How do the requests and warnings change the travelers’ routes?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The wise men return another way after the warning, and Joseph moves to Egypt and then Galilee as successive instructions and dangers are recorded.

Chapter breakdown

Jesus is born in Bethlehem of Juda during King Herod’s reign. Wise men arrive from the East in Jerusalem asking for the newborn king of the Jews: they have seen his star in the East and come to adore him. Herod and all Jerusalem are troubled. He gathers chief priests and scribes and asks where Christ should be born. They answer Bethlehem of Juda and quote the prophet’s declaration that a captain ruling Israel will come from there. The passage does not name that prophet.

Herod privately learns from the visitors when the star appeared. Sending them to Bethlehem, he asks diligent inquiry and a report after they find the child, saying he too will adore him. They depart; the star seen in the East precedes them and stands over the child’s location. They rejoice exceedingly. Entering a house, they find the child with Mary his mother, fall down in adoration, open their treasures and offer gold, frankincense and myrrh. The passage does not describe the child in Mary’s arms or explain symbolism of the gifts. Receiving an answer in sleep not to return to Herod, they go home another way.

After their departure an angel appears to Joseph in sleep, commanding him to take child and mother to Egypt and remain until further instruction, because Herod will seek the child’s destruction. Joseph rises, takes them by night and retires to Egypt, staying until Herod’s death. The narrator identifies fulfillment of the prophetic words about God calling his son out of Egypt, without naming the prophet here.

Herod, perceiving himself deluded by the wise men, becomes exceedingly angry and sends to kill all male children in Bethlehem and its borders aged two years and under, according to the time he diligently learned. The narrator connects this with Jeremias’s words: a voice in Rama, lamentation and great mourning, Rachel bewailing children and refusing comfort because they are not. A heavenly coronation or specified number of victims is not supplied.

After Herod dies an angel appears to Joseph in Egypt in sleep, instructing him to take child and mother back to Israel because those seeking the child’s life are dead. Joseph does so. Hearing Archelaus reigns in Judea in place of his father Herod, he fears going there. Warned in sleep, he retires to Galilee and lives in Nazareth. The narrator says this fulfills the prophets’ declaration that he will be called a Nazarene. The place is named without adding a supplied childhood description or the scale of the town.

The story inside

Herod asks for a report, but the wise men receive a contrary answer in sleep. Joseph’s night departure precedes Herod’s killings. After Herod’s death he returns to Israel, then avoids Judea upon learning of Archelaus and receiving a warning.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The three gifts are named without added symbolic interpretation.
2
The text names Jeremias but leaves two other prophetic quotations unnamed.
3
Keep Herod’s killings and Rachel’s lament distinct from unsupported heavenly consequences.

Test your recall

Why does Joseph retire to Galilee after returning to Israel?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 110443–110496
Matthew Chapter 2 The offerings of the wise men: the flight into Egypt: the massacre of the Innocents. 2:1. When Jesus therefore was born in Bethlehem of Juda, in the days of king Herod, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, 2:2. Saying: Where is he that is born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to adore him. 2:3. And king Herod hearing this, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 2:4. And assembling together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ should be born. 2:5. But they said to him: In Bethlehem of Juda. For so it is written by the prophet: 2:6. And thou Bethlehem the land of Juda art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come forth the captain that shall rule my people Israel. 2:7. Then Herod, privately calling the wise men learned diligently of them the time of the star which appeared to them; 2:8. And sending them into Bethlehem, said: Go and diligently inquire after the child, and when you have found him, bring me word again, that I also may come and adore him. 2:9. Who having heard the king, went their way; and behold the star which they had seen in the East, went before them, until it came and stood over where the child was. 2:10. And seeing the star they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 2:11. And entering into the house, they found the child with Mary his mother, and falling down they adored him: and opening their treasures, they offered him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 2:12. And having received an answer in sleep that they should not return to Herod, they went back another way into their country. 2:13. And after they were departed, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph, saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and fly into Egypt: and be there until I shall tell thee. For it will come to pass that Herod will seek the child to destroy him. 2:14. Who arose, and took the child and his mother by night, and retired into Egypt: and he was there until the death of Herod: 2:15. That it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Lines 110498–110526
2:16. Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry: and sending killed all the menchildren that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. 2:17. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: 2:18. A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. 2:19. But when Herod was dead, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in sleep to Joseph in Egypt, 2:20. Saying: Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel. For they are dead that sought the life of the child. 2:21. Who arose, and took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 2:22. But hearing that Archelaus reigned in Judea in the room of Herod his father, he was afraid to go thither: and being warned in sleep retired into the quarters of Galilee. 2:23. And coming he dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was said by the prophets: That he shall be called a Nazarene.