It has been said that God warned Mary and Joseph to flee from Herod and then provided them expense money with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh from the wise men. Jesus' parents were warned to flee to Egypt, which at that time, was a Roman province and beyond the control of King Herod. Today, it could be compared to traveling from South Carolina to Georgia. The journey would still be within the United States, but under the jurisdiction of another state government. So to speak, the "state" of Egypt and the "state" of Israel had their own governors, but both reported to the emperor in Rome.
The scripture reads, "...Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him." Fear for one's life was no light matter when dealing with Herod. This was a man who had his wife Miriamne killed, even though he seemed to have loved her with all his heart. He had her murdered because he suspected her of plotting against his life. It is said that Herod never recovered emotionally from this heinous deed. In addition, Herod had three of his own sons killed, two by strangling and one by execution, again out of fear of them plotting to take his throne. Augustus Caesar is supposed to have said that it was better to be Herod's pig than his son.
The flight to Egypt would have involved a trip of about 100 miles to a border crossing called River of Egypt. Traditional has it that Joseph and Mary fled to the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (the city of the sun). Indeed, great numbers of Jews lived in Egypt during this time because they had escaped the Babylonian invasion of Nebuchadnezzar in 606 B.C. It would not have been a great hardship for the family to have lived there as there were Jewish synagogues in the cities and large Jewish neighborhoods. Some reports, certainly exaggerated, tell of the Egyptian city of Alexandria having a million Jews living there during New Testament times.
The exact length of their stay in Egypt is unknown. The Bible simply states that they stayed until after the death of Herod. Since Herod died in 4 B.C., tradition has it that they stayed about a year. So, if Herod died in 4 B.C. it seems reasonable to assume that Jesus was actually born in about 5 B.C..

Blessings in your study of God's Word!

Marvin Hunt

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Blessings!
Marvin Hunt

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