“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.” When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 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.”

2:13

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.”

Joseph for the second time received angelic instruction. An angel warned him in a dream by special revelation (the other dreams in the book of Matthew are found in 1:20; 2:13, 19, 22) to flee to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill Jesus.

2:14

When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,

Joseph obeyed the angel without question and departed for Egypt while it was still night. The threat to the child was imminent. Joseph may have gone to Alexandria. A large Jewish population of about one million lived in Egypt. Joseph made a major move of his family based on direct revelation.

2:15

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.”

The trip to Egypt was fulfillment of prophecy. This is a quote from Hosea 11:1. Hosea wrote of God’s call of Israel out of Egypt into the Exodus. Matthew gave further perspective to this passage. Matthew drew a parallel between the nation Israel and the Son. The history of God’s redemption of Israel points to Christ the Redeemer. The history of Israel reached its goal in their Messiah.

Joseph’s family remained in Egypt until the death of Herod about a year later. Herod died in 4 B.C.

PRINCIPLE:

God’s sovereignty controls history and the future.

APPLICATION:

There is no way that the fulfillment of over 300 prophecies of Jesus’ first coming could be an accident. The prophecy of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem from Micah 5:2 is specific and without qualification. God’s sovereign prophecies prove to be true without qualification.

Revelation 12 tells of Satan’s plan to kill the child Jesus. God’s intervention by special revelation destroyed Herod’s plan to kill Him. In doing this, God demonstrated His control over history and the future.

There are fanciful stories of what the family of Jesus did in Egypt. All that is pure fiction. There is no historical evidence whatsoever for these stories.