Matthew 2:19 - Meaning and Application

Here we see Christ returning out of Egypt into the land of Israel. Egypt could serve as a place to stay for a time, or a place of shelter, but not a permanent home. Christ was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, so he must return to them.

Notice first what cleared the way for his return, the death of Herod. This happened not long after the murder of the infants, some think no more than three months later. God’s judgment moved quickly. Herods must die. Proud tyrants, who frighten the strong and crush the godly while they live, will also fall into the grave. Why should we fear a man who must die? (Isaiah 51:12, 13) At death, their envy and hatred are gone (Ecclesiastes 9:6), they no longer trouble others (Job 3:17), and they face punishment.

Of all sins, the guilt of innocent blood is filled up the fastest. Josephus gives a terrible account of Herod’s death, saying he was struck with a disease that burned him from within with unbearable pain. He became greedy for food, suffered from colic, gout, and dropsy, and gave off such a foul smell that no one could come near him. He was so angry and impatient that he tormented himself and terrified everyone around him. His cruelty grew even worse. After ordering his own son to be killed, he imprisoned many nobles and gentry and ordered that, when he died, they should be killed too. That execution was stopped. See what sort of people have often been enemies and persecutors of Christ and his followers. Few have opposed Christianity except those who have first cast off common humanity, like Nero and Domitian.

Second, we see the orders from heaven about their return, and Joseph’s obedience to those orders (Matthew 2:19-21). God had sent Joseph into Egypt, and Joseph stayed there until the same God who brought him there told him to leave. In all our moves, it is good to see our way clearly and to have God go before us. We should not move in either direction without his guidance. These orders came to Joseph through an angel. If we keep up our fellowship with God on our side, he will keep it up on his side, wherever we are. No place can shut out God’s gracious visits. Angels came to Joseph in Egypt, to Ezekiel in Babylon, and to John in Patmos.

The angel first tells Joseph that Herod and his helpers are dead, the ones who wanted the young Child’s life. They are dead, but the young Child lives. Persecuted believers sometimes live to stand on the graves of their persecutors. In this way, the church’s King passed through the storm, and many times the church has done the same. The angel likely means Herod and his son Antipater, who, though they distrusted each other, probably both worked to destroy this new King. If Herod kills Antipater and then dies himself, the way is clear. The Lord is made known by the judgments he carries out, when one wicked tool helps destroy another.

Then the angel tells Joseph what to do. He must go back to the land of Israel, and he obeyed at once. He did not argue that Egypt was a fairly good place to live, or complain about the hardship of the journey, especially if Herod died in the beginning of winter. God’s people follow his direction wherever he leads them and wherever he settles them. If we saw the world as our Egypt, the place of bondage and exile, and heaven as our Canaan, our home and rest, we would be just as ready to rise and go there when called as Joseph was to leave Egypt.

Third, Joseph gets further direction from God about where to settle in the land of Israel (Matthew 2:22-23). God could have given him all these instructions at once, but he often reveals his will in stages. That keeps his people waiting on him and ready to hear more. Joseph likely received these words in a dream, as before, probably through an angel.

God could have told Joseph his will through the child Jesus, but we do not read that Jesus spoke or acted with special notice of these moves. That was surely because he had to be made like his brothers in all things. As a child, he spoke like a child, acted like a child, and covered his infinite knowledge and power. As a child, he increased in wisdom.

The direction given to this holy royal family was, first, not to settle in Judea (Matthew 2:22). Joseph might have thought that because Jesus was born in Bethlehem, he should be brought up there. But he wisely feared for the young Child when he heard that Archelaus now ruled in Herod’s place. He did not rule over the whole kingdom like his father, only over Judea, while the other regions were given to others. See how many enemies rise up against Christ and his church. If one goes away, another appears at once to keep the old hatred alive. For that reason, Joseph must not take the young Child into Judea. God will not drive his children into danger unless it serves his own glory and their testing. The lives and deaths of his saints are precious to him, and so is their blood.

Second, the family must settle in Galilee (Matthew 2:22). Philip now ruled there, and he was a mild, quiet man. God’s providence commonly arranges things so that his people are not left without a calm place to flee from storm and heat. When one region grows hot and harsh, another is kept cooler and milder. Galilee was far to the north, with Samaria between it and Judea. They were sent to Nazareth, a city on a hill in the center of the tribe of Zebulun. That was where the Lord’s mother lived when she conceived the holy Child, and Joseph probably lived there too (Luke 1:26-27). There they were among people who knew them well, and among their relatives, which made it the right place for them.

They stayed there, and from then on our Savior was called Jesus of Nazareth, which was a stumbling block to the Jews, who asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” In this way what the prophets had spoken was fulfilled: “He will be called a Nazarene.” This may be understood, first, as a title of honor and dignity, though in its plain sense it only means a man from Nazareth. There is a hint or mystery in the wording, because it points to Christ as the Man, the Branch spoken of in Isaiah 11:1. The word there, Netzar, can mean either a branch or the city of Nazareth. By being named from that city, he is shown to be that Branch.

This points to Christ as the great Nazarite, the one the Old Testament Nazarites pointed to as a type and shadow. Samson, Eli’s judge and deliverer of Israel, was one example (Judges 13:5), and Joseph is called a Nazarite among his brothers (Genesis 49:26). The law about Nazarites also looked ahead to him (Numbers 6:2 and following). Christ was not a Nazarite in the strict legal sense, because he drank wine and touched dead bodies, but he was truly and fully set apart for God.

He was set apart in a far higher way, because he was holy in a unique sense and dedicated by God for the work of our rescue. Like Samson, who was set apart to save Israel, Christ was devoted to the honor of God in the work of redemption. This is a name we should gladly treasure and know him by.

Or the name may be taken as a name of shame and insult. To be called a Nazarene was to be treated as low and worthless, as someone from whom nothing good could be expected and to whom little respect should be shown. The devil first used this name to make Christ seem small and to turn people against him, and it stayed with him and his followers as a mocking label.

No single prophet said this in exactly those words, but the prophets spoke this truth many times in general terms. They said he would be despised and rejected by people (Isaiah 53:2-3), a worm and not a man (Psalm 22:6-7), and an outsider to his own brothers (Psalm 69:7-8). So let no insult for the sake of religion seem too hard for us, when our Master himself was called a Nazarene.