Herod was lying when he told the wise men that he wanted to go and worship Jesus. In his heart he had secretly thought, “What if this child grows up to be a king and tries to take over my kingdom? No, I can’t let this happen. I must find the child and have Him put to death!”
Unaware of Herod’s true feelings, the wise men prepared to return and tell him where they had found Jesus. But an angel appeared to them in a dream and told them to go home to their country a different way.
After the wise men left, “an
angel of the Lord came to Joseph in
a dream. The angel said, ‘Get up!
Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Herod
will start looking for the child tokill him.
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Stay in Egypt until I tell you to return’” (Matthew 2:13, ICB).
Joseph immediately got up and began the long journey with Mary and Jesus. They took with them the valuable presents that the wise men had brought. That’s how God provided for the expenses of the journey and their long stay in Egypt.
“When Herod saw that the wise men had tricked him, he was very angry. So he gave an order to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem
and in all the area around Bethlehem. He said to kill all
the boys who
were two years old or younger. This was in keeping with the time he learned from the wise men” (Matthew 2:16, ICB). |
How terrible it must have been as Herod’s men stormed the town, killing so many innocent children. Why would a man try to fight against God?
Joseph and Mary remained in Egypt until after Herod’s death. Then an angel appeared to Joseph, saying, “‘Get up! Take the child and his mother and go to Israel. The people who were trying to kill the child are now dead’” (Matthew 2:20, ICB).
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Joseph planned to live in Bethlehem, where Jesus had been born. But when he learned that one of Herod’s sons was now on the throne, he was afraid to go there. He didn’t know what to do. God sent an angel to instruct him, and following the directions of the angel, Joseph returned to his old home in Nazareth. |
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