Herod was very old and very ill at the time that ordered all the baby boys to be killed, sending the holy family into exile in Egypt. He was suffering from a very extreme case of delusional paranoia and killed anyone who posed even the slightest threat! He changed his will several times over the last few months of his life, as some of his sons were killed. He even ordered some of his sons to be killed, if he thought that were becoming too powerful!
Shortly before he died, Herod ordered all of Israel's rich and powerful people to be shut in the great hall of Jerusalem. He then gave orders to his sister to have all of the rich people killed after he died, so they could not become king after him!
Five days before Herod died, he killed the eldest of his remaining sons (who should have become king after him) and named his son Archelaus as the next King. When Herod died, he was buried in the Garden of Herodium near Bethlehem and Archelaus became King.
If you thought Herod was a bad King, Archelaus was far worse! That is why, when the holy family returned to Judea, they went back to their old town of Nazareth rather than returning to Bethlehem. Nazareth had a different ruler to Bethlehem because it was in the kingdom of Galilee, not Judea.
Archelaus persecuted more people than Herod and spent all the people's tax money on things for himself rather than the kingdom. In the year 6, he was banished by the Romans to Gaul (a part of the Roman Empire that's now France) as a punishment!
Joseph, Mary, and Jesus lived in Nazareth until Jesus started his teachings. This fulfilled another prophecy in the Old Testament of the Bible.
We are coming to an end of the full Christmas story I hope you have enjoyed it Tomorrow I will wrap it up.
Hugs Prayers and God Bless
Izzy
izzy
