Matthew 2:13

We have here Christ's flight into Egypt to avoid the cruelty of Herod, and this was the effect of the wise men's enquiry after him; for, before that, the obscurity he lay in was his protection. It was but little respect (compared with what should have been) that was paid to Christ in his infancy: yet even that, instead of honouring him among his people, did but expose him.

Now here observe, 1. The command given to Joseph concerning it, Mat 2:13. Joseph knew neither the danger the child was in, nor how to escape it; but God by an angel, tells him both in a dream, as before he directed him in like manner what to do, Mat 1:20. Joseph, before his alliance to Christ, had not been wont to converse with angels as now. Note, those that are spiritually related to Christ by faith have that communion and correspondence with Heaven which before they were strangers to.

1. Joseph is here told what their danger was: Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. Note, God is acquainted with all the cruel projects and purposes of the enemies of his church. I know thy rage against me, saith God to Sennacherib, Isa 37:28. How early was the blessed Jesus involved in trouble! Usually, even those whose riper years are attended with toils and perils have a peaceable and quiet infancy; but it was not so with the blessed Jesus: his life and sufferings began together; he was born a man striven with, as Jeremiah was (Jer 15:10), who was sanctified from the womb, Jer 1:5. Both Christ the head, and the church his body, agree in saying, Many a time have they afflicted me, from my youth up. Pharaoh's cruelty fastens upon the Hebrews' children, and a great red dragon stands ready to devour the man-child as soon as it should be born, Rev 12:4.

2. He is directed what to do, to escape the danger; Take the young child, and flee into Egypt. Thus early must Christ give an example to his own rule (Mat 10:23): When they persecute you in one city, flee to another. He that came to die for us, when his hour was not yet come, fled for his own safety. Self-preservation, being a branch of the law of nature, is eminently a part of the law of God. Flee; but why into Egypt? Egypt was infamous for idolatry, tyranny, and enmity to the people of God; it had been a house of bondage to Israel, and particularly cruel to the infants of Israel; in Egypt, as much as in Ramah, Rachel had been weeping for her children; yet that is appointed to be a place of refuge to the hold child Jesus. Note, God, when he pleases, can make the worst of places serve the best of purposes; for the earth is the Lord's, he makes what use he pleases of it: sometimes the earth helps the woman Rev 12:16. God, who made Moab a shelter to his outcasts, makes Egypt a refuge for his Son. This may be considered,

(1.) As a trial of faith of Joseph and Mary. They might be tempted to think, "If this child be the Son of God, as we are told he is, has he no other way to secure himself from a man that is a worm, than by such a mean and inglorious retreat as this? Cannot he summon legions of angels to be his life-guard, or cherubim with flaming swords to keep this tree of life? Cannot he strike Herod dead, or wither the hand that is stretched out against him, and so save us the trouble of this remove?" They had been lately told that he should be the glory of his people Israel; and is the land of Israel so soon become too hot for him? But we find not that they made any such objections; their faith, being tried, was found firm, they believe this is the Son of God, though they see no miracle wrought for his preservation; but they are put to the use of ordinary means. Joseph had great honour put upon him in being the husband of the blessed virgin; but that honour has trouble attending it, as all honours have in this world; Joseph must take the young child, and carry him into Egypt; and now it appeared how well God had provided for the young child and his mother, in appointing Joseph to stand in so near a relation to them; now the gold which the wise men brought would stand them in stead to bear their charges. God foresees his people's distresses, and provides against them beforehand. God intimates the continuance of his care and guidance, when he saith, Be thou there until I bring thee word, so that he must expect to hear from God again, and not stir without fresh orders. Thus God will keep his people still in a dependence upon him.

(2.) As an instance of the humiliation of our Lord Jesus. As there was no room for him in the inn in Bethlehem, so there was no quiet room for him in the land of Judea. Thus was he banished from the earthly Canaan, that we, who for sin were banished from the heavenly Canaan, might not be for ever expelled. If we and our infants be at any time in straits, let us remember the straits Christ in his infancy was brought into, and be reconciled to them.

(3.) As a token of God's displeasure against the Jews, who took so little notice of him; justly does he leave those who have slighted him. We have also here an earnest of his favour to the Gentiles, to whom the apostles were to bring the gospel when the Jews rejected it. If Egypt entertain Christ when he is forced out of Judea, it will not be long ere it be said, Blessed be Egypt my people, Isa 19:25.

II. Joseph's obedience to this command, Mat 2:14. The journey would be inconvenient and perilous both to the young child and to his mother; they were but poorly provided for it, and were likely to meet with cold entertainment in Egypt: yet Joseph was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, made no objection, nor was dilatory in his disobedience. As soon as he had received his orders, he immediately arose, and went away by night, the same night, as it should seem, that he received the orders. Note, Those that would make sure work of their obedience must make quick work of it. Now Joseph went out, as his father Abraham did, with an implicit dependence upon God, not knowing whither he went, Heb 11:8. Joseph and his wife, having little, had little to care of in this remove. An abundance encumbers a necessary flight. If rich people have the advantage of the poor while they possess what they have, the poor have the advantage of the rich when they are called to part with it.

Joseph took the young child and his mother. Some observe, that the young child is put first, as the principal person, and Mary is called, not the wife of Joseph, but, which was her great dignity, the mother of the young child. This was not the first Joseph that was driven from Canaan to Egypt for a shelter from the anger of his brethren; this Joseph ought to be welcome there for the sake of that.

If we may credit tradition, at their entrance into Egypt, happening to go into a temple, all the images of their gods were overthrown by an invisible power, and fell, like Dagon before the ark, according to that prophecy, The Lord shall come into Egypt, and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, Isa 19:1. They continued in Egypt till the death of Herod, which, some think, was seven years, others think, not so many months. There they were at a distance from the temple and the service of it, and in the midst of idolaters; but God sent them thither, and will have mercy, and not sacrifice. Though they were far from the temple of the Lord, they had with them the Lord of the temple. A forced absence from God's ordinances, and a forced presence with wicked people, may be the lot, are not the sin, yet cannot but be the grief, of good people.

III. The fulfilling of the scripture in a this - that scripture (Hos 11:1), Out of Egypt have I called my son. Of all the evangelists, Matthew takes most notice of the fulfilling of the scripture in what concerned Christ, because his gospel was first published among the Jews, with whom that would add much strength and lustre to it. Now this word of the prophet undoubtedly referred to the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, in which God owned them for his son, his first-born (Exo 4:22); but it is here applied, by way of analogy, to Christ, the Head of the church. Note, The scripture has many accomplishments, so full and copious is it, and so well ordered in all things. God is every day fulfilling the scripture. Scripture is not of private interpretation: we must give it its full latitude. "When Israel was a child, then I loved him; and, though I loved him, I suffered him to be a great while in Egypt; but, because I loved him, in due time I called him out of Egypt." They that read this must, in their thoughts, not only look back, but look forward; that which has been shall be again (Ecc 1:9); and the manner of expression intimates this; for it is not said, I called him, but I called my son, out of Egypt. Note, It is no new thing for God's sons to be in Egypt, in a strange land, in a house of bondage; but they shall be fetched out. They may be hid in Egypt, but they shall not be left there. All the elect of God, being by nature children of wrath, are born in a spiritual Egypt, and in conversion are effectually called out. It might be objected against Christ that he had been in Egypt. Must the Sun of righteousness arise out of that land of darkness! But this shows that to be no strange thing; Israel was brought out of Egypt, to be advanced to the highest honours; and this is but doing the same thing.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT--THE MASSACRE AT BETHLEHEM--THE RETURN OF JOSEPH AND MARY WITH THE BABE, AFTER HEROD'S DEATH, AND THEIR SETTLEMENT AT NAZARETH. ( = Luk 2:39). (Mat 2:13-23)

And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother--Observe this form of expression, repeated in Mat 2:14 --another indirect hint that Joseph was no more than the Child's guardian. Indeed, personally considered, Joseph has no spiritual significance, and very little place at all, in the Gospel history.

and flee into Egypt--which, being near, as ALFORD says, and a Roman province independent of Herod, and much inhabited by Jews, was an easy and convenient refuge. Ah! blessed Saviour, on what a checkered career hast Thou entered here below! At Thy birth there was no room for Thee in the inn; and now all Judea is too hot for Thee. How soon has the sword begun to pierce through the Virgin's soul (Luk 2:35)! How early does she taste the reception which this mysterious Child of hers is to meet with in the world! And whither is He sent? To "the house of bondage?" Well, it once was that. But Egypt was a house of refuge before it was a house of bondage, and now it has but returned to its first use.

and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him--Herod's murderous purpose was formed before the Magi had reached Bethlehem.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat_2:13

Flee into Egypt.

The duty of parents to their children

I. Childhood is exposed to imminent dangers. Herod sought the young childs life. Evil is never so active or persistent as when it seeks the ruin of the young.

II. On what conditions the safety of childhood depends.

1. The first of these is parental love. See the love and fidelity of Joseph and Mary. Nothing more natural than that parental love should seek at any cost the safety of a child.

2. Parental love wisely directed. The parents of Jesus did not trust to their own wisdom.

3. The Divine direction given to parents respecting their children is to be followed in obedience and faith. Joseph and Mary obeyed the will of God. (Monday Club Sermons.)

The truth of God and the trials of its friends

I. The truth of God.

1. Earths opposition to the truth.

2. Heavens interest in the truth.

3. Mans guardianship of the truth.

II. The trial of its friends. (Dr. Thomas.)

Obedience and Divine guidance

I. That God can use not only the extraordinary, but even the trivial events of life in the rescue and guidance of his people. In a dream.

1. He puts Joseph on his guard.

2. He keeps His eye on Herod.

3. He points out a place of safety.

II. That at all times, especially in peril and perplexity, it is the duty and privilege of Gods children to obey. Obedience may call for-

1. Prompt action, Flee.

2. It may call for sacrifice of friends and home-Into Egypt.

3. It sometimes calls for patient waiting-Be thou there.

4. It always brings Gods further direction and blessing-I bring thee word. (T. Kelly)

The flight into Egypt

1. That when God brings forth good, evil is sure to oppose.

2. God permits wicked and lawless tyrants to be supreme for a time.

3. That cross-handed providences often bring our greatest mercies.

4. That while self is always in a hurry to display itself, real greatness is content to wait its time. (W. P. Balfern.)

The flight into Egypt

I. The flight into Egypt.

II. The massacre of the infant children at Bethlehem. Herod may be considered as an example of the infatuating influence of sin and its power to stultify the most obvious conclusions of a rational intelligence. Herod never thought of our Lord as a human opponent, but as the Messiah. He did not disbelieve the star or the prophecies interpreted by the priests and scribes. He was fighting against God; He thought the prophecies might fail at the last.

III. The recall of the holy family. Egypt has often been the asylum of persecuted goodness; Abraham, Joseph, Jacob. (D. Moore, M. A.)

God takes care of little children

I remember reading a story of a baby-a wee child-that travelled by railroad. Away whirled the coach very fast; but it soon knocked against something, and all were thrown cut-men, women, mothers and babes. Some were pitched here, some there; heads were broken, hands cut off. In the midst of the confusion, a voice was heard crying-Where is my baby? Oh l my dear baby! I cannot find him anywhere. Did nobody see my sweet baby? What shall I do? One man lost his leg; another his hand; another his eye; but the mother did not mind them, but was going about, wringing her hands, and crying-Where is my baby? After much search for it, and for a great while in vain, at length a man went over to a place where was a bandbox. He took up the bandbox, and what do you think he found under it? The baby, fast asleep! Now, if God takes care of common babies, surely He would take care of His own child, Jesus. (J. Gregg.)

