Matthew 2:20

Mat 2:20. They are dead which sought the young child’s life — It has been conjectured by some, that Antipater, the son of Herod, who died but five days before his father, might also be referred to in these words, They are dead, &c. At the time when Christ was born, he was heir apparent to the crown, and was a prince so cruel and ambitious, that he had procured the death of his two elder brothers, to clear his way to the succession, and no doubt he would be an active counsellor and instrument in seeking the destruction of the new-born Jesus, and in advising the slaughter of the infants.

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

2:20-21 Jesus’ return to Israel fulfills Hos 11:1 (see 2:13-15).

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

Mat 2:20. Εἰς γῆν Ἰσραήλ, into the land of Israel) Joseph was allowed to choose the town or district, but not the country of their abode; since it behoved that Emmanuel should come to years of manhood (adolescere) in His own land.—τεθνήκασι, they are dead) The plural concisely signifies, that Herod is dead, and that there are not any others who entertain evil designs.[104]—οἱ ζητοῦντες τὴν ψυχὴν, who sought the life) literally, who sought the soul. A phrase employed by the LXX.

[104] What a vast host of enemies rising against Christ, from then till now, has perished utterly.—B. G. V.

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

Mat_2:20-21. Τεθνήκασι … ζητοῦντες] is to be understood simply of Herod. The plural is very often used where the conception of a species is to be expressed, and then denotes the subject, not according to number, but chiefly according to the category to which it belongs. Reisig, ad Soph. Oed. C. 966, and Conject. in Aristoph. p. 58; Wunder, ad Soph. O. R. 361; Elwert, Quaestion. ad philolog. sacr. 1860, p. 10 f.; Winer, p. 165 [E. T. 219]. Frequently, particularly in the tragic writers, it contains a special emphasis, Hermann, ad Viger. p. 739, which also announces itself in the present passage. Others (Euth. Zigabenus) regard it as including Herod and his councillors or servants. Mat_2:19 is decisive against this view. Others (Gratz, B. Crusius, de Wette): the plural is put, because the words are taken from Exo_4:19. But there the plural is required not only by the πάντες, which stands in the text, but likewise by the whole connection. The resemblance to Exo_4:19 is either accidental, or, more probably, intentionally selected in the consciousness of being a historical parallel.

εἰς γ. Ἰσρ.] Note the extent and indefiniteness of the designation; Joseph could thus afterwards turn his steps to Galilee without acting in opposition to the instruction. Comp. 1Sa_13:19; Eze_11:17.

ζητεῖν τὴν ψυχήν] בַּקֵּשׁ אֶח־נֶפֶשׁ, seek the soulthat is, seek after ones life (Rom_11:3). The present participle with the article used as a substantive, see Winer, p. 103 f. [E. T. 219]. Comp. Dissen, ad Dem. de cor. p. 238.

Herod died in Jericho (according to Gerlach, in Jerusalem) in the year 750, his genitals and bowels being eaten up of worms (Joseph. Bell. i. 33. 1, 5; Antt. xvii. 6. 5; Euseb. H. E. i. 68), in the thirty-seventh year of his reign, and in the seventieth of his age, Josephus, Antt. xvii. 8. 1, xvii. 9. 3. The tyrant became a prey to despair at his death, an attempt at suicide having failed in his last extremity.

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 2:20 . Ἐγερθεὶς … Ἰσραήλ : it is expressed in the same terms as those of the message directing flight to Egypt, except of course that the land is different, and the order not flee but return . “Arise, take the child and His mother.” The words were as a refrain in the life of Joseph in those critical months. τεθνήκασι γὰρ : in this general manner is the death of Herod referred to, as if in studious avoidance of the dreaded name. They are dead. The plural here ( οἱ ζητοῦντες ), as often, expresses a general idea, a class, though only a single person is meant ( vide Winer, § 27, 2, and Exo 4:19 ). But the manner of expression may indicate a desire to dissipate completely Joseph’s apprehensions. There is nothing, no person to fear: go! Mat 2:21 . ὁ δὲ ἐγερθεὶς … Ἰσραήλ : prompt obedience follows, but νυκτός (Mat 2:14 ) is omitted this time. Joseph may wait till day; the matter is not so urgent. Then the word was φεῦγε . It was a flight for life, every hour or minute important.

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

Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel--not to the land of Judea, for he was afterward expressly warned not to settle there, nor to Galilee, for he only went thither when he found it unsafe to settle in Judea but to "the land of Israel," in its most general sense; meaning the Holy Land at large--the particular province being not as yet indicated. So Joseph and the Virgin had, like Abraham, to "go out, not knowing whither they went," till they should receive further direction.

for they are dead which sought the young child's life--a common expression in most languages where only one is meant, who here is Herod. But the words are taken from the strikingly analogous case in Exo 4:19, which probably suggested the plural here; and where the command is given to Moses to return to Egypt for the same reason that the greater than Moses was now ordered to be brought back from it--the death of him who sought his life. Herod died in the seventieth year of his age, and thirty-seventh of his reign.

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

Verse 20. They are dead] Both Herod and Antipater his son; though some think the plural is here used for the singular, and that the death of Herod alone is here intended. But as Herod's son Antipater was at this time heir apparent to the throne, and he had cleared his way to it by procuring the death of both his elder brothers, he is probably alluded to here, as doubtless he entered into his father's designs. THEY are dead-Antipater was put to death by his father's command, five days before this execrable tyrant went to his own place. See Josephus, Antiq. xvi. 11; xvii. 9.

