Joseph doesn't get any where near as much honour as Mary does, but he was a righteous and obedient man. He married a woman who was pregnant by Someone other than him, and he obeyed strange angels commands to the letter every time. It must have gotten so he was afraid to go to sleep after a while, as time after time, angels appear to warn and instruct him. Maybe the righteous man needed this to understand and obey. Even though most of these instructions required him to do things that no good Jewish man would enjoy, like flee to Egypt in the middle of the night.
Herod tries to slay the little Jesus, by conducting a mass slaughter of boys under two in Bethlehem. This incident rings bells of a certain Pharaoh who also slaughtered baby boys. Both of these men did so because they felt threatened by the future of the children.
God knew it was going to happen; that's why he warned Mary and Joseph to escape with Jesus to Egypt.
He knew it was going to happen, and he let it happen.
Scholars say that Herod the Great died in 4 B.C., and they also think Jesus was born around 7 B.C.
So it seems that not long after the slaughter, Herod himself died. I guess he didn't really have to worry about the threat from the young king.
He was scared of this prophecy...of a ruler coming forth who would rule Israel. He tried to thwart God's plans...
It wasn't a fair fight...the one who made the prophecy already knew it would come true...
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