Following Jesus’ birth, his family remained in Bethlehem. Mary and John’s parents, Elizabeth and Zacharias, had reasoned that Jesus was the Messiah and that therefore he should grow up in the city of David and assume the throne of David. From the time old Herod (Herod Idumean) held the audience with the three priests from Ur (the three wise men); he had maintained an interest in finding Jesus. He knew Jesus had been in Bethlehem but he did not know exactly where. He was angry when he heard from his informants that the infant had been redeemed in the temple in Jerusalem (from sacrifice of the first born as provided by Jewish law) and no one had followed to determine where he was residing. For over a year Herod’s spies continued to seek the child without success. Finally in October of 6BC Herod gave the order to make a systematic search of Bethlehem for all infant boys less than two years of age and to slay all of them.
Zacharias was a priest at the temple at Jerusalem and he knew people who knew what was happening at Herod’s court. One of those people got word to Zacharias of Herod’s order to slaughter the boy children. Zacharias got a message to Joseph the evening before sixteen children were murdered and provided traveling money for Joseph’s family to go to safety with Joseph’s relatives in Alexandria in Egypt. The family traveled alone to avoid suspicion. Jesus’ family and friends must have had an escape plan in place with an established destination and a funding plan because they acted very quickly and without confusion.
Alexandria was and still is a large business and cultural center in the Nile River delta in Northeastern Egypt directly to the South of the Siani desert. It was a large city and Joseph’s distant relative with whom they lodged was rich. A few of the Egyptian family and some of their friends were informed that Jesus was a child of destiny and divine promise, probably the Messiah, and they took this seriously. No doubt the story of the Gabriel visit to Mary was shared with this limited group of friends.
Joseph quickly found work as a carpenter and then as a foreman of a large group of workmen. This supervisory experience eventually gave Joseph the idea of becoming a builder when he returned to Nazareth. The family spent almost two years in Alexandria biding their time until Herod died. Meanwhile, Jesus spent his time being a typical gleeful toddler with a loving family and friends. Nothing supernatural or miraculous was happening in his life nor would it until he was twelve years old and with his parents on his first trip to Jerusalem. But Jesus did receive exceptionally attentive care, especially from his mother.
In 4BC Herod died and Joseph and Jesus’ Judean friends considered it safe for Jesus to return to Bethlehem. The Alexandrian friends tried to Convince Joseph to remain permanently in Alexandria. They reasoned that it would be a better place for Jesus to launch and manage his mission in life. Alexandria was the second most important city in Jewish scholarship and religion as well as the second largest city in the Roman Empire. But Joseph and Mary wanted Jesus to grow up in Israel, perhaps even in Bethlehem.
When the time set for departure came, the Alexandrian and Memphis friends sent them off with ceremony and a gift of a copy of the Greek translation of the Hebrew scripture, a precious and costly gift.
The family arrived back in Bethlehem in late August, 4BC, about the time of Jesus’ third birthday. After counseling with friends and considering together for a few weeks whether to remain in Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary decided Nazareth would be a better place to rear Jesus and that he would be safer there from Herod’s heirs. So the family and five of Joseph’s local male relatives (for protection from thieves, remember the value of the Greek translation) made the return trip to their small home in Nazareth where one of Joseph’s four brothers had been living with his family.