The efforts of a mother for the safety of her child

A slave-mother who had been faithful under the very worst usage remained so until told that her child was to be severed from her and sold in New Orleans. It was midwinter, yet at midnight she started for the Ohio, determined to live and, if need be, die with her child. As she reached the bank no boat was near, and along the water masses of broken ice drifted. Trusting to heaven, she put her feet on the treacherous element, and, with it bending and breaking beneath her, she boldly pushed on from cake to cake until she safely landed on the Ohio shore. Five minutes sooner, and she must have perished; two minutes later, and she would have met with a watery grave, for, before she had proceeded twenty steps, the ice behind her on the Kentucky side had broken, and was scattered ere she reached the river. Thank God, you and your child are safe! exclaimed the hard-hearted master, rejoicing that he had escaped the responsibility of their death. Brave woman, said a Kentuckian, who had witnessed her escape, you have won your freedom, and you shall have it. The mother and child were kept together in liberty and love, and in a humble but happy home.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 2:13. And when they were departed — Probably very soon after; for Bethlehem being only about two hours’ journey from Jerusalem, no doubt Herod would have speedy intelligence of the motions of the wise men: the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, take the young child, &c. — How watchful was the providence of God over this holy child and his righteous parents: while Joseph and Mary slept secure, enriched by the presents of the wise men, God watches for their safety, and makes them acquainted with the danger which hung over them. They are commanded to flee into Egypt, which was situated so near to Bethlehem, that they could easily arrive there in a few days. And the same divine providence also superintends and preserves all that have an eye thereto, and confide therein, and are God’s true people. Only they must obey his voice, and use the means he has appointed for their preservation. Even Jesus, the only begotten and beloved Son of the Father is not preserved without being taken into a foreign country. The command given by the angel to Joseph and Mary, to flee into Egypt, shows, that this vision happened before their return to Nazareth. For otherwise, it is much more probable they would have been ordered to flee into Syria, which was much nearer to Nazareth than Egypt; to which they could not have passed from thence without going through the very heart of Herod’s dominions, unless they had taken a very large circuit with great expense and danger. For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him — Being alarmed by the extraordinary circumstances which had lately taken place, and fearing lest this child should, in time, be a formidable rival to his family. For when the wise men had come so far to pay their homage to a new-born prince, the several reports of what had lately happened would, upon this occasion, be revived; and the behaviour of two such celebrated persons as Simeon and Anna, on the presentation of Christ in the temple, which might at first be only taken notice of by a few pious persons, would, probably, be now reported to Herod, and must add to the alarm which the inquiry of the sages gave him. Respecting Egypt, to which the holy family was commanded to flee, we may here observe, that after the death of Antony and Cleopatra it became a Roman province, and many Jews fixed their abode there, who, speaking the Greek language, made use of the Greek version of the Scriptures, and had even a temple there, which Onias had built them. These circumstances, doubtless, would make the abode of Joseph and Mary in that country more comfortable to them than it otherwise would have been; yet it is natural to suppose, that this information and command from the angel would be a great trial of their faith. To say nothing of the concern it must give them to learn that the life of this divine child was threatened by so crafty, powerful, and bloody a prince as Herod. Joseph was but a carpenter, and therefore, we may suppose, in low circumstances; and Egypt was a strange land, and a land where, it is likely, he had few, if any, acquaintances, and no visible way of subsistence. But, no doubt, he was able to trust that God whose beloved Son was given him in charge, and who had appeared in so signal and manifest a manner for the redemption of his people, and for the child’s protection.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

B. Mat_2:13-23 (Luk_2:40-52)

(The Gospel for the Sunday after New Year or Day of Circumcision)

13And when they were departed, behold, the [an] angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, 15And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. 16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of [by] the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children4 that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof,5 from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy6 the prophet, saying, 18In Rama was there a voice heard,7 lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. 19But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which [who] sought the young child’s life. 21And he arose, and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus did reign [reigned] in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, [and] being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: 23And 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.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_2:13. Behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth.—Though the wise men had withdrawn from the influence of Herod, the child was still in danger. It may be presumed that the wise men and the child’s parents had conversed together about Herod, and that the magi had begun to entertain strong suspicions of his intentions. Probably Joseph and Mary were to some extent relieved when the wise men left the country without returning to Herod. Still, the anxious vigilance of Joseph continued unabated; and it may be regarded as an evidence of his devotedness, that he again received instruction and direction by a vision in a dream. He did not hesitate for a moment, but immediately fled with the child and its mother.

Mat_2:14-15. Egypt was the only possible place of refuge. It was situated near the southern frontier of Judæa. Following this direction, the fugitives at once withdrew to a distance from Jerusalem. Frequented roads led through the desert into Egypt. There they would find a large and more liberal Jewish community under the protection of a civilized government. The supposition that this account was invented for the purpose of fulfilling the passage in Hos_11:1 (which, in the text, is quoted in accordance with the original Hebrew), is entirely incompatible with the scope and meaning of the narrative. Even supposing the story to be legendary, it would have ill accorded with the anxiety of Joseph and Mary about the child to represent them as undertaking a journey for the purpose of fulfilling a prophecy; especially one which, in its literal sense, referred to the bringing of Israel out of Egypt (comp. Exo_4:22; Jer_31:9). The Septuagint translation has τὰ τέκνα αὐτοῦ (of Israel). As, however, the flight and the return had really taken place, the Evangelist, whose attention was always directed to the fulfilment of prophecy, might very properly call attention to the fact, that even this prediction of Hosea had been fulfilled. And, in truth, viewed not as a verbal but as a typical prophecy, this prediction was fulfilled by the flight into Egypt. Israel of old was called out of Egypt as the son of God, inasmuch as Israel was identified with the Son of God. But now the Son of God Himself was called out of Egypt, who came out of Israel as the kernel from the husk. When the Lord called Israel out of Egypt, it was with special reference to His Son; that is, in view of the high spiritual place which Israel was destined to occupy. In connection with this, it is also important to bear in mind the historical influence of Egypt on the world at large. Ancient Greek civilization—nay, in a certain sense, the imperial power of Rome itself—sprung from Egypt; in Egypt the science of Christian theology and Christian monasticism originated; from Egypt proceeded the last universal conqueror; out of Egypt came the typical son of God to found the theocracy; and thence also the true Son of God, to complete the theocracy.—According to tradition, Christ stayed at Matarea in Egypt, in the vicinity of Leontopolis, where, at a later period, the Jewish temple of Onias stood.—See Schubert’s Reise in das Morgenland, ii. p. 179.

Mat_2:16. That he was mocked, ἐνεπαίχθη—outwitted, made a fool of.—The word is frequently so used in the Septuagint. “The expression is here employed from Herod’s point of view.”

From two years old, ἀπὸ διετοῦς, sc. παιδός.—From two years old down to the youngest male child on the breast. It follows that the star had been seen by the wise men for about two years before their arrival at Jerusalem. The massacre of the children at Bethlehem has been regarded as a myth, chiefly because Josephus makes no mention of it. Thus even Meyer doubts the historical truth of this narrative, since Josephus always relates circumstantially all the cruelties perpetrated by Herod (Antiq. xv. 7, 8, etc.). But that he recorded so many, scarcely implies that he meant to relate every instance of his cruelty. It is further argued, that, if the massacre had “been a historical fact, it would, on account of the peculiar circumstances of the case, certainly have been mentioned by the Jewish historian.” We infer the opposite. From the peculiarity of the occurrence, it would have been impossible to mention it without furnishing a more direct testimony, either for or against the Christian faith, than Josephus wished to bear. The supposition that the massacre was not openly and officially ordered, but secretly perpetrated by banditti in the employ of Herod (see Leben Jesu, ii. p. 112), is not “gratuitous,” but suggested by the text (λάθρα ἠκρίβωσε; ἀποστείλας ἀνεῖλεν). Not that we draw any inference from the confused account in Macrobius8 (see Meyer, p. 174); the Gospel narrative can, however, easily dispense with it.

Mat_2:17-18. Then was fulfilled, etc.—The prediction in Jer_31:15 is here quoted freely from the Septuagint. This is another fulfilment of a typical, not of a literal, prophecy. The passage primarily refers to the deportation of the Jews to Babylon. Rachel, the ancestress of Benjamin, who was buried near Bethlehem, is introduced as issuing from her grave to bewail the captivity of her children. The sound of her lamentations is carried northward beyond Jerusalem, and heard at Rama—a fortress of Israel on the frontier toward Judah, where the captives were collected. The meaning probably is, that the grief caused by this deportation, and the consequent lamentations of the female captives, was such as to reach even the heart of the ancestress of Benjamin (which here includes also Judah). As used by Jeremiah, it was, therefore, a figurative expression for the deep sorrow of the exiled mothers of Judah. But in the massacre of the infants of Bethlehem this earlier calamity was not only renewed, but its description verified in the fullest and most tragic manner. Rachel’s children are not merely led into exile; they are destroyed, and that by one who called himself King of Israel. Accordingly, Rachel is introduced as the representative of the mothers of Bethlehem lamenting over their children (Chrysostom, Theophylact, and many others). The picture of Rachel herself issuing from the grave and raising a lament, indicates that the greatest calamity had now befallen Judah.—The words θρῆνος καί are wanting in Codd. B. Z., etc., and in several translations.

Mat_2:20. They are dead who, etc.—In the vision a scriptural expression is used, Exo_4:19, which must have been familiar to Joseph. On the horrible death of Herod, amid alternate designs of revenge and fits of despair, comp. Joseph. Antiq. xvii. 18, 1; 9, 3; De Bello Jud. 1, 33. He died at the age of 70, in the 37th year of his reign.

Mat_2:22. But when he heard that Archelaus, etc.—After the death of Herod, his kingdom was divided among his three sons by Augustus. Archelaus obtained Judæa, Idumæa, and Samaria; Herod Antipas, Galilee and Peræa; Philip, Batanea, Trachonitis, and Auranitis. Herod and Philip received the title of Tetrarch. Archelaus obtained at first the designation of Ethnarch (Joseph. Antiq. xvii. 11, 4). The title of King was to be afterward conferred on him if he deserved it by his services. But, nine years after his accession, Augustus banished him, in consequence of the complaints of the Jews about his cruelty, to Vienne in Gaul, where he died (Antiq. xvii. 13, 2; De Bello Jud. ii. 7, 3). Like his father, Archelaus was a suspicious and cruel tyrant. Accordingly, Joseph was afraid to remain in Judæa with the holy child. Applying to the Lord for guidance, he was directed, in another dream, to settle in Galilee. This was the fourth revelation with which he was honored. It implies that a high tone of spirituality pervaded his soul. The ever-watchful solicitude of Joseph for the safety of the child of promise might serve as the natural groundwork for these communications, while the repeated revelations vouchsafed during his nocturnal thoughts show that a providentia specialissima watched over the life of the Divine child. Such prophetic dreams exhibit the connection and co-operation of a special Divine providence with the most anxious vigilance on the part of the servants of God. Nor must we forget the connection between the devotedness of Joseph and the fond anxiety of Mary.—These four dreams occurred at considerable intervals of time.

Mat_2:23. A city called Nazareth.—The town was situated in Lower Galilee, in the ancient territory of the tribe of Zebulon (Lightfoot, Horœ Hebr. p. 918), to the south of Cana, not far from Mount Tabor. It lay in a rocky hollow among the mountains, and was surrounded by beautiful and grand scenery. The modern Nazareth is a small, but pretty town. According to Robinson, it has three thousand inhabitants (see Schubert iii. 169; Robinson, 3:421, Eng. ed. 2:333; and other books of travels). Compare also the article in Winer and other Encycls. The name of Galilee was derived from גָּלִיל, which originally signifies a circle,—hence Galilee, the circuit or surrounding country. The whole country received its name from the district, which was afterward named Hpper Galilee, as distinguished from Lower Galilee. Accordingly, in common conversation, the term Galilee was used to denote Upper Galilee, or the Galilee par excellence. This explains such expressions as Mat_4:12 and Joh_4:43. One might be said to go from Nazareth to Galilee, just as we might speak of travelling from Berlin to Prussia (Proper), or from Geneva to (the interior of) Switzerland. “The word Nazareth is supposed to be derived from נֵצֶר, surculus, virgultum, as the surrounding district abounds in brushwood or shrubs; Burckhardt, ‘Reisen,’ ii. 583 (Mat_2:23 is an allusion to נֵצֵר, surculus, in Isa_11:1, which Hofmann, in his ‘Weissagung,’ ii. 64, denies on insufficient grounds).” Winer.

