Wednesday 24th December
Read Matthew 2:14-15
“So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’” (NIVUK)
The temptation to think Matthew is still proof-texting his way through the early life of Jesus to indicate His importance is greater than ever. Hosea prophesied that the Son would come out of Egypt, so Jesus had to somehow flee there for that to be true – so He could return.
Given all we have seen so far though this simple explanation doesn’t scratch the surface. Even in Hosea the prophet is drawing on Israel’s history in Egypt and the Exodus to make a point about Israel’s current predicament with respect to Assyria. Hosea is drawing the people’s attention to the patterns that are built into the way God deals with them.
The pattern Matthew is referring to concerns the parallels between Moses’ life and Jesus’. Both adopted into the royal line, both having to flee for their lives. Even the language Matthew uses draws us back to Exodus 4. “Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, ‘Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.’… Then say to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, ‘Let my son go, so that he may worship me.’ But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.”’” (Exodus 4:19…22-23) (NIVUK)
There is so much we can meditate on as we think through Matthew’s ‘fulfilments’. We will see parallels with Moses increase as we work through the early chapters of the gospel. The question to ponder is why.