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

(20) They are dead.—The use of the plural is noticeable, as Herod alone had been named. Possibly, however, others may have been implicated in the scheme; or the turn of the phrase may have been suggested to the reporter of the dream by the parallel language of Exo_4:19, in reference to Moses.

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

19–21. The Return from Egypt

20. they] Plural by a euphemism, the reference being to Herod alone.

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.

Saying, arise, and take the young child and his mother,.... Joseph strictly observed and obeyed the divine command of the angel, who had ordered him to continue in Egypt, till he brought him word what he should do, and where he should go: here he was with Mary and Jesus, when the angel bid him arise, and take them with him,

and go into the land of Israel. He does not bid him go to Bethlehem or Nazareth, or any particular place, but the land of Israel, where he might go even into any part of it, without fear; and gives this reason for it,

for they are dead which sought the young child's life; meaning either Herod only, the plural number being put for the singular; or including Antipater his son with him, who might be equally concerned in seeking the life of Christ; since he was next heir, and whom Herod (z) ordered to be slain about five days before his death; or else designing with him many of the executioners of the infants at Bethlehem, and thereabout; who might have been, as well as he, miserable instances of divine vengeance, for their concern in that barbarous tragedy.

(z) Joseph. de Bello Judaico, l. 1. c. 33. sect. 8, 9.

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

20 Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.

Ver. 20. For they are dead which sought the young child’s life] God hid him, as it were, "for a little moment, until the indignation was overpast," Isa 26:20. So he did Jeremiah, Baruch, Athanasius, Luther in his Patmos (as he used to call the castle of Wartburg), where when the Pope had excommunicated him, and the Emperor proscribed him, the Lord put into the heart of the Duke of Saxony to hide him for ten months; in which time the Pope died, the Emperor had his hands full of the French wars, and the Church thereby obtained a happy halcyon. At which time a pretty spectacle it was to behold Christ striving with Antichrist for mastery. For whatsoever the Pope and his champions could do to the contrary, all happened rather, as at Philippi, unto the furtherance of the gospel, Php 1:12. So was it here in Queen Mary’s time; do what they could, the Christian congregations in London were sometimes forty, sometimes a hundred, sometimes two hundred. I have heard of one (saith Mr Fox) that being sent to them to take their names and to spy on their doings, yet in being among them was converted, and cried them all mercy. Harpsfield hearing that the queen lay dying, hasted home from London to burn those six that he had in his cruel custody. Those were the last that were burnt. Many others escaped by the queen’s death.

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.

They are dead who sought ... - This either refers to Herod alone, as is not uncommon, using the plural number for the singular; or it may refer to Herod and his son Antipater. He was of the same cruel disposition as his father, and was put to death by his father about five days before his own death.

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

20. They are dead — Words quoted from Exo_4:19, where they are applied to Pharaoh the type of Herod. Our Lord’s stay in Egypt could have not been many months in duration.

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

Saying, Arise, and take the young Child and his mother (so far verbally equivalent to ver. 13). And go into the land. of Israel; any part of the holy and promised land. (1Sa_13:19 Eze_11:17) For they are dead which sought the young Child"s life. The plural is difficult, and is perhaps best explained as an adaptation of the historic parallel of Exo_4:19.

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

20. Arise … go into the land of Israel. Notice that Joseph is not required to return to Bethlehem or to Judea, but simply to the land of Israel. They are dead which sought the young child's life. As “they” is plural, there must have been the death of more than one of those who sought the death of the Lord. Five days before the death of Herod he slew his son Antipater, a prince of dark, cruel, treacherous character, whom he expected to succeed him. Nothing could be more likely than that he had fully sympathized in the scheme of child-murder at Bethlehem. Now both, “they that sought the young child's life,” were dead.

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.

20. οἱ ζητοῦντες. Plural used sometimes where there is no need or no wish to individualise. Others however joined Herod in his design to slay the young child; but with the death of Herod the whole plot would fall to the ground.

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.

20. τεθνήκασιν γάρ] The plural here is not merely idiomatic, nor, as Wordsw., “for lenity and forbearance, in speaking of the dead;” but perhaps a citation from Exo 4:19, where the same words are spoken to Moses (ζητεῖν τὴν ψυχήν ═ בִּקֵּשׁ נֶפֶשׁ): or, as Meyer, betokening, not the number, but the category. Cf. Soph. Œd. Col. 966. Herod the Great died of a dreadful disease at Jericho, in the seventieth year of his age, and the thirty-eighth of his reign, a.u.c. 750. Jos. B. J. i. 33. 8.

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

20. Arise, take the child and His mother, and Go into the land of Israel: for “they are dead who seek the life” of the child.] For the redundant ἐγερθείς, see on 1:24. τεθνήκασιν γὰρ οἱ ζητοῦντες τὴν ψυχήν is a reminiscence of Exo 4:19. Throughout this section. the editor seems to have had the story of Moses in mind, and to have borrowed phrases from it. Cf. v. 13 μέλλει—ζητεῖν—τοῦ ἀπολέσαι, and 15 ἀνεῖλε, with Exo 2:15 ἐζήτει ἀνελεῖν; v. 14 ἀνεχώρησεν, with Exo 2:15 ἀνεχώρησεν.

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