He shall be called a Nazarene.—As the word Nazarene is not employed in any prophetic passage of the Old Testament to designate the Messiah, various explanations have been proposed:—1. According to Jerome, some “eruditi Hebræi” had before his time traced the term to the expression נֵצֶר, sprout, in Isa_11:1, by which the Messiah is designated; which view is followed by many modern expositors, as also by Piscator and Casaubon. Hengstenberg, in his Christology, Mat_2:1, supports this explanation, by showing that the original name of the place was נצר, and not נצרת. 2. Chrysostom, and many others after him, consider the words in question a quotation from a prophetic book now lost. But in quoting from the Old Testament, the inspired penmen evidently regarded the Old Testament canon as closed, and referred only to books which had been received into it. This also disposes of the opinion that, 3. The quotation is from some apocryphal book (Gratz, Ewald). Still more untenable Isaiah , 4. the notion that the term Nazarene is equivalent to נָזִיר. For Jesus was neither a Nazarite (Mat_11:19), nor is He so called in any prophetic passage. This vague conjecture is rendered even more improbable by the suggestion of Ewald, that the quotation was taken from a lost apocryphal book, in which the Messiah was represented at His first appearance as a Nazarite, and that from this verbal similarity the Evangelist had derived his reference to Nazareth 5. Some commentators have given up the idea of verbal reference. They argue that the expression Nazarene was used by the Jews to designate a slight, ed person; and the Messiah is represented as such in Psalms 22., Isaiah 53. (Michaelis, Paulus, Rosenmüller, etc.; comp. the author’s Leben Jesu, vol. ii. p. 48), This, or the explanation (1) proposed by Jerome, seems the most likely. Meyer supports the allusion to נֵצֶר by referring to the similar expression צֶמַח (Isa_4:2; Jer_23:5; Jer_33:15; Zec_3:8; Zec_6:12), which would also account for the use of the plural number—”spoken by the prophets.” But it seems to us impossible to suppose that the allusion of the Evangelist should have been based merely on the similarity, and not on the meaning of the two words. Such a view could neither be reconciled with the suggestion of Meyer about Zemach, nor would it tally with Isa_11:1, where the term נצר is used only in allusion to, but not as a designation of the Messiah; so that the idea of a mere verbal fulfilment is out of the question. The conclusion at which we have arrived is, that the title Nazarene bears reference to the outward lowliness of the Messiah; accordingly, the נֵצֶר in Isa_11:1 is analogous to the expressions used in Isa_53:2, and to other descriptions of the humble appearance of the Messiah. In other words, the various allusions to the despised and humble appearance of the Messiah are, so to speak, concentrated in that of Nezer. The prophets applied to Him the term branch or bush, in reference to His insignificance in the eyes of the world; and this appellation was specially verified when He appeared as an inhabitant of despised Nazareth, “the town of shrubs” (Leben Jesu, vol. ii. 120 ff.).

Meyer has recently repeated the assertion, that, according to the account of Matthew, Bethlehem, and not Nazareth, was the original residence of Joseph and Mary; and that, in this respect, there is a discrepancy between Matthew and Luke. This commentator controverts the view of Neander, Ebrard. Hoffmann, and others, who have successfully, as we think, reconciled the statements of the two Evangelists (see Leben Jesu. ii. 122). In reply, it may be sufficient to say, that in all probability Joseph and Mary deemed it their duty to reside at Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus until otherwise directed, more especially as the magi had been directed to Bethlehem in their search after the Messiah, Indeed, Matthew himself furnishes the key for solving the apparent difficulty, when he mentions it as a new circumstance that the birth of Christ took place “at Bethlehem.” A discrepancy could only have been alleged if Joseph and Mary had, in the first chapter, been represented as residing at Bethlehem. On the other hand, it is easy to account for the special notice of the town of Nazareth in the passage before us, as the Evangelist wished to call attention to the circumstance of Christ’s residence at Nazareth, and to the prophetic allusions thereto.

The following appears to have been the chronological order of events:—Soon after the birth of Christ the wise men arrived from the East. This was followed by the flight into Egypt, and the sojourn there, which must have been very brief, as Herod’s death occurred soon afterward. The presentation in the temple must have taken place after the return, as, according to the law, it could not occur before the fortieth day, but did not necessarily take place on that day. After the presentation, Joseph and Mary settled in Galilee; and there, at Nazareth, the Lord resided for thirty years (see my Leben Jesu, vol. ii. 110).

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Joseph’s dreams, in which angelic communications were made for the deliverance of the holy child, afford us a glimpse into the spiritual nature of man, and into the spiritual world beyond. A contest ensues between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness about the holy child. The craft of Herod assumes the form of satanic rage. The Jewish scribes have been successfully duped by him, and made subservient to the purposes of the tyrant. By their scriptural reply to his inquiry they have unconsciously delivered the infant Messiah into the power of the crafty monarch. But the deep and earnest spirituality of the pious heathen worshippers proved sufficient to defeat his plans. Warned of God in a dream, they escaped from the meshes of his iniquitous policy. By an unusual route they returned into their own country, and, to appearance, the holy child was safe. But Herod’s fury knew no bounds. The thought of having been outwitted by the magi was an additional incitement to wreak his vengeance on the object of their veneration. He now employed a band of ruffians as the instruments of his last desperate attempt on the life of Jesus. No doubt he expected that in the slaughter of the infants of Bethlehem the infant Jesus would perish. Thus did the kingdom of darkness put forth its utmost efforts, which, on the other hand, were counteracted by those of the kingdom of light. But if the powers of darkness proceed warily, those of light act still more warily. The calculations of a sleepless policy were baffled by the sleep of the pious. On the nature and significancy of dreams, see Schubert’s Symbolik des Traumes; and the author’s dissertation entitled: “Von dem zwiefachen Bewusstsein,” etc., in the “Deutsche Zeitschrift für christliche Wissenschaft und christliches Leben,” Berlin, 1851, N. 30 ff. On angelical communications, see the author’s Leben Jesu, i. 48.

In regard to the influence of the spiritual world on the human mind, the following principle may be laid down: The more vividly the soul is roused in its inmost being by wants and perplexities around, the more are we prepared for influences from the spiritual world, good or evil, according to the spiritual condition of the soul. Again, in proportion as the spiritual condition of the soul is undeveloped, though earnest in its aspirations after God, or as a person is engrossed with cares and toils in the ordinary course of his life, the more likely is the influence of the spiritual world to be felt in dreams and visions of the night. As instances in point, we may here refer to the ecstatic state of Hagar, of Gideon, of Mary Magdalene, of the Christian martyrs in the Primitive Church, of the French Camisardes, [the Scotch Covenanters], the Jansenists, and others.

2. The anxious care of Joseph for the safety of the child and its mother may be regarded as a proof that Divine Providence always raises up faithful servants to protect and to promote His own kingdom, and with it the spiritual welfare of mankind. But in this instance the salvation of the world was connected with the safety of a babe, threatened by the craft of a despot, whose dagger had on no other occasion missed its mark. Hence the care of Providence for the safety of this child was unremitting; Joseph’s vigilance did not cease even in his sleep, while the mother’s solicitude was undoubtedly still more eager. Every other consideration seems secondary to that of the safety of the child. Thus has the Lord ever prepared instruments for His work. By God’s grace, devoted and faithful servants have never been wanting in the world, and the King Eternal has always had His faithful ones.

3. The tractate of Lactantius, de morte perseeutorum, commences with an account of the death of Herod. It is a tale of persecution and retribution, renewed in every age.

4. The mysterious import of Egypt in the world’s history appears constantly anew. “Out of Egypt have I called My son,” is an expression which pervades the whole course of history. But this calling implies not only the Son’s residence in Egypt, but also his departure from it.

5. The wail of Rachel is here a symbol of the sympathy of the theocracy in general, called forth by the sufferings inflicted by the outward representatives of the theocracy on its genuine children. The wail of Rachel is renewed in the Church as often as the witnesses of the truth are put to death by carnal and worldly men, who profess to be the representatives of the Church.

6. We do not include the slaughtered infants of Bethlehem in the number of Christian martyrs properly so called, as they did not of their own free choice and will bear testimony to the Saviour.9 They perished simply because they were male children—children of Bethlehem, under two years of age. Still, they have been justly considered the prototypes of Christian martyrdom (Feast of the Innocents, Dec. 28), as they were cut off, 1. in their innocency; 2. as children of Bethlehem, and children of the promise; 3. from hatred to Christ; 4. for the purpose of withdrawing attention from the flight of the holy child, and to secure His safety in Egypt.

7. Nazareth is the perpetual symbol of the outward lowliness and humble condition of Christ and of Christianity in the world. It is the emblem of that poverty which apparently so ill accords with the exalted nature of, and the depth of spiritual life brought to light by, the Gospel. But what to the world seems unfitting, is in reality, and in the sight of God, most fitting; for Christianity is based and reared on deepest humility. Hence the path by which God leads His elect is first downward, and then upward; both the descent and the ascent increasing as they proceed, as we see in the history of Jacob, of Joseph, of Moses, of David, and of others. The prophets were fully and experimentally acquainted with this fundamental principle of the Divine government. Hence they prophesied of the lowliness of the Messiah during the earlier period of His life, of His subsequent humiliation, and of His death at the conclusion of His earthly career.

8. In the life of children, as in that of mechanics and laborers, the mind is taken up during the day with surrounding objects. Hence their inner life during the night is more widely awake and susceptible to dreams and visions. This is the basis for the prophetic dreams of Joseph in the Old Testament, and Joseph in the New.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The homage which Christ receives is the ground of his persecution and sufferings; but persecution and sufferings always lead to more abundant glory.—The wise of this world are unable to protect Jesus and His Church. For this purpose God employs His heavenly messengers, and His despised children on earth.—Divine Providence brought to nought all the designs of the wicked against the life of the holy child.—Children as under the protection of angels.—Warning angel-voices during the course of our life.—Obedience to the voice of the Spirit.—Joseph’s awakening in the morning. A short time before, he had risen to vindicate the mother: he now rises to rescue the child with its mother.—How the whole day is blessed when commenced with faith and obedience.—Joseph the model of all foster-parents.—Sacrifices for the Lord are the noblest gain.—The holy flight of the Lord in its happy results.—The holy withdrawal of the Lord the emblem of every holy withdrawal: 1. of that of the Old Testament prophets; 2. of that of Christians; 3. of the spiritual withdrawal from the world in the inner life.—Egypt, the land of tombs, the cradle of God’s people.—The persecuted Church of God ever at home with the Lord: 1. in flight; 2. in the desert; 3. in a strange land.—The Lord continues, while all who rise against Him perish.—The children of Bethlehem as types of Christian martyrdom. 1. They are, so to speak, the seal of the faith of Old Testament believers in the Messiah. 2. They confirm the faith of believers in all time coming.—Christ among the children of Bethlehem. 1. They die for Him, in order to live for Him. 2. He lives for them, in order to die for them.—No expenditure of blood and tears can be too great for the rescue of Jesus: 1. because His life is the ransom of the world; 2. because His life transforms every sacrifice of blood and of tears into life and blessedness.—The death of children is of deep import in God’s sight.—Lamentation in the Church of God. a. The cry of Abel for vengeance; b. Rachel’s cry of sorrow; c. Jesus’ cry of love.—“They are dead which sought the young child’s life.” Thus it was (1) formerly. Thus it is (2) still. Thus it will be (3) at the end of time.—Archelaus his father’s Song of Solomon 1. Personal guilt; 2. hereditary guilt; 3. the judgment.—The savor of despotism banishes happiness from the land.—Christ the Nazarene: 1. as an inhabitant of the earth; 2. as an inhabitant of Judæa; 3. as an inhabitant of Galilee; 4. as an inhabitant of Nazareth; 5. as the carpenter’s son even in Nazareth.—The lowliness of Jesus prefigured His humiliation, but also His exaltation.—The obscurity of Christ, implying, 1. His ignominy: 2. His safety; 3. His ornament.—Jesus the great teacher of humility. The thirty years of Christ’s obscurity the foundation of His three years’ manifestation.—The inward unfolding of Christ had to be guarded from the influences of a corrupt world, and of corrupt ecclesiastical institutions.—Christ the Divine nursling under the fostering care, 1. of pious maternal love; 2. of the anxious solicitude of God’s hidden ones; 3. of nature in all its beauty and grandeur.—Christians as Nazarenes in the train of the Nazarene.—Nazareth itself usually does not know the Nazarene.—The heavenly youth of the Lord a mystery of the earth.—The glory of God in the lowliness of Christ.—The Joseph-dreams in the Old and the New Testament.

Starke:10—Joy and suffering are at all times next-door neighbors. When faith is strengthened, trials generally ensue. The Lord knows how, at the right moment, to withdraw His own from danger, and how to anticipate the enemy.—God often wonderfully protects his own by small means and humble instrumentalities, as he protected Jesus through the instrumentality of Joseph, a carpenter.—Whoever will love the infant Christ must be prepared to endure, for His sake, every sort of tribulation.—Jesus has sanctified even the afflictions of our childhood.—No sooner are we born again from on high, than persecution arises against us.—Rejoice, ye who suffer with Christ. 1Pe_4:13.—If thine own people will not bear thee, God will provide a place for thee even among strangers. Rev_12:4-6.—Tyrants must die, and thy sufferings will come to an end. Job_5:19.—What the enemies of the Church cannot accomplish by craft, they attempt to effect by force.—If we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with Him. 2Ti_2:11.

