A LITTLE CHILD — the diminutive of pais, used of an infant or a young child. It is what Jesus is called NINE times in Matthew 2 (vv8, 9, 11, 13 twice, 14, 20 twice, 21), always in the phrase 'the child and his mother' — never 'his parents.' ⚠ Matthew names him 'Jesus' once, in 2:1, and then not again in the chapter: for twenty-two verses the person everyone is travelling toward or hunting for is simply 'the child,' who never speaks, never acts, and is carried everywhere by other people. The same word returns when Jesus sets a child among the disciples (18:2-5). → first discussed at Matt 2:11