Commentary on the Gospels

Sojourn in Egypt
Matthew 2:13-23

Exposition

Verse 13. If Joseph and Mary wondered at the prophecy spoken by Simeon, what did they think after a cavalcade of dignitaries from faraway Persia came to their humble dwelling in Bethlehem and lavished upon them gifts of great value? They must have felt amazed, speechless, overwhelmed. Although they knew who the child was, it was one thing to believe in His identity by faith, and it was another thing to see strong verification of His identity in the tribute offered by the world’s leading magi. Yet when we look at how the lives of Joseph and Mary developed in later years, we see that they did not lose their humility. Joseph spent his life as an unpretentious carpenter. Mary never sought a following of her own, even after the church was founded. All tribute and worship were then directed solely at Jesus, none to her, the mother of Jesus. Both legal parents were just God’s chosen instruments to care for the child, and they never sought or claimed any higher standing.

Did the magi depart on the very night when God spoke to them in a dream or did they wait until the next day? After the visit of the magi, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and his message was a warning to flee without delay. The text's placement of Joseph's dream right after the departure of the magi suggests that both dreams came on the same night. Matthew’s wording, "And when they [the magi] were departed, behold," (v. 13) suggests immediacy. In other words, Joseph saw the angel right after departure of the visitors. First, the wise men were warned against cooperating with Herod and they left immediately, when the world was enveloped in darkness. As soon as they left, Joseph heard the angel's warning and he too arose, and after gathering his belongings and family, he fled away.

If the magi did not leave Bethlehem until the morning after their dream, news of their departure would probably have reached Herod within a few hours. Sightings of their caravan by his military forces in the area would have been quickly reported to commanders in Jerusalem and then to Herod, and his soldiers with murderous intent would have raced down the few miles to Bethlehem and reached it well before nightfall. After a few inquiries as to the house visited by the magi, they would have gone there and apprehended Joseph before he bedded down for another night's sleep. We therefore surmise that both the magi and the family of Joseph escaped from Bethlehem before dawn of the next day after their visit.

The Lord’s messenger to Joseph is not named, but is described as an angel of the Lord. The definite article, "the," which appears here and in verse 20, is missing from the Greek, which refers only to an angel of the Lord.¹ We may not therefore suppose that "angel of the Lord" was a title reserved for this angel alone. Perhaps he was Gabriel, the one chosen on several other occasions to carry important messages (Dan. 8:16; 9:21; Luke1:19, 26). But although he has often served as God's spokesman to the people of God, we cannot say for sure that he was the one who appeared to Joseph.

The angel’s message was kept brief to avoid any waste of time, but it contained several precise instructions. He said, "Arise," "take," and "flee." In other words, get up out of bed now, gather your little family, and go immediately, without delay. Then the angel told Joseph where to go and how long he should remain in that place of safety. He should head straight toward the southwest and find refuge in Egypt, the closest country outside Herod’s jurisdiction, and he should stay there until the angel now speaking to him brought further instruction. Finally, to put a fear in Joseph’s heart that would help him obey promptly, the angel explained why it was necessary to flee. Herod would soon make an attempt to kill the child. Everything in the warning was designed to impress upon Joseph the need for haste.

Verse 14. To his record of perfect obedience in the past, Joseph now added another sterling example. He did exactly as the angel instructed him. He arose, and within minutes he woke up his wife, gathered essential belongings, ushered Mary and baby out the door, and departed from Bethlehem along the road leading south toward the border. Right before leaving, he probably woke up any others asleep in the same house to say good-bye and express gratitude for whatever help they had provided.

Matthew's account of their escape raises a natural question. Perhaps Mary and Joseph had traveled to Bethlehem on foot. But were they still restricted to this slow means of travel? It seems likely that the Lord had by now provided them with at least a mount for Mary and the baby so that the family could move more quickly. Perhaps Joseph's recent work as a carpenter had already enabled him to purchase a donkey or mule. Or perhaps, since the magi's gifts had made Joseph a fairly wealthy man, he was able to purchase one or two mounts either during the evening before the dream or even now in the middle of the night. Or perhaps he was given mounts by the owner of his house. Whatever the case may be, it is likely that when he and Mary left Bethlehem, at least Mary was riding a donkey or mule, maybe even a horse. Since they needed to move quickly, it is possible that God had in some fashion also furnished a mount for Joseph. Indeed, even a third mount would have been very useful. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to carry the gifts they had just received.

