13 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.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
– Matthew 2:13-15
The above verses are some of the most intriguing in all of the New Testament, verse 15 in particular. Matthew quotes from Hosea 11:1 and states in a very matter-of-fact way that this was fulfilled by the return of Jesus’ family to Judea from Egypt following the death of Herod the Great. In isolation, this is an interesting passage, but our recent study in Genesis can shed some light on it.
In each of the last two weeks we have taken time to consider Abram’s journey to Egypt which is recorded in Gen. 12:10-20. This significant event reverberates throughout the Scriptures and would have been of keen interest to Moses’ audience who themselves had themselves just been delivered from that very place.
As the father of both the future nation of Israel (Gen. 12:2), Abram, as an individual, stood as their representative head. His time in Egypt (the anxiety, stress, and captivity of his wife) would be re-lived by his nation during their four hundred or so year history in that land. What the people would eventually need would be another individual who would come and undo the work of unbelief which had led to their captivity.
Jesus came as the promised ‘seed’ (Gal. 3:16) who was the fulfillment of all that was promised to Abraham. While Abraham had gone to Egypt early in his life of faith apart from the Word of the Lord, Jesus was taken to Egypt early in His life in accordance with the Word of the Lord and later “called out.” In the wider biblical narrative we are to understand this as an undoing of Abram’s original journey to Egypt. Many of the events of Jesus’ life and ministry show that He was the individual who had come to undo the previous sins of the people. He succeeded where they and their fathers had failed repeatedly throughout their history.
All of Scripture points us ultimately to the person and work of Christ. As we see Him in His Word our hearts are drawn to worship Him. Join us this Sunday as we gather to praise Him together and enjoy the fellowship that He has decreed for His church.
Soli Deo Gloria.
-Thomas