“Saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead which sought the young child’s life.”
Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead. The command to return echoes Exodus 4:19, where God commands Moses to return to Egypt because all those who were seeking your life are dead. The parallel is deliberate: Jesus-as-Israel recapitulates the story of Israel-as-Israel, but Jesus is also the new Moses, the deliverer who leads the new exodus. Matthew's infancy narrative is simultaneously an exodus story, a Joseph story, and a creation of the true Israel — several Old Testament plotlines are being brought to their intended conclusion through the birth, flight, and return of this one child.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a note on this verse
0/2000
No notes on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!