Escape to Egypt and the Slaughter of the Childen: Matthew 2:13-23

V. 13

Note that the enemy, Satan, was somewhat aware of God’s plains, so God had to intervene in order to keep his salvation plan from being put to an end.

V. 14

They went from Bethlehem to Egypt

V. 15

Here Matthew references Hosea 11:1. This is the third messianic prophecy mentioned by Matthew. Also check out Exodus 4:22-23, which shows Israel as God’s son. The context of the Hosea passage is Israel, but Matthew takes it out of context to apply to Jesus. He is practicing what is called types and shadows. These are seeing parallels between two non-related events. Hebrews 8:4-6 and Romans 5:14 speaks of this practice. Only those who are scripturally inspired can draw these parallels. It is as if God revealed part A of a truth statement to an Old Testament prophet and then part B of that statement is revealed to a New Testament writer. God reveals the parallel; the author doesn’t make it up himself.

V. 16

Why was Herod so determined to kill the Messiah? Matthew 2:1-8 shows that he was concerned about someone trying to rise up to be king and challenge his authority and the authority of the Roman government. For that reason he wanted to prevent the child from living. Historically, Herod was very paranoid about uprisings and protective of his power. Again, this is not Herod that was in authority during Jesus’ trial. Notice that the motives of the persecutors are generally not to stop a religion, but for other reasons.

V. 18

Here Jeremiah 31:15 is being quoted. Let’s take a look at this passage to get a complete context of the verse. This is the fourth messianic prophecy.

Jeremiah 30:1-31:26

30:3

Israel will come back to the land, which obviously happened being that the Jews
are living in the land of Israel in Jesus’ day. However, is it just 31:15 that
is a foreshadow or this entire passage a foreshadow. It is this concept that
is a debated issue, which is one of the reasons why the end times are debated.

30:5-7

Prophecy of the coming judgment on Israel, which also already happened by
Jesus’ time, is referring to the captivity. Again, the question is, “is this a
foreshadow?”

30:8-9

Here the prophecy is that there will come freedom, which also already took
place. The Jews were given freedom under the rule of the Persians. Again, a
possible foreshadow is here.

30:11

The prophecy in this verse did come true. All the nations that held the
Israelites captive did eventually fall. The nations that fell were the
Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. The
Romans did not fall until after the time of Christ. Again, does this
foreshadow a fall of another great nation?

30:14

Here it is pointed out that it is our sinful condition and lifestyle that
causes the evil in the world.

30:17

Notice here that God is saying he will save Israel, but that does not
necessarily mean the current generation. He indicates in verse ten that it
would be their descendents who would experience freedom; that is from captivity.

31:4

The prophecy here refers to the temple being rebuilt. It does happen after
this passage and before the time of Christ. Again, is it a foreshadow event
though.

31:8-9

Israel was to come back and dwell on the land, all fulfilled by the time of
Christ. Again, the thought to consider is if this is a foreshadow of things
still to come.

31:15

First note that Ramah is north of Jerusalem. Here is the verse that Matthew
quoted. Again, in its’ context it has nothing to do with the event Matthew is
referring to. However, it falls under the category of a type or shadow
discussed above. Again, this is the reason this whole prophecy can be
considered typology. It can only be considered; however, to be a possibility.
Matthew using this verse as typology does not set in stone that the whole
passage is typology.

31:19-22

The following verses do reveal that the whole passage is a shadow of the impact
of sin on the soul. However, only where scripture makes it certain that a
passage is a type or shadow of something else, can we have a solid foundation
to form a belief around it. This passage makes room for the possibility that
it is referring to events at the end of human history, but it only gives
certainty of two type/shadow concepts. It is parallel to the effects of sin
and 31:15 is a parallel to the event in Matthew.

Resuming the Matthew passage

V. 19-20

Notice that God seems to speak consistently to Joseph in the same form—a dream. The question can be, “does God always use the same form when speaking to an individual. For instance, if God speaks to you through your thoughts is that the only way he speaks to you. The other and better question is, “is there only one form that we are receptive to?” Also, this does not imply that every dream we have is a message from God.

V. 22

Archelaus is mentioned as reigning over Judea at this time. He was Herod’s son and the husband of a Samaritan named Malthace. The Israelites did not like Samaritans and to add to their dislike for Archelaus, he was also a very brutal man. Samaritans were people who were mixed between Jew and Gentile. Archelaus reigned from 4 B.C. to 6 A.D. For this reason it is most likely that Jesus was born in 6 B.C. Which would have made him two years old when Joseph, Mary, and Jesus fled to Egypt, Herod slaughtered the children, Herod died, and Archelaus began to reign.

V. 23

Note that Nazareth is in the region of Galilee, which is north of Jerusalem and Judea and west of the Sea of Galilee. Being a Nazarene is a person from Nazareth. A Nazarite is one who takes a special religious vow, like John the Baptist. It is said that the prophets are being quoted in this verse, but the exact statement is not found in the Old Testament. There are a couple of considerations to be made. Some suggest that this verse is more like a reference to an idea that the Old Testament taught or prophesied about. One is that Nazareth was not a very well liked town, so some believe that passages like Psalm 22:6 and Isaiah 53:3 which speak of the Messiah being despised are the prophecies being referenced here. Second is that because the Hebrew word for branch is neser, which is the root word for Nazareth. For that reason, passages like Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5, and Zechariah 3:8, which refer to the Messiah as the branch, are considered to be being referenced here. Another consideration is that this was just a prophecy made during the Old Testament times, but just wasn’t recorded in Scripture. It could be possible, because Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience. For that reason, if there was a prophecy not recorded in Scripture, this would be the audience that would be aware of it.