LESSON II.--JULY 10.

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.-- MATT. 2:13-23.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--He delivered me because he delighted in me.--PSALM 18:19.
      TIME.--B. C. 4.
      PLACES.--Bethlehem of Judea; Egypt; Nazareth in Galilee.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Luke 2:22-38; Psalm 2:1-12; Isaiah 53:1-12.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. The Flight to Egypt; 2. The Murder of the Innocents; 3. The Home at Nazareth.

INTRODUCTION.

      Of the flight into Egypt, and its duration, the Scripture gives us no particulars, telling us only that the Holy Family fled by night from Bethlehem, and returned when Joseph had been assured in a dream that it would be safe to take the Savior back to the land of his nativity. It is left to apocryphal legends to tell us how, on the way, dragons came and bowed to him, the lions and the leopards adored him, the roses of Jericho bloomed wherever his footsteps trod, the palm trees at his command bowed down to give them dates, the robbers were overawed by his majesty, and the journey was miraculously shortened. . . . All this wealth and prodigality of superfluous, aimless, and unmeaning miracle--arising in part from a mere craving for the [192] supernatural, and in part from a fanciful application of Old Testament prophecies--furnishes a strong contrast to the truthful simplicity of the Gospel narrative. Matthew neither tells us where the Holy Family abode in Egypt, nor how long their exile continued; but ancient legends say that they remained two years absent from Palestine, and lived at Matareeh, a few miles northeast of Cairo.--Farrar.

      I. THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT.--13. And when they were departed. Though we cannot be certain, it is probable that the Magi were led by the star to Bethlehem, offered their homage, departed, Joseph was warned, and the Holy Family started to Egypt, all the same night. The warning comes as soon as the Magi depart. This was after the night when the shepherds heard the angels, the most wonderful night in the history of Bethlehem. The Young Child must now have been over forty days old, for on the fortieth day he was presented at the temple and must have returned from thence to Bethlehem. See Luke 2:22. It is likely that as all these things occurred at night that none of them were generally known to the population of Bethlehem. Flee into Egypt. Egypt has a very intimate connection with Bible history. There Joseph, a type of Christ, was carried; there Israel sojourned 400 years, and was called from thence to Canaan; there Moses, another type of Christ, was reared; there the Septuagint version of the Hebrew Scriptures, the most important version ever made, was prepared; there tens of thousands of Jews found a home, so that it was almost a second Palestine. It had, therefore, special advantages as a place of refuge. It was the nearest of Roman provinces independent of Herod, was the home of thousands of Joseph's countrymen, and was convenient for a return at the proper time.

      14. When he arose, he took the young child. The message came while he was sleeping; as soon as he arose from his bed he took the Child and his mother and departed at once. There was prompt obedience, as there should always be, to the divine commands. It was also important that he should flee at once to escape the impending danger, and that he should flee under the concealment of the night that his route should be unknown, lest he should be pursued. The residence in Egypt was to continue until he was divinely directed to return, and those directions would not be given until after Herod's death. [193]

      15. That it might be fulfilled, . . . out of Egypt have I called my son. The prophecy here quoted is found in Hosea 11:1. It was stated of the Israel which was called out of Egypt and who is spoken of as a son. Israel, however, was a type, and the events portrayed in Israelitish history were typical prophecies. That was the dispensation of types and shadows. Hence, the great outlines were prophetic, and the calling of Israel out of Egypt a prophecy of the leader of the true Israel being called out of that land. . . . The devout student should note the reception of our Lord on the earth. While yet a Babe in his mother's arms the "rulers of the earth take counsel together" and seek to slay him; his enemies are evaded by a swift flight under the cover of night and an exile in a strange land. "He came to his own and his own received him not." This is the beginning of the persecution of Christ.

