Herod slays male infants in Bethlehem area (Matthew 2:15-16)

He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.” (NASB) Matt. 2:15

So Joseph remained in Egypt because he wanted to do God’s will. He wanted to please God. Joseph’s faithfulness resulted in the fulfillment of the prophecy recorded in Hosea 11:1. What would have happened to that prophecy if Joseph had not been faithful? Yes, the prophecy would have been fulfilled in some way, but Joseph could have missed the joy of having been used by God to bring it about. That is always true. God calls us to do His will in good and bad situations. Then we have the joy of allowing the Potter to use us for His divine purposes.

The Murders. Herod soon discovered that the magi had ignored him, and then the one who claimed he had a desire to worship revealed that he really wanted to murder the child.

Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. (NASB) Matt. 2:16

So King Herod ordered every child under two years of age to be murdered. Herod selected two years because the star had been visible for two years. Herod understood that Jesus was probably about two years old.

Historians tell us that Herod was a very wicked man. Here is an important quote from Everett Ferguson which helps us understand King Herod.

Though it may be true that Herod was an extremely able ruler, it is also true that he was intensely jealous of his position. He killed the two sons of Mariammne when his suspicions were aroused that they might become the rallying point for Jewish patriotism. Mariammne herself was killed when his mind was poisoned against her by his sister. The slaughter of the infants of Bethlehem (Matt. 2) finds no independent confirmation in sources outside of the New Testament, but the incident fits well the reign of terror of Herod’s last years. A man who killed a large part of his own family and arrested large numbers of the most prominent citizens with orders for their execution when he died so there would be mourning at his death (Josephus. Antiquities of the Jews. 17.6.5) . . . would not have caused much of a stir by liquidating a score of children in an obscure village. Knowing of Herod’s conduct and the Jewish scruples about pork, the emperor Augustus was reported to have said that he would rather be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son (Ferguson, Everett. Backgrounds of Early Christianity. Eerdmans Publishing. 1993. p. 390).