After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
We're used to the image of the Wise Men showing up on Christmas Day bringing their devotional bling. However, church tradition has them showing up 12 days later, giving us one version of Epiphany (a second one common to the Orthodox has Jesus getting baptized that day as well). That turns the manger unto Extended Stay Judea's Bethlehem franchise; Joseph and Mary must have gotten the two-week discount rate and gotten the hay changed at least once.
Even that version is iffy. We don't have a time-frame here, but the Magi hit Jerusalem after Jesus was born. So much for being there the night-of. The twelve-day version doesn't seem to have much footing, either.
What is of import is that a new king being born is going to make the existing monarch nervous, especially if it isn't his son. More than one king has dispatched contenders to the throne, even their own sons, if they were worried about being sent packing sooner than they'd like.
However, any plans to remedy the situation were foiled by God sending the Carpenters out of harms way over to Egypt until cooler heads were in charge in Judea.
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