Heubner:—Providence watches over the life of the elect.—Augustin: O parvuli beati, modo nati, nondum tentati, nondum luctati, jam coronati.—The kingdom of light was from its very commencement assailed by the kingdom of darkness.—In times of suffering the disciples of Jesus have often been obliged to shelter their light in the retirement of secret associations, and in strange places of refuge.—Joseph an example of obedient trust in God amid signal dangers.—“Duties are ours, events are God’s.” (Cecil.)—Herod a warning picture of a hardened, hoary sinner.—Mary the model of suffering mothers.—What trials a pious mother may have to endure!—The early death of pious children a token of Divine favor toward them.—The wickedness and violence of men are of short duration; God will always gain the day against them.—Let us affectionately remember what protection our heavenly Father has accorded us from our youth upward.—The wonderful guidance of God experienced by the pious.—Schleiermacher’s Predigten (vol. iv.): The narrative in the text a picture of sin, which ever attempts to arrest the progress of Christianity.—Wimmer: One Lord, one faith. The misery of those who harden themselves, as apparent, 1. in their anguish during life; 2. in the folly of all their measures; 3. in their despair in death.—Reinhard: On the dealings of God with our children.

ADDENDA

BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR

The Sinaitic Manuscript of the Bible, which Professor Tischendorf rescued from the obscurity of the Convent of St Catharine on Mount Sinai, and carefully edited in two editions in 1862 and 1863,* two years after the issue of the third edition of Dr. Lange’s Commentary on Matthew, has been carefully compared in preparing the American edition of this work from Chapter 8 to the close of the Gospel of Matthew. I thought I was the first to do so, but just before I finished the last pages of this volume, I found that Bäumlein, in his Commentary on the Gospel of St. John,** and Meyer, in the fifth edition of his Commentary on Matthew, both of which appeared in 1864, had preceded me, at least in print. No critical scholar can ignore this manuscript hereafter. For it is the only complete, and perhaps the oldest of all the uncial codices of the Bible, or at least of the same age and authority as the celebrated Vatican Codex (which is traced by some to the middle of the fourth century), and far better edited by the German Protestant Professor, Tischendorf, than the latter was by the Italian Cardinal, Angelo Mai. In the absence of a simpler mark agreed upon by critics (the proposed designation by the Hebrew א has not yet been adopted, and is justly objected to by Tregelles and others on the ground of typographical inconvenience), I introduce it always as Cod. Sin., and I find that Dr. Meyer in the fifth edition does the same. As I could not procure a copy of the printed edition of this Codex till I had finished the first seven chapters, I now complete the critical part of the work by adding its more important readings in the first seven chapters where they differ from the textus receptus, on which the authorized English, as well as all the older Protestant Versions of the Greek Testament are substantially based.

*Novum Testamentum Sinaiticum, sive Novum Testamentum cum Epistola Barnabœ et Fragmentis Pastoris (Hermæ). Ex Codice Sinaitico auspiciis Alexandri II., omnium Russiarum imperatoris, ex tenebris protracto orbique litterarum tradito accurate descripsit Ænotheus Friderious Constantinus Tischendorf, theol. et phil. Dr., etc. etc. Lipsiæ, 1863. The text is arranged in four columns and covers 148 folios; the learned Prolegomena of the editor 81 folios. There is besides a magnificent photo-lithographed fac-simile edition of the whole Sinaitic Bible, published at the expense of the Emperor of Russia, in 4 volumes (3 for the Old and 1 for the New Testament, the latter in 148 folios), under the title: Bibliorum Codex Sinaiticus Petropolitanus. Auspiciis augustissimis imperatoris Alexandri II. ed. Const. Tischendorf. Petropoli, 1862. A copy of this rare edition I have also consulted occasionally, in the Astor Library of New York. For fuller information on this important Codex (in the words of Tischendorf: “omnium codicum uncialium solus integer omniumque antiquissimus”), we must refer the reader to the ample Prolegomena of Tischendorf, also to an article of Hilgenfeld in his Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie, vol. vii. (1864), p. 74 ff. (who is disposed to assign it to a somewhat later age), and to Scrivener’s treatise, which I have not seen.

**Hengstenberg, in his Commentary on John, concluded in 1863, pays no attention whatever to this Codex, and is very defective in a critical point of view

Mat_2:18.—Cod. Sin. omits θρῆνοςκαἰ, lamentation and, before κλανθμός, weeping. So all the critical editors. The text. rec. seems to be enlarged from the Septuagint.

Footnotes:

[4] Mat_2:16.—[Better: all the male children, πάντας τούς παῖδας. Lange: alle Knaben.—P. S.]

[5] Mat_2:16.—[In all its borders, in all the neighborhood.]

[6] Mat_2:17.—[Jeremiah.]

[7] Mat_2:18.—[Proper order: A voice was heard in R. Comp. Jer_31:15. The best editions omit θρῆνυς, καί, Lamentation and.—P. S.]

[8]Of Augustus: “Cum andisset, inter pueros, quos in Syria Herodes, rex Judaeorum intra bimatum jussit interficl, filium quoque ejus occisum, ait, melius est Herodis poicuiresse, quam filium.”

[9][The Church distinguishes and celebrates a threefold martyrdom: 1. martyrdom both in will and in fact,—Festival of St. Stephen the protomartyr, Dec. 26; 2. martyrdom in will, though not in fact,—Festival of St. John the Evangelist, Dec. 27; 3. martyrdom in fact, though not in will,—The Innocents’ Day, Dec. 23. These three festivals follow Christmas, because Christian martyrdom was regarded as a celestial birth, which is the consequence of Christ’s terrestrial birth. Christ was born on earth that His saints might be born in heaven.—On the Holy Innocents compare the old poem of Prudentius: Salvete flores martyrum, and John Keble’s Christian Year, p. 47.—P. S.]

[10][The Edinb. transl. uniformly has Starcke, following the first edition. But Dr. Lunge, in the second ed., as also in all the other vols. of the Com., changed it into Starke. The difference in spelling arises from an inconsistency of Starke himself, or his printer, in the various volumes of the Synopsis Bibliothecœ Exegeticœ. His last mode of spelling, however was Starke, which is also etymologically more correct.—P. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 2:13-18.

The Flight Into Egypt

Mat 2:13. Departed, withdrawn, same word as in Mat 2:12, Mat 2:14, Mat 2:22. It is also employed in describing another rapid series of withdrawals, Mat 14:13; Mat 15:21.—The—rather an—angel, the Greek having here no article. Appeareth in a dream, see on "Mat 1:20".—Take, more exactly, take along, take with you, as in Mat 26:37.—Egypt was at this time a well-governed Roman province, and beyond the jurisdiction of Herod. A journey of some seventy-five miles southwest, would bring Joseph to the border, towards the isthmus, and a hundred miles more would take him into the heart of the country. Besides being thus easy of access, and having in earlier days been a place of refuge for fugitives from Judea, (1Ki 11:40 Jer 43:7)[1] Egypt was now thronged with Jewish residents. Alexander the Great, in laying out his new city of Alexandria, assigned a place to the Jews, granting them equal privileges with the Macedonians. The early Ptolemies pursued a similar course, transferring some from Palestine by force, and encouraging the immigration of others. In Egypt was made the greater part, probably the whole, of the famous translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek, commonly called the Septuagint. About 150 B. C., a separate temple was built for the Jews in Egypt, at once evincing and tending to increase their importance. Somewhat earlier began the succession of Jewish Alexandrine philosophers, the most remarkable of whom, Philo, was now twenty to thirty years old. In a treatise written about A. D. 40, he says the Jews in Egypt numbered near a million. These facts afford reasons for Joseph’s being directed to flee into Egypt. At the same time all was providentially arranged with a view to the fulfilment of prophecy (Mat 2:15). A late tradition names the village of Matarea, near Leontopolis, the site of the Jewish temple, as the residence of the "holy family." Late apocryphal writings have many marvellous stories of the flight and sojourn, and of the infancy of Jesus in general, which have passed freely into Christian art, but are otherwise unimportant. We may conjecture that the gifts of the Magi aided in the support of the refugees; a carpenter dwelling as a foreigner in a crowded country, was not likely at once to find adequate employment.

[1] The writer was told in Southern Palestine, in 1871, of a man who had incurred the wrath of the Turkish officials, and fled to Egypt.

Mat 2:14. He arose at once, and set out by night. The child is named first, as the more import ant person, and the one endangered; and the whole expression (here and in Mat 2:13) reminds us that Joseph was not really his father.

Mat 2:15. That it might be fulfilled... of the Lord by, On ’of’ and ’by,’ see on "Mat 1:22". Have I called, Did I call, is a literal translation of the Greek, and certainly better suits the statement of a remote event. The prediction quoted is from Hos 11:1. In form it follows the Hebrew exactly, while the Septuagint is here quite erroneous. Hosea clearly refers to the calling of Israel out of Egypt, the nation being elsewhere spoken of as God’s ’son.’ (Exo 4:22 Jer 31:9; compare Wis 18:13.) But there is an evident typical relation between Israel and Messiah. Thus in Isaiah 42-53, the ’servant of Jehovah’ is primarily the nation, but the predictions have been more completely fulfilled in Christ, who embodied and consummated the mission of Israel. (See below, at the beginning of Matthew 24, and compare Edersheim, ch. 5). In like manner here. As Israel in the childhood of the nation was called out of Egypt, so Jesus. We may even find resemblance in minute details: his temptation of forty days in the desert, resembles Israel’ s temptation of forty years in the desert, which itself corresponded to the forty days spent by the spies. (Num 14:34) Thus we see how Hosea’s historical statement concerning Israel may have been also a prediction concerning Messiah, as the Evangelist declares it was. It is not necessary to suppose that this was present to the prophet’s consciousness. Exalted by inspiration, a prophet may well have said things having deeper meanings than he was distinctly aware of, and which only a later inspiration, coming when the occasion arose, could fully unfold.

Mat 2:16. Herod deemed that the Magi were trifling with him. They got from him the information they needed, and then coolly went off without bringing back the information he required and expected. A despot easily comes to regard the slightest neglect to do his bidding as a gross insult. Already, no doubt, designing to make way with the child, the king was now greatly incensed at this insulting neglect, and the delay it caused; and in the blind rage of a tyrant, he perpetrated an act which may seem to us not merely cruel but unnecessary, since his officers might easily have found out the child which the Magi had visited, and also ill-suited to his design, since in an indiscriminate massacre the child sought might escape. Such blind cruelty is, under all the circumstances, natural enough. And probably all this occurred within twenty-four hours, Bethlehem being only five miles off. The Magi went at nightfall, and being warned in a dream, departed during the night. As they did not return next day, Herod would send messengers to inquire, and these would report that the Magi were gone, and the child missing. Herod might conclude that the child was simply concealed in the village or its neighbourhood, and so the cruel order, to be executed the same evening, would seem likely to accomplish its purpose.

All the children. Properly, all the male children, as in Rev. Ver., the original marking the gender.[1] The borders. The English word ’coasts’ formerly signified borders in general; the border of the Mississippi River, for hundreds of miles from its mouth, is still called the ’coast.’ The term ’borders’ is often used for the territory they inclose, and here means the little district belonging to the town. From two years old and under, etc., does not prove, as some have inferred, that the star had appeared to the Magi two years before, or even one year. A child would be called two years old as soon as it entered the second year; and Herod would be apt to go a good way beyond the age indicated by the time of its appearance, in order to make sure.

[1] It is properly rendered in the Syriac and the Vulgate, in the Geneva and the Rheims, and by Beza. But Wyclif, through translating the Vulgate, has simply "children," and so Tyndale, and Cranmer, and also Luther; and Common Version followed these. It must have been supposed that the masculine expression was meant to comprehend both sexes; but such a use can never be assumed unless the connection requires it.

Ecclesiastical tradition (making it fourteen thousand), and modern popular opinion have greatly exaggerated the number of children slain, which by any just calculation from the probable population of the little town and its district must have been very small, say fifteen, or twenty. We can thus see how little foundation there is for the objection taken by certain critics to the authenticity of this incident, on the ground that it is not mentioned by Josephus. Amid the numerous and aggravated cruelties which marked the closing period of Herod’s life,[1] the massacre of a few children in an obscure village might have been easily overlooked by the historian. And when it is said that the connection of this massacre with a person supposed to be Messiah made it a prominent fact, we may reply that, supposing this connection known to Josephus (who was not born till some forty years afterwards), it would have made him all the more disposed to omit the incident, seeing that he has the impudence to represent the Messianic hopes of the nation as fulfilled in his patron, Vespasian. In like manner, when professing to state the teachings of John the Baptist, he makes no allusion to John’s announcement of the coming of Messiah. (See on "Mat 3:2".)[2]

[1] Besides the details given by Josephus, observe the following general statement ("Ant.," 17, 6, 1): "And despairing of surviving he grew utterly savage, acting with unrestrained anger and bitterness towards all; and the cause was his belief that he was despised, and that the nation took pleasure in his misfortunes."

