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After some astrologers saw an unusual star, they traveled westwards to find the place where the infant Jesus was. King Herod helped direct them, but then an angel told them not to go back to King Herod.
Matthew 2:1-12
1 Jesus was born in Bethlehem town in Judea province during the time [MTY] that King Herod the Great ruled there. Some time after Jesus was born, some men who studied the stars and who lived in a country east of Judea came to Jerusalem city. 2 They asked people, “Where is the one who has been born in order that he might be the king of you Jews? We believe that your new king has been born, because we have seen the star that we believe indicated that he has been born. We saw it while we were in our country east of here. So we have come to worship him.”
3 When King Herod heard what those men were asking, he became worried that someone else might be proclaimed { people might proclaim someone else} king of the Jews to replace him. Many of the people of Jerusalem city [MTY, HYP] also became worried because they were afraid of what King Herod might do. 4 Then Herod gathered together all the ruling priests and men who taught the people the Jewish laws and he asked them where the prophets had predicted that the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him, “ He will be born in Bethlehem town, here in Judea province, because it was written by the prophet Micah {the prophet Micah wrote} long ago what God said: 6 ‘You who live in Bethlehem town [APO], in Judea province, your town is certainly very important [LIT], because a man from your town will become a ruler. He will guide my people who live in Israel.’ ”
7 Then King Herod secretly summoned those men who studied the stars. He asked them exactly when the star first appeared. By what they told him, he was able to know the approximate age of the baby. 8 Then he concealed what he really planned to do and said to them, “Go to Bethlehem and inquire thoroughly where the infant is. When you have found him, come back and report to me so that I, myself, can go there and worship him, too.”
9 After the men heard what the king told them, they went toward Bethlehem town. To their surprise, the star that they had seen while they were in the eastern country went ahead of them again until it stood above the house where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced greatly and followed it. 11 They found the house and entered it and saw the child and his mother, Mary. They bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasure boxes [MTY] and they gave gold, costly frankincense, and myrrh to him. 12 Because God knew that King Herod planned to kill Jesus, in a dream the men who studied the stars were warned {he warned the men who studied the stars} that they should not return to King Herod. So they returned to their country, but instead of traveling back on the same road, they went on a different road.
Following an angel's instructions, Joseph took his family to the country of Egypt to escape from Herod.
Matthew 2:13-21
13 After the men who studied the stars left Bethlehem, an angel from the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. He said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to the country of Egypt. Stay there until I tell you (sg) that you should leave, because King Herod is about to send soldiers to look for the child so that they can kill him.” 14 So Joseph got up, he took the child and his mother that night, and they fled to Egypt. 15 They stayed there until King Herod died, and then they left Egypt. By doing that, it was {they} fulfilled what the prophet Hosea wrote, which had been said by the Lord {which the Lord had said},
I have told my son to come out of Egypt.
16 While King Herod was still living, because he realized that he had been tricked by the men who studied the stars {the men who studied the stars had tricked him}, he became furious. Then, assuming that Jesus was still in Bethlehem or the surrounding regions, Herod sent soldiers there to kill all the boy babies two years old and younger. Herod calculated how old the baby was, according to what the men who studied the stars told him about when the star first appeared. 17 Because Bethlehem and Ramah towns were in the area where the descendants of Jacob's wife Rachel lived, when soldiers killed the infant boys, they fulfilled what Jeremiah the prophet wrote,
18 Women in Ramah were weeping and wailing loudly. Women who were the descendants of Rachel, the ancestor of the women there [SYN], were grieving for what happened to their children. Even though people tried to comfort them, they would not be comforted {stop mourning} because their children were dead.
19 After Herod died and while Joseph and his family were still in Egypt, an angel that the Lord had sent appeared to Joseph in Egypt in a dream. 20 He said to Joseph, “Take the child and his mother and go back to Israel to live, because the people who were looking for the child in order to kill him have died.” 21 So Joseph took the child and his mother, and they went back to Israel.
Following an angel's warning, Joseph and his family returned to Nazareth, and thus a prophecy about the Messiah was fulfilled.
Matthew 2:22-23
22 When Joseph heard that Archaelaus now ruled in Judea district instead of his father, King Herod the Great, he was afraid to go there. Because he was warned { God warned Joseph} in a dream that it was still dangerous for them to live in Judea, he and Mary and Jesus went to Galilee District 23 to the town called Nazareth to live there. The result was that what had been said by the ancient prophets {what the ancient prophets had said} about the Messiah, that he would be called {people would call him} a Nazareth-man, was fulfilled {came true}.

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© 2008-2016 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.