They needed these gifts to finance their sojourn in Egypt. For the next several months, enough money would be required to buy food and lodging for themselves, as well as provender for the animals. When we consider how difficult it would have been for a nearly penniless young couple to flee across the border to another country and there maintain a decent way of life, we recognize that the magi's gifts were God’s provision for their needs during their coming time of exile. This new wealth made it feasible for Joseph and Mary to escape Herod’s wrath and find safety in Egypt.

How was Joseph able to protect this wealth as he and his family rushed away from Judea? As we observed before, the gifts they had received were likely not so many and so large that he could not pack them onto a donkey. Still, from a human standpoint, keeping himself and his family completely safe while they moved to Egypt, found a place to stay, and then remained in hiding for at least several months was close to impossible. The ancient Middle East was a dangerous world. Remember in the Parable of the Good Samaritan what happened to the man walking down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho? To assure safety, the custom of Jews was to travel in a large group of family and friends. But here was God's Son journeying as a babe through a dangerous world with no human protection apart from a young mom and dad. However, the little family was surely not alone. Surely they were accompanied by perhaps the strongest angelic guard ever assembled near the face of this planet.

The account says that Joseph took his family "by night" and withdrew into Egypt. Although the wording leaves no doubt that they left at night, we should not take it to mean that the whole journey was completed before daybreak. The fugitives could not have reached the border so soon even if they rode on horseback, for Egypt was about 175 miles away. Yet they could not have gone fast enough to outpace any pursuing soldiers. It is therefore very likely that before setting out, Joseph did not tell anyone where he was going. All inquiries by Herod's agents therefore failed to find out where the child was.

How long did it take the little family to reach their destination? Along major Roman roads in the first century, the normal distance of one day’s travel by carriage was twenty to twenty-five miles.² Someone using a horse-drawn chariot could go somewhat farther, while a rider a horse could go at least fifty miles.³ A realistic estimate of daily progress for a strong man tramping on foot along ancient roads is at least fifteen, perhaps as much as twenty, miles per day.⁴ It is therefore impossible to estimate the speed of Mary and Joseph because we lack necessary information, especially whether they had any mounts, and if they did, how many. Yet when we consider their youth and their need to escape from life-threatening danger, we may reasonably suppose that they did not fail to cover at least fifteen miles per day. At that pace on every day of the week except the Sabbath, when they rested, they must have entered Egypt after about two weeks of travel.

There in Egypt were many Jews living throughout the land, although most were concentrated in Alexandria, a large city about 140 miles further west.⁵ An estimate dating from about AD 40 set the Jewish population of Egypt at more than one million.⁶ It was therefore easy for Joseph and Mary to find a new home where their neighbors were fellow countrymen. As a result, they blended in and raised little curiosity as to why they had come. Everyone would have assumed that he wanted to pursue his trade in a place where it was more profitable.

Verse 15. In obedience to the angel’s instructions, Joseph and Mary stayed in Egypt until after Herod’s death. If, as we argued once before, Jesus was born on January 6th in 5 BC, the year before Herod died, the refugees probably remained in exile for a substantial amount of time, but not for much more than a year. In fact, their stay might have been considerably shorter if the magi came toward the end of 5 BC, rather than shortly after Jesus' dedication at the Temple.

Every important aspect of Jesus’ life and ministry was anticipated by prophecy, including the short period during His infancy when He dwelt outside the land of the Jews. Matthew quotes the prophecy fulfilled by Jesus’ sojourn in Egypt. It is Hosea 11:1, which many readers have difficulty connecting with the life of Jesus. But notice the concluding statement of the previous verse, Hosea 10:15. It fits Christ perfectly. He was the king of Israel. Also, He was cut off—that is, killed. Moreover, He was cut off "in a morning." The thought here is that Christ is the Light of the world (John 8:12), and His coming would be like the dawn, but in that same morning He would die. This verse in combination with the next summarizes God's program for Israel. Motivated by love for His chosen people, He would put His Son in danger. Specifically, He would bring Him out of a place of safety, in Egypt, to a place where men had conspired to kill Him and where eventually they would succeed. Elsewhere in Hosea, we learn God’s purpose in all this. Hosea 6:2–3, an amazing passage foretelling Jesus' resurrection, says that His going forth is as certain as the morning. It means that just as Christ must come and die, He must also rise again. When would He rise? On the third day. Then Hosea 13:14 reveals that through the Son’s victory over death, He would obtain life for many. The prophecies of Hosea are especially obscure, but the only way to lift them out of obscurity is to give them a Messianic interpretation.

