of the orders to kill all the Jewish Children so that the christ child may be killed. How was it tha John the Baptist survived?

Answer 1

His mother was warned to leave as well.

Answer 2

It called for children 2 or younger to be killed. I think John the Baptist was older than that.

Answer 3

Even if John was exactly the same age as Jesus, it's not like the soldiers had computer printouts of all the birth records and satellite tracking to help them out. I'm sure lots of babies were missed, and they still would be if you attempted the same thing today with all the modern technology at your disposal.

Answer 4

There is no inconsistency here.
The mass killing was for boys born around Bethlehem. John the Baptist was born elsewhere.

Answer 5

Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
- Matthew 2:16

There is no reason to suppose that John was in Bethlehem and in the coasts thereof.

Answer 6

The killing order was for Bethlehem;-{
John lived in the hillsides of Galilee, near Nazareth.

Answer 7

Didn't he go into exhile with Jesus and his family? There's a famous painting (Da Vinici?) of the infant Jesus and the infant John the Baptist in a cave with Mary and an angel.

Answer 8

Herod was looking for babies who were born around the same time when the Wise Men came along.
Supposedly, by then, John was already a few months old.

Good question, though.

Answer 9

Because Herod ordered that all children below two years old should be slain. Jesus was two years old when He was visited by the magi. Therefore John was almost 4 years old and exempted from the carnage.

Answer 10

He was older than that at the time.
The astrologers arrived two years after the shepherds, xmas displays notwithstanding.
And he wasn't in Bethlehem.

Answer 11

It never happened. The story is a rip-off of the original story in the Torah where Pharaoh has all the male babies murdered in order to prevent the baby Moses from living, as it was he who would eventually lead the Jews to their freedom out of Egypt.