2:13
We see that angels played a big part in the birth narrative, both here and in Luke. Here one appears to Joseph, telling him to go to Egypt. This was because Herod was going to try to kill the child, and they were to stay in Egypt until they were told by the angel to leave. Egypt played a big part in Israel’s history. They went there to avoid famine in the time of Joseph. They were set free from slavery by Moses. They frequently wanted to go back to Egypt, or looked to Egypt for help, and this was almost always against God’s will, or out of a lack of trust in God. So the relationship with Egypt is complex, a lot of the time Egypt was a snare to Israel, but occasionally it was a place of refuge.
2:14,15
Joseph obeyed the angel. In fact, we see in all of Matthew that Joseph was a very humble and obedient man. He stayed in Egypt with his family until the death of Herod. Matthew sees the return as a fulfilment of Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt, I called my son”. The original application of this was God calling Israel out of Egypt. In some ways Jesus is representative of Israel, He is what Israel was always meant to be. In Isaiah and the servant songs it is often difficult to say whether something the servant in a particular passage is the nation of Israel or the Messiah. In a sense it is both. And Jesus is also what the whole on mankind was meant to be like. A people living in perfect love, trust and obedience to God.
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