Matthew 2: 13 15 Escape To Egypt

Target year level: Year Five

Scripture text

Introduction

The text is situated in a section of Matthew’s Gospel that deals with the birth and infancy of Jesus, called the infancy narratives. Scripture scholars think that the Gospel of Matthew was written in the last part of the first century CE, sometime after 70 CE. Matthew’s intended audience was Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians who were familiar with Jewish culture, religious belief and religious practice.

World behind the text

Many scholars believe Matthew’s Gospel was written at Antioch, a Greek speaking city with a number of Jewish synagogues. Antioch became the capital of the Roman province in Syria in 64 BCE and in the first century CE was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. Christianity had become well established in Antioch by 80 CE. A number of other possible locations with a similar demographic to Antioch are also suggested as possible sites for the writing of Matthew’s Gospel.

Matthew 2:13-15 needs to be read and understood in relation to questions and disputes in Matthew’s community about the precise relationship between the Christian churches and Judaism. In contention was the religious legitimacy of the new Christian movement with its claim that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah.

For further information, see the teacher background information, Who Wrote the Gospels and When? and the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Introduction to Matthew.

World of the text

Throughout his Gospel, Matthew tries to show that Jesus is the New Moses, the one who liberates his people and fulfils their deepest and most authentic expectations. A major emphasis in the Gospel of Matthew is that Jesus is the Messiah. From Matthew’s Christian point of view, the teaching of Jesus brings the Torah to its fullness, to its most authentic meaning and deepest significance.

To this end, Matthew uses ‘formula quotations’ throughout his Gospel. Formula quotations are excerpts from the Hebrew or Jewish Scriptures (Old Testament) introduced by a formula such as “for so it has been written by the prophet”. (See Felix Just - Matthew Old Testament Quotations.) In Matthew 2:13-15, the formula quotation is from the prophet Hosea, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son." (11:1)

The theologian, Michael Fallon, uses the title, Jesus relives the exile in Egypt, for his brief commentary on Matthew 2:13-15. According to Fallon, Matthew’s interpretation in 2:13-15 or Matthew’s midrash “is built around a text from Hosea. Jesus is fulfilling in his person the history of Israel. Just as the people of God experienced exile in Egypt, so does Jesus. Just as God called Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land, so is it for Jesus.” For Fallon, Jesus is the new Moses, leading both Jews and Gentiles to the Promised Land. Herod’s threat against the life of Jesus parallels the threat of the Egyptian Pharaoh against Moses’ life. For further commentary see Fallon 49 (pdf).

World in front of the text

At a basic level, Matthew 2:13-15 tells the story of a family and a young child who find themselves under threat from forces beyond their control. We know from what precedes the account of the flight to Egypt that political and religious elite powers saw this seemingly powerless and fragile child as a threat to their political-religious system and to the power that went with controlling and benefitting from that system (Mt. 2:1-7). Thus, the infant Jesus and his parents become refugees and seek asylum in Egypt. This was a brave act and exercise of faith since, commonly for Jews, Egypt was seen as an evil and uninviting place, not particularly welcoming of a lowly Jewish family group seeking asylum.

In the early twenty-first century the world has witnessed millions of children and adults fleeing political and religious persecution. Those who cherish all that is right and just in our Jewish-Christian tradition are challenged to respond as best we can.

For access to Catholic thought and teaching on Migrants and Refugees see Migrants Refugees.