Matthew 2: part two

    In Chapter 1, Matthew wrote about appearances by 2 angels.  One angel appeared to Mary in person to tell her that she was pregnant with the child of the Holy Spirit.   The second angel appeared to Joseph in a dream to tell him about Mary and the Baby she was carrying.  The angel told him it was ok to go ahead and marry her and that the birth would fulfill the prophecy that He would be born of a virgin.  Joseph did not "know" his wife until after this Baby was born.  The angel also told Joseph to name the Baby Emmanuel because He would be the One to save the world from their sins.  Joseph had to understand why it was so important to keep this Baby safe.
     In chapter 2, after they had worshipped the Lord, a third angel appeared to the magi to warn them to go home by a different route in order to protect Jesus from Herod.  A fourth angel appeared to Joseph, also in a dream, and told him to gather his family and flee to Egypt as Herod planned to have Him killed.  Joseph wasted no time in packing up his family and leaving Bethlehem for Egypt  Later, the fifth angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, telling him it was safe to take his family back to Israel.  However, Joseph heard that Herod's son was ruling Judaea, so he also took a different route home and settled his family in Nazareth.
     In chapter 1, the first prophecy from Isaiah 7:14 was that the Messiah would be born of a virgin.  This prophecy was fulfilled thru Mary.  That the Messiah was to come out of Bethlehem of Judaea is the second prophecy.  The scribes quote the scriptures from Micah 5:2 in v.6, confirming Bethlehem as His birthplace.  Chapter 2:11 is the third prophecy:  the King would be presented with precious gifts.  This prophecy comes from Isaiah 60:6. The fourth prophecy was when God said He would call His Son out of Egypt,  This prophecy comes from Hosea 11:1.  The fifth prophecy is quoted from Jeremiah 31:15 when Rachel weeps for her children because they are not.  Matthew sees this as Herod, in a jealous rage, had all the children age 2 and under massacred because he thought Jesus was still in Israel and about that age.  However, Jeremy sees Rachel rising up out of her grave and weeping over the children of Israel who were enslaved in Babylon, never to return to their homes.  The sixth and last prophecy in Chapter 2 is when God came to Joseph in a dream, telling him to go to Galilee instead of returning to Judaea.  He settled his family in Nazareth, thus fulfilling the prophesy that "He shall be called a Nazarene. This prophecy Bible scholars think comes from Isaiah 11:1.

We have angels delivering messages from God in dreams in Chapter 2.   The angels were certainly kept busy keeping Jesus safe while He was just a Baby.  He was still the Son of God.  We also have 5 prophecies from the Old Testament fulfilled.  All this in the first two or three years of the life of Jesus.  At that young age, the Christchild had many Jews protecting Him, just as God commanded.