HOLY FAMILY

"Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt."

Mt 2:13-15. 19-23

This Sunday's gospel is divided into two parts:

• vv. 13-15. Flight into Egypt
• vv. 19-23. Return to Israel

v. 13. When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him."

In v. 12 the Magi were warned not to return to Herod. V.13 reveals the reason. Herod wanted the baby dead.

In v. 8 Herod tells the Magi: “"Go and search diligently for the child… that I too may go and do him homage.” Contrast this with his real motive as revealed by the angel in this verse: “Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”

Matthew sees in Jesus the New Moses. This is probably why he shows what happened to Moses repeated in Jesus. The King of Egypt, Pharaoh, wanted the Jewish children dead. Moses was hidden and was saved. Now a King wanted Jesus dead but was saved by fleeing to Egypt.

v. 14. Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.

The verb used for “departed” is “anachorein”. Matthew uses this verb when he writes that Jesus departed from a certain place due to unbelief. See 2:22; 4:12; 12:15; 14:13 and 15:21.

It is possible that Matthew’s use of the verb “anachorein” was influenced by the Greek version of the OT (LXX or Septuagint). “Moses fled (anachorein) from Pharaoh, and stayed in the land of Midian” (Ex 2:15).

The verb “anachorein” was used in the for the following contexts:
• Withdrawal from public life
• Withdrawal to the desert by peasants who were oppressed by taxes
• Withdrawal into oneself in contemplation

Monasticism took the word in order to describe the withdrawal of monks from the world. Hence, eastern monks were called “anchorites”.

v. 15. He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, "Out of Egypt I called my son."

The quotation is taken from Hosea 11:1. It originally referred to God’s calling Israel out of Egypt at the time of the Exodus.

v. 19. When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt…

Did Matthew make a mistake here? Herod died in 4 B.C. (Before Christ!). There is a mistake here but the mistake was made by Dionysius Exiguus who wrongly accepted the year 753 after the founding of Rome as the year of Christ’s birth.

v. 20. …and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead."

There is an allusion here to Moses. In Exodus 4:19 we read: “In Midian the LORD said to Moses, ‘Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought your life are dead.’"

Notice the contrast between the OT and the NT.

• In the OT the king of Egypt is the enemy of Israel. In the NT it is the king of Jerusalem that is the enemy.
• In the OT Moses flees FROM Egypt to save himself and later returns. In the NT the Holy Family flees TO Egypt to save Jesus and late returns to Israel.
• In the OT Pharaoh and Egypt are symbols of unbelief and hardness of heart. In the NT it is Herod and Jerusalem.

v. 22. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee.

Archelaus reigned over Judea from 4BC to 6AD. Herod Antipas reigned over Galilee from 4BC to 39AD.
Take note of the verb “departed” (anachorein). Again there is a withdrawal from unbelief (Judea) to a place where Jesus will find faith, Galilee of the Gentiles.

v. 23. He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spo-ken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He shall be called a Nazorean."

The source of this prophecy is unknown. It has been suggested that Is 11:1 might have something to do with this prophecy. “But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.” Bud is “neser” which has similarity to the name of the town of Nazareth.