If Hosea 6:2–3 is referring to Christ's resurrection, why does it speak of "us" being raised. The meaning is that after Christ rises from the dead, Hosea and certain other Old Testament saints would rise from the dead as well. On Easter Sunday, this prophecy was fulfilled. Many dead saints came out of their graves in risen bodies and walked about Jerusalem (Matt. 27:52–53). Probably soon afterward they ascended to heaven. Yet the day of Jesus' resurrection was also a day of victory for Old Testament saints who at that time did not rise bodily from the dead. Because their sins were now covered by Christ's work on the cross, they were qualified to live in God's presence. Their souls were therefore lifted out of Hades within the earth—more specifically, out of the portion of Hades that Christ called Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22)—and transported to a heavenly place of rest.

Verse 16. After the magi left the court, Herod waited impatiently for them to return. Since Bethlehem was only a few miles away, he knew that the magi could easily reach it on the same day as their departure from Jerusalem and come back the next day. However, sometime during the next day, Herod heard that the magi had departed from Bethlehem and were taking a route away from Jerusalem. His reaction was to become furious. He felt that the magi had "mocked" him. In context, the more precise meaning of the Greek word used here is "deceived" or "tricked."⁷ When he had asked the magi to come back and tell him where to find the Christ child so he could go and worship him also, they had agreed to his request. But instead of providing Herod with the information he wanted, they fled out of his domain. They had not kept their word. Had they deceived him? No, he had deceived them. He had extracted their promise only by pretending that he wanted to worship the child. But were the wise men truly at fault for breaking their word? No, we are never required to keep a promise that will enable someone to do wrong.

When Herod learned that the magi had escaped from his realm, he overflowed with rage, for he was not only "wroth," but "exceeding wroth," and his rage was wholly denied the satisfaction he desired. The men who deceived him were gone, and he could not wreak vengeance upon them. Yet the child Himself still lay unprotected in the little village nearby. Therefore, he decided to eliminate this child by a swift stroke of ruthless violence, calculated to deny his victim any chance of survival.

What did Herod decide to do? He had no reason to suspect that the little family had left town the night before. Yet he was denied the information that his soldiers needed to go the village and directly seize the child visited by the magi. Also, he doubted that anyone in Bethlehem would cooperate with his soldiers by telling them who the child was. So, he made a decision that seemed like the most rational way of assuring the death of this little pretender to the throne of Israel. In his heavy-handed brutality, he simply butchered all the children in the area.

The order he issued to his men was to slay all "children" under three years of age in Bethlehem and in the surrounding countryside. A reader might think that the soldiers killed little girls as well as little boys, but the inflection of the Greek word "children" is masculine, thereby indicating that boys were the only victims.⁸ Yet the massacre was still very broad in scope. Why? Herod was taking no chances. How many died was of no concern to him. He only wanted to be sure that he extinguished the threat to his dynasty.

The age limit was determined by the information given him by the magi. He had "diligently" inquired when the star appeared (Matt. 2:7). The more precise meaning of the word translated "diligently" is "accurately."⁹ Matthew's choice of this word leaves no doubt that the magi gave Herod a clear and correct answer to his question. Although he learned when the star appeared, he still did not know exactly what event its appearance signified. Did it mark the child's conception, His birth, or something else? Since people normally recognize and name a new child when his birth brings him into the world as a distinct person, Herod probably assumed that the star announced the child's birth. Since Herod condemned all babies near Bethlehem who were "two years old and under"—that is, who were under three years of age—many readers of Matthew's account have inferred from this that two to three years had gone by since the star appeared. Many have gone further and inferred that two to three years was the actual age of Jesus when the magi came to Herod. But this reasoning rests on faulty assumptions. We must remember what a power hungry maniac Herod was. It mattered nothing to him whether he killed all boys under two months or under two years or under twelve years. Also, we must remember that the only way his soldiers could determine a child's age was by appearance. There were no written documents or trustworthy informants. So, to be on the safe side, Herod picked an upper limit on age that would be sure to include the child he was seeking.

