I spoke on Sunday (and again, for our Tuesday morning service) on the second half of Matthew chapter 2. This is the end of Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus and covers the need for his family to flee to Egypt and then their return not to Bethlehem but to Nazareth. You can watch it here:

I was particularly struck by how close Bethlehem is to Jerusalem. It would only have taken Herod’s troops about 25 minutes to get from his palace to the Church of the Nativity. Obviously those aren’t very useful historical markers but Google Maps didn’t have a setting to check condition over 2,000 years ago! Fortunately Joseph got warned in a dream and set off with his family in the middle of the night or, even without cars, Herod’s troops would have been at their doors to fulfil his evil plan.