[2] The Latin writer, Macrobius, an official under the Christian emperor Theodosius (5th century), among various witty sayings of the first Augustus, gives the following: Hearing that among the boys under two years old, whom Herod, King of the Jews, ordered to be killed, his own son also was slain, Augustus said, "Better be Herod’s pig than his son." (In Greek, which Augustus habitually spoke, "Better be Herod’s hyn than his hyion.") The tradition associated with the jest, has obviously mingled the killing of Antipater, Herod’s grown son, with the story of the children at Bethlehem. It is not at all likely that the two incidents were originally connected by Augustus, who knew all, ant the death of Antipater and his brothers. The confusion is manifestly due to a later time, and the story of the boys under two years most probably came from Christian sources, though that question cannot be determined.

Mat 2:17-18. Then was fulfilled. So in Mat 27:9. Everywhere else Matthew says, ’that it might be fulfilled.’ In these two cases he probably felt an instinctive reluctance, in which we can sympathize, to associate directly the divine purpose with a deed of enormous wickedness. He says, in these instances, as in the others, that the event ’fulfilled’ a prediction; but avoids saying, what is true in a just sense, but would seem to require explanation, that the event was providentially brought about for that purpose. By—or, through—following the correct text.[1] For the meaning of the preposition, compare on Mat 1:22. The quotation is from Jer 31:15. The words lamentation and are here not genuine.[2]

[1] Some students or copyists doubtless considered it an error of previous copyists, observing that ’the Lord’ is not here mentioned, as in Mat 1:22; Mat 2:15, and commonly, and so altered it to ’by.’ (A few MSS. have a similar change to ’by’ in Mat 2:23.) Similarly in Mat 3:3.

[2] They were no doubt inserted by some. because found in the original of the prophet. Few forms of alteration in the New Testament text are mere common, than such assimilation of quotations to the Old Testament, it being erroneously taken for granted that the New Testament writers always quoted with verbal exactness.

This quotation presents serious difficulty. When Nebuchadnezzar ordered that the people should be carried into captivity, the persons selected were assembled, previous to setting out, at Ramah, which may have been Ramah in the tribe of Benjamin, about five miles north of Jerusalem (and ten miles from Bethlehem), or else some place of that name near Bethlehem (Thomson II., 28). This captivity seemed to threaten the complete destruction of the nation, with all their national hopes; and the bitter grief of the people is poetically described by representing Rachel, one of the mothers of the nation—the mother of that tribe in whose territory the exiles were assembled—as risen from the grave, and bewailing their destruction; while the prophet comforts her with the assurance that there is hope for the future, for the people will be restored. Now, when this poetical passage is said by Matthew to be ’fulfilled’ in the case of the massacre at Bethlehem, how are we to understand him? (1) If we are unable to see in the language of Jeremiah any distinct reference to this massacre, it will not follow that the Evangelist has merely made an apt quotation. He and his Jewish readers had the general conviction that everything in the history of their nation was sacred and significant. And wherever Matthew saw a resemblance between an event in the history of Israel and an event in the life of Messiah, he might consider that, this resemblance was divinely designed, and wish his readers to take the same view. He may have used the word ’fulfil’ in this sense, not intending to assert that there is here (as in most cases) a definite prediction, distinctly fulfilled, but only a discernible and noteworthy point in the general relation between the older sacred history and the new. Thus understood, the passage would leave the term ’fulfil’ a real, though weakened sense, and we may, if necessary, regard it as similarly used in various other passages, while we must in every case inquire whether there is not a fulfilment in the complete sense of the word. (2) And may we not bare trace some indications of a specific relation between the events? The massacre at Bethlehem, like the occurrence at Ramah, threatens to destroy the nation’s future, which all really depends on Messiah. If the infant Messiah is slain, then is Israel ruined. Suppose only that some at Bethlehem, who had heard of the shepherds and the Magi, now despondingly believed that the new-born king was slain, and their mourning would really correspond to that mourning at Ramah, which Jeremiah poetically described. In both cases, too, the grief at actual distresses is unnecessarily embittered by this despair as to the future, for the youthful Messiah had not really perished, just as the captivity would not really destroy Israel. In both cases the would-be destroyer fails, and blessings are in store for the people of God. This view may seem fine-spun, and should not be too much insisted on, but it is possible. (Camp. Calvin, Fairbairn, Keil.) The poetical introduction of Rachel as representing the common grief of Israel, is only a subordinate and incidental thing, and we need not seek any special connection between Rachel personally and Herod’s massacre, such as some have sought in the fact that she was buried near Bethlehem, though it would not be wholly unreasonable to regard that also as significant. The tomb of Rachel is still marked near the village, and quite probably at the real place.

John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (American Baptist Publication Society, 1886) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2:13-15 Flee to Egypt . . . until I tell you to return: This fulfills Hos 11:1 (see study note on Matt 4:1-11; see also Gen 15:13-16; 46:1-5; Exod 15:1-21).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 2:13. Ἐγερθεὶς, rising) i.e. immediately.—τὸ παίδιον, the child) Greater regard is paid to Him than to His mother.[95]—ἑώς ἄν, κ.τ.λ., until, etc.) Thus the faith of Joseph was exercised; all things were not revealed to him at once; he was to await the time of returning [till it should please God to direct him to do so]: nor did the angel speak to him in the meanwhile.—Ἠρώδης, Herod) of whom Joseph appears to have hoped well from the discourse of the Magi.

[95] And it is rather towards the name and kingdom of Christ, than towards any power external to Christ, that the world bears a grudge.—Vers. Germ.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_2:13. Ἀναχωρ. δὲ αὐτῶν] The divine direction and flight into Egypt must be conceived as taking place immediately after the departure of the Magi.

Mat_2:16. φαίνεται] historic present.

The continuation of the narrative in connection with the legend of the murder of the children by Herod makes Jesus take refuge in Egypt, not because it was near at hand, not subject to Herod, and inhabited by many Jews, but because a residence in Egypt, and that as an antitype to that of the Israelites in that country, was in accordance with the passage in Hos_11:1 (Mat_2:15). A later age named Matarea, near Leontopolis, as the locality (see Paulus, Merkw. Reisen in d. Orient, III. p. 256; Schubert, Reise in d. Morgenl. II. p. 170).

ἕως ἂν εἴπω σοί] until I shall have told thee (ἄν, of a case occurring), that is, that thou shouldst come back again. Ellipsis of the common it is, since the time of Homer (Nägelsbach on the Iliad, pp. 60, 120, ed. 3), in universal use.

τοῦ ἀπολέσαι] Expression of the intention; see Kühner, II. p. 204; Buttm. neut. Gr. p. 232 [E. T. 270].

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 2:13-23 . Flight to Egypt, massacre in Bethlehem, return to Nazareth . These three stories have one aim. They indicate the omens which appear in beginnings omina principiis inesse solent (Ovid). The fortunes of Christianity foreshadowed in the experiences of the holy child: welcomed by Gentiles, evil entreated by Jews. “The real contents of these sections embody an ideal aim” (Schanz).

Mat 2:13-15 . Flight to Egypt .

Mat 2:13 . φαίνεται : assuming that this is the correct reading, the flight to Egypt is represented as following close on the departure of the Magi; the historic present, vividly introducing one scene after another. A subjective state of anxiety is here also to be presumed. Whence arising we can only conjecture. Did the Magi give a hint, mentioning Herod’s name in a significant manner? Be that as it may, Joseph also gets the necessary direction. Ἐγερθεὶς … εἰς Αἴγυπτον : Egypt near, friendly, and the refuge of Israel’s ancestors in days of old, if also their house of bondage. παράλαβε , take with a view to taking care of ( cf. Joh 1:11 , “His own received Him not,” παρέλαβον ); benigne , Fritzsche ἕως … σοί : either generally, till I give thee further orders (Fritzsche); or till I tell thee to return (Meyer, Schanz); sense the same; the time of such new direction is left vague ( ἂν with sub.). μέλλει γὰρ : gives reason of the command. τοῦ ἀπολέσαι αὐτό : Herod’s first purpose was to kill Mary’s child alone. He afterwards killed many to make sure of the one. The genitive of the infinitive to express purpose belongs to comparatively late Greek. It occurs constantly in the Sept [7] and in N. T.

[7] Septuagint.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ being yet scarce born, beginneth to be crucified for us, both in himself, and also in his members.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 13. Flee into Egypt] Many Jews had settled in Egypt; not only those who had fled thither in the time of Jeremiah, see Jer. 48; but many others who had settled there also, on account of the temple which Onias IV. had built at Heliopolis. Those who could speak the Greek tongue enjoyed many advantages in that country: besides, they had the Greek version of the Septuagint, which had been translated nearly 300 years before this time. Egypt was now a Roman province, and the rage of Herod could not pursue the holy family to this place. There is an apocryphal work in Arabic, called the Gospel of the infancy, which pretends to relate all the acts of Jesus and Mary while in Egypt. I have taken the pains to read this through, and have found it to be a piece of gross superstition, having nothing to entitle it to a shadow of credibility.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(13) The angel.—Better, an angel. The interval of time between the departure of the Magi and Joseph’s dream is not specified. Probably it was very short. As with the Magi, the dream may have come as an echo of his waking thoughts, an answer to the perplexities with which their visit and the other wonders of the time had filled his spirit.

Flee into Egypt.—The nearness of Egypt had always made it a natural asylum for refugees from Palestine. So Jeroboam had found shelter there (1Ki_11:40), and at a later date, Johanan the son of Kareah and his companions had fled thither from the face of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer_43:7). The number of Jews who were settled in Alexandria and other cities of Egypt had probably made the step still more common during the tyranny of Herod’s later years.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13–15. The Flight into Egypt

13. the young child] Named first, as the most precious charge and the most exposed to danger.

Egypt] at all times the readiest place of refuge for the Israelites, whether from famine or from political oppression. It had sheltered many thousands of Jews from the tyranny of the Syrian kings. Consequently large settlements of Jews were to be found in various cities of Egypt and Africa. In Alexandria the Jews numbered a fifth of the population. Wherever therefore the infant Saviour’s home was in Egypt, it would be in the midst of His brethren according to the flesh.

At this time Egypt was a Roman province. This incident of Christ’s stay in Egypt would be regarded as a precious memory by the African church—the church of Cyprian, Origen and Augustine.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And when they were departed,.... That is immediately, or as soon as they were gone, or in a very little time after, probably the same night,

behold, the Angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream; it is very likely the same angel who appeared to him in such sort, Mat 1:20 "saying arise", awake out of sleep, and rise from thy bed directly,

and take the young child and his mother. The angel does not say take thy wife and son; for though Mary was properly his wife, yet Christ was not properly his son. The child is also mentioned before the mother, not only because of his divine nature and office, in respect to which he was her God and Saviour; but because it was the preservation of the child that was chiefly regarded, and for which the providence of God was particularly concerned; wherefore Joseph is ordered to take them in proper carriages, and

flee into Egypt, which was near to Judea, and so a fit place to flee to; for a long and tedious journey would not have been suitable to the mother and her young child. Moreover, Egypt was out of Herod's jurisdiction; here he could not come at them, or have any power over them; besides, hereby a prophecy after mentioned was to have its accomplishment. Hence it appears to be lawful to flee from danger, from tyrants and persecutors, when the providence of God opens a way for escape. The angel goes on with his charge,

and be thou there until I bring thee word: continue there, do not remove elsewhere, or return back, till I speak with thee, or order and command thee otherwise; and gives the reason for his appearing to him in such a manner, and giving such a charge;

for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him: no less a person than Herod the king, a bloody minded man, revengeful, desperate, and resolute in whatsoever he undertakes, "will seek", diligently search and inquire for, not his parents, Joseph and Mary, who might have been safe, but "the young child", who was born king of the Jews, and which gave him a great deal of uneasiness; and that not to worship him, as he told the wise men, but

to destroy him, to take away his life; to prevent which the angel was sent with this charge to Joseph: for though he was born to die for the sins of his people, his time was not yet come; he was to grow up to years of maturity, he was to be a preacher of the Gospel, to do many miracles and at last to lay down his life of himself, voluntarily, and not to be taken away from him without his knowledge and will.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

13 And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

Ver 13. Behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream] Angels cannot enlighten the mind or powerfully incline the will (that is proper to the Holy Ghost to do), but as spirits and instruments of the Holy Ghost they can insinuate themselves into the fantasy (as here to Joseph), stir up fantasms of good things, propound truth to the mind, advise and persuade to it, as counsellors, and inwardly instigate, as it were, by speaking and doing after a spiritual manner, suggesting good thoughts as the apostate angels do evil. How often had we fallen had not these guardians hindered (as Michael opposed Satan, Jdg 1:9) by removing occasions, or casting in good instincts into us, either asleep or awake. {a}

Take the young child, and flee into Egypt] Perhaps through that terrible and roaring wilderness of Arabia: {Deu 8:15} however, this was a part of his passion; for, from his cratch to his cross, he suffered many a little death all his life long; and as it is said of that French king (Henry IV), that he had more wars than others ever saw, so our Saviour suffered more miseries than we ever heard of. Banished he was early, to bring back his banished to paradise, that is, above, their proper country; towards the which we groan and aspire, as often as we look towards heaven, waiting, as with outstretched necks, "for the manifestation of the sons of God," {αποκαραδοκια, Rom 8:19} and saying with Sisera’s mother, "Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?" Jdg 5:28; "Make haste, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains of spices," Son 8:14..

