I imagine Joseph arising from this sleep, mind buzzing with the angel’s message in the dream. Did he immediately bundle his wife and infant son out the door and on the road to Egypt? Was the urgency such that they had little time to prepare? I am sure the gold and other gifts of the wise men came in handy as they met unexpected expenses. It was a good thing they left when they did. How far behind were Herod’s murderous soldiers? Mary and Joseph probably fled to Alexandria in Egypt. At the time, the city had a population that was perhaps 40% Jewish. There would be people there, maybe even relatives, to welcome and shelter them and a sizeable community into which they could disappear for a while.

Matthew wants us to see that the Old Testament narratives are about Jesus. Another way to think about it is to see that this event in Jesus’ life has cast a long and dark shadow on the past. Once, before, a cruel king was slaughtering Hebrew boys. There was a long trek to Egypt and a longer trek back home to the Promised Land. Jesus was not reliving those events in his own journey to Jerusalem. Those ancient events pointed to Him and to His time in Egypt. The real exodus was taking place, of which that ancient event was a sort of shadow, imperfectly projected upon the world and its history. We can see the outline of Christ’s life in Moses, the Pharaoh’s cruel schemes, and the people’s return to the Promised Land in Joshua’s day. Those ancient Israelites were pointing ahead to Jesus’ own Egyptian sojourn in the bondage of sin. Jesus has set us free.  RPB