13 When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”
14 So he got up, took the Child and His mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
16 When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.
17 Then what was spoken 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.”
Thank you.
By the way, Herod (an Edomite [i.e. a jew]) was the man responsible for forcing all the Edomites to convert to Judaism.
This is why, by the time Jesus was living in Judea (a Roman province), so many of the people living in Judea were Pharisees (mostly Edomite jews, though there were still some Israelites and others living there, too).
The Pharisees followed the Tradition of the Elders (i.e. Talmud) and NOT the Mosaic Law (i.e. Old Testament/Torah).
Herod heard about the birth of Jesus and wanted him dead.
Thank you Allergic for remembering Advent! ✨
My pleasure!