When did Jesus escape to Egypt?

Answer 1

Many people know this story very well, but it explainswhyand when Jesus escaped to Egypt:

After Jesus was born, the wise men (or magi) saw the star in the sky and set off to find baby Jesus. It took them a few years, and they arrived in Herod's palace in Jerusalem, Israel. In the Old Testament of The Bible it had been predicted that when a new King was born, a star would appear. The wise men knew this and had come to the palace, expecting to find a baby king somewhere royal. They asked Herod, who was King at the time, where the baby was. King Herod did not know about a new baby being born, and was determined to sort it out. He feared this baby would grow up and try to take the throne of Israel from him. So he called a meeting and asked his wise men and advisers about the baby and the star. They told him the Prophet Micah (his prophecies are in the book Micah in the Old Testament) had predicted that a savior, the King of all Kings, would be born in Bethlehem. Herod called a secret meeting with the magi (wise men looking for Jesus) and told them that they would find the baby King in Bethlehem, and when they had found the baby to report back to him, so he could go and worship the baby too. But King Herod really wanted to kill the child, to stop the threat of him taking his throne. He didn't realise what the prophet Micah had meant when he said the King of all Kings". The wise men followed the star from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, where they found Jesus (Jesus would be around 2 years old by now). They gave him the gifts they had brought for him - strange gifts for a baby - Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. The men bowed down and worshipped Jesus, joyful to have found him. That night God warned the magi in a dream not to return to Herod. They returned home via a different route.

Herod realised he had been tricked, and was furious. He told his guards to go out into Bethlehem and kill every male child aged 2 years old and under. Joseph was warned that night in a terrible dream that he had to leave Bethlehem to escape Herod's wrath and his men, so that night they escaped to Egypt and stayed there until Herod was dead. Then they returned to Nazareth, Mary and Joseph's (and now Jesus') home town.

So Jesus escaped to Egypt to escape being killed by King Herod. You can read the story for yourself in the Bible - in Matthew 2 in the new Testament.

NOTE: several things that were prophesied in the Old testament are fulfilled in this story. Also, notice that nowhere in the Bible does it say that there were 3 wise men (magi). We don't know how many there were - but there was more than 1! If you don't have a Bible, here is the story:

Matthew 2The Visit of the Magi

1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi (wise men) from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:

6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

13When they 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." 14So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15where 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."

16When 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. 17Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

18"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."

The Return to Nazareth

19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

21So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."