Jan. 7, 2010 - Matthew 2

We always see the magi coming to the baby Jesus. Why then the 2 year time frame for Herod. It says that it is based on the magi's time frame. I have heard different people say that Jesus and the Holy Family were in Bethlehem for 2 years before leaving to Egypt. That seems to make more sense from this narrative. I would take a while for the Magi to make it there.

The massacre of the babies I have also heard explained so that it is more "realistic". Bethlehem was not a very big town so there would only have been between 5-10 boys of that age. Still brutal but not a mass slaughter. And Herod was known for being vicious, killing family members because he was paranoid about losing power.

And we don't hear anthing about Joseph being from Nazarath to begin with, that is where they end up. They are in Bethlehem for the birth. Matthew was writing to the Jews of his time and so we will find that he hits upon the phophetic parts more than the others but some of the narrative is missing. But none of the gospels tells the whole story. They are all to be looked at as complimanary pieces, each telling a version, so that as a whole he get the story.