Matthew 2:13-21 (The flight into Egypt and return)

Rachel Workman: What a sad reading today. To kill all boys under 2 years old is cruel beyond words. I know those babies were covered by God and I know they have a special place in heaven because they were persecuted for Christ paying with their lives. I can't even begin to imagine the hell that awaited Herod.

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John Burnett:  Matthew 2:13-21 ¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 

¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the  prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”^[a]

^{Hosea had prophesied about Egypt.  Egypt has been used by God for protection of His people and His Son.}

¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:  This goes to show the wickedness of men at the time.  Not much different than today were we offer babies on the altar of convenience hundreds to thousands of times a day.

¹⁸ “A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”^[b]

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰ and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”  God used angels to communicate his will during Jesus’s time.  There are many people that think he still speaks to us with angels today.  He has no need to send angels today because we have his word and the Holy Spirit to illuminate his Word when we don’t understand.  Satan is the great imitator and he can present himself as an angel so when you hear of someone saying I saw an angel, be aware because it probably wasn’t from the Lord.

²¹ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

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Krista Cook:  - Mary and Joseph were becoming very familiar with hearing from the angel of the Lord.  And they never hesitated to obey what was told them.  What great faith they had!  We see here many prophecies continuing to be fulfilled.  How can anyone doubt the Bible? 

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Mike Grimm:  ¹³ After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

¹⁴ That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, ¹⁵ and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.”

If we read 2:13-14 in the context of Matthew's Gospel, we realize that even in his childhood the Son of Man already lacked a place to lay his head (8:20). Disciples would face the same kind of test (10:23; 24:16).

Jesus' miraculous escape here should not lead us to overlook the nature of his deliverance. Jesus and his family survived, but they survived as refugees, abandoning any livelihood Joseph may have developed in Bethlehem and undoubtedly traveling lightly.

¹⁶ Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. ¹⁷ Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: The murder of the children of Bethlehem seems to fit Herod's character; yet it is not surprising that other early writers do not mention this particular atrocity. Herod's reign was an era of many highly placed political murders.

¹⁸ “A cry was heard in Ramah—
    weeping and great mourning.
Rachel weeps for her children,
    refusing to be comforted,
    for they are dead.”

These words, quoted from Jeremiah 31:15, were originally spoken concerning the captivity of the ten tribes; but are here applied to the murder of the innocents at Bethlehem. As if Jeremiah had said, Bethlehem at this time resembled Rama; for as Rachel might be said to weep over her children, which were slaughtered or gone into captivity; so in Bethlehem, the mothers lamented bitterly their children, because they were slain.

¹⁹ When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. ²⁰ “Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead.”

²¹ So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother.