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Who Is Jesus?
Part-7
By Joan A Deering

“Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”

So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod; this happened so that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: “Out of Egypt I call my son.”

Matthew 2:13-15[1]

In the Part 6 we saw that the Magi were warned by God not to go back again to see Herod so they went home another way. Then the angel of the Lord told Joseph to get his family out of Bethlehem and go to Egypt which he did immediately.

“Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged and sent men and killed all the boys who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.  Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:

“A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted.” [Jeremiah 31:15]

Matthew 2:13-18

Herod the great was trying to kill the Messiah because he was afraid that the boy Jesus, the Messiah, would become the king in his place. Herod had all the boys 2 years old and under killed in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. There is no knowing how many boys were killed but he did this trying to make certain he’d kill the young Jesus.  Then shortly after this event…

 ^“But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.  But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.”

Matthew 2:19-22a

Archelaus was Herod the Great’s oldest son and was called Herod Archelaus who reigned from 4 BC – 6 AD. When Joseph heard who became king, he was afraid to go back to Israel.

God warned Joseph again and Joseph decided that he would go back to Galilee and settle back in Nazareth.

Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee and came and settled in a city called Nazareth. This happened so that what was spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Matthew 22b-24

2022-02-09 1410