THE RETURN TO NAZARETH