When did the star actually appear? It had probably appeared about one year ago, perhaps not at Jesus' birth but at His conception, which was a huge miracle uniting His divine nature with human flesh; in other words, achieving His Incarnation. From Herod's perspective, the date of its appearance implied that the child was close to a year old. But he probably had little confidence that his brutal thugs could be trusted not to mistake a child of that age for a child who was two years old. After all, his soldiers probably had few encounters with babies. The order that he issued his soldiers probably reflects how little he trusted them to recognize the targeted child.

Once Herod learned that the wise men were headed out of the country, he probably responded quickly. From the time he issued his orders until the time his soldiers marched into Bethlehem, which was only a few miles away, would have been no more than two hours. Even if Joseph had fled only the night before, he and his family were by now a long way down the road to Egypt and out of danger. But the unsuspecting villagers, though they were completely innocent of any treason, soon realized with horror that the soldiers had been sent to torment them with senseless cruelty. Immediately Herod's men set out to find all babies, and when they found a victim they wrenched him from his mother and dashed out his brains against the nearest rock. Professional soldiers did not waste their swords on mere babies. How many died? According to the best judgment of scholars today, Bethlehem had a population of about three hundred.¹⁰ The number of baby boys there and in the environs was probably no more than ten or twenty. Few, as atrocities go, but each was a beloved child who deserved his full span of years in this world.

Matthew’s account of the slaughter in Bethlehem is fully consistent with other accounts of Herod’s last days. Toward the end he was desperately sick and wildly paranoid. Among his last orders was the execution of his own son, whom he suspected of treason.¹¹ At about the same time, he commanded all the leading men of the Jews to meet with him. Those who came, a large number, were detained at a stadium for chariot races, and Herod decreed that immediately upon his death, they should be slain with darts. Why? He wanted to assure that when he died, the nation would mourn rather than rejoice. As it turned out, his directive was not obeyed.¹²

Josephus, the only extrabiblical source for the history of Herod’s reign, says nothing about the massacre in Bethlehem, but it was barely a ripple in the general sea of violence. We must remember that the Romans regularly held public spectacles featuring combat between men or between men and animals that might take dozens or even hundreds of lives in a single event. The barbarity of the Romans boggles the mind.

Verses 17-18. In Middle Eastern cultures, the customary expression of grief is loud weeping and wailing. You can imagine that as the soldiers went about their bloody business in Bethlehem, there was first one wailing voice, then another, then another, until the whole town was drenched with the cries and sobs of grief-stricken mothers and sisters and grandmothers. But not only them. The custom among ancient Jews when someone died was for the whole family as well as friends to express their grief by joining together in loud wailing (Mark 5:38–40).¹³ After the slaughter in Bethlehem, no doubt the hundreds of people living there raised their voices in piercing sounds of lamentation. The crying was so terrible and so distressing, even to God Himself, that He has memorialized the event in two ways. First, in Matthew He gives us the historical account so that Christian people through the ages might feel compassion for the mothers in Bethlehem. Second, He prophesied the event in the Old Testament so that saints in the centuries before Christ might anticipate and share the mothers’ grief.

The event is foreseen in Jeremiah 31:15, which Matthew quotes. A few facts remove obscurity from the prophet’s words. Ramah means "high place."¹⁴ The reference is probably to the highest hill between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. The ancient name for the flat top of this hill was Ramat Rahel (literally, "high place of Rachel").¹⁵ The prophet is saying that the mourning in Bethlehem would be so intense that it would be heard on high ground about two or three miles away. He identifies the source of the sound as Rachel weeping for her children. Why Rachel? Bethlehem was well known as the site of Rachel’s tomb.¹⁶ Rachel had died in childbirth there as her family was journeying through the land (Gen. 35:16-20). As Jacob’s favorite wife, she was one of the mothers of the nation of Israel, which was named after their forefather Jacob, also called Israel. In Jeremiah’s prophecy, she poetically represents all the women of Bethlehem. Their grief recalled Rachel’s own grief as she lay dying while giving birth to Benjamin.

