January
3rd The
anger of Herod
13:
And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth
to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his
mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee
word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14: When he
arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed
into Egypt: 15: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might
be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out
of Egypt have I called my son. 16: Then Herod, when he saw that he
was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and
slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts
thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he
had diligently inquired of the wise men. 17: Then was fulfilled that
which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 18: In Rama was there
a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel
weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they
are not. 19: But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord
appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20: Saying, Arise, and take
the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for
they are dead which sought the young child's life. 21: And he arose,
and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of
Israel. 22: But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in
the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither:
notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into
the parts of Galilee: 23: And he came and dwelt in a city called
Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
The
Angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream telling him to go to
Egypt. If anyone had been there no-one would have seen the Angel of
the Lord and no-one saw them leave. They set off into the darkness
(There were no street lights) and so the escape of Christ is perfect.
The safest place is another country. It had not even come into
Herod’s mind yet to kill the Child but he was long gone when he set
his evil plans in motion. Herod spread his blanket of death to
destroy the rival king and he never knew that he had failed, until in
the dark realms of death Christ appears to declare the glory of his
victory on the cross. As soon as Herod died another angel appears to
bring the family home, however at some stage Joseph is afraid to
return home because of Herod’s son. And he is right to be afraid
and is warned again by the Lord to go back to Nazareth. Nazareth was
in the far north and in a very out of the way place, where nobody
bothered to go. It was a place of obscurity and an object of mirth
that anyone would want to live there. Christ would be forever known
as Jesus of Nazareth.
- How did the Lord protect Christ from Herod?
- What sort of person was Herod?
- What did Herod do in his anger?
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