For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him] The devil in Herod, Rev 12:4. So Rev 2:10; "The devil shall cast some of you into prison," &c. Is the devil become a justicer, to send men to prison? By his imps and instruments (such as Herod was, that abuse their authority) Satan exerciseth his malice against the saints, lending them his seven heads to plot, and his ten horns to push; but all in vain, Psa 2:5.

{a} Magnus est animus qui se Deo tradidit. Great is the mind who turns himself over to God. Senec.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The angel appeareth to Joseph in a dream - See Mat 1:20.

Flee into Egypt - Egypt is situated to the southwest of Judea, and is distant from Bethlehem perhaps about 60 miles. It was at this time a Roman province. There were many Jews there, who had a temple and synagogues (see the notes at Isa 19:18), and Joseph, therefore, would be among his own countrymen, and yet beyond the reach of Herod. The jurisdiction of Herod extended only to the River Sihon, or “river of Egypt,” and, of course, beyond that Joseph was safe from his designs. For a description of Egypt, see the notes at Isa. 19. It is remarkable that this is the only time in which our Saviour was out of Palestine, and that this was in the land where the children of Israel had suffered so much and so long under the oppression of the Egyptian kings. The very land which was the land of bondage and groaning for the Jews, became now the land of refuge and safety for the new-born King of Judea. God can overturn nations and kingdoms, so that those whom he loves shall be safe anywhere.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

How long it was before this apparition to Joseph the Scripture saith not, but admitting what is affirmed by some geographers, that Bethlehem Judah was but two days’ journey from Jerusalem, it cannot be presumed long, for Herod had (doubtless) quick intelligence of the wise men’s motions. Here was a second temptation upon Joseph, who was of no great quality, (a carpenter), and might have anxious thoughts how he in Egypt should maintain himself, his wife, and child; but Joseph knew that the earth was the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof: though Egypt therefore was a land of idolaters, and he had no visible way of subsistence there, yet we shall hear that none of these things made him hesitate. Egypt was near to Palestine, and the dominions of another prince, within which Herod had nothing to do. Jeroboam fled thither, 1Ki 11:40, and stayed there till the death of Solomon. God’s precept here did not only indicate his care and special providence for and over this holy Child, but included a promise of sustenance and support for it and its parents; and the Lord further assured Joseph that he should not die in that exile, for he would likewise tell him the time when he should come back. Christ’s time to die was not yet come, and therefore he would have him out of the way, for he who searcheth the heart and trieth the reins, and knoweth the thoughts of man afar off, did know that Herod would

seek the young child to destroy him: he should but seek him, for God had resolved to preserve him, but he would show the malice of his heart in seeking of him, therefore God commands him to go away, and directeth him whither to go. The certainty of an issue, from the Divine counsels, or a Divine revelation, ought not to encourage us in the neglect of any rational and just means for the obtaining of it. Though God will provide for his church and people, yet it is his will they should use all just and lawful means for their own preservation.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

§ 13. — RETURN OF MAGI AND FLIGHT INTO EGYPT, Mat_2:12-15.

13. The young child and his mother — Not thy wife and child. They are to him a charge rather than relatives.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 13-15. The deliverance of Jesus by flight into Egypt.

And (Revised Version, now) when they were departed. The flight was not by their advice, and they were not even entrusted with the secret. Behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream. (Exo_4:22, Exo_4:23) "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." But those words of Hosea were pregnant with a deeper meaning a meaning possibly not present to the mind of the prophet, but now unfolded by the Holy Ghost. God called his only begotten Son out of Egypt. God had a mighty work for him to do, and the scene of that work was to be, not Egypt, but the Holy Land. God sometimes seems to separate us from our work, to banish us from what seems to us our proper field of labour. We must trust him, as Joseph did; he will bring to pass in his own good time the purposes of his love and wisdom.

3. The slaughter of the innocents.

(1) The murderer. Herod reverences ancient prophecy, and seeks to slay the Lord"s Christ, of whom the prophets spake. He receives Holy Scripture as the Word of God, and tries to frustrate the counsels of the Most High. Strange and miserable inconsistency! His mind accepts the Divine authority of the Bible; his heart revolts in direct rebellion from the will of God. Like Balaam, he thinks that he, poor worm of the earth, can check the development of the purpose of God. Like Balaam, he puts his own selfish ends into conflict with the love of God. The infant King of the Jews may endanger his earthly throne; he will slay him if he can, though he believes him, or half believes him, to be appointed by God to be the Ruler of his people Israel. Very awful wickedness; but yet differing only in degree from the guilt of those who, professing to believe in Christ, oppress his poor, or for their own selfish ends oppose the work and progress of his Church. The Bible is a very precious talent entrusted to us by God; but the knowledge of his will must increase our condemnation a hundredfold if we set ourselves against it in our lives. Knowledge with obedience is very blessed; knowledge with disobedience incurs a fearful doom.

(2) The victims. They were martyrs in deed, though not in will. They died for Christ, unconsciously indeed, but yet for him, to ensure his safety, that he might live to die for them, to save them, with all his people, through his most precious blood. We may be sure that their death was blessed; they died for Christ. They were taken from the evil to come; they died before their infant souls were stained by actual sin. The death of little children is a mystery. It looks like a waste of life; it seems as if there is an immense waste in the creation of God; such multitudes die before they come to maturity. But we live in an atmosphere of mystery; we can see only a very little way into the surrounding darkness. We walk by faith, not by sight. We must believe that he doeth all things well, and trust our babes to him who loved the little children, who took them up into his arms and blessed them.

(3) The prophecy. The words of Jeremiah related to the wailings of the captives collected at Ramah on their way to Babylon. Rachel, their ancestress, buried near Bethlehem, hears their cries; she issues from her grave; her lamentations are heard in Ramah. Now the prophecy receives a second fulfilment; the bitter sorrow of the bereaved mothers moves the heart of the dead Rachel; again her voice is heard weeping with the weeping mothers. It is a touching illustration of the exceeding great anguish of those Bethlehem matrons. Rachel is represented as listening and joining in their mourning. The Lord Christ listens to us in our distress; he feels for us with all the depth of human tenderness, with all the strength of Divine love.

II THE RETURN.

1. Herod was dead. The wicked king, on whose conscience lay the death of so many sufferers, had now to meet death himself. His last days were passed in the extremest misery, sometimes in planning acts of cruelty, sometimes in fits of the deepest despair. His wealth and power could not save him from a frightful death. "There is no peace, saith my God, unto the wicked." His death teaches the solemn lesson, "Envy thou not the oppressor." Wickedness, however gilded by rank and riches, must end in misery, probably in this world, certainly in the world to come. Herod was dead; the Lord Jesus was yet an Infant. The two, so utterly unlike, are mentioned here together. For a moment they almost crossed each other"s path the old man and the little Babe; the Idumaean and the Son of David; the despot in all his barbaric splendour, and the Child who had been cradled in the manger; the mighty tyrant with his soldiers, and the helpless Infant with one only earthly protector; the one intensely wicked, guilty beyond the ordinary range of human guilt, the other Holiest of holies, gentle, loving, self-sacrificing beyond all that human heart can conceive. For a moment their paths almost met, and then they parted the one to die in torture, in misery of soul and body, thirsting for blood to the last moments of his evil life; the other to live a life most holy and most blessed, and at the last to lay down his life, a spotless Sacrifice, for the sins of the whole world. Herod was dead: who would envy the pomp and luxury of a life doomed to issue in such a death? They carried him to his tomb in royal majesty; the corpse lay on a bier of gold adorned with the costliest jewels. It seemed a ghastly mockery; that pomp could not follow him beyond the grave, it could not help the poor soul that was gone.

2. The call. Again the angel"s voice aroused the sleeping Joseph; again he recognized the word of God, and obeyed, as was his wont, at once. He took the young Child and his mother. Mary had suffered much; she was highly favoured; but those who are nearest to God are often called to pass through great affliction. She was in exile, far from home and country; she must have been in great distress and anxiety for the safety of the precious Child. She had trusted herself to God before: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." Doubtless she trusted him always. He cared for her; he guided her. It is a comforting thought for anxious mothers.

3. Nazareth.

(1) Joseph"s fears. God had bidden him to go into the land of Israel; he went in faith and obedience. But he had our human weakness, our doubts and fears. God"s grace does not remove the infirmities of our human nature; it helps us to resist them. Joseph heard that Archelaus had succeeded his father in Judaea. His character was well known; he was like his father, cruel and suspicious. Joseph feared for the holy Child.

(2) His dream. Again (so the Greek word seems to suggest) he sought counsel of God; again, for the fourth time now, God answered him in a dream. We mark Joseph"s untiring watchfulness, his constant prayers, God"s gracious answers. God"s people must do their part; they must work and watch and pray. In all their difficulties they must come to God in prayer; he will guide and direct them, they may not doubt. But they must be, like Joseph, vigilant and careful; they must learn of One greater than Joseph to "watch and pray." They must try to live, as Joseph lived, in habitual intercourse with God.

(3) His obedience. He might have wished to live at Bethlehem, where he and Mary were not known, where the holy Child was born; the city of David seemed the fit home for the Son of David. But there was reason to fear the tyranny of Archelaus. God guided him to Galilee; he returned to his old home at Nazareth. There the holy Child grew up to manhood. The first years of that wonderful life were spent in that little town, away from great cities; among the busy scenes of active life, in daily labour, in deep mysterious thought and constant prayer; in wanderings, perhaps, full of holy meditation, among those scenes of rare natural beauty, on those wooded hills with their wealth of bright flowers, with their fair, wide-reaching prospects. There he lived, a still, humble life, unknown to the great world; but, we may be sure, a life most beautiful and holy, a life which the angels of God watched with the intensest interest, with the deepest reverence. We may well be content to live quiet, commonplace lives, unknown and unregarded; such was the early life of Jesus Christ our Lord. But in those early years, we cannot doubt, much of his great work was wrought. "By the obedience of One shall many be made righteous." During those long years of perfect purity and holy submission of will he obeyed the Law of God in our nature, as our Representative. He is our Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification; he is "the Lord our Righteousness;" his obedience is ours, if we abide in him. Out of those thirty years of silent obedience grew the three years of active work. Quiet persevering obedience in the ordinary duties of daily life is the best preparation for active work for God, and for the great emergencies which may from time to time occur in our lives.

(4) The Nazarene. The prophets had spoken of the Messiah as the Branch (Netser) which should grow out of the roots of Jesse. (Isa_11:1) The name of Nazareth itself was Netser, "the Branch." The prophets had also spoken of him as despised and rejected of men. He was the lowly Branch or Shrub, not the stately tree; he dwelt in Nazareth, which bore the same humble name, an unknown place, from which it was not thought that any good thing could come. The prophetic description was fulfilled; he was called "the Nazarene;" the same name has been given in contempt to his disciples. He was lowly in heart; let us learn of him the precious grace of lowliness.

LESSONS.

1. God will bring to pass the purposes of his love; wicked men cannot overthrow them. "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.

2. Trust the little ones to God; he cares for them.

3. Be humble and gentle, like the holy Child.

Vers. 13, 19, 22. The providence that befriended the earliest life of Jesus.

Three times in this chapter, as well as once in the preceding, (Mat_1:20) do we thus read of the intervention of particular Divine directions given to Joseph in the interest of the infant Jesus. The grand head under which events of this kind must seek and find their classification is that of providence. The next greatest fact to creation is providence, without which creation itself would soon have proved a still-born thing, or some monstrosity. The objections that have been sometimes felt, sometimes urged, against particular providences, do but betoken a feeble hold upon the real nature of providence. They incontestably lie in part material, and must be granted to be in somewhat closer relationship, at all events, than the interpositions called miracles and the general course of the so-called laws of nature. The very same hand that ministers the one ministers and rules the other in both instances. As surely as "a thousand fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand," seen, more than those numbers fall unseen also. As surely as we owe it to God"s goodness that we are saved from the comparatively few dangers we see and are cognizant of, we owe it to that goodness that we are saved from an immensely larger number unseen, undreamt of. What appears to us as the extraordinary interventions of Divine goodness and mercy are in no wise so extraordinary as respects the quality of the goodness and mercy, as in the fact that the whole matter of them lies, for some reason or other, disclosed and patent before our eyes. Notice, therefore, that

I THE NECESSITIES OF HUMAN LIFE, IN VIEW OF ITS WEAKNESS AND ITS NO FORESIGHT, ARE SUCH AS TO REQUIRE THE CONTINUAL MINISTRY OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE.

