The Flight to Egypt (BNTC Commentary)
Mat 2:13-15
Mat_2:13. Now when they had retired, what happened? An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Get up, take the little child and his mother, escape to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you (to leave), for Herod is about to search for the little child, to destroy him.
Joseph and Mary must have been greatly comforted by the coming of the wise men and by what they did. It was a confirmation of all the wonderful things that had been spoken previously concerning the child: by an angel to Joseph (Mat_1:20-21), by the angel Gabriel to Mary (Luk_1:26-35), by Elizabeth to Mary (Luk_1:42), by the shepherds when they reported to Mary and Joseph what they had heard from the angels in a field near Bethlehem (Luk_2:8-19), and by Simeon addressing Mary and Joseph (Luk_2:25-33).
But Simeon had also spoken about a sword that was going to pierce Mary’s soul (Luk_2:34-35). This sword was beginning to pierce even now, for in a dream (see on the preceding verse, Mat_2:12) Joseph hears the voice of an angel telling him to get up at once and with child and mother to flee to Egypt; reason: a cruel action on Herod’s part was impending, namely, to search for the child with the intention of destroying him.
In this command to get up hurriedly and to escape to Egypt God’s protecting care, Herod’s cruelty, and another stage in the child’s humiliation—for earlier stages see Joh_1:14; 2Co_8:9; Luk_2:7; Luk_2:24—stand revealed. Why must the flight be to Egypt? Answer: a. Egypt was not too far away, that is, not nearly as far as Babylonia or Persia; b. many Jews were living here (Jer_43:7; Jer_44:1; Act_2:10), so that the possibility that the holy family could dwell for a while in the midst of acquaintances cannot be overlooked; c. Egypt was outside of Herod’s domain; and d. thus the prophecy of Hos_11:1 could reach its ultimate fulfilment (see below, on verse Mat_2:15).
The objection might be raised, “Why did not God use some other means of thwarting Herod’s gruesome plan? Why, for example, did he not simply kill Herod?” The answer is, “We have no right to question the ways of God’s sovereign providence” (see Rom_9:19-20; cf. Dan_4:35; then turn to Rom_8:28).
Mat_2:14. So he got up and in the night took with him the little child and his mother and set off for Egypt. Here again, as in Mat_1:24, Joseph “did as the angel of the Lord directed him.” To get up at night and with the child and his mother to leave for a foreign land, being ordered to stay there until the angel would make his reappearance, must have been difficult. But Joseph is a man who is used to obeying without asking questions. So, in the darkness he makes good his escape from Bethlehem and proceeds toward Egypt. Continued: Mat_2:15… where he remained until Herod’s death. The details of the arrival in Egypt, finding a place of lodging there, etc., are not reported. Nor do we know how long the holy family remained there. Of all the opinions that have been expressed with respect to this subject, that according to which the birth of Jesus occurred during the final year of Herod’s life, and the return from Egypt very shortly after the king’s death (“where he remained until Herod’s death”), would seem to be the best. Note that the report of the slaughter of the infants (verses Mat_2:16-18) which must have occurred very soon after the departure of the wise men, is followed immediately by the statement, “But when Herod was dead.”
There follows: that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, Out of Egypt I called my son. In a strikingly beautiful manner the prophecy of Hosea sets forth God’s marvelous love, a love that reclaims and restores. We are told that the prophet had married a certain woman by the name of Gomer. But his wife was not true to him. She became “a wife of whoredom.” She went after other lovers and conceived children in adultery. If the “woman” mentioned in Hosea’s third chapter is Gomer, which is a reasonable conjecture, then the rest of the story is as follows. Hosea, instead of completely rejecting his unfaithful wife, slips away to the haunt of shame, buys Gomer back for fifteen pieces of silver and a homer and a half of barley, and mercifully restores her to her former position of honor.
In the prophecy of Hosea the main ideas of the Hosea-Gomer story are applied to Israel. Just as Hosea had married Gomer, so Jehovah had become Israel’s Husband. Just as Gomer had become untrue to Hosea, so Israel had become untrue to Jehovah. Just as Gomer had been enslaved by her paramours, so the Israelites would be enslaved by those very nations in which it was putting its trust. Just as in his tender love Hosea restored Gomer, so Jehovah would restore Israel’s remnant.
To show the greatness of this love Jehovah, by the mouth of Hosea, reminds Israel that already when it was still groaning under the yoke of Egyptian bondage, he had set his love upon that nation: “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt” (Hos_11:1). Other passages in which this marvelous love is beautifully expressed are Deu_32:8-14, “For Jehovah’s portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land … He kept him as the apple of his eye”; and Isa_63:9: “In all their affliction he was afflicted …” Perhaps most relevant in connection with both Hos_11:1 and Mat_2:15 is Exo_4:22: “Israel is my son, my firstborn”; cf. also Eze_16:8: “I entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord Jehovah, and you became mine.”
When Matthew quotes Hos_11:1 and applies it to Christ, it is evident that he regards Israel as a type of the Messiah. Jesus Christ, too, is God’s Son. This is true in the deepest, trinitarian, sense of the term (cf. Joh_1:14). Just as Pharaoh, that cruel king, had tried to destroy Israel, so another king, namely Herod, at least equally cruel, was attempting to destroy Christ. But just as on the way to Egypt, during their stay in that house of bondage, and in their exodus Jehovah had protected his people, so God had protected his Son, not only on the way to Egypt and during his temporary residence there but also on the way back. The Messiah was, as it were, recapitulating the history of his people Israel.
Nevertheless, it is hardly enough to say that Israel was a type of Christ. The bond between the two is closer than this word “type” would imply. It was Israel out of which Christ, according to his human nature, would come forth. Had Israel been destroyed in Egypt, the Messianic prophecies (Gen_22:18; Gen_26:4; Gen_28:14; Gen_49:10) would not have been fulfilled. It is therefore very true, indeed, that when Israel was effectually called out of Egypt, Christ, too, was called out. Hence, Matthew has the full right to say, “that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’ ” Among striking passages in which Christ and his people are drawn very closely together is Act_22:7, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” See also Mat_10:26; Mar_13:13; Joh_15:18-21; 2Co_1:5, 2Co_1:10; Gal_6:17; Col_1:24; Heb_11:26; and Rev_3:12, Rev_3:21; Rev_4:4, cf. Rev_14:14; Rev_12:13; Rev_14:1; Rev_17:14; Rev_19:11, cf. Rev_19:14; Rev_20:4.
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