Tuesday 23rd December
Read Matthew 2:13
“When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’” (NIVUK)
The third dream in Matthew, the second time the angel of the Lord has appeared to Joseph. Egypt was logical to flee to. It was safe, Roman, not in Herod’s jurisdiction and had a sizable Jewish population.
Matthew is making it clear that God is protecting His Son. It is even there in the strange reverse ordering of ‘the child and his mother’, repeated twice (v13, 14). To protect the child requires Joseph to continue to obey as he did before Jesus was born.
Even when God is with you, as He was with Joseph, obedience is still necessary.
