text: if herod killed all the babies how did john the baptist survive ? john the baptist was also a descendent of king david and would have been in bethlehem for the census. jesus escaped to ethiopa but how did john survive the reported massacre ? two parts to the answer. 1) john was 6 months older than jesus. he was still the first born of his parents, though.  2) john lived in a different area. the babies in the bethlehem area were targeted - not the whole of israel.