Slices
Prepare
‘God holds the key of all unknown, And I am glad’ (Joseph Parker, 1887).
Bible passage
The escape to Egypt
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.’
16 When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18 ‘A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.’
The return to Nazareth
19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.’
21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Explore
Joseph learned to take his dreams seriously. Three times here he has significant dreams which direct him and his family to safety (vs 13,19,22). Each time he unquestioningly does what he is told. Then on two occasions Matthew points out how the prophets’ words were fulfilled (vs 15,23). You may have experienced God’s clear guidance in a similar way. Sometimes, however, guidance is far from clear and we have to walk by faith not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Powerful rulers sometimes do dreadful things. Herod responded deviously (v 8) to the news of the birth of a Jewish king (v 1). But realising that the Magi had outwitted him, he responded brutally (v 16). The number killed – possibly about twenty given the size of Bethlehem – was small by Herod’s standards. But for those families it was devastating. Jeremiah’s prophecy summed it up completely (v 18).
This story is of a small family, living in small towns, in a small country. Nevertheless it has huge significance. Joseph may not have realised why it mattered for them to live in Bethlehem and Nazareth, but God did and he guided them. If we are open to God’s guidance, we can trust him to take us safely on the right path.
Respond
Are you facing decisions about the future: job, home, relationships? Ask God to show you the way forward. Ask him, too, for help to trust him even when things are unclear.
Deeper Bible study
‘God moves in a mysterious way his wonders to perform.’1
The psalmists are said to have ‘reasoned from the top down’ – they looked at the world from God’s perspective. We Christian believers must do the same, recognising that, beneath the surface stories of our lives, there is another reality.
Today’s passage is a perfect example of the interweaving of events, apparently haphazard yet divinely supervised. First, Herod’s murderous threats meant that the family, having been warned in a dream (v 13), had to leave for Egypt, fulfilling Hosea’s prophecy: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son’ (v 15).2 Herod’s actions in killing the boys in Bethlehem had been predicted by Jeremiah too (v 18).3 Matthew tells us earlier in the chapter that the family was in Bethlehem, because of the census called by Caesar Augustus,4 and it so happened that that was the very time when the baby was born, fulfilling a prophecy spoken 700 years earlier by Micah.5 Matthew closes the chapter with yet another twist in the story. After Herod died, the family planned to return to the land of Israel, but there was a further divine intervention. In a dream Joseph was warned about Herod’s successor, so the family decided to go to Nazareth. This fulfilled one further prophetic theme, ‘He will be called a Nazarene’ (v 23, TNIV).6
In all these ways, Matthew reminds us not only that the scriptures point to one person, Jesus himself, but that the events of history – the apparently haphazard or chance circumstances of life – are ultimately under divine supervision. This is true in our own lives too: God can weave together events to fulfil his good purposes, however bewildering our situation might sometimes seem. We must learn to read between the lines – and to trust him fully.
Pray Cowper’s words with gratitude: ‘Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take; / the clouds ye so much dread / are big with mercy and shall break / with blessings on your head.’
1 W Cowper, 1774 2 Hos 11:1 3 Jer 31:15 4 Luke 2:1–5 5 Mic 5:2,4 6 Maybe from Judg 13:5, Isa 11:1, or from the theme (eg Isa 53:3) of a despised Messiah
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Zechariah 7,8; Revelation 19
Pray for Scripture Union
Pray for Guardians of Ancora partners around the world, particularly in Serbia, Kosovo, Albania and Brazil. Please pray for encouragement, stamina and safety in mission areas which are often challenging and sometimes dangerous. Thank God for the successful launch in Brazil on National Children’s Day in October.
