At the end of Chapter 2, Joseph packs up everyone and starts back to Israel, based on the “OK” from the Angel of God in the prior verses. He did not seem to get far when he found out that Herod’s family was in power, and he got afraid. Why was he afraid…well Herod killed every baby in town to try and kill Joseph’s son. This was to make sure Herod’s kin got to power. Now Herod’s kin was in power, do you think that Herod did not tell him, “Son, there was a prophecy that some other child would be King. If you get word of anyone coming back to town with a child of about this age, be wary!”

OK…so the fear was valid. (SPOILER ALERT: it’s even more so, since Joseph is about to be warned to go to Nazareth instead!)

“Why would the Angel tell him to go back then, and not just tell him to go to Nazareth?”, you may ask… I think it was a test of Faith. Here was a Father that was to raise the Savior of the world, the Christ, the living Son of God. Odds are, God was keeping him on his toes, more often than not!

So how does Joseph react? Read it again…”he was afraid to go there”. That’s all it says. It does NOT say, “He went somewhere else, cause he thought that would be safer”. It did NOT say, “He decided against going back, and went back home” It did NOT say, “He asked his buddy Frank for some advice on what to do”. It said he was scared. Leads me to believe he was going anyway. That is some solid faith! Take your son who is marked to be killed, and trust in God that God will protect Him.

How often do we take some things into our own hands, when we know God wants us to do something? God says, “Move that rock” and we say “OK, let me consult a planner, buy a tractor, hire a contractor and make sure they get it done!” Is that really what He meant….? How about taking God at His word, and trusting that if you know something is His will, trust that he will get you through it!

In verses 19-20 of Chapter 2 (of Matthew, if you haven’t been following along), and Angel comes to Joseph in a dream and tells him Herod is dead, and to return to Israel. 

Has anyone ever wished that an Angel would come to us either in a dream, or just appear in a non-scary way, and tell us what to do.  Just cut straight to the point, no interpretation needed, just tell it like it is, so we can do what were told!  I have wished this!  Well, we all know it is the rare case, and it probably ain’t gonna happen. 

So who is the lucky one…Joseph or us?

So let’s see the situation he was in;  He was “flying by the seat of his pants” hoping for some direct intervention of what to do.  Jesus teachings were not quite there yet, since Jesus was in the crib crying at 2am (parents can relate…again, can you tell we are trying to get Ethan to sleep through the night lately?)  He had the Old Testament law, which was failing miserably at that point due to the Pharisees and Sadducees manipulating it to their purpose.  Otherwise, all he had was an Angel to direct him.

We have the Bible, which is God’s word to us, to guide us in EVERY action we do.  We have prayer to talk to God without a priest.  We have the Holy Spirit who lifts our requests up to God.  We have Jesus sitting on the right hand of God making petition for us!

We got a lot more than Joseph had at that point.  I would have to say…sounds like we are the Lucky Ones!

We use this term often lately to talk about Saddam, but have you considered Herod? Yea, Herod “the Great”, who built Masada and expanded the Temple.

In verses 16-18 of Chapter 2, here is a guy who is running a dictatorship, and sees a possible threat to his kingship in a “baby”! A baby that probably even if it was a valid threat, would not be so until at least 10+ years!

So what does he do, when he finds out that the Magi left without informing him of the Babies location? He does what any lunatic would do in that case…he orders ALL babies killed in the region!?! What!?! First off, it can’t that hard to find out where 3 rich foreigners went to in a small town, just ask around. Then lock them up, or something!?! …but no, just kill ’em all! Of course, this is the same guy that killed his wife and two sons as well.

Now think you are there that night, watching TV, just got your son to sleep after him crying for 6 hours (parents can relate). All of a sudden, crash opens the door, soldiers come in, take your baby, and say he must die! You ask why, and they say…”The king said so. He thinks some baby is going to be king at some point” WHAT!?!?

This is evil, and this is the land and times that Jesus, our Savior, was brought into. You may think things are sick now, but let me tell you, they were sick then! It makes you rethink yourself when you say how bad things are, and realize that this is and always was a sinful world we live in. It makes you realize our need for Jesus!

In verses 13-15 we see the obedience of Joseph, in doing what the Angel of the Lord told him. Now I know what you are saying, “If an Angel appeared to me, I would be moving as well, more from fear than obedience!!!” Well that certainly could’ve been part of it, but if you read what it says is that an Angel appeared to him in a dream. When is the last time you did what your dreams told you? How many of us would’ve woke up and said, “Hey Mary, I just had the weirdest dream! By the way, whats for breakfast?”….

But Joseph did not even wait for morning, he got up, woke his wife and infant (and if anyone is familiar with waking your wife and a sleeping baby during the night, this took a great leap of faith in itself!) and left, on the donkey (not the train or plane or heated car) and headed toward Egypt.

…all because of a dream.

– ’nuff said, this guy was obedient, and had some real trust in God to lead his family out alone. BTW, ever walk in the middle of the night through the wilderness? This guy was obedient!