The King in Lowly Exile Text: Matthew 2:19-23
Introduction: The Geography of Providence
The life of our Lord Jesus Christ is a divine map, and every location, every journey, every border crossing is charted by the sovereign hand of God. We are not reading the accidental biography of a wandering religious teacher. We are reading the fulfillment of a story that began thousands of years before, a story of exile and return, of danger and deliverance. The geography of Jesus' early life is the geography of redemption. He is recapitulating the history of Israel, but where Israel failed, He succeeds. He is the true Son called out of Egypt, the true vine, the true Israel of God.
In our passage today, we see the final movements of this divine cartography before the public ministry of Jesus begins. The tyrant is dead, but the threat of tyranny remains. A divine warning, a cautious obedience, and a humble destination all conspire to fulfill what the prophets had spoken. We live in an age that prizes power, prestige, and prominence. We want our champions to come from the capital city, from the seat of influence. But God's ways are not our ways. He brings the King of the universe home, not to the Jerusalem of the powerful, but to the Nazareth of the obscure. He hides His glory in plain sight.
This text is a profound lesson in the providence of God. God is not a distant, deistic clockmaker who wound up the world and let it run. He is intimately involved in the gritty details of history, even in the murderous intentions of petty kings and the fearful decisions of a carpenter. He works through angelic warnings in dreams, through political succession, and through the quiet leading of a family to a despised town in Galilee. And in all of it, He is weaving together the threads of ancient prophecy into the glorious tapestry of our salvation. He is demonstrating that the safety of His Son, and by extension the safety of His people, does not depend on the whims of earthly rulers, but on the unshakeable decree of Heaven.
The Text
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he departed for the district of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled: “He shall be called a Nazarene.”
(Matthew 2:19-23 LSB)
The Tyrant is Dead (v. 19-20)
We begin with the death of the king and the command to return.
"But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 'Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.'" (Matthew 2:19-20)
The narrative hinges on this simple phrase: "But when Herod died." Herod the Great was a monster of insecurity and paranoia, a man who murdered his own sons to protect his throne. He was the earthly force that drove the Son of God into exile. But for all his power, for all his architectural grandeur and political maneuvering, he was still just a man. And men die. God's timetable is not threatened by the rage of kings. God simply waits them out. Psalm 2 comes to mind: "The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed... He who sits in the heavens laughs." God's laughter is not one of frivolity; it is the laughter of absolute, unthreatened sovereignty. Herod is dead. God's plan moves on, right on schedule.
Notice the parallel here. The angel's words, "for those who sought the Child's life are dead," are a direct echo of God's words to Moses in Midian: "Go, return to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead" (Exodus 4:19). This is not a coincidence; Matthew is deliberately painting Jesus as the new and greater Moses. Just as Moses, the deliverer of Israel, was preserved from a murderous king and called back from exile to save his people, so Jesus, the deliverer of the world, is preserved and called back. The history of Israel is the pattern book for the life of the Messiah.
The command is given to Joseph in a dream, the fourth such divine communication he has received. Joseph is a model of quiet, steadfast, masculine obedience. He does not argue; he does not question. When God speaks, he acts. This is the kind of faith that God uses to protect His Christ and build His kingdom. It is not flashy or loud, but it is solid. It is the faith of a man who trusts God's word more than he trusts the political headlines.
Prudent Fear and Divine Guidance (v. 21-22)
Joseph's obedience is immediate, but it is also wise. It is not a blind leap but a careful walk.
"So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he departed for the district of Galilee." (Matthew 2:21-22 LSB)
Joseph obeys. He packs up his family and heads for the land of Israel. The natural destination would have been Judea, and likely Bethlehem, the city of David, where Jesus was born and legally belonged. But faith is not foolishness. Joseph hears the news on the ground. Herod the Great may be dead, but his son Archelaus now reigns over Judea. And Archelaus was a chip off the old bloody block. The historian Josephus tells us that Archelaus began his reign by slaughtering three thousand Jews in the temple courts during a Passover. He was so brutal that even the Romans eventually removed him.
Joseph's fear was not a failure of faith; it was sanctified common sense. He was entrusted with the protection of the Son of God, and he did not take that responsibility lightly. God does not expect us to turn off our brains when we follow Him. He expects us to use the wisdom He gives us. And when our human wisdom reaches its limit, He provides divine clarification. Joseph is afraid, and in that moment of uncertainty, God speaks to him again, for a fifth time, in a dream. He confirms Joseph's caution and redirects him. The destination is not to be Judea, the center of Jewish religious and political life, but Galilee.
This is a crucial point for us. We are often tempted to think that God's will must be the most difficult or dangerous path. Sometimes it is. But often, God's will is the path of prudence. He guides us not only through supernatural revelation but also through the circumstances He arranges and the minds He has given us. Joseph's fear was a tool in the hand of God to guide the Holy Family to exactly where they needed to be.
The Despised Prophet (v. 23)
The final verse of this section provides the theological reason for this geographical detour. It all serves to fulfill prophecy.
"and came and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets would be fulfilled: 'He shall be called a Nazarene.'" (Matthew 2:23 LSB)
Now, this is a famous difficulty for Bible students. If you search your Old Testament, you will not find this exact quotation. You will not find a verse that says, "He shall be called a Nazarene." So what is Matthew doing? Is he making it up? Not at all. Notice that Matthew says this was spoken "through the prophets," plural. He is not quoting a single verse; he is summarizing a consistent theme from multiple prophetic streams.
What was that theme? The theme was that the Messiah would be despised and rejected. Nazareth was a nothing-town. It was an obscure, backwater village in Galilee, a region itself looked down upon by the Judean elite. It was proverbial for its insignificance. We see this later when Nathanael hears about Jesus and scoffs, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" (John 1:46). That was the reputation. To be a Nazarene was to be a nobody from nowhere.
The prophets repeatedly foretold this lowliness. Isaiah 53 says the Messiah would have "no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men." The psalmist says, "I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people" (Psalm 22:6). The word for "branch" in Isaiah 11:1, a famous Messianic prophecy, is the Hebrew word netzer. It is very likely that Matthew is making a Spirit-inspired play on words here. The Messiah is the Netzer (Branch) from the stump of Jesse, and He is also the Nazarene from the town of Nazareth. He is the royal branch, but He grows up in obscurity. He is the King, hidden in a town of no account.
God's providence, working through the tyranny of dead and living kings and the Spirit-led prudence of a faithful carpenter, brings the Savior of the world to a place of contempt. This was by divine design. He came to identify with the lowly. He came to be an outsider. His glory was veiled in humility from the very beginning. The road to the crown of glory runs straight through the despised town of Nazareth, and from there, to the cross of Calvary. God brought His Son to Nazareth so that when we look at Him, we would not be impressed by His earthly pedigree, but that we would see the grace of God that exalts the humble and brings salvation to all who, like Him, are nobodies in the eyes of the world.