Jesus is Driven Into Exile And Finally Returns to Lowly Nazareth (2:12-23).
As a result of a warning dream the Magi did not return to Herod but slipped out of the country ‘another way', while Joseph sought refuge in Egypt as Israel had done long before. And there he remained with his wife and Jesus until Herod was dead. (Had he had other sons at the time, it is unlikely that they would not be mentioned here). Meanwhile the innocent suffered as so often happens in an evil world. All the male sons around Bethlehem of under two years old were slain by Herod in a desperate attempt to ensure that the young prince did not escape (they would probably not have numbered more than twenty). But quick though he was, Herod was not quick enough for God.
Yet in all this Matthew saw clearly written the hand of God. All was bringing to the full what the Scriptures revealed about life and about the future:
· Through the coming of God's Son, Israel would at last be released from the grip of Egypt (Matthew 2:15).
· Through the birth pangs which were to introduce the Messiah, the coming of the last days was to be made clear (Matthew 2:18).
· And God's light was soon to be established in lowly Galilee (Matthew 2:23).
And all in accordance with what was written in the Scriptures. No earthly threat could hinder the workings of God.
Analysis (2:12-23).
a And being warned of God in a dream that they (the Magi) should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way (Matthew 2:12).
b When they (the Magi) were departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and you must remain there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him”, and he arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt.
c And was there until the death of Herod (Matthew 2:14-15 a).
d That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt did I call my son” (Matthew 2:15 b).
e Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the Magi, was extremely angry, and sent forth, and slew all the male children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had exactly learned of the Magi (Matthew 2:16).
d ‘Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying,'
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children;
And she would not be comforted,
Because they are not.” (Matthew 2:17-18)
c But when Herod was dead (Matthew 2:19 a).
b Behold, an angel of the Lord appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead who sought the young child's life. And he arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel, but when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there (Matthew 2:19-22 b).
a And being warned of God in a dream, he withdrew into the parts of Galilee, and came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets, that he should be called a Nazarene (Matthew 2:22-23).
Note how in ‘a' the Magi were warned of God in a dream and avoided Jerusalem, and in the parallel Joseph is warned by God in a dream and avoids Judaea. In ‘b' the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream, and directs his movements, and in the parallel he does the same again some time later. In ‘c' it is ‘until the death of Herod' and in the parallel Herod is dead. A certain inevitability about his death is indicated. In ‘d' the Scriptures are filled to the full, and in the parallel they are again filled to the full. Notice how the positive act is described as spoken ‘by the Lord through the prophet', while the negative result is spoken ‘by the prophet', for the latter was not the Lord's direct doing. Centrally in ‘e' is the gruesome behaviour of Herod in dealing out death to the children of Bethlehem which we can gather finally led to his death, as what precedes and follows makes clear, ‘until he dies' - ‘he died'.