      II. THE MURDER OF THE INNOCENTS.--16. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked. He had directed the wise men to report to him after their visit to Bethlehem. Their return to their own country without complying with his wishes seemed to Herod a mockery of his authority and excited his rage. As they were not his subjects they were under no obligation to obey him, especially in a matter of this kind. This led to a terrible tragedy. He had ascertained that the royal child was an infant and born at Bethlehem, but he had no means of identifying it. Unaware of the flight from Bethlehem the bloody and malignant king determined to make sure of the death of one whom he regarded as a future rival by slaying all male children under two years, that being the age to which he was led by his inquiries of the wise men. Some have held that, inasmuch as Josephus, who wrote about eighty years later, makes no mention of this slaughter, it is improbable that it should have occurred, but it must be borne in mind, 1. That Josephus, after the lapse of nearly a century, may have known nothing of it; 2. That as a prejudiced and dishonest Jew, averse to saying anything whatever in favor of Christianity, he may purposely have omitted it, or, 3. It was so insignificant, compared with some of Herod's slaughters, that he may have deemed it too trivial to mention. His whole career was red with murder. He [194] massacred priests and nobles; he slew the members of the Sanhedrim; he caused the high priest to be drowned before his eyes; be put to death, at one time, two learned doctors of the law and about fifty of their pupils; he strangled his own wife Mariamne, the only being he ever seemed to have loved; he slew three of his sons, the uncle and father of his wife, his mother-in-law, his uncle, his nearest friends, and thousands who had less claims upon him. So cruel was the lot of the Jewish nation that, after his death, Jewish ambassadors to Augustus Cæsar declared "that the survivors during his reign were even more wretched than those he had put to death." Besides, the historian Macrobius makes an evident allusion, incidently to the Bethlehem massacre when he says that "Augustus, on being informed that among the boys under two years of age whom Herod had ordered to be slain in Syria, his own son was also slain, said it was better to be Herod's pig than his son." While Macrobius was mistaken about Herod's son being slain in this slaughter his language is, no doubt, a reminiscence of the tragedy of Bethlehem. Sent forth and slew. A band of his murderous satellites were sent, and not only slew the male children of Bethlehem, but those of that vicinity. Attempts have been made to estimate the number slain, and it is held that Bethlehem could not have had over 2,000 inhabitants, not over one-twentieth of whom could have been male children under two years of age, or that about fifty in all were probably slain. Only a fiend incarnate could order such a murder of innocents, and only satellites of a fiend could carry out such inhuman orders.

      17. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet. The saying is found in Jer. 31:15, and was first spoken with reference to the desolation of Israel by Nebuchadnezzar. The survivors of the Israelites were gathered by their conquerors as captives at Ramah. There the voice of lamentation was heard over the woes of Israel, and especially from the mothers bereft of their offspring. In rich poetic strain the prophet describes Rachel, the mother of two great tribes, as weeping and refusing to be comforted. It was still more appropriate to the bereaved mothers of Bethlehem. Within half a mile of that city was the tomb of Rachel and hence the pathetic language of the prophet is again applied to the inconsolable mothers of Bethlehem, as though the Rachel that slept in the tomb were a mourner over her slain offspring. On the site of the tomb of Rachel is now a Mahometan mosque, much visited by Jewish, Christian and Mahometan pilgrims. For the burial of Rachel see Gen. 36:19.

      18. In Ramah was a voice heard. Ramah was a border fortress of Judah [195] where the captives were collected by the the generals of Nebuchadnezzar after the fall of Jerusalem.

      III. THE RETURN TO NAZARETH.--19. But when Herod was dead. This event was the signal for the return to Judea. He died in the spring of the year 750, after the building of Rome, just before the passover. This would place his death nearly four years before the Christian era, the date from whence we reckon our time. That was not fixed upon until five hundred, years after the birth of Christ and was fixed erroneously. If we could determine the exact duration of the stay in Egypt, whether a few weeks or several years, we could determine about the time of Christ's birth. The message to return was conveyed in the same way as the message to depart to Egypt, by a dream.

      20. Arise . . . go into the land of Israel. Notice that Joseph is not required to return to Bethlehem or to Judea, but simply to the land of Israel. As he advances upon his journey he will be informed where he must go. They are dead who sought the young child's life. As "they" is plural there must have been more than one death of those who sought the death of the Lord. Five days before the death of Herod he slew his son Antipater, a prince of dark, cruel, treacherous character whom he had expected to succeed him. Nothing could be more likely than that he had fully sympathized in the scheme of child murder at Bethlehem. Now both, "they that sought the young child's life" were dead.

      21. And arose and took the young child. He obeyed as promptly as before, waiting obediently upon the Divine will. Come into the land of Israel. This included not only Judea, but Samaria, Galilee, and the country beyond the Jordan. The part first reached by Joseph on his return would be Judea.

      22. When he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea. Archelaus is one of the four sons of Herod who are named in the New Testament. He was excluded [196]

NAZARETH [197]

by will from any part in the kingdom, but subsequently, shortly before Herod's death, was made his heir. He was removed a few years later by the Romans, and banished to Gaul. He was a cruel monster, and in the very beginning of his reign butchered 3,000 Jews at once in the temple. Was afraid to go thither. This implies that he had designed to return thither. A study of all the facts renders it probable that after the birth of Christ Joseph designed to make Bethlehem his home. It was the city of David, the place where the Lord was to come from, while Nazareth was a contemptible place with a bad name. As he knew the high mission of the child, he thought it due that Bethlehem should be his home. But God sent him away, first to Egypt, and then refused to let him settle in Judea at all, but sent him back to Nazareth, or at least into Galilee.

