Exile to Egypt

“Now when they (the wise men) had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Rise, take the child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child and destroy Him.’  And he rose and took the child and His mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.  This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I called my son.’’’-Matthew 2:13-15 (ESV.  Read  2:13-18).

With what unrest Mary and Joseph spent the days at the time of the infancy of Jesus’ life!  First came the call for registration for the taxes and the arduous journey to Bethlehem from Nazareth, some 80 miles, at a time when Mary was so near to giving birth.  Then they were lodged in a stable, the only housing available for them in Bethlehem so that the Son of God was born in a lowly place.  Other than their encounter at the Temple with Anna and Simeon who recognized the Baby as the Messiah, and the visit from the Magi, which Matthew records, we have no other scriptural accounts of their time in Bethlehem, or even how long they were there.  Since Herod’s decree to kill the children had an age designation (all male children two years and younger), “according to the time the star appeared,” Mary, Joseph and Jesus may have been in Bethlehem awhile.  The fact that they were “in a house” at the time of the Magi’s visit tells us some time had passed since shepherds visited them at the stable.  The time of the Wise Men’s first seeing the star and when they came to Bethlehem could well have taken two years.  But we are certainly assured, even if we don’t know how much time was involved, that God’s hand of protection was upon the holy family.  Again Joseph was warned by an angel in a dream that he should take Mary and Joseph and flee to Egypt to escape Herod’s jealous wrath and the decree to kill male babies.  We think how horrible was that decree.  But Herod seemed to have no feelings of compassion, for he had members of his own family murdered (his wife Marianne and three sons).  To order the deaths of infants of his constituents would be within the parameters of how he ruled.  Think of the sorrow it brought to parents affected by his decree!  God was providing a means of escape for the Baby Jesus, and his parents acted immediately on the warning Joseph received.

How far was the trip to Egypt?  We are told it was 200 miles to the country itself, and possibly as much as 350 miles if they went to either Cairo or Alexandria, major cities.  Traveling an average of twenty miles per day, it would have taken at least ten days from Bethlehem to whatever city the family went in Egypt. A shrine in Cairo claims to be the place where the holy family resided while in exile.  Alexandria was a refuge for Jews, having the largest concentration of Jews anyplace outside of Palestine.  For the long journey to Egypt, Mary and Joseph may have joined a caravan, which would have been the safest way for them to travel. Many scholars believe that the gold, frankincense and myrrh, expensive gifts from the Wise Men, may have been used to finance the trip and the holy family’s stay in Egypt.  Mary and Joseph stand as the first in a long line of persecuted Christians who had to flee to escape the death of Jesus.  When Herod died, an angel appeared again to Joseph to tell him to return to Israel.  But when Joseph heard that Archelaus, Herod’s son, was reigning over Judea, he took his family to Nazareth in Galilee.  There, Jesus was subject to His parents until he was about thirty and began his public ministry.

Prayer.  Lord, being in human form made Jesus subject to all the problems and challenges of life.  His parents were not exempt from persecution and hardships.  When we are prone to complain, help us to remember that the Son of God also encountered great opposition and adverse conditions.  Amen.