II THE ADVANTAGE OF HUMAN LIFE IS INFINITELY CONSULTED IN THE INTERVENTION OF THAT PROVIDENCE IN SUCH SHAPE AND MANNER AS SHALL MAKE IT STRIKINGLY APPARENT.

III THOUGH SOME DIVINITY UNMISTAKABLY HEDGED IN THIS WONDERFUL, IMPERILLED, GLORIOUS LIFE OF JESUS, YET, AT PRESENT AT ALL EVENTS, NO SPECIAL DIVINITY HEDGED IT IN. NO mark" was placed on Jesus to designate him as the Favourite of God and of angels. Neither his Person nor his head only were really enveloped in a halo. He is befriended by providence, and faithfully befriended, but

(1) only to the extent of his need, and

(2) only in the same kind of way as innumerable others.

His earthly parents must take all care, all precautions, all toilsome journeys, all vexatious home-leaving and country-leaving, if he is to be safe.

IV DEEP INDICATIONS LIE IN ALL THIS OF THE MOST REAL HUMANITY OF JESUS, AND OF HIS UNFEIGNED, OBEDIENT TAKING OF HUMAN NATURE AND HUMAN LOT. B.

Vers. 13 -15. System in providence.

It were a truism to say that there is wisdom in providence; for otherwise providence could not be Divine. In that wisdom there is what Paul describes as a manifoldness. (Eph_3:10) And this appears in a system of developments and correspondences, evincing at the same time unity of plan. The text furnishes striking illustrations. It suggests

I THAT THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL WERE CHRIST TYPICAL.

1. For Hoseas allusion is historical. His words are these: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt". (Hos_11:1) The reference plainly is to the bringing forth of the people of Israel from Egypt by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Moreover, it is a paraphrase upon the words of God"s message to Pharaoh. (Exo_4:22, Exo_4:23) From the history we learn:

(1) That the suffering of God"s people is no certain proof of his displeasure.

(2) That it may evince his love as that of a Father to a child who needs discipline and education.

(3) That when love"s ends are served the discipline will end.

2. Hoseas words are still prophetic.

(1) That they contain a mystery is clear from the manner in which they speak of the nation as a person. This is the converse of the manner in which the same prophet makes the real Jacob or Israel stand for the nation descended from him. (cf. Hos_12:3-6)

(2) The evangelist explains the mystery as containing a prophecy of Christ. In doing this he is countenanced by prophetic analogies. Thus Jehovah, speaking evidently of Messiah, says, "Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified". (Isa_49:3) Again, "Behold my Servant, whom I uphold; mine Elect, in whom my soul delighteth". (Isa_42:1)

This the LXX construes thus: "Jacob my servant, and Israel mine elect;" while in the Chaldee it is, "My servant the Messiah." This paraphrase is clearly justified by the context.

3. So the history in the Law likewise is prophetic.

(1) Dr. Alix remarks that the author of "Midrash Tehillim," on Psa_2:7, says, "The mysteries of the King Messiah are declared in the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa. In the Law it is written, (Exo_4:22) "Israel is my son, even my firstborn." Rabbi Nathan, in " Sehemath Rabba," on those words speaks thus: "As I made Jacob my firstborn", (Exo_4:22) so have I made Messiah my firstborn; as it is said, (Psa_89:27) "I will make him my Firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

(2) The perils, then, in which Israel typified Christ, viz. as they are presented in the passages before us, are:

(a) His Sonship.

(b) His election.

(c) His sojourn in Egypt.

(d) His return and advancement to dignity and glory.

II THAT GOD BROUGHT CHRIST TYPICAL OUT OF EGYPT.

1. The system of providence is seen in presages.

(1) The sojourn of Israel in Egypt was presaged in the personal history of Abraham their father. For early in that history "there was a famine in the land of Canaan: and Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there." In that land he found not only asylum, but generous treatment, and acquired property. Afterwards "the Lord plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram"s wife;" and these plagues induced Pharaoh to send him away. (Gen_12:14-20)

(2) That in all this there was an allegory Abram might have learnt from his subsequent experience. (see Gen_15:11-16) The horror of darkness was evidently a premonition of the sufferings his seed were destined to pass through in the dark land of Egypt (see Gesenius, under

2. So is it seen in their accomplishment.

(1) Joseph"s dreams were prophetic sketches of what afterwards became history.

(2) The fulfilment of the dreams of Joseph was also the accomplishment of the presages of Abram. The famine in Syria. The provision of plenty in Egypt in connection with which Joseph, by the good hand of God upon him, came into power. The settlement of Israel in Egypt. His sufferings there when the services of Joseph were forgotten. The plaguing of Pharaoh. The Exodus.

III THAT GOD BROUGHT CHRIST LITERAL OUT or EGYPT.

1. Correspondences are seen in the agents.

(1) We note a correspondence of names. In each case we have a "Joseph," and moreover a "Joseph the son of Jacob.

(2) We have also a correspondence of character. The son of Rachel was eminently a righteous man, and so likewise was the husband of Mary. Both were alike distinguished for their unswerving loyalty and obedience to God.

(3) There is, moreover, a correspondence of dreams. God honours those who honour him.

(a) As the latter Joseph by his alliance with Christ came to converse with angels, so have all who are spiritually related to Christ intercourse with Heaven. (cf. Heb_1:14 Heb_12:22)

(b) If the reason of God"s communicating with men in dreams be that in sleep men"s minds are disengaged from the world, the lesson is that if we would come under special heavenly influences we must call off our affections from earthly things.

2. Correspondences are seen in the accidents.

(1) "Flee into Egypt." God can make the worst places serve the best purposes. (cf. Rev_12:16)

(2) Jesus, like Israel of old, was in Egypt for asylum. "For Herod will seek the young Child to destroy him." God knows the purposes of his enemies. (cf. Isa_37:28)

(3) Jesus was nourished there evidently by the hand of God, as Israel was in the days of the earlier Joseph. The carpenter was so poor that Mary had to offer doves instead of a lamb. (cf. Lev_12:8 with Luk_2:24) He had no difficulty in gathering up his effects to set off for Egypt the same night in which he had his orders. "If rich people have the advantage of the poor while they possess what they have, the poor have the advantage of the rich when they are called to part with it" (Henry). But how, then, could this Joseph subsist his sacred Charge in a strange land? He who gave the years of plenty to the ancient Joseph for the nourishment of his typical son, placed the gold of the Magi in the hand of his namesake for the preservation of the Son of his love.

(4) There was in the days of Israel"s sojourn in Egypt a slaughter of the male children of that people by order of Pharaoh, from which Moses, the future redeemer of the nation, was wonderfully spared. Who does not see in this a prophecy of the deliverance of Jesus from Herod"s slaughter of the innocents?

(5) The retribution for this came upon Pharaoh in the death of his firstborn when the firstborn of Israel was spared, and eventually upon himself also in the destruction at the Red Sea. So Herod"s death followed quickly upon his massacre of the innocents. And as the overthrow of Pharaoh was coincident with the escape of Israel, for on the other shore of the Red Sea he was out of Egypt; so the death of Herod was the signal for the calling out of Egypt of the true Son of God. The end of the wicked is death. They have everything to fear from time. The good have everything to hope from it.

IV THAT GOD WILL BRING CHRIST MYSTICAL OUT OF EGYPT.

1. The Church of true believers is the mystical Christ.

(1) So Paul describes the Church as the body of which Christ is the Head. (Rom_12:4, 5 1Co_10:16, 17 Eph_1:22, 23 4:15, 16 5:23, 30 Col_1:18, Col_1:24) The head and the body make up one Christ.

(2) Hence the Church is called Christ. (1Co_8:12 Gal_3:16 with ver. 29)

(3) Agreeably to this "Israel after the flesh," which we have seen to have been a type of Christ, is often made a type also of the "Israel of God," or true Christian Church.

2. What is predicated of Christ is mystically predicable of his Church.

(1) The mystical Egypt is that state of moral darkness and bondage in which we are by nature and former practice.

(2) The mystical Pharaoh, or Herod, is Satan, who is the tyrant of the moral house of bondage. So the persecuting powers of the world, which have ever been instinct with the spirit of the old serpent, are described under the figure of a dragon a monster whose zoological type is the crocodile of the Nile; (Re 12) fittingly so, since the Egyptian was the first really formidable political incarnation of Satan.

(3) Deliverance through Christ from the bondage of sin and tyranny of Satan is compared to that of Israel from Egypt. It is also compared to the coming up of Christ from that land, as in the text.

(4) The early and brief sojourn of Jesus in Egypt was a presage of the early but too transient Christianizing of the laud of the Pharaohs. As there was a very flourishing Church in Egypt in the early Christian ages, so may there be again in the generations of the future. (cf. Deu_23:7 Isa_19:24, Isa_19:25) Providence and grace are interwoven in wisdom. Never let us murmur against, evermore let us trust, that wisdom which is manifold and profound. J.A.M.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Flight into Egypt and the Return to Nazareth.

One part of Herod’s plan had not worked out: the Magi did not return to reveal the exact whereabouts of the Child. Now the Lord also foiled the design against the Child’s life.

v. 13. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young Child and His mother and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young Child, to destroy Him.

God again makes use of an angelic vision to protect His Son, by giving the necessary instructions to Joseph. See chapter 1:20. The need of haste is expressed: Having arisen, take at once; lose no time. The Child is again named first, everything about His well-being. "And His mother," the angel says. The phraseology is very careful and once more definitely points to the virgin birth. The reason for the command is also stated, in order to prevent delay. Herod has the intention, he has planned, he is about to search for the Child with the purpose of putting Him to death. Even the place of refuge is named in the divine message. Egypt should be their temporary home until such a time as a further command or communication to Joseph would permit their return to their native land. It is probable that Egypt was chosen because many Jews had settled in that country. The holy family would therefore be among fellow-countrymen and in a Roman province, where the rage of Herod could not pursue them.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, 1. Our Lord’s humiliation, by persecution in the very morning of his life; he was banished almost as soon as born. Flee into Egypt, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.

Ungrateful Herod! Was this entertainment for a Savior? What! raise the country upon Christ, as if a destroyer, rather than a Savior, had landed upon thy coasts! Oh! barbarous injustice! to deny a subject the protection of those laws under which he was born: the child of a beggar might claim that as his birthright, which was here denied to the Son of God.

Lord! how great an humiliation was this, not only to become an infant, but in thine infancy to be hurried up and down, and driven out of thine own land as a vagabond!

Observe, 2. How our Lord himself in a time of persecution flies for safety, who was able a thousand ways to have preserved himself from the danger: teaching us that in times of difficulty and danger, ’tis neither unwarrantable nor unbecoming to preserve our lives by flight; surely ’tis no shame for us to fly, when our Captian doth both practise it and command it also. Christ by his own example hath sanctified that state of life unto us, and by his command has made it lawful for us.

Observe, 3. The place which Christ flies unto for safety, and that is Egypt: an unlikely place, considered in itself; who could expect liberty in that house of bondage? But any place is good, if God sends us thither, and Christ be in our company. His presence can make Egypt itself not only safe, but delightful also.

Observe, 4. How readily Joseph complies with the divine command: instantly he arose, and took the young child, and fled. Faith gave wings to his obedience, and instantly vanquished all his fears, and afforded a fuller supply than all the treasures of the Arabian princes.

Teaching us, That when our direction is clear, our compliance is speedy. We cannot be too forward and expeditious in the execution of divine commands.

Observe, 5. Though Joseph at the divine command of God flies presently from Herod’s rage, yet he flies privately, by night, and prudently begins his journey when least notice should be taken of his motion:

Teaching us, That although we have never so many promises of safety and deliverance, yet we must not put God upon working miracles for our preservation, when it may be obtained in the use of means.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

SOJOURN IN EGYPT

13-15. Now Joseph, a true, godly man, dreams. God talks to him in the stilly hours of his nightly slumber. It is a long way for Mary to ride a donkey, and carry the Babe in her lap. Fortunately, He is now a month old. Then there was a complete overland route from Canaan to Egypt through the Isthmus of Suez, which, a few years ago, has been cut through by a canal, one hundred miles long, one hundred yards wide, and thirty feet deep, at the cost of one hundred millions of dollars. I have several times crossed the track of Joseph and Mary, with Jesus, into Egypt. I was in the house now a Coptic church — in Old Cairo, where they say the holy family spent the time in Egypt; also, under the great sycamore-tree, twenty miles from that house, where tradition says they tarried and rested. Hosea foresaw this event long centuries before it occurred, and wrote, “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.”

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XIV. Flight into Egypt].

