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12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. 13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” 14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” ~ Matthew 2:12-15
Today, we return to our study of the book of Matthew. While Matthew 1 gives us the good news of the birth of the Savior, Matthew 2 gives us the different reactions to the birth of the Savior. The Magi were moved by the Scriptures to make a two year long journey in search of the Savior. The Magi, with biblical faith in their hearts, gifts in their hands, and worship in their spirit stopped at nothing to get to the virgin-born Savior. In stark contrast, the religious leaders yawned, even though they were experts on the Scriptures. They didn’t have to travel a long distance, they were near where it all happened. They had the promises that it was going to happen, but none of them made a move to journey in His direction. And then, there was Herod who was threatened by the Lord. Excitement, indifference and fear are the three responses in today’s passage of the birth of the King.
In v.12 of today's passage we read, "And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route."
The Magi came to worship the King. Then, after being divinely warned by God through a dream that Herod was a threat to their lives, the Magi traveled back home a different way. There are six different dreams recorded in Matthew’s gospel. There are a total of 21 dreams in all of the Bible. God led the Magi into His will for them through a dream. This begs the question: Does God still speak to us through our dreams? In Joel 2:28 we read, "And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." If God chooses to speak to a person in a dream, the message of that dream will be consistent with, and will not contradict the teachings of the Bible. The obedience of the Magi saved their very lives.
In v.13 of today's passage we read, "When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. 'Get up,' he said, 'take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.'"
Then there is yet another dream. This dream through which God instructed Joseph was to take Mary and the Lord Jesus down to Egypt. Egypt was southwest of Judea about 60 miles and it was at that time a Roman province. There were many Jews still living in Egypt, holdovers from the days of Jacob’s son Joseph. God told Joseph, the husband of Mary, to take his family to Egypt and to remain there until He gave to him further instruction.
In v.14-15 of today's passage we read, "So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'Out of Egypt I called my son.'"
Joseph and his family made their departure at night. The focus here in this verse is on the obedience of Joseph, even though the Lord Jesus was the primary focus of the passage at large. There is one Mediator between God & men, the Man Christ Jesus the Lord. Joseph heard the word, and he immediately obeyed. The same Lord who spoke to Joseph through His messenger speaks to us today through a variety of means but primarily through His word. In fact, His word will always bear the litmus test to such revelation.
A word is used here in v.15 that is never used again in the Scriptures: It is the word "death." Of course, there are other words translated used in the Bible, but this one is only used this time. And, in this case, this word described Herod's death which was awful. As for the event itself, many have difficulty with the dating of Herod’s death. Herod died in the thirty-seventh year of his reign. We are not certain as to the year Herod began his reign, and hence it is impossible to determine the time that Joseph remained in Egypt. The best chronologers supposed Herod to have died somewhere between two and four years after the birth of the Lord Jesus, but the specific date has not been determined.
The words, "that it might be fulfilled, having been spoken by the Lord through the prophet," indicates that God foresaw these events and spoke of them in advance, using the prophetic word to provide His people with the assurance that what had come to pass was a part of His unfolding plan. The dream that Joseph had, their trip to Egypt, and then their return wasn’t something that occurred on the spur of the moment. Rather, it was intended to happen this way so that God could fulfill His word concerning these matters.
As for what was spoken through the prophet, "Out of Egypt, I called my Son," this prophetic word is a reference to Hosea 11:1 which reads, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son." Matthew saw in the verse from Hosea a parallel to what happened to the Lord Jesus. None of the surrounding text follows this thought, and yet, it is repeated by Matthew because of his understanding that what happened to Israel in the Exodus was a type fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. The type was Israel who had traveled down to Egypt as recorded in Genesis 46:3. According to Exodus 3:8 Israel was called out of Egypt by the Lord. And, according to Exodus 4:22, Israel is the Lord’s firstborn son. Likewise, the Lord Jesus went down to Egypt. He was called out of Egypt by the Lord. And, He is God’s only begotten Son.
When we read through the Old Testament, Israel is given as a type of the coming of the Lord Jesus again & again. They are equated to a vine, while the Lord Jesus described Himself as the true vine. They were to be a sort of light to the nations, while the Lord Jesus said He was the Light of the world. While the temple was the place where God would dwell among His people, the Lord Jesus was the true Temple and dwelling place of God. On and on throughout Scripture, such patterns are seen. But not all of them are explicitly highlighted in the New Testament.
In citing the words of Hosea as Matthew did in this verse, it is a call for those who read Scripture to look for other such connections as well. The Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of what Israel anticipated. In understanding this, and in looking for types and pictures from the Old Testament Scriptures, we can gain a fuller understanding of the Person and the work of the Lord Jesus as detailed in the New Testament. One of the things about properly elicited typology from the Old Testament is that it helps settle what is to be considered sound theology in the New. It is argued whether there is still a role in the world for Israel the nation or has the church replaced them.
In properly understanding types and pictures from the Old Testament, it becomes perfectly clear that Israel the nation has a future role in redemptive history. Like the Jewish religious leaders we can choose to believe in a god of our own making or we can believe in the God of the Bible with whom we are often perplexed because we lack all of the knowledge it takes to believe. Like Nero, we can improperly fear God or we like the Magi can bow down and worship with reverence. The choice is clearly ours.
