Jesus in Egypt

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

Matthew 2:13

Jesus, the deliverer, was first delivered from a plat to kill Him. As a baby, He is already hated by Herod, who was informed by the Magi that a new king had been born in Bethlehem of Judea. Herod sent his forces into the Judean countryside where they mercilessly killed all baby boys under the age of two. This was a madman tyrant’s attempt at maintaining power.

 

But before this evil deed could reach Jesus, an angel warned Joseph to flee to Egypt with his new small family. And in that way Jesus had has own private Exodus event, where just like His forefathers, He was led to Egypt to safety. Just like Moses He was hidden from a baby-killing tyrant. And just like the children of Israel, He would be brought out of Egypt to the land of His forefathers, safe and delivered from all harm. The deliverer was delivered. The Savior was first saved.

It was the obedience of Joseph, the earthly stepfather to the Son of God, that led to this salvation. It was a righteous Joseph so many generations earlier, a dreamer himself, who saved his family from famine in Egypt. Do not underestimate the New Testament Joseph’s sensitive, righteous obedience. He uprooted his family because an angel spoke to him in a dream at night. Think about that. We would call that sort of thing crazy today. His righteous actions saved his family, protected our salvation in Jesus, and led to our own deliverance. The text seems to indicate that he rose to obey these instructions in the middle of the night... probably right after awaking from the warning dream. His swift obedience is an example of how seriously we should heed the Word of God.