New Testament · Gospel

Matthew 2:13

The Magi and the Escape

When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.” Matthew 2:13 · Berean Standard Bible
What It Means

Matthew 2:13, in plain English

An angel urgently told Joseph in a dream: take Mary and Jesus and run to Egypt right now. Herod wants to kill the child. Joseph had to flee in the middle of the night.

Why it's here

Imagine being woken up and told to grab your family and flee the country immediately. Joseph's faith was tested in the most dramatic way possible.

Who's speaking

An angel of the Lord delivers an urgent warning to Joseph.

Where it sits in the story

Jesus becomes a refugee as an infant. From the very start, His life was marked by displacement and danger.

A Closer Look

The scholarly reading

Another angelic dream vision directs Joseph to flee to Egypt. The urgency (egeire, 'Get up!') and the command to stay 'until I tell you' indicate an indefinite exile. Egypt had a large Jewish diaspora, particularly in Alexandria.

Language and setting

Egypt was outside Herod's jurisdiction and hosted a significant Jewish community. The flight recalls Israel's own sojourn in Egypt, creating a Moses-Jesus typology.

Voice

An angel of the Lord speaking to Joseph in a dream.

Significance

Jesus's flight to Egypt parallels Israel's history: just as God's people went to Egypt for refuge, so does God's Son.

In context

Matthew 2:11–15

11On coming to the house, they saw the Child with His mother Mary, and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their country by another route.

13When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”

14So he got up, took the Child and His mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt,

15where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

Read all of Matthew 2 — Foreign stargazers arrive bearing gifts while a jealous king plots murder. From the start, following Jesus means danger.

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