When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” 14 Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt. 15 He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
16 When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi. 17 Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.”
19 When Herod had died, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21 He rose, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go back there. And because he had been warned in a dream, he departed for the region of Galilee. 23 He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazorean.”
Matthew now turns from the magi’s departure to the danger that follows. God does not leave the Child exposed to Herod’s plans. An angel warns Joseph in a dream, and the instruction is direct: “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt” (v. 13). Matthew presents Joseph as a quiet and obedient guardian who acts without delay. He does not argue or hesitate. He gets up “by night” and leaves (v. 14). The flight is not portrayed as panic. It is guided protection.
Egypt matters in Scripture. It is the place of Israel’s bondage under Pharaoh (Ex. 1:8-14), but it is also a place of refuge when danger threatens, as when Joseph’s family is preserved there during famine (Gen. 45:5-7; 46:3-4). Matthew says the family remains there “until the death of Herod” (v. 15). He then gives the first of his fulfillment statements in this passage: “Out of Egypt I called my son” (v. 15). The line comes from Hos. 11:1, where “son” first refers to Israel, whom God brought out of bondage in the Exodus. Matthew is not claiming Hosea originally wrote about the infant Jesus as a prediction in the narrow sense. He is showing how Jesus lives Israel’s story in a concentrated and personal way. In the Exodus, it was God who brought his people down into Egypt and then called them out again (Ex. 3:7-10; Hos. 11:1). So too here, God shelters the Child in Egypt and then brings him out in fulfillment of the Scriptures (Mt. 2:15). In this way, Jesus stands with his people, and God carries Israel’s history toward its intended goal.
When Herod realizes that he has been deceived by the magi, his fear turns into violence. He orders the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity “two years old and under,” acting “in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi” (v. 16). Matthew is not suggesting that God cared only about protecting his Son and not about the other children. Scripture repeatedly shows that God sees innocent blood and hears the cry of the afflicted (Gen. 4:10), and Jesus himself insists that every life is known and valued before the Father (Mt. 10:29-31). But Matthew also refuses to hide what human freedom can do when it is driven by pride and self-preservation, especially in the hands of the powerful. This pattern has repeated itself throughout history, and many have taken such evil as a sign that Jesus will soon return. Yet Jesus warns against treating violence and upheaval as a timetable (Mt. 24:6-8). In the midst of this darkness, Matthew shows God preserving the Child because this Child must live to complete the saving work that will be for all peoples.
Matthew then frames the grief with another fulfillment statement, this time from Jer. 31:15: “A voice was heard in Ramah…Rachel weeping for her children” (vv. 17-18). Jeremiah’s image draws on Israel’s earlier disasters. Ramah was associated with sorrow and exile, a place linked with captives being gathered and carried away. Rachel, the mother figure for Israel, becomes a symbolic voice of communal mourning. Matthew hears that older grief echoed in Bethlehem’s lamentation. Yet it is worth remembering what surrounds Jer. 31:15 in its original setting. Jeremiah’s wider message moves from tears toward consolation and restoration, and it leads into the promise of a “new covenant” written on the heart (Jer. 31:31). Matthew does not quote those later lines here, but the wider biblical context matters: the same God who hears the lament is also the God who promises renewal. In Matthew’s story, that renewal will come through the Child Herod tries to destroy.
When Herod dies, the pattern of divine guidance through dreams resumes (vv. 19-20). Again, the angel speaks, and again Joseph obeys at once (v. 21). Matthew highlights a simple but important point: God’s protection is not a single intervention but repeated guidance across changing circumstances. Joseph’s obedience is practical. He listens, he acts, and he takes responsibility for the safety of “the child and his mother.”
The return, however, is not straightforward. Joseph hears that Archelaus is ruling over Judea “in place of his father Herod” (v. 22), and Matthew expects the reader to understand that Herod’s death does not mean the end of danger. Judea was the political center, with Jerusalem at its heart, and returning there would place the family closer to the reach of Herod’s successor. Galilee, by contrast, lay to the north, with Samaria between it and Judea, so there was real distance and geographic separation from the center of power. Nazareth was also a small, out-of-the-way town. Joseph is “afraid,” and again a dream redirects him, this time away from Judea and toward Galilee (v. 22). Matthew compresses the movement into a few lines, but the effect is clear: the Holy Family’s path is shaped by both human threats and divine direction.
This leads to Matthew’s final fulfillment line: “He shall be called a Nazorean” (v. 23). Here, Matthew does something unusual. There is no single Old Testament verse that says those exact words. That is why he shifts slightly and says “spoken through the prophets” (plural). He is pointing to the larger prophetic witness rather than quoting one line word for word. The main narrative point remains clear: Jesus grows up in a place that many regarded as insignificant, and his identity will later be reduced by others to a dismissive label—“Jesus the Nazorean.” Even in the infancy story, Matthew is already preparing us for the pattern of misunderstanding and rejection that will accompany Jesus’ mission.
What emerges from Mt. 2:13-23 is a sober picture of salvation history. God truly guides and protects, yet human rulers can still choose cruelty and injustice, as Jesus himself will later endure in his unjust condemnation and death. The Child is preserved, not for comfort, but for a mission that will confront evil more deeply than Herod ever could imagine.
Lord God, you guided the Holy Family through danger and darkness. Give us faith to trust your providence, and teach us to listen and obey as Joseph did, with quiet courage and steady love. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Sources and References
- The Holy Bible, New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011), including NABRE notes on Mt. 2:13-23.
- The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, Mt. 2:13-3:4 (pp. 9-11).
- Faculty of the University of Navarre, The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition (Four Courts/Scepter), commentary on Mt. 2:13-3:12 (pp. 52-54).
- José Enrique Aguilar Chiu et al., eds., The Paulist Biblical Commentary (Paulist Press, 2018), Mt. 2:13-23 (pp. 913-914).
- Raymond E. Brown et al., The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (Prentice Hall, 1990), Matthew infancy narrative notes (p. 636, pars. 13-16).
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