XIV. FLIGHT INTO EGYPT AND SLAUGHTER OF THE BETHLEHEM CHILDREN. (Bethlehem and Road thence to Egypt, B. C. 4.) aMATT. II. 13-18.

a13 Now when they were departed [The text favors the idea that the arrival and departure of the magi and the departure of Joseph for Egypt, all occurred in one night. If so, the people of Bethlehem knew nothing of these matters], behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise [this command calls for immediate departure] and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt [This land was ever the refuge of Israel when fleeing from famine and oppression. One hundred miles in a direct line from Bethlehem would carry Joseph well over the border of Egypt. Two hundred miles would bring him to the river Nile. In Egypt he would find friends, possibly acquaintances. There were at that time about one million Jews in the Nile valley. In Alexandria, a city of 300,000, from one-fifth to two-fifths of the population were Jews, two of the five wards being given over to them; and the Talmud describes how, in its great synagogue, all the men of like craft or trade sat together. Thus Joseph might there find fellow-craftsmen, as did Paul in Corinth-- Act_18:3], and be thou there until I tell thee: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. [Thus joy at the honor of the magi's visit and worship gives place to terror at the wrath of Herod. The quiet days at Bethlehem are followed by a night of fear and flight. The parents of Jesus were experiencing those conflicting joys and sorrows which characterize the lives of all who have to do with Christ-- Mar_10:30, 2Ti_3:12.] 14 And he arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt [What a criticism upon Israel when Egypt, the house of bondage, the seat of tyranny, the land of the immemorial enemies of God's people, was regarded as a place of refuge from its ruler. Jesus was saved by flight. God invariably prefers the ordinary to the extraordinary means]; 15 and was there until the death of Herod [as Herod died soon after the flight to Egypt, the sojourn of the family of Jesus in that land must have been brief, for they returned after his death]: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord [the message is the Lord's, the words and voice are the prophet's] through the prophet [see Hos_11:1], saying, Out of Egypt did I call my son. [This prophecy, no doubt, had a primary reference to the Exodus, and was an echo of the words of Moses at Exo_4:22, Exo_4:23. In their type and antitype relationship the Old and New Testaments may be likened to the shell and kernel of a nut. Israel was Israel, and God's Son, because it included in itself the yet unformed and unborn body which was later to be inhabited by the spirit of the Word or Son of God. The seed of Abraham was called out of Egypt, that the promised seed enveloped within it might have a body and nature prepared in the land of liberty, and not in that of bondage. Israel was the outer shell, and Christ the kernel, hence the double significance of the prophecy--the twice repeated movement of the nation and the Man.] 16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked [the magi, no doubt, intended to return to Herod, and would have done so but for the dream, but when they failed to return, they seemed to Herod to have taken pleasure in deceiving him, and the very honesty of their conduct passed for the lowest depth of cunning] of the Wise-men, was exceeding wroth [wroth at being made sport of, and doubly wroth because of the serious matter as to which they presumed to jest], and sent forth [murderers, suddenly], and slew [Thus early did persecution attend those associated with Christ ( Mat_10:24, Mat_10:25). This brutality was in keeping with [50] Herod's character. Jealousy as to his authority led him to murder two high priests, his uncle Joseph, his wife, and three of his own sons, besides many other innocent persons. Fearing lest the people should rejoice at his departure, he summoned the leading citizens of all the cities of his realm, and, shutting them up in the circus grounds at Jericho, ordered his sister Salome and her husband to have them all put to death at the moment when he died, that the land might mourn at his death] all the male children that were in Bethlehem [As Bethlehem was not a large place, the number of martyrs could not have been large. It is variously estimated that from twelve to fifty were slain. Had the parents of Bethlehem known that Jesus was on the way to Egypt, they might have saved their own children by giving information as to the whereabouts of the right child; that is, if we may assume that they were being butchered], and in all the borders [Adjacent places; settlements or houses around Bethlehem. The present population of the town is fully five thousand; it was probably even larger in Christ's time] thereof, from two years old and under [According to Jewish reckoning this would mean all children from birth up to between twelve and thirteen months old, all past one year old being counted as two years old], according to the time which he had exactly learned of the Wise-men. [That is, he used their date as a basis for his calculations. It is likely that six months had elapsed since the star appeared, and that Herod doubled the months to make doubly sure of destroying the rival claimant. Not knowing whether the child was born before or after the appearing of the star, he included all the children of that full year in which the star came.] 17 Then was fulfilled [ Mat_2:6, Mat_2:15, Mat_2:18 give us three different kinds of prophecy. The first is direct, and relates wholly to an event which was yet future; the second is a case where an act described is symbolic of another later and larger act; the last is a case where words describing one act may be taken as fitly and vividly describing another later act, though the acts [51] themselves may bear small resemblance. Matthew does not mean that Jeremiah predicted the slaughter at Bethlehem; but that his words, though spoken as to another occasion, were so chosen of the Spirit that they might be fitly applied to this latter occasion] that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet [ Jer_31:15], saying, 18 A voice was heard in Ramah [This word means "highland" or "hill." The town lies six miles north of Jerusalem. It was the birthplace and burial-place of the prophet Samuel. It is also supposed to be the Aramathea of the New Testament. See Mat_27:57], Weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children [Why these tearful mothers in Bethlehem? Because that which Christ escaped remained for his brethren, their children, to suffer. If he would escape death, all his brethren must die. But he died that all his brethren might live]; And she would not be comforted, because they are not. [The words here quoted were originally written concerning the Babylonian captivity ( Jer_31:15). Ramah was a town of Benjamin ( Jos_18:25). Jeremiah was carried thither in chains with the other captives, but was there released by the order of Nebuchadnezzar ( Jer_40:1, Jer_39:11, Jer_39:12). Here he saw the captives depart for Babylon, and heard the weeping of the poor who were left in the land ( Jer_39:10); hence the mention of Ramah as the place of lamentation. He represents Rachel weeping, because the Benjamites were descendants of Rachel, and, perhaps, because the tomb of Rachel was "in the border of Benjamin," and not far away ( 1Sa_10:2). The image of the ancient mother of the tribe, rising from her tomb to weep, and refusing to be comforted because her children were not around her, is inimitably beautiful; and this image so strikingly portrayed the weeping in Bethlehem that Matthew adopts the words of the prophet, and says that they were here fulfilled. It was the fulfillment, not of a prediction, properly speaking, but of certain words spoken by the prophet.]

[FFG 49-52]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. And when they were departed. It is probable that the Magi were led by the star to Bethlehem, offered their homage, departed, Joseph was warned, and the holy family started to Egypt, all the same night. Flee into Egypt. Egypt has a very intimate connection with Bible history. It was the nearest of Roman provinces independent of Herod, was the home of thousands of Joseph's countrymen, was the home of thousands of Joseph's countrymen, and was convenient for a return at the proper time.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

In verse 15, Matthew quotes the prophet Hosea to show that the Christ would spend time in Egypt.

they had departed

"the learned men had departed"

appeared to Joseph in a dream

"came to Joseph while he was dreaming"

Get up, take ... flee ... Remain ... you

God is speaking to Joseph, so these should all be singular forms. (See: Forms of You)

until I tell you

The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. AT: "until I tell you it is safe to come back" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

I tell you

Here "I" refers to God. The angel is speaking for God.

He remained

It is implied that Joseph, Mary, and Jesus remained in Egypt. AT: "They remained" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

until the death of Herod

Herod does not die until Matthew 2:19. This statement describes the length of their stay in Egypt, and it does not say that Herod died at this time.

Out of Egypt I have called my son

"I have called my son out of Egypt"

my son

In Hosea this refers to the people of Israel. Matthew quoted it to say that this was true of God's Son, Jesus. Translate it using a word for son that could refer to the only son or the first son.

translationWords

angel

lord

Joseph (NT)

dream

Egypt

Herod the Great

fulfill

prophet

call

son

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

13–15. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT

13. τὸ παιδίον. Named first as the most precious charge and the most exposed to danger.

εἰς Αἴγυπτον. Egypt was at all times the readiest place of refuge for the Israelites, whether from famine or from political oppression. It had sheltered many thousands of Jews from the tyranny of the Syrian kings. Consequently large settlements of Jews were to be found in various cities of Egypt and Africa. In Alexandria the Jews numbered a fifth of the population. Wherever therefore the infant Saviour’s home was in Egypt, it would be in the midst of his brethren according to the flesh.

At this time Egypt was a Roman province. This incident of Christ’s stay in Egypt would be regarded as a precious memory by the African Church—the church of Cyprian, Origen and Augustine.

τοῦ ἀπολέσαι, ‘in order to slay it.’ A classical idiom which became frequent in the N.T. especially with St Paul and St Luke; it is still more frequent in the LXX.

(1) Denoting purpose, as here. Cp. εἰσῆλθεν τοῦ μεῖναι σὺν αὐτοῖς, Luk 24:29. τοῦ μηκέτι δουλεύειν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ, Rom 6:6. These instances are best referred to the use of the partitive genitive with verbs signifying aim or striving for, or to the genitive of cause denoting that from which the action springs. Comp. the final use of the genitive of the gerund and gerundive in Latin.

(2) Result—a usage closely connected with the last, as the ideas of purpose and result are nearly related, particularly according to the Hebraic modes of thought. (See note ch. Mat 1:22 on ἵνα.) Cp. ἐλευθέρα ἐστὶν ἀπὸ τοῦ νόμου τοῦ μὴ εἶναι αὐτὴν μοιχαλίδα, Rom 7:2. Possibly ἐκρίθη τοῦ ἀποπλεῖν ἡμᾶς (Act 27:1) belongs to this head,—the decision resulted in sailing—cp. πέρας … τοῦ ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι, ‘an end that consisted or resulted in escape.’ See also Gossrau’s note on aram sepulchri, Verg. Æn. VI. 177.

(3) In many cases τοῦ with the infinitive is regularly used after words requiring a genitive, as ἐὰν ᾖ ἄξιον τοῦ κἀμὲ πορεύεσθαι, 1Co 16:4.

(4) In some passages it appears (α) as the object of verbs where the accusative would be required in Classical Greek, as οὐ γὰρ ἔκρινα τοῦ εἰδέναι τι ἐν ὑμῖν, 1Co 2:2. Or (β) as the subject of the verb: ὡς δὲ ἐγένετο τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν τὸν Πέτρον, Act 10:25. These and similar expressions may indeed be explained as extensions of recognised genitival uses, but it is better to regard them as illustrating the gradual forgetfulness in language of the origin of idioms. In illustration of this, comp. the use in French of the infinitive with de either as subject or as object; e.g. il est triste de vous voir,—on craint d’y aller; the adoption of the (Latin) accusative in the same language as the sole representative of the Latin cases; and the extension of ἵνα (νὰ) with the subjunctive in modern Greek to the various uses of the infinitive.

Hebrew scholars also note the widely-extended use of לְ as influencing this formula. See Winer 407–412. Jelf 492. 678. 3 . Arnold’s Thuc. VIII. 14.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13-23.] Flight into Egypt.

13. ἐγερθεὶς παρ.] Arise and take with thee; not, ‘When thou hast arisen (in the morning), take.’ The command was immediate; and Joseph made no delay. He must be understood, on account of νυκτός below, as having arisen the same night and departed forthwith. The words ἐγερθεὶς παρέλαβεν are also used in vv. 20, 21, where no haste is necessarily implied. Egypt, as near, as a Roman province and independent of Herod, and much inhabited by Jews, was an easy and convenient refuge.

τοῦ ἀπολ. is not a Hebraism, but pure Greek, implying the purpose. See Soph. Trach. 57, and Hermann’s note. Bernhardy, Syntax, p. 357, notices that it is rarely found in earlier Greek writers, but more common as we advance to the middle and later Attic. A few instances occur in Xenophon, more in Demosthenes, and abundance in after-writers. See on the usage, Winer, edn. 6, § 44. 4. b.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. And when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth in a dream to Joseph, saying, Arise, take the child and His mother, and flee into Egypt, and be there until I tell thee. For Herod is about to seek the child to destroy Him.]

ἀναχωρησάντων δὲ αὐτῶν—ἰδού] For the construction, see on v. 1. On ἰδού and κατʼ ὄναρ see note on 1:20. For the redundant ἐγερθείς, see on 1:24.—μέλλει—ζητεῖν] For the pres. inf., see Blass, p. 197.—τοῦ ἀπολέσαι] For the construction, cf. Blass, p. 235. It occurs 6 times in Mt., never in Mk. The aorist signifies a single definite action. So in 3:13. Contrast 13:3.

(P)

13. ἀναχωρησάντων δὲ αὐτῶν] S1 S2 have “and after them.” B. adds είς τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν from v. 12.—φαίνεται] א C D al. B has ἐφάνη as in 1:20.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.