Jesus said (Matthew 23:33-36 NASB):<\/p>\n
You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore (\u0394\u03b9\u1f70 \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c4\u03bf; See: Table1<\/a> below)<\/em>, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. \u00a0Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/a>I quoted the NASB to blunt the crime\/punishment motif the NET translators superimposed upon the text by translating \u1f25\u03be\u03b5\u03b9 (a form of \u1f25\u03ba\u03c9<\/a>) will be held responsible<\/a> <\/em>(See: Table<\/a>).\u00a0 Of course the NASB translators superimposed their own crime\/punishment motif by translating \u1f14\u03bb\u03b8\u1fc3 (a form of \u1f14\u03c1\u03c7\u03bf\u03bc\u03b1\u03b9<\/a>) may fall the guilt<\/em> (See: Table3<\/a> below).\u00a0 Neither word seems capable of carrying such concepts.\u00a0 Both translations help to disguise the fact that Jesus brought all the righteous blood shed on earth<\/em>\u2026upon this generation<\/em> so that the serpents<\/em>, the brood of vipers<\/a><\/em>, could escape <\/em>(\u03c6\u1f7b\u03b3\u03b7\u03c4\u03b5, a form of \u03c6\u03b5\u03cd\u03b3\u03c9<\/a>) the sentence <\/em>(\u03ba\u03c1\u1f77\u03c3\u03b5\u03c9\u03c2, a form of \u03ba\u03c1\u03af\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2<\/a>) of hell<\/em>.\u00a0 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn <\/em>(\u03ba\u03c1\u1f77\u03bd\u1fc3, a form of \u03ba\u03c1\u03af\u03bd\u03c9<\/a>) the world, but that the world should be saved through him<\/em>.[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
Clarifying this point, however, doesn\u2019t fill me with instant insight.\u00a0 It seems rather to be leading me somewhere I didn\u2019t particularly want to go.\u00a0 Before I go there I want to entertain another insight gained along the way (Matthew 2:13 NET):<\/p>\n
After [<\/em>the wise men<\/a>]<\/em> had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, \u201cGet up, take the child and his mother and flee (\u03c6\u03b5\u1fe6\u03b3\u03b5, another form of \u03c6\u03b5\u03cd\u03b3\u03c9)<\/em> to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to look for the child to kill him.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Only one king was aware enough (Matthew 2:1-12<\/a>) of Jesus\u2019 first advent to respond to it (Matthew 2:16-18 NET):<\/p>\n
When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged.\u00a0 He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men. \u00a0Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled (\u1f10\u03c0\u03bb\u03b7\u03c1\u1f7d\u03b8\u03b7, a form of \u03c0\u03bb\u03b7\u03c1\u03cc\u03c9<\/a>)<\/em>: \u201cA voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were<\/em><\/strong> gone<\/strong>.<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Herod comes off as a fool: First he thought Jesus was after something so petty as his throne.\u00a0 My kingdom is not from this world<\/em>,[2]<\/sup><\/a> Jesus told Pilate.\u00a0 Second, he thought to thwart God by committing infanticide when it was he who was thwarted by the simple tactic of fleeing beyond the boundary of his jurisdiction and remaining there until he died<\/a>.\u00a0 Those in positions of authority at Jesus\u2019 second advent, when The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,<\/em>[3]<\/sup><\/a> will do well to remember Herod\u2019s negative example, if for no other reason than how they will be remembered in the history of Him who will reign for ever and ever<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Despite all that had transpired (Luke 1:1-2:40<\/a>) Joseph wasn\u2019t expected to add Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy to the time in which he was living to deduce that he should flee with the child Jesus and his mother to Egypt.\u00a0 Rather an angel appeared to him in a dream and warned him explicitly, while other fathers of infant sons slept ignorantly, blissfully, through that fateful night.\u00a0 Of course, the purpose of Jeremiah\u2019s prophecy was not that brilliant young minds might thwart it by fleeing.\u00a0 Consider a prophecy, for instance, in which fleeing is its intended fulfillment (Matthew 24:15, 16 NET):<\/p>\n
So when you see the abomination of desolation<\/em> \u2013 spoken about by Daniel the prophet \u2013 standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee (\u03c6\u03b5\u03c5\u03b3\u1f73\u03c4\u03c9\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd, another form of \u03c6\u03b5\u03cd\u03b3\u03c9)<\/em> to the mountains.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
But as I wondered how to live emotionally with the collateral damage of all those butchered sons I caught a glimpse of young Jesus in tears contemplating the same thing and heard the scripture as written<\/a> for its primary heir (Galatians 3:15-22<\/a>).<\/p>\n