The Tyrant, The Toddler, and The True Israel Text: Matthew 2:13-15
Introduction: The Politics of the Nativity
We often treat the Christmas story as though it were a quiet, pastoral scene, suitable for greeting cards and sentimental carols. We imagine a silent night, a peaceful manger, and gentle shepherds. And while there is a profound peace at the center of it, the peace of God Incarnate, we must not miss the political upheaval, the raw violence, and the clash of kingdoms that surrounds the birth of Jesus Christ. The nativity is not a lullaby; it is a declaration of war.
The arrival of the Magi threw Jerusalem into a panic. They came asking for the one "born King of the Jews," and this was treasonous language in the court of a man who held that title by the grace of Rome and by the edge of his own sword. Herod the Great was a paranoid, murderous, and deeply insecure tyrant. He was an Edomite, a half-Jew at best, and he knew the true-blooded Jews despised him. His entire reign was a bloody effort to secure a throne that was never legitimately his. He murdered his own wife, Mariamne, and three of his own sons. The emperor Augustus once quipped that it was safer to be Herod's pig than his son. This is the man who heard that a rival king had been born in his domain.
So when we read of the flight to Egypt, we are not reading a quaint travelogue. We are reading about a political refugee crisis, initiated by a divine warning to escape a coming genocide. This is a story about the collision of two kingdoms: the failing, blood-soaked kingdom of a pretender, and the nascent, hidden kingdom of the true King. God is sovereign over both. He moves kings and pawns around His chessboard with absolute authority. He uses the rage of a tyrant to fulfill the prophecies of a loving Father. He orchestrates a midnight escape to set the stage for a new Exodus. This is not just a story about a baby; it is a story about the God who saves His people by recapitulating their entire history in the life of His Son.
The Text
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”
So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and departed for Egypt.
And he remained there until the death of Herod, in order that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.”
(Matthew 2:13-15 LSB)
The Divine Warning and the Obedient Father (vv. 13-14)
We begin with the urgent, divine command:
"Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, 'Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.'" (Matthew 2:13)
Notice the immediacy. The Magi have just left, having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod. God's protective providence is always a step ahead of the enemy's malice. Before Herod can even fully realize he's been tricked, God is already moving His Son to safety. This is how God works. He does not always remove the threat, but He always makes a way of escape for His people.
The command comes to Joseph in a dream. This is the third of four such dreams for Joseph recorded in Matthew's gospel. God speaks to the humble, to the quiet man who is willing to listen and obey. And the command is stark and direct: "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee." This is not a suggestion. It is a military-style order. The life of the Son of God is at stake. The enemy is not some abstract spiritual force in this instance; it is a specific man with a name, Herod, and a specific intent, "to destroy Him."
The destination is Egypt. There is a deep and profound irony here. Egypt was the great house of bondage from which God had delivered His people Israel. It was the land of slavery and pagan darkness. Yet now, it becomes a sanctuary. The place of former oppression becomes the place of refuge. This demonstrates God's absolute sovereignty over geography and history. He can turn a lion's carcass into a honeycomb. He can make the land of Pharaoh a safe house for the Son of David. This is also a practical choice; Egypt was outside Herod's jurisdiction but had a large Jewish population, making it a feasible place for a Jewish family to find shelter.
Joseph's response is the model of faithful obedience:
"So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and departed for Egypt." (Matthew 2:14)
There is no record of Joseph questioning, complaining, or procrastinating. He "got up...while it was still night." He did not wait for morning. He did not wait for a more convenient time. He did not ask for a detailed itinerary or a five-year plan. He heard the word of the Lord, and he acted upon it immediately. This is the nature of true faith. It is not simply intellectual assent; it is active, immediate, and sometimes inconvenient obedience. Joseph is the silent hero of the nativity story, the faithful guardian entrusted with the care of God's own Son and His mother. His righteousness is not demonstrated by loud proclamations but by quiet, steadfast faithfulness.
