Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
New Testament Notes 10-11

New Testament Notes 10-11

Last updated on: February 1, 2019 at 2:51 pm by Dan Peterson

New Testament Notes 10-11 2019-02-01T14:51:23-07:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Lukas Cranach the Elder, “Ruhe auf der Flucht nach Aegypten” (Rest on the Flight into Egypt)
Wikimedia Commons public domain image
It would appear that the Holy Family fled from Palestine into Egypt by way of the Canadian Rockies or, perhaps, through the Black Forest — the Schwarzwald — of southwestern Germany.

Matthew 2:13-23

Luke 2:39-40

In the Bible — in the Old Testament, anyway — Egypt is often a threat. But it also figures more than once as a place of sanctuary. On this topic, see S. Kent Brown, “Biblical Egypt: Land of Refuge, Land of Bondage” Ensign (September 1980).

Matthew 2:16 cites as prophecy a statement taken from Hosea 11:1: “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” In its original context, it clearly refers to the exodus from Egypt of the people of Israel as a whole. This offers an interesting perspective on Matthew’s overall approach; plainly, he sees the history of Israel as somehow foreshadowing the life of Christ. Or, to put it another way, he regards Jesus as, in some sense, recapitulating the story of the Hebrews. At least in part.

The family tree of Herod the Great and his immediate descendants

It’s sometimes rather difficult to keep the various “Herods” of the New Testament straight. In the passages for today, we’re concerned with only two of them.

The first, of course, is Herod the Great — who was, as everybody should realize, only “great” in terms of his ambition and his vast building activity, certainly not in terms of his character or his success as a family man. He dies in Matthew 2:19.

The second is Herod Archaelaus (23 BC-ca. 18 AD), who is mentioned in Matthew 2:22. Joseph’s reluctance to go back from Egypt to living under his rule is entirely understandable: He was legendarily cruel. He ruled as the ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea (the biblical Edom), including the cities of Caesarea and Jaffa, for roughly nine years (ca. 4 BC to 6 AD). This was roughly one half of the territory ruled by his father. However, Herod Archelaus’s gross brutality, coupled with egregious and offensive violations of the Law of Moses, caused his Jewish subjects to lodge a formal complaint with the Roman Emperor Augustus. Accordingly, Archelaus was deposed in 6 AD and banished to Vienne, in Gaul. At that point, the province of Judaea was formed and placed under direct Roman rule.

The prophecy to which Matthew 2:23 alludes (“He shall be called a Nazarene”) does not appear in the Old Testament. Was Matthew aware of a text that is now lost to us, but which he took to be genuine scripture? If so, this passage represents a potentially interesting challenge to people who insist on the completeness and sole-sufficiency of the Bible as we currently have it.

Luke 2:40 (“The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him”) is a powerful reminder of the humanity of Jesus, which should not be forgotten in the overpowering light of his divinity.

New Testament Commentary

Previous Post

January 29, 2019

Why go to church?

Next Post

January 30, 2019 "What happens to a dream deferred?"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Which king of Judah destroyed Nehushtan, the bronze serpent?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Josiah Hezekiah Uzziah Manasseh