“And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”
Matthew 2:12 — Greek Interlinear
Church Fathers on Matthew 2:12
The wicked Herod, now made cruel by fear, will needs do a deed of horror. But how could he ensnare him who had come to cut off all fraud? His fraud is escaped as it follows, 'And being warned.'
They had offered gifts to the Lord, and receive a warning corresponding to it. This warning (in the Greek 'having received a response') is given not by an Angel, but by the Lord Himself, to shew the high privilege granted to the merit of Joseph.
This warning is given by the Lord Himself; it is none other that now teaches these Magi the way they should return, but He who said, 'I am the way.' [John 14:6] Not that the Infant actually speaks to them, that His divinity may not be revealed before the time, and His human nature may be thought real. But he says, 'having received an answer,' for as Moses prayed silently, so they with pious spirit had asked what the Divine will bade. 'By another way,' for they were not to be…