THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.
It seems very strange that in a few hours after the wise men had gone
over the hills to their own country, that Mary and Joseph and the Holy
Child should be swiftly following the same road. The night after the
wise men had been warned in a dream to go to their own country, Joseph
was warned also in a dream to take the young Child and His mother and
go into Egypt. He was told to stay until he had orders to return, for
Herod would seek to take the Child's life. Their flight was in the
night, and Mary's heart beat fast as she held her baby close and rode
down the steep path from Bethlehem with Joseph walking beside her.
They did not rest until they were far on their way. It was nearly a
week before they reached the river that was the border of Egypt, but
when they crossed it King Herod's soldiers could not harm them.
[Illustration: The flight into Egypt]
They had gold that the wise men had given them, and Joseph knew how to
make many things of wood, so they lived quietly in Egypt waiting until
the Lord should call them back.
Herod was very angry when he heard that the Magi had gone away without
telling him anything about the young King; so angry that he ordered his
soldiers to destroy every baby boy in Bethlehem. So all the little
boys of Bethlehem under two years of age were killed by the order of
this wicked king, and the Holy Child whom Herod believed would be
destroyed with them was safely borne in His mother's arms along the
road to Egypt, while Joseph walked beside them and led the patient ass,
and angels went with them unseen to be their guard by night and by day.
They lived in Egypt about a year, and then the sick and unhappy old
king died, and an angel came to Joseph one night in a dream, and said,
"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."
They were glad to know that they could come home again, and they came,
perhaps with a company of merchants, into their own land. Joseph would
have settled in Judea, the part of the land of Israel in which stands
Jerusalem, and Bethlehem, the city of his ancestors, but Herod's son
had been made king over Judea, and Joseph was told in a dream to go
into Galilee.
In Galilee was Nazareth, where both Joseph and Mary lived when they
were married, and there they went and were at home again, and there
Jesus grew to manhood.