THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT AND THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS.
Matthew 2:13-23.
I. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.
Matthew 2:13-15; Matthew 2:19-23.
1. Joseph was called into exile (Matthew 2:13). It is important that we do not linger in the place where we have been, but continue to follow the leading of God in our spiritual walk. After all, wherever God places us we are but “strangers and pilgrims” (Hebrews 11:13).
Likewise it is important to wait in the next place for only so long as it takes God to “bring us word” (Matthew 2:13). Joseph was called into exile, but only “until” that took place. There is a time to stand still, and a time to move forward (Exodus 14:13-15).
Christ’s humility was an exile, but it was also the path to His exaltation (Philippians 2:6-11). For Him, going down “by night into Egypt” (Matthew 2:14) was a further step of descent towards the nether regions of death. When we are in darkness: physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually - even in darkness like the darkness of Egypt which can be felt (Exodus 10:21) - even there our beloved Jesus is with us (Psalm 23:4).
Death is the great leveller (Luke 16:22; Hebrews 9:27). Even kings, governors, presidents and rulers must give an account of their actions before God: murderous tyrants all must also die, and face their maker (Matthew 2:15; Matthew 2:19; Matthew 2:20). Jesus was in Egypt only until Herod died.
2. Matthew is an expert at demonstrating how the types and prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled in Jesus. Israel is the type of our Lord, and our Lord is the ultimate manifestation of all that Israel typologically represented. Israel was called out of Egypt under Moses (Hosea 11:1); Jesus was called out of Egypt under the guardianship of Joseph (Matthew 2:15).
Notice how “the young child” is put before “His mother” (Matthew 2:13; Matthew 2:14; Matthew 2:20; Matthew 2:21). Mary is nothing without Jesus. Even the turning aside of the holy family into Nazareth was the fulfilment of a prophecy about Jesus (Matthew 2:23).
Joseph did not delay in his obedience (Matthew 2:21), yet there did seem to be obstacles to overcome (Matthew 2:22). Laying aside our fears, we may combine common sense with prayer and revelation to determine our route. The call home motivated Joseph to set out, but it was not to Israel per se, but into the region of “Galilee of the nations” (Isaiah 9:1) that Jesus thus came (Matthew 4:15).
So they came and dwelt in Nazareth. There may be a play on words when Matthew quotes an undisclosed source as saying, “He shall be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:23). The Jews seemed to think it a term of contempt (John 1:46; Acts 24:5), but C. H. Spurgeon suggested that the name “Nazareth” signifies sprouts or shoots and makes the connection with our Lord being called “the Branch” (Isaiah 11:1).
3. Joseph was instructed to take his young family back to Israel (Matthew 2:20), because Jesus had things to do there. After our exile in the dark places of Egypt we are summoned to return to the place we came from, chastened and up-built by the experience which we have been through, and equipped for whatever may lay ahead. Sometimes we need to unravel our past to see where we strayed from the path, and resume our lives (as best we can, under the new circumstances) from that place.
II. THE MASSACRE OF THE INNOCENTS.
Matthew 2:16-18.
You might not be surprised if I told you that the devil is pacing up and down in this earth as an adversary, like a lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8). Satan (literally, the Adversary) boasted of the same thing long ago when he appeared amongst the sons of God in heaven (Job 1:6-7; Job 2:2).
However, the LORD being Sovereign, the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10) can only push us as far as God allows (Job 1:12; Job 2:6). The enemy of our souls is a dog on a leash, a lion on a chain, subject to the overall control of God. Ultimately, whatever seeming victories he has, he is overcome by the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 12:11).
Satan sought to destroy Simon Peter, but failed on account of the prayer of Jesus (Luke 22:31-32). False christs and false prophets appear with lying wonders, hoping to deceive even the elect of God, but find it impossible (Matthew 24:24).
There is an inevitability about this. “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master,” says Jesus (Matthew 10:24). Since the Lord was persecuted, his servants can expect nothing less (John 15:20). Just as surely as the enemy sought to destroy the Anointed, he will also try to destroy the anointing in you. BUT he will just as surely fail!
