2. Birth and Childhood

It would perhaps be thought offensive that God would save Jesus but not the other boys from this fate. The scripture had to be fulfilled (verse 18). Is Moses also offensive?

Acts 7:17-21

...The people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, and when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son....

remain there until I tell you

Exodus 2:2

The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him

Exodus 1:8-9, 16, 22

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, "Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us."

"When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live."

Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live."

destroy

Matthew 12:14

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

John 11:48-51

"If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should _perish_." He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation.

Matthew 27:20

Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.

he rose...by night

Joseph is indeed a just man (1:19) who obeys the Lord immediately.

Out of Egypt I called my son

Exodus 4:21-23

And the LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, "Let my son go that he may serve me." If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.'"

Hosea 10:1

Israel is a luxuriant vine
that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
he improved his pillars.

Hosea 10:3

For now they will say:
"We have no king,
for we do not fear the LORD;
and a king--what could he do for us?"

Hosea 10:11

Ephraim was a trained calf
that loved to thresh,
and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put Ephraim to the yoke;
Judah must plow;
Jacob must harrow for himself.

Hosea 11:1

When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.

he had been tricked

Luke 23:11

And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him.

killed

The Greek for "killed" (ἀναιρέω) is a fairly graphic term at its root, made from "raise" or "yank" combined with "up". The first example in the lexicon is, "...having raised the victim from the ground, so as to cut its throat." It can also indicate "take up and carry off." While the word does not strictly speaking have to indicate violence, the New Testament almost exclusively uses it in this way. A clear example is Luke 23:32, "Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him," where the force of yanking up violently is clearly intended.

The quotation is Jeremiah 31:15.

Jeremiah 31:1

At that time, declares the LORD, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.

Jeremiah 31:10-11

"Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
and declare it in the coastlands far away;
say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.'
For the LORD has ransomed Jacob
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.

Jeremiah 31:15-19

Thus says the LORD:
"A voice is heard in Ramah,
lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
she refuses to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more."
Thus says the LORD:
"Keep your voice from weeping,
and your eyes from tears,
for there is a reward for your work,
declares the LORD,
and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
There is hope for your future,
declares the LORD,
and your children shall come back to their own country.
I have heard Ephraim grieving,
'You have disciplined me, and I was disciplined,
like an untrained calf;
bring me back that I may be restored,
for you are the LORD my God.
For after I had turned away, I relented,
and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh;
I was ashamed, and I was confounded,
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.'

Jeremiah 31:27-28

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring harm, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

2 Samuel 18:32-33

The king said to the Cushite, "Is it well with the young man Absalom?" And the Cushite answered, "May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up against you for evil be like that young man." And the king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as he went, he said, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!"

2 Samuel 19:9-10

And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, "The king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines, and now he has fled out of the land from Absalom. But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?"