In the deep of night, while everyone slept, there was a sudden rustling from where the wise men were resting. All three began tossing and turning at the same time, as if prompted by the same thought. Their faces shifted rapidly—from surprise to frowns to fear. Then, suddenly:
“Gasp!”
A single gasp escaped from all three at once. Sitting up and catching their breath, the wise men looked at each other.
“Did you hear it too?”
“So you did as well?”
“W-what kind of dream was that?”
“I don’t know… but it said not to return to Herod…”
“Oh, God.”
Still breathless, the three men struggled to calm themselves.
“It seems God doesn’t want us to report to Herod.”
One said. The others nodded in agreement.
“Let’s leave right away, without delay.”
“All right.”
“Yes.”
Normally, they would have waited until morning, but the urgency of the dream left them no time to waste. They were seized by the fear that something terrible would happen if they didn’t leave immediately.
“Shouldn’t we at least say goodbye before we go?”
“What could we possibly say, waking them up in the middle of the night? That we had a dream warning us not to return to Herod, so we’re leaving?”
“But I have a feeling something serious is about to happen…”
“If it were that important, wouldn’t God have told them as well?”
Their voices grew louder.
“Now, now, calm down. As you said, there must be a reason God told only us. If it was something they needed to know, He would have shown them the same dream. But since only we woke up, I think this is a message for us to hear and follow. So let’s just leave without delay. Still, we should leave a note so they know why we left so suddenly.”
The other two nodded. They wrote a simple note explaining why they had to leave in the middle of the night. Hoping those they left behind would understand, the wise men carefully left the message. Then they set off toward their homeland by a different road than the one they had come.
As they left through the door and faded into the distance, Joseph also had a dream.
“Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
The voice and its resonance were so vivid. It felt like the same voice that had once told him to take Mary as his wife. Joseph opened his eyes, quickly got up, and woke Mary.
“Mary.”
“Yes? What’s the matter?”
Mary asked, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
“I’ll explain everything later, but please get dressed quickly and prepare to leave.”
“What?”
“I saw an angel in a dream. Please, just do as I say for now. It’s urgent.”
Joseph was flustered and couldn’t explain the situation properly. But Mary, sensing from his expression that something serious had happened, immediately got up to prepare. Meanwhile, Joseph finished dressing and looked around. The shepherd couple were sleeping soundly nearby, but the wise men from the East were nowhere to be seen. Joseph checked where they had been sleeping and found a note.
[We are leaving urgently after a dream told us not to return to King Herod. Though our bodies are departing, our hearts remain with God and the Messiah. We pray that nothing will happen. We were so happy to witness firsthand the coming of God’s kingdom into the world. May God protect your path and our journey…]
Outside the window, a group of people could be seen moving away in the distance. Joseph prayed silently for their safe journey home.
“Joseph, I’m ready.”
When Joseph turned, Mary was carrying a small bundle on her back and holding the baby in her arms.
“Then let’s go.”
“Wait a moment. We should explain the situation to the shepherd couple.”
“Ah, right.”
Joseph always focused on whatever problem was right in front of him. Because of this, he often overlooked important things, and this time too, if it hadn’t been for Mary, he would have made a serious mistake.
“Shepherd, shepherd.”
Joseph shook the shepherd awake. Beside him, Mary woke the shepherd’s wife. Joseph and Mary explained the situation to the two, who woke up frowning. At first, the couple didn’t understand, but as the seriousness of the words sank in, their expressions hardened.
“So we will leave for Egypt right now. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. We’ll be sure to visit again if we can.”
Joseph gave the shepherd a grateful nod. The shepherd stood up and embraced Joseph.
“It’s all right. We’re the ones who should be thankful. It would have been nice to say goodbye under better circumstances, but what can we do? This too is God’s will… Take care.”
Nearby, Mary and the shepherd’s wife held hands and wept in farewell. After brief goodbyes and packing their belongings, Joseph and Mary left the house. They walked quickly along the road to Egypt, just as God had commanded through the angel. This was before sunrise.
* * *
As if he hadn’t slept all night, Herod’s bloodshot eyes flashed even redder.
Did the wise men find the baby called the Messiah yesterday? Or have they not found him yet? If they found him, would they be awake by now? When will these people return and report to me?
Herod now regretted letting the wise men go the day before. If he had sent spies after them, he wouldn’t be so anxious now, and the thought made him angry. He had done his best for the Roman rulers and powerful people, as well as for foreigners and Jews. But what was the result? The betrayal of his sons and the rebellion of the Jews. And now, even a newborn Messiah had appeared. This couldn’t be. He couldn’t let the kingdom he had devoted his whole life to be taken away so easily. He couldn’t kill his own son freely because of his connections in Rome, but no one would say anything if he killed a baby born in Bethlehem. If there was any resistance, he could create the necessary charges. If he set his mind to it, making something happen without leaving any trace in history would be easy.
“Hey there. Send someone to Bethlehem to find out the whereabouts of the wise men and report back.”
“Yes, I will do as you command.”
The person sent by King Herod went around Bethlehem asking about the wise men from the East. But no one had seen them. This was because the wise men had come up from the eastern foothills, not the main road, and had arrived in Bethlehem late at night, guided by the star. Moreover, the shepherd’s house was a bit away from the village, so unless the shepherd couple told anyone, no one would know about yesterday’s events. The person sent by King Herod returned to Jerusalem and reported that no one had seen them.
Herod heard the report and became furious.
“What? You say they’re not there?”
“Yes, they’re not there, and no one has seen them.”
“How dare these men deceive me. Just wait. If they appear before me, I’ll kill them all!”
“Your Majesty, what about the Messiah?”
Herod shouted loudly.
“Messiah? Who says there’s a Messiah? I am the only king in this land. Don’t even mention the Messiah in front of me, or even where I can’t hear it. If I hear even a little of such talk, I will never forgive it.”
Herod’s servants could only remain silent in the face of his anger. Herod thought for a moment and said:
“When did those so-called wise men say they first discovered the star?”
“They said it was two years ago.”
“Then, just in case, what if we kill all children two years old and under in Bethlehem and its vicinity based on that time?”
“That’s a good idea. Then we wouldn’t need to know who the child is.”
“Right. It would take too long to figure out whose child it is, and if we’re not careful, those people might get scared and run away. That would be troublesome, so kill all children who look two years old or younger. Even so, these are small villages, so there won’t be many children that age. They’re just going to grow up and cause trouble anyway, so it’s the same whether we kill them now or later.”
“Then I’ll send Samaritan and foreign mercenaries.”
Herod smiled for the first time.
“Indeed, I have at least one good servant. Take care of it immediately.”
“Yes, understood.”
Soldiers specially selected for this task. If they were Jewish soldiers, they might feel guilty about killing innocent babies of their own people, but for mercenaries who had grown up on battlefields all their lives, this kind of thing was nothing. They were the ones who had killed and burned entire villages off the map for reasons as trivial as a bad mood or helping the enemy. Selectively killing babies like this was just a trivial amusement. If there were people who resisted, they could kill them too, so what a joyous task this was.
The soldiers went around Bethlehem and its surrounding villages, killing all babies who looked two years old or younger. Among them was the grandson born to the shepherd’s second daughter. The shepherd, his wife, and the people wailed. The shepherd’s daughter and the other mothers wept bitterly and refused to be comforted. Thus was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet:
“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more.”
The passage from Matthew 2:13, 17-18 quoted in this narrative is taken directly from the World English Bible (WEB) translation.
Listen to the audiobook now.
