Escape to Egypt

“Out of Egypt I called My Son.” — Matthew 2:15

After the wise men had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.

“Get up!” the angel said. “Take the child and His mother and run away to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill Him.”

Joseph didn’t wait until morning. He got up that very night, took Jesus and Mary, and left for Egypt. Egypt was a long way away, in another country, where King Herod couldn’t reach them.

Do you remember who else went down to Egypt long ago? Jacob and his whole family, when there was a famine and Joseph took care of them there. Now another Joseph was taking God’s Son to Egypt to keep Him safe.

When Herod realised that the wise men weren’t coming back to tell him where Jesus was, he was furious. He gave a cruel and terrible order: all the little boys in Bethlehem who were two years old or younger were to be killed. There was great weeping in Bethlehem that day.

But Jesus was safe, because God had warned Joseph in time.

Mary and Joseph and Jesus lived in Egypt until wicked King Herod died. Then the angel appeared to Joseph in a dream again. “Get up! Take the child and His mother and go back to the land of Israel. The people who were trying to kill the child are dead.”

So Joseph got up and took Jesus and Mary back to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Herod’s son was now ruling in Judea, where Bethlehem was, he was afraid to go there. God warned him in another dream. So instead, Joseph took his family north to Galilee, back to the little town of Nazareth.

And that’s where Jesus grew up: in Nazareth, in the carpenter’s family. That’s why people later called Him “Jesus of Nazareth”.

Herod was a powerful king, and he tried to stop God’s plan. But nobody can stop God’s plans. God watched over His Son, and He used Joseph to keep Him safe, one dream at a time.

The promise kept: Matthew tells us that Jesus coming back from Egypt kept the words of the prophet Hosea: “Out of Egypt I called My Son” (Matthew 2:15). Long ago God called His people Israel out of Egypt. Now God’s own Son came out of Egypt too.

Read it in your Bible: Matthew 2:13–23

Dear God, thank you that you kept Jesus safe, and that no one can stop your plans. Please watch over children everywhere who are in danger or have to leave their homes. Amen.