The Cave of Treasures 73

N¹🔗ow, there are certain men who will dispute this [statement] and say, “Where was Christ when the children were massacred, for it is written that He was not found in the land of Judah?” It was because of this massacre that He fled to Egypt, so that there might be fulfilled that which is written. “From Egypt I called my Son” (Hos. xi.

²🔗 1). And know this also. When Christ entered Egypt all the idols therein were swept from their places, and fell down, and were broken, so that there might be fulfilled that which is written, “Behold, the Lord rideth on a swift cloud, and entereth Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be broken before Him” (Isa. xix.

³🔗 1). And He did not return from Egypt [at once], but lived there until Herod died, and after him reigned Archelaus. Now, thou must know, O my brother Nemesius, that, even as I have already told thee, all the men who were under the rule of Herod were [included] in that registration for taxation; and the registration was completed in fifty days.

⁴🔗 And it was not until this registration was completed and sealed, and until Herod had sealed it and sent it to Augustus in Rome, that the Messiah was searched for; up to that time no children had been slain. And it was during the commotion caused by that registration that Christ was born. When forty days after His birth had been fulfilled, Christ went into the Temple of the Lord. And Simeon the Aged, the son of Joshua bar-Yózadhak, in whose days the captivity went up from Babel, took Him in his arms. Now, Simeon was five hundred years old when he took Christ in his arms.