Satan sought to destroy Jesus from the very beginning. His attacks against the house of David, from whom Messiah would come, were many and various, culminating in the massacres of the wicked Queen Athaliah. “But” one boy survived, and was hidden in the house of God for six years, until the time was right to overthrow the usurper (2 Kings 11:1-3). The victory came from the Temple of God!
The LORD is not mentioned in the book of Esther, but His providence is seen throughout. An attempted genocide of the Jewish people threatened the seed from whom Messiah would come. Good Queen Esther took her life in her hands, and dared to appear uninvited before her husband the king of Persia. He held out the golden sceptre towards her in acknowledgement, and answered her petitions. If we come before God at any time, in the name of Jesus, we are received, and our prayers are just as surely answered (Hebrews 4:16).
In Jerusalem, Herod the Great heard disturbing news from some travellers from the East. They sought One who was “born king” (Matthew 2:2). Wise men still seek Him, preferring Jesus to all the petty tyrants of this world.
To Herod, He posed a threat. Herod feigned interest, but intended all along to destroy Him. Having gathered all the chief priests and scribes together, he inquired where the Christ was to be born (Matthew 2:4). They searched the Scriptures, and at last found the answer in Micah 5:2. “Bethlehem in Judea,” they answered (Matthew 2:5-6).
There is a right way of studying the Bible, and a wrong way. The right way is to come with a petition like that of Samuel: “Speak, LORD, thy servant heareth” (1 Samuel 3:9-10).
One wrong way is to study the Bible with a view to, allegedly, disproving it. Another would be to use the Bible as some sort of random promise box without recognising either the conditions so often attached to these promises, nor indeed the real Message of the Book. Herod's scheme was worse even than either of these. Herod sought to find out the truth in order to defy the Truth!
Having found the answer, Herod sent the travellers on their way, still pretending that he wanted to do homage to the holy child (Matthew 2:8). However, after the wise men had found Him, they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and they returned home by another route (Matthew 2:12). Sometimes our dreams do have meaning, especially when we have been in the divine Presence!
Herod's reaction showed his true desire. Herod had no desire towards “the desire of all nations” (Haggai 2:7), whom Jewish women desired to mother (Daniel 11:37). Herod had all the baby boys in Bethlehem murdered because he desired to snuff Him out (Matthew 2:16).
We are rightly appalled at the horrendous atrocities of man to man. The murder of babies in particular strikes a sympathetic chord with us. Yet is our generation innocent of this same crime with our abortion-on-demand?
However, Herod was too late. Joseph had received instructions from an angel, and he had taken the Child and His mother, and they had all escaped to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15).
There seemed to be no consolation for the mothers in Bethlehem. Rachel, who was buried there after her own death in childbirth, is portrayed by Jeremiah as weeping for her children as they went into exile (Jeremiah 31:15). Matthew sees her weeping again, in another fulfilment of this Scripture, when the infants in Bethlehem were so cruelly massacred (Matthew 2:17-18).
This may seem to offer no comfort, but if we follow his quotation back to its source, we may find something in the context from which the quote came.
This is the right use of Scripture, comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:13), and scriptural things with scriptural. For prophecy did not come by the will of man, but holy men of God, bearing the Holy Spirit, spoke from God (2 Peter 1:21).
Jeremiah's prophecy does not stop with Rachel's weeping, but proceeds to offer her counsel (Jeremiah 31:16-17). “Refrain from weeping.” says the LORD through Jeremiah. “They shall come back! Your children shall come back to their own border.”
The Jewish people did return from exile seventy years after Jeremiah's prophecy. They have done so again in our own generation, against all the odds, after a second exile of nearly 2,000 years.
Do these words offer no comfort to the bereaved mothers of Bethlehem, or indeed any believing mothers bereft of their children? After all, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5).
Terrorism is thought to be a modern phenomenon, but when you think of it, Herod was a terrorist. The idea is to instil fear upon the intended victim, prior to destroying him entirely.
Herod the Great came to his end alone and in agony, one year after the slaughter of the innocents, and five days after he had ordered the execution of his own son. Not a nice man.
The devil seeks to terrorise our own souls, but he will fail. The irony is that when we suffer reproach on behalf of Jesus, it carries its own benediction (Matthew 5:11-12). In the end Satan cannot snuff out the anointing within us. We find rest in the midst of reproach, and in the end all his failed attempts redound to the glory of God (1 Peter 4:14).