Verses 19-20. While Joseph and his little family resided in Egypt, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. There can be no doubt that it was the same angel who spoke to him earlier, on the night of their flight from Bethlehem, because then he told Joseph to remain in exile until "I bring thee word" (v. 13)—that is, until he himself returned with further instructions. Now, in keeping with his promise, he notified Joseph that it was time to leave Egypt. He assured the anxious father that it was safe to go back because "they are dead which sought the young child’s life."

It is interesting that the angel referred to "they," numbering the villains as plural, not singular. But was not the massacre in Bethlehem the work of a single deranged tyrant, Herod? From the angel’s choice of words, we surmise that at least one other besides Herod was determined to eradicate the royal baby whose birth was announced by a star. Whoever this plotter was, he too was dead. Perhaps the angel was referring to Herod’s oldest son Antipater, whose death preceded Herod’s by only five days.¹⁷ He was executed for conspiring to kill his father, but before he was discovered and condemned some months earlier, he was heir apparent to the throne.¹⁸ Perhaps he had already lost favor or was already in prison when the magi visited, but when he heard about their quest, he may have encouraged secret allies to assist in finding and eliminating the child. Josephus tells us that even until his execution he imagined that when Herod died, he would be able to seize the kingdom.¹⁹

Therefore, while Herod and Antipater were alive, it was dangerous for Joseph to return from Egypt. Many around Bethlehem and probably also in Jerusalem had heard the shepherds tell about the newborn Messiah, and perhaps many who received this information had also heard about the slaughter in Bethlehem and recognized it as Herod’s attempt to kill the baby. Perhaps news of these events reached some Jews in other parts of the country and led them to the same conclusion. It is even possible that there was a scattering of people who learned through the grapevine who the child was. Imagine then what might have happened if Joseph came back too soon. An opportunist might have recognized the family and rushed to the king, hoping to gain a reward for information as to the child’s whereabouts.

Verses 21-22. After Herod died, other members of his family inherited portions of his kingdom. In his will, the tyrant had bequeathed the honor of kingship and all the prize territory including Judea to his son Archelaus, but he had carved out domains for others also. His sons Antipas and Philip became tetrarchs over outlying territories, while his sister Salome became ruler of three cities.²⁰

When Joseph reentered the land of Israel, he learned that Archelaus was now ruler over Judea. His prior ignorance as to Herod's successor suggests that the angel brought him back immediately after Herod’s death, before Archelaus assumed power. As soon as Joseph discovered the political situation, he halted. He refrained from going further into Judea until he received further guidance. Why? He was afraid of Archelaus. No doubt he was afraid of him just because he was another Herod. The guidance God then provided confirmed his fears. In a dream God warned him to stay out of Judea. Joseph therefore turned aside and took his family to Galilee.

Matthew's account suggests that the route Joseph followed during his return was not the same as his earlier route of escape. He did not travel directly back toward Bethlehem. His decision to stay away from it reinforces our suspicion that the house he occupied there was not his property. The alternative route that he chose kept him on the fringes of Judea and allowed him to turn aside into Galilee. The most likely scenario is that he came up from Egypt along the coastal road through Gaza. This road linking Egypt and Syria was one of the major avenues in the Middle East.²¹ Before reaching Caesarea, it converged with another major avenue, the road coming northwest from Jerusalem and carrying most of the traffic between Jerusalem and the coast.²² It is likely that when Joseph reached the intersection, he turned right toward Jerusalem. Then, not long afterward, he was able to veer left onto a lesser road leading to Galilee.

Once again, Joseph distinguished himself as a man who obeyed God, and once again, as on the night after the magi departed, his obedience undoubtedly saved the child’s life. Just after Archelaus became ruler, some rabble-rousers stirred up the people to demand immediate satisfaction of certain grievances against the deceased Herod. They especially wanted punishment for some of Herod’s henchmen. When the new ruler’s representatives came to announce that such matters could not be addressed until a later time, the Jewish mob refused to listen and threatened them. The unrest was quickly rising to a state of civil war, so when the rebels together with the Jewish masses gathered in the Temple at the Feast of Passover, Archelaus saw an opportunity to crush this surge of opposition. He mustered his whole army and had them storm the Temple, where they overcame all opposition by killing about 3000 people, including both rebels and bystanders.²³

