But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Comment: At the end of yesterday’s devotional I asked. ‘Where do you think that Joseph took Jesus, when they arrived back in Israel? We will see tomorrow!’ Tomorrow has come! Because of the statement that Joseph altered his thinking and went to Nazareth in Galilee we have a few questions to consider. That is, where did he and the pregnant Mary set out to go for the census in Bethlehem? Nazareth, of course! So, why the ‘surprise’ that he went there on his return from Egypt? Wouldn’t it have been natural for him to go to his old home town? Of course, unless in the interval he had set up a successful business at, or near, Bethlehem. I assume that he must have planned to return to the Bethlehem area, where if Jesus was nearing two or maybe three his business was now established! This is based on the thought that Herod the Great had guessed correctly when he decided to kill all the two year-olds and under – which means under 3!
The Herodian Dynasty was a large one. Herod the Great (37BC- 4BC) ruled a large area. People do not know exactly the dates around the time of Jesus birth. Trying to fit the Biblical picture (which I am sure is accurate) with ‘historic’ dates given for the Herodian Dynasty we have to do a little juggling of the dates which we have been taught. If we assume Jesus’ birth date was in 1AD (and I suspect that is wrong) the Bible doesn’t match Historical dates. The registrary of births and deaths apparently has been lost! However the Bible story meshes well with written records and archeological findings providing we are a bit flexible not with Biblical facts but with the exact year in which Jesus was born! Herod the Great whom Historians tell us was ruler of a large area around Israel from 37BC – 4BC. The facts fit that he was the one who slaughtered all the boys in the area of Bethlehem. When he died 3 of his sons (of whom there were more) were rulers of his now sub-divided kingdom. Herod Archelaus was ruler over the area of Bethlehem, Jerusalem and a half of his father’s area of rule. He was a bad ruler and the Romans removed him and took over control administratively of his area. He ruled from 4BC – 6AD During this time the Angel told Joseph to return from Egypt. But, I presume, because of Archelaus’ corruption and the knowledge that he, in his younger years had probably been in the area when the babies were killed, and had first hand ability to get all the records and whisperings, Joseph, no doubt prayerfully, decided to skip the area and go back to Nazareth where Archelaus’ brother, Herod Antipas, was ruler. (A number of Herodian rulers are mentioned in the New Testament!) Am I correct with the facts but wrong in the motives of Joseph? Was it all because ‘And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene’?
John 1: 46 – Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” – Nazareth was a little, unimportant town, the name similar to a word that was used to describe a shoot growing out of an old stump!
Prayer: I thank You that You have enabled me to see the Good Thing that came out of Nazareth!
As I read it! 