t,
learning on the way that Herod's son Archelaus ruled in the place of his
wicked father, Joseph modified his purpose; and, "being warned of God in
a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: and he came and
dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene."[255]

While Archelaus, who appears to have been a natural heir to his infamous
father's wickedness and cruelty, ruled in Judea,[256] for a short time
as king, then with the less exalted title of ethnarch, which had been
decreed to him by the emperor, his brother Antipas governed as tetrarch
in Galilee. Herod Antipas was well nigh as vicious and reprobate as
others of his unprincipled family, but he was less aggressive in
vindictiveness, and in that period of his reign was comparatively
tolerant.[257]

Concerning the home life of Joseph and his family in Nazareth, the
scriptural record makes but brief mention. The silence with which the
early period of the life of Jesus is treated by the inspired historians
is impressive; while the fanciful accounts written in later years by
unauthorized hands are full of fictitious detail, much of which is
positively revolting in its puerile inconsistency. None but Joseph,
Mary, and the other members of the immediate family or close associates
of the household could have furnished the facts of daily life in the
humble home at Nazareth; and from these qualified informants Matthew and
Luke probably derived the knowledge of which they wrote. The record made
by those who knew is marked by impressive brevity. In this absence of
detail we may see evidence of the genuineness of the scriptural account.
Inventive writers would have supplied, as, later, such did supply, what
we seek in vain within the chapters of the Gospels. With hallowed
silence do the inspired scribes honor the boyhood of their Lord; he who
seeks to invent circumstances and to invest the life of Christ with
fictitious additions, dishonors Him. Read thoughtfully the attested
truth concerning the childhood of the Christ: "And the child grew, and
waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was
upon him."[258]

In such simplicity is the normal, natural development of the Boy Jesus
made clear. He came among men to experience all the natural conditions
of mortality; He was born as truly a dependent, helpless babe as is any
other child; His infancy was in all common feature