      23. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth. Matthew makes no mention of the previous residence at Nazareth, for that did not harmonize with his purpose, which was especially to point out to the Jew the fulfillment of prophecy, and he now names it first when it becomes the home of Christ. It was an obscure village, nestled on the hills about five hundred feet above the plain of Esdrælon. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets. Not by one prophet, but the summing up of a number of prophecies. No prophet had declared in express terms that he should be called a Nazarene. They, however, did apply to Christ the term Nezer, from which Nazareth is derived; the Nazarites, of whom Samson was one, were typical of Christ; the meanness and contempt in which Nazareth was held was itself a prophecy of one who "was despised and rejected." (See Isa. 11:1; Jer. 23:5; 33:15; Zech. 3:8; 6:12.)

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      When total depravity is placed on the pinnacle of power and in the sight of all men, no false glory can gild its unsightliness.

      Wickedness is repulsive in even the humblest stations, but far more abominable in those who are entrusted with influence and power.

      Herod's hatred of Christ typifies the Jewish enmity and persecution of our Lord.

      How vain is royal dignity and pre-eminence in one who seeks to rule men and cannot rule his own spirit.

      A king sought to destroy the child Moses, the leader of Israel; a king sought to destroy the child, "the Prophet like unto Moses," the leader of the true Israel.

      The preservation of the child Jesus may be considered a figure of God's care over his church in times of greatest danger. God doth not often, as he [198] easily could, strike their persecutors with immediate destruction, but he provides a hiding-place for his people and preserves his chosen ones from being swept away, even when the enemy comes like a flood.--Doddridge.

      God teaches us not to despise humble things. Christ was born in a stable, of poor earthly parents, and was carried by night into a strange land, and returned to dwell in despised Nazareth; yet God hailed him from heaven as his beloved Son, sent upon him the Holy Spirit, and finally placed all power in heaven and earth in his hands.

      CAME TO NAZARETH.--Nazareth was a little town, situated in a fold of land broadly opened at the summit of the group of mountains which closes on the north the plain of Esdrælon. The population is now from three to four thousand, and it cannot have varied very much. The environments are charming, and no place in the world was so well adapted to dreams of absolute happiness. Even in our days, Nazareth is a delightful sojourn, the only place, perhaps, in Palestine where the soul feels a little relieved of the burden which weighs upon it in the midst of this unequaled desolation. The people are friendly and good-natured; the gardens are fresh and green. The beauty of the women who gather there at night, this beauty which was already remarked in the sixth century, and in which was seen the gift of the Virgin Mary (by Antonius Martyr, Itiner., 5), has been surprisingly well preserved. It is the Syrian type, in all its languishing grace.--Renan.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Note the shifting scenes of this lesson. It begins in Bethlehem, shifts to Egypt, ends in Nazareth of Galilee. A pupil should give a description of each of these, and the duty should be assigned the week before. 2. Follow the travels of the Holy Family upon the map. 3. Portray the striking changes of the lesson--(a) The Young Child receiving homage of foreign ambassadors and tribute in Jerusalem; (b) carried by night in hot haste and in concealment to Egypt; (c) the return from thence to dwell in a humble home in a despised hamlet. 4. Point out the care of God of his own--(a) The wise men not allowed to go back to Herod; (b) Joseph warned to flee to Egypt; (c) sent to Galilee on return; (d) Abundant means provided to pay the expenses of a home in exile. 5. Note the abominable character of the usurping king of the Jews, contrasted with him who was "born to be King of the Jews." Yet the Jews rejected the latter. 6. Bring out the sad tragedy at Bethlehem--its cause, its circumstances, and the weeping Rachel. 7. Trace the parallels between Joseph, Moses and Christ, and show how Egypt was connected with all. 8. Note that God called Israel out of Egypt, Christ out of Egypt, and still calls every "son" out of Egypt. 9. Bring out all the facts narrated by the gospels about the Young Child, up to the date of the return to Nazareth. 9. Illustrate in Herod the utter ungodliness of those who surrender themselves to evil; an example to be shunned and abhorred; but the Young Child an example to be loved and followed. [199]

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: