Travels in Africa

When they [the wise men] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

‘A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.’

Matthew 2: 13-18

Because Herod was unable to find out where Jesus was from the wise men, he thought the only way of making sure Jesus was killed was to kill every baby boy under two years old in Bethlehem and the surrounding area. Probably only about 20 babies would have been killed, but even that fact is really horrible. So his cruelty would had brought terror and grief to many homes. But Jesus was kept safe as Joseph took him and Mary to Egypt just in time. This was not the first time that Herod had killed people to keep them quiet — he even had killed people in his own family in the past!

There is proof in historical records that Herod had the baby boys killed in 4 BC, so Jesus being born about 5-7 BC makes even more sense.

Jesus becoming a refugee and going to Egypt fulfilled some very old prophecies in the Old Testament of the Bible. The family probably didn’t have to spend too long in Egypt as Herod died soon after this.