In this dream, he is told to take his wife Mary and their newborn son and flee to Egypt, because Herod was determined to seek out Jesus and have him killed. In the forth scene, Herod finds out that the Magi deceived him by not informing him that they has found the baby Jesus, and instead flee the country. Herod then goes on to order the murder of all the boys of Bethlehem two years old and younger. The final scene accounts for Joseph's third dream in which he is informed that Herod is dead and it was time for him to bring his wife and child back to "the land of Israel"(Matthew 2:20). The family then returns to Israel and settles in Nazareth in Galilee, fulfilling the prophecy that the Messiah will "be called a Nazarene" (Matthew 2:23). The provision of quotations of Jewish prophecies and Jesus fulfilling them, is Matthew further attempting to convince the Jews of his community that Jesus is the one they were promised and have been waiting for to "worship".
All these events are modeled after the Jewish story from the Old Testament of Moses. Besides the mainly Jewish overtone, many details provided in the story are specific references to cherished beliefs of the Gentile people as well. An example of this is the story of the wise Gentile Balaam who predicts the man that will free the Jews from Egypt. By mirroring sacred stories and information of the people of his community, the author of the Matthean Gospel made the people feel that Jesus was not just the leader of the Christian people, but was the one and only Messiah sent by god to save his people from hardship and suffering (Brown: Messiah 112).
Residing in the introduction and five sections of the infancy narrative, are the important inclusions that the author of Matthew cleverly added to the general story of the birth of Jesus that was circulating during the time in which he wrote it. The introduction to the story is made up of Jesus" genealogy.