X-Dreamers
Stop 7 of 7
The flight to Egypt
Matthew 2:13–15 · Matthew 2:16–18
Warned in a dream, Joseph “took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt”, and they stayed there until Herod died. Herod, seeing that the Magi had not come back, had the boys of Bethlehem and all its surroundings, two years old and under, killed. After Herod's death the family returned, not to Judea but to Nazareth in Galilee.
In the scene
The road leaving Bethlehem to the south-west, at night, with the family on it. The map shows the likely way down to the coast road through Gaza and on to Egypt, a Roman province outside Herod's rule with large Jewish communities.
The way
Scripture
Matthew 2:13–15
13And when they were departed, behold, the 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 bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. 14When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: 15And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Matthew 2:16–18
16Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men. 17Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 18In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.
+ Matthew 2:19–23; Hosea 11:1
King James Version (1769)
Background
- How far?
- From Bethlehem to the edge of Egypt at the Nile delta (Pelusium) is about 300 km by the road through Gaza along the coast; to Alexandria or the Jewish settlements near Memphis, further still. On foot, two weeks or more.
- Where in Egypt?
- Matthew does not say. Coptic tradition lists many stops of the Holy Family in Egypt, from the delta to Asyut, but these traditions are centuries later.
- Out of Egypt
- Egypt had sheltered refugees before (1 Kings 11:40; Jeremiah 43). Matthew hears in the return an echo of Israel's exodus: “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew 2:15, from Hosea 11:1).
How sure can we be?
- Textually stated
Joseph took the child and his mother by night to Egypt and stayed until Herod's death, then settled in Nazareth. (Matthew 2:13–15; Matthew 2:19–23)
- Plausible
The likeliest way was down to the coast road through Gaza, the main road into Egypt.
- Barry J. Beitzel, The New Moody Atlas of the Bible (Moody, 2009): roads of Roman Palestine.
- Plausible
Only Matthew records the killing of Bethlehem's boys. In a village this size the victims may have been few, and the act fits what Josephus tells of Herod's last years, when he had three of his own sons executed. (Matthew 2:16)
- Josephus, Antiquities 17.167–191 (Herod's last illness and death); 18.1–2 (the census of Quirinius).
- Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, updated edition (Doubleday, 1993).
- Strongly supported
Herod died in 4 BC by the usual reckoning (a minority argue for 1 BC), so Jesus was born before then, probably between about 7 and 4 BC.
- Josephus, Antiquities 17.167–191 (Herod's last illness and death); 18.1–2 (the census of Quirinius).
- Raymond E. Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, updated edition (Doubleday, 1993).
- Speculative
The Coptic itinerary of the Holy Family's stops in Egypt comes from centuries later.
- The Holy Family's journey in Egypt, from the “Vision of Theophilus” (ascribed to a 4th-century patriarch; known from later manuscripts).
- Artistic
A faint extra light picks out the family on the road so the night view can be read. It is a teaching aid, not moonlight: Matthew does not describe the night.