Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 2:13

"Now when they were departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I tell thee: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him." — Matthew 2:13 (ASV)

The verb “had gone” (v.13) is the same as “returned” in the preceding verse, tying the two accounts together. This is the third dream in these two chapters, and for the second time an “angel of the Lord” is mentioned (cf. 1:20; 2:12). God was taking sovereign action to preserve his Messiah, his Son. Egypt was a natural place to which to flee. It was nearby, had a well-ordered Roman province outside Herod’s jurisdiction, and had a population of about a million Jews. If Matthew was thinking of any particular OT parallel, probably Jacob and his family (Genesis 46) fleeing the famine in Canaan was in his mind, since that is the trip that set the stage for the Exodus (cf. 2:15). The angel’s command was explicit. Joseph, Mary, and the Child must remain in Egypt, not only till Herod’s death, but till given leave to return (cf. vv.19–20). The command was also urgent. Joseph left at once, setting out by night to begin the seventy-five mile journey to the border. The focus on God’s protection of “the child” is unmistakable. Herod was going to try to kill him (v.13), and Joseph took “the child and his mother” (v.14—not the normal order) to Egypt.