. This follows as a corollary from what has been already
advanced, for if the wise men visited Bethlehem immediately after the
birth, and if the child was then hurried away to Egypt, the presentation
could not have taken place earlier. The ceremony was performed _forty
days after the birth_ (Luke ii. 22, and Lev. xii. 2, 3, 4), and as the
flight and the return might both have been accomplished in eight or ten
days, there was ample time for a sojourn of at least two or three weeks
in that part of Egypt which was nearest to Palestine. Herod died during
this brief exile, and yet his demise happened so soon before the
departure of the holy family on their way home, that the intelligence
had not meanwhile reached Joseph by the voice of ordinary fame; and
until his arrival in the land of Israel, he did not even know that
Archelaus reigned in Judea (Matt. ii. 22). He seems to have inferred
from the dream that the dynasty of the Herodian family had been
completely subverted, so that when he heard of the succession of
Archelaus "he was afraid" to enter his territory; but, at this juncture,
being "counselled of God" in another dream, he took courage, proceeded
on his journey, and, after the presentation in the temple, "returned
into the parts of Galilee."

That the presentation in the temple took place after the death of Herod
is further manifest from the fact that the babe remained uninjured,
though his appearance in the sacred courts awakened uncommon interest,
and though Anna "spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in
Jerusalem" (Luke ii. 38). Herod had his spies in all quarters, and had
he been yet living, the intelligence of the presentation and of its
extraordinary accompaniments, would have soon reached his ears, and he
would have made some fresh attempt upon the life of the infant. But when
the babe was actually brought to the temple, the tyrant was no more.
Jerusalem was in a state of great political excitement, and Archelaus
had, perhaps, already set sail for Rome to secure from the emperor the
confirmation of his title to the kingdom (see Josephus' Antiq. xvii. c.
9), so that it is not strange if the declarations of Simeon and Anna did
not attract any notice on the part of the existing rulers.

Assuming, then, that Christ was born a very short time before the death
of Herod, we have now to ascertain the date of the demise of that
monarch. Josephus states (Antiq. xiv. 14, Sec. 5) that Herod was made king
b