The Prophetic Fulfillment (v. 15)
Matthew now explains the deeper, theological significance of this historical event.
"And he remained there until the death of Herod, in order that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying, 'OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.'" (Matthew 2:15)
Now, this is a verse that causes modern, flat-footed exegetes to stumble. If you turn back to Hosea 11:1, the verse Matthew quotes, you will find that the prophet is not making a future prediction about the Messiah. He is looking back at Israel's history. "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son." Hosea is clearly talking about the nation of Israel, whom God called His "son" (Exodus 4:22), and whom He delivered from bondage in the Exodus.
So is Matthew misusing the Old Testament? Is he ripping a verse out of context just because it has the word "Egypt" in it? Not at all. To think that is to misunderstand how the apostles, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, read their Bibles. They understood that God works in patterns. History is not a random series of events; it is a story, and it rhymes. The apostles understood the principle of typology. A type is a real person, event, or institution in the Old Testament that God designed to foreshadow a greater reality, the antitype, in the New Testament.
Israel was God's chosen son. But Israel was a faithless son. They grumbled, they rebelled, they committed idolatry. They failed in their calling. Jesus Christ comes as the true and faithful Son. He is the true Israel, boiled down to one man. He succeeds everywhere the first Israel failed. He is the embodiment of the nation. Therefore, His life must recapitulate, or re-enact, the history of Israel, but this time in perfect obedience.
Think of the parallels. Israel, God's son, went down into Egypt to escape a famine. Jesus, God's true Son, goes down into Egypt to escape a tyrant. Israel, God's son, was called out of Egypt in the Exodus. Jesus, God's true Son, is called out of Egypt after Herod's death. Israel passed through the waters of the Red Sea and was then tested for forty years in the wilderness. Jesus passes through the waters of baptism and is immediately tested for forty days in the wilderness. Israel received the law at Sinai; Jesus delivers the law in the Sermon on the Mount. The pattern is deliberate and unmistakable.
So when Matthew says this event "fulfilled" the prophecy of Hosea, he does not mean that Hosea was consciously predicting a flight to Egypt. He means that Jesus's life is filling up the pattern that Israel's life established. He is the reality to which the shadow pointed. The first son was called out of Egypt, but he was disobedient. Now the true, obedient Son is called out of Egypt, and in Him, the story of Israel finds its ultimate meaning and goal. This is not a misapplication of Scripture; it is a divinely inspired, redemptive-historical masterstroke. It shows us that the entire Old Testament is about Jesus.
Conclusion: Our Flight and Our Exodus
This brief account is packed with gospel truth for us. First, it reminds us that the world system, represented by Herod, is intrinsically hostile to the reign of Jesus Christ. The world will not and cannot make peace with the true King. It will always seek to destroy Him and His influence. We should not be surprised when we face opposition, when the world rages against the church, the Christian family, and the Word of God. The servant is not greater than his master. If they sought to destroy the green wood, what will they do to the dry?
Second, we see the pattern of godly headship in Joseph. He was watchful, he listened to God, and he acted decisively to protect his family. He led them, even into a foreign land, based on the command of God. Christian husbands and fathers are called to the same kind of vigilant, obedient, and protective leadership. We are to lead our families away from spiritual danger and toward the refuge that God provides in His Word and His church.
Finally, and most importantly, we see that Jesus is the true Israel, the faithful Son who saves us. Just as He was called out of the political bondage of Egypt, so He calls us out of the spiritual bondage of our sin, which the Bible calls our Egypt. Through His perfect life, atoning death, and victorious resurrection, He has accomplished a new and greater Exodus. He has passed through the waters of death and has come out the other side, and He calls to us, "Out of Egypt I have called my son... my daughter." He calls us out of the tyranny of sin and death, out of the kingdom of darkness, and into His own marvelous light. We were all refugees, fleeing the wrath to come. But in Christ, we are more than survivors. We are sons and daughters, called out of our Egypt to inherit a promised land that no Herod can touch.