God keeps His promises. God made a way to protect Jesus for the task he had laid before him.
Matthew 2:13–23
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”
14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted,
Because they are no more.”
19 Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” 21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. 23 And 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.”
There is not much information about Jesus’ early life. Matthew soon completed his account. He did this in three short paragraphs. These are in verses 13–15, 16–18 and 19–23.
Herod realized that the wise men were not coming back. He acted immediately. Herod wanted to be sure that nobody else could be king. So, he killed all the children who were younger than 2 years of age. Nothing not Satan, men or women cannot stop God’s plans. Satan had been trying to stop the curse way back in Genesis, all those centuries, but could not do it. Genesis 3: 14-15
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
Satan was using Herod as his hands to find the Messiah and kill him. Herod himself would die soon. Jesus escaped his evil plan. God told Joseph about the danger before it happened. So, he could take the child and Mary to Egypt. This was the nearest safe place.
When Herod died, Joseph could return with his family. He did not want to go back to Bethlehem. This does not surprise us. The new ruler was Archelaus. He was as bad as his father, Herod. He had already killed 3000 people. So, Joseph was anxious. But God understood this. He told him to return to his former home. This was in Nazareth. God was protecting and caring for Joseph, Mary and the baby. He can do the same for us too.
All of God’s prophecies in the Old Testament come true in Jesus. Each of the three short paragraphs ended by repeating words from the Old Testament. Matthew tells us that they came true in Jesus.
There is one more thing to notice here. Joseph obeyed God. But this was not always easy. First, there was the fact that Mary was having a baby. Then there was the birth of Jesus. These events completely changed his life. Sometimes, he was confused and anxious. He did not know what to do. He only knew that God had helped him before.
At other times, he knew part of God’s plan. But he did not know all of it. (Compare verses 20 and 22.) It was hard for him to marry Mary. She was having a baby. People did not understand. They spoke against him. But, Joseph still learned something important. It was this. To obey God was the best way. God protected him, even in times of great danger.
How Matthew used the Old Testament
Matthew says that these Old Testament passages refer to Jesus. But at first, they do not seem to have anything to do with him!
Verse 15 repeats Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” There, the prophet showed how God saved Israel’s people. They were in Egypt. He brought them back to their own land. This had happened many hundreds of years before. So, some people cannot understand how the passage could refer to Jesus.
But the writers of the New Testament used the Old Testament, they saw similar things that tied the Scripture to Jesus’ life and work. Careful study will show this. They knew Jesus matched with the whole history of the Israel. He even lived it all again.
God brought the Jews out of Egypt. He wanted them to bring God’s salvation to the world. They failed to do this. But Jesus would succeed. So, He too went to Egypt and returned from there. This was to show that he had come to save the world. He had come to bring the knowledge of God to all people.
Read verse 18. He repeated Jeremiah 31:15
15 This is what the Lord says:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”
It told about a sad time in Bethlehem. The young people of the village would go away into exile. So, the words could not be about Herod’s murder of the babies. But Jeremiah’s words were a message of hope. The enemy would destroy the land. But there was still hope. God would save his people. He had not forgotten His people. He would not remove His promises from them.
Again, Matthew saw that those days and his own days were similar. Once, God had brought hope to a sad people. He saved them. Now, in Jesus, God had done it again. Jesus still brings hope to desperate people. He saves them from the results and the power of their sin. This was the hope for which the world was looking.
Matthew repeated some words of the prophets. So, he was probably thinking about several passages. In fact, Nazareth was a very small village. People ‘despised’ it. This means that it was very unimportant to them. People thought that it had nothing of value. (Read John 1:45–46.) Many times, the Old Testament said that people would ‘despise’ the *Messiah (Christ). (Read Psalm 22:6–8, 13; 69:8, 20–21; Isaiah 49:7; 53:2–3, 8; and Daniel 9:26.) These verses describe good people. They also describe the Messiah. People ‘despise’ them both.
Matthew realized something. It was about the language of these verses. They referred especially to Jesus. (Compare Matthew 12:24; 27:21–23, 63; Luke 23:11; John 1:11; 5:18; 6:66; 9:22, 34.)
Questions
1. Think about Joseph’s experience. Use the lessons of his life in your own situation.
2. How does this passage encourage your church group? How does God guide a group of Christians (believers)?
3. Think about the cruel murders in 2:16. There is so much suffering in the world. Is there something that you could do? How could you show that the Christian message has an answer?