It seems likely that Satan had fomented this rebellion in the hopes of catching and destroying the Christ child. He knew that Joseph was coming back from Egypt. He knew also that normally he would have hastened to participate in Passover festivities at Jerusalem. The law of Moses made attendance at these festivities compulsory for every Jewish male (Deut. 16:16). Satan therefore engineered events so that festivities during the first year of Archelaus would be interrupted by a massacre within the Temple compound that would take many innocent lives. Yet the Christ child was not among the victims, as Satan hoped He would be, because Joseph, in obedience to divine guidance, did not attend these festivities. In staying away, he did not break the law, for, as Jesus taught, saving a life always takes precedence over observance of mere ceremony. Jesus taught that although the law forbade work on the Sabbath, no reasonable person would take it to mean that a sheep fallen into a pit on the Sabbath should be left there helpless (Matt. 12:11-12).

Verse 23. The place where Joseph chose to settle with his family was Nazareth, the hometown of Mary (Luke 1:26) and probably Joseph as well.

This verse presents a real conundrum. All commentators look upon it as having a highly uncertain meaning. The difficulty is that the words here attributed to prophecy occur nowhere in the Old Testament. Nowhere do we find the statement, "He shall be called a Nazarene." But notice that Matthew refrains from assigning the prophecy to a single source. He says, "which was spoken by the prophets [plural]." Therefore, what he is quoting is not the exact words of a single prophet, but a general idea expressed by several prophets. What idea is he referring to? The name Nazareth appears to come from the Aramaic word nasrat, which means "sprout" or "offshoot."²⁴ Indeed, not one prophet but several used the word "Branch" as a name for the coming Messiah (Zech. 3:8; Jer. 33:15). The first to use this name was Isaiah, who identifies the Messiah as a branch from the root of Jesse (Isa. 11:1). He means that the Messiah would emerge from the house of David like a new shoot from a stump long dead and apparently incapable of life. His word for branch is netser, very likely the Hebrew equivalent of the Aramaic word at the basis of the name Nazareth.²⁵ So, it is evident that in Matthew’s mind, the words "Nazarene" and "branch" have essentially the same meaning. The name that Jesus derived from His home town was therefore a fulfillment of all the prophecies that called Him the Branch.

Application

The story of Joseph and Mary escaping to Egypt with their little baby offers great comfort to all Christians who feel as if they are drowning in a sea of danger. Just contemplate how great the danger was that threatened the holy family. They became special targets of an insanely cruel king with blood-stained hands who was one of the most murderous villains who ever sat on a throne. What from their own friends and resources could they bring to their defense? Virtually nothing. Humanly speaking, they were helpless. They were just two young people, probably teenagers, stranded away from home with meager possessions. In the village where they were staying, they were newcomers without close ties to their neighbors. Like all people in the ancient world, they could not seek help from distant family or friends by contacting them over cell phones or the internet. They could not obtain any guns or other truly effective weapons. They could not use any high-speed travel by motor vehicles or planes to get away. They would have faced certain doom except for one fact in their favor. They were beloved by God, because their baby was God's Son. Therefore, they were sheltered by every device that an infinitely powerful God thought necessary for their protection. He brought them gifts from the wise men. He used dreams to give them vital instruction. He assigned angelic forces to keep them safe in their travels. Never did they lack anything they needed.

So it is with us. If we are God's children, we never have reason to be afraid. We too live in a dangerous world, a world that is rapidly sinking into deeper contempt for divine standards of righteousness. And as it is ever seething with greater resentment of God, it is also becoming more fanatical in its hatred of God's people. In many places around the globe, Christians are becoming targets of persecution. Even in our nation, the woke movement is pushing government to adopt policies that promote sinful lifestyles and erase our Christian heritage. How should we look on these shameful developments? With anxiety, with fear? No, with trust in the Lord that He will someday overrule all the sinful madness that is taking possession of modern society. He may exempt us from persecution either by surrounding us with protection as we continue to serve Him in this world or by rapturing us to a better world. But even if He allows us to come under persecution, it will be for a short season, and however great our suffering may be, afterward will come much greater joy when we pass into our heavenly homes. So let us put full confidence in the same God who delivered Mary and Joseph from the worst devices of evil men.