Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Egypt. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 12, 2018

#10 Flight to Egypt; Herod Slays Innocents; Return from Egypt



#10 Flight to Egypt; Herod Slays Innocents; Return from Egypt
Please first read: Matthew 2:1-23
JST Matthew 3:2-6, 13, 14, 19, 22

Timeline of events:
Flight to Egypt
After the Wise Men leave, an angel of the Lord comes to Joseph in a vision and tells him to flee to Egypt “until I bring thee word” for Herod will try to find and destroy the Child. Joseph promptly leaves by night for Egypt and remains there until the death of Herod, fulfilling the prophecy “out of Egypt have I called my Son.”

Babes and Children Slain
Herod realizes the Wise Men have tricked him ... he is furious and orders all children in and around the coasts (area) of Bethlehem, two years old and under, slain. Herod used the time of his seeing the Wise Men and the time the star appeared to them to reckon from.

Return from Egypt
After the death of Herod, the angel comes again in a vision to Joseph in Egypt and tells him to take Mary and Jesus “into the land of Israel” as it is now safe. Joseph does so, but then he learns that Herod's son, Archelaus, is reigning in his father's stead in Judea, (Bethlehem and Jerusalem are both in this province.) Joseph is afraid ... he receives another vision from God telling him to go into the province of Galilee instead as Archelaus has no authority there.  (There is an ancient prophecy that “He shall be called a Nazarene.”)

Nazareth to Egypt
As we reflect on the first few years of Joseph and Mary as a newly married couple, and then as a family with a child, we easily see numerous difficulties and hardships which they faced.  

When Mary returns to Nazareth from her visit to Elizabeth, she is obviously with child. The betrothal is completed in marriage, and in the next few years they travel:

·         from Nazareth to Bethlehem; Jesus is born
·         from Bethlehem to Jerusalem; to the temple
·         from Jerusalem to Nazareth
·         from Nazareth to Bethlehem
·         from Bethlehem to Egypt
·         from Egypt to Bethlehem and on to Nazareth

Considering the normal range of age (mid-teens) in which Jewish girls were betrothed into marriage, Mary would be in her late teen years when they at last settle as a family in Nazareth.   Among other things, they faced financial and logistical problems, hazards of travel, security, and, it would appear, with only a small support group. God certainly made sure that the necessary events would take place, but it must not have been easy for the young couple.

At this time Egypt was a Roman Province but outside of Herod's jurisdiction. It had been a place of refuge for Jews since the time of the house of Jacob. A million or more Jewish people lived there at this time. Joseph would have found work, friendship, and hospitality in these communities. It is unknown how long the family may have lived in Egypt, maybe weeks, or months, or possibly, up to several years.

Herod Orders the Slaying of Innocents
Herod lived in constant fear of anyone that might be a threat to him as king. The forthcoming of a Messiah, a Deliverer, had been prophesied and anticipated for many years throughout these middle-east nations. Stories of such a possible arrival had caused fear and hostility among powerful people in the past. When the wise men came to Herod asking where the newborn king was it threw him into a frenzy.

Herod was a very cruel and evil tyrant ... merciless to any family, friend, or enemy that might be a threat to his reign. He was not unlike many other tyrannical rulers of that time (and since) whose regimes existed on the lives of those slain. Infanticide was a crime dreadfully rife in the days of the Roman Empire and the ancient world. Those Herod had ordered murdered included priests, nobles, his wife Mariamne, several sons, uncles, a father-in-law, mother-in-law, and various ‘friends.’ Of Herod, Augustus Caesar said, “It is better to be Herod's pig than his son.”

Herod is now ill and near his death. When the wise men fail to return and tell him where the Child is, he orders the slaying of all male children two years old and under. This means those born in and around the area of Bethlehem within a three-year period. The total population was small in number and historians believe probably as many as 20 children were slain ... a maximum number of 40. No historical record exists outside of the Bible that tells of this event of murder.

Return from Egypt
The time arrives when Herod and others who “sought the young child's life” are dead. An angel comes to Joseph in vision and tells him it is safe to “take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel.” They find that Herod's son, Archelaus, now reigns over the area of Bethlehem so for this and other reasons Joseph and Mary do not settle there. They make their home again in Nazareth.

Other Items of Interest
When the wise men visited Jesus, they may have hinted to Joseph their misgivings about Herod's inquiry as to the location of the child.

Ancient Jewish prophets had foretold of various things about the Messiah when He would come:  He would be of the line of David ... He would be born in Bethlehem ... “He shall be called a Nazarene” ... “I have called my Son out of Egypt"... “He shall be a Galilean.” There is no record of Jesus ever being challenged as to not fulfilling any of these.
                                 
Fleeing to Egypt for a period of time and then returning to a small village away from Jerusalem gave time for the excitement and opposition surrounding His birth to subside.

The rich gifts of the wise men could have helped make the trip to Egypt possible.

Glenn R. McGettigan
January 2012; Revised March 2014

References:

“Our Lord of the Gospels.” Clark
“Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ.” Brown, Holzaphel, Wayment
“Doctrinal New Testament Commentary.” McConkie
“The Mortal Messiah.” Volume 1. McConkie
“Jesus the Christ.” Talmage