The story of Jesus’ birth begins in the village of Nazareth, where Joseph and Mary lived (Luke 2:1-7).
As the time drew near for Jesus to be born, a mandatory Roman registration made it necessary for Joseph to return to his ancestral home of Bethlehem.
In 5 B.C., just before the birth of Christ, the Romans require them to travel to their ancestral home (they were both of the lineage of King David) of Bethlehem.
The couple travels the roughly 80 miles (about 129 kilometers) to the city, where Christ will be ultimately born in a stable and laid in a manger (Luke 2:1 - 20).
There Mary gave birth to Jesus, and later, wise men from the East came to worship him.
Read also: The Journey to Egypt
Perhaps as much as two years later astrologers called Magi came from the East to worship the newborn king of the Jews, because a star in the heavens signaled that he had been born, and it directed them to Jerusalem (Matthew 2:1-2).
The Magi asked King Herod where the child was, and he asked the leading priests and teachers of the law, who pointed them to Bethlehem.
So the Magi traveled five miles south to Bethlehem, and the star directed them to the house where Jesus and his family lived.
There the Magi worshiped Jesus and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:3-12).
After the wise men leave, Joseph is told (in a dream) to flee to Egypt (verse 13).
Read also: Ancient Journey: Bethlehem to Egypt
Now after they (the Magi) had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the little Child and His mother, and escape into Egypt, and remain there until I shall tell you; for Herod is about to seek the little Child to destroy Him." (Matthew 2:13, HBFV).
He is informed of this because Herod the Great will soon issue a command that all male children two years old and younger, in and around Bethlehem, are to be put to death (Matthew 2:16).
The wise men’s recognition of a new king, however, troubled King Herod and the ruling establishment in Jerusalem, and Herod the Great sought to kill Jesus.
An angel then warned Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt with his family to escape Herod’s plan to kill the newborn king (Matthew 2:13-18).
Their journey from Bethlehem to what is Egyptian-controlled territory (which was outside the jurisdiction of Herod) was at least 65 kilometers (40 miles).
Read also: Biography of Chad Shaffer
Joseph and his family escaped to Egypt and remained there until Herod died.
Mary and the family's trip to and from Egypt is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy (Hosea 11:1).
After Herod dies in early 4 B.C., Joseph has a dream where an angel tells him it is safe to return to Israel.
They soon begin their travel back to Judea and Bethlehem.
However, as Mary and Joseph approach Judea, it is discovered that Herod Archelaus, the eldest surviving son of Herod the Great, is the new ruler of the area.
Like his father, Archelaus rules with tyranny and cruelty.
Joseph's fears about living within Judea are confirmed when God sends him a warning in a dream.
. . . an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in Egypt in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the little Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who were seeking the life of the little Child have died."And he arose and took the little Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of Herod his father, he was afraid to go there; and after being divinely instructed in a dream, he went into the parts of Galilee (Matthew 2:19 - 22, HBFV).
When they returned to Palestine, they settled in the remote district of Galilee, where Jesus grew up in the village of Nazareth, to avoid the attention of the rulers in Jerusalem.
The family, instead of going back to Bethlehem, continue their journey and go northward to their hometown of Nazareth (Matthew 2:22 - 23).
The city is part of Galilee, which is ruled by a another son of Herod the Great named Herod Antipas.
This son had a slightly less violent disposition than Archelaus.
The travels of Mary and Joseph from Egyptian territory all the way north to Nazareth is a journey of more than 140 miles (225 kilometers, see Luke 2:39 - 40)!
The family then makes the short trip back to Bethlehem.
In Bethlehem, Jesus' family is living in a home and not a stable (Matthew 2:11).
Jesus was born at Bethlehem in the days of King Herod, who died in the spring of 4 BC.
Jesus’ birth probably occurred in 4 or 5 BC.
Now there was Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher; she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; And she was a widow of about eighty-four years . . .And at the same time she came up, giving praise to the Lord; and she spoke concerning Him to all those in Jerusalem who were waiting for redemption (Luke 2:36 - 38, HBFV).
Before Mary and Joseph leave the temple to return home a woman named Anna, a widowed prophetess who lived in Jerusalem, praises the Lord when she learns of Jesus' birth.
His parents make an offering to the temple of two young birds.
The trip is only 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) long.
Forty days after Jesus is born, fulfilling the purification requirement of Leviticus 12, Mary and Joseph travel to Jerusalem's temple to present him before God.
Joseph, on the eighth day after Mary gives birth, takes the family to Jerusalem so that the Lord can be circumcised according to the law of God (Luke 2:21).
Jesus' birth, which occurs on or around the Feast of Trumpets (September 2 in 5 B.C.) fulfills the prophecy found in Micah 5:2.
See the ruins of Pelusium (images below).
The buildings are no longer there, but the surrounding countryside would have looked much the same.
This Egyptian coffin portrait was painted only a little after the time that Mary and Joseph lived there.
The two peasant farmers from Galilee, parents of Jesus, would have encountered a highly sophisticated society capable of producing subtle paintings like the one above.
The Holy Family Flight to Egypt - CYC
Popular articles:
tags: #Egypt
