The flight to Egypt; Herod kills the boys of Bethlehem
Matthew 2:13–18; Hosea 11:1; Jeremiah 31:15
Warned in a dream, Joseph took Mary and the child by night to Egypt. Herod, realizing the wise men had not returned, ordered every boy two years old and under in and around Bethlehem to be killed.
and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Matthew 2:15 (World English Bible)
Egypt had a large Jewish population and lay outside Herod's reach. Matthew sees in the family's stay there a fulfillment of “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11:1): the Son of God reliving Israel's history. In Bethlehem, Rachel's weeping for her children (Jeremiah 31:15) was heard again.
Bethlehem was a small town, so the children killed may have numbered perhaps a dozen or two; no other ancient source records the massacre, but it fits everything Josephus tells of Herod's last years.
Places
Ancient witnesses outside the Bible
Historical sources, not Scripture.
- Antiquities 17.6.5 — Herod's last months; Josephus does not mention the children of Bethlehem
Dating notes
Ussher: 4 BC. Scripture doesn't say where in Egypt the family stayed; Coptic tradition names many places. The month shown is estimated from the order of events in Ussher's harmony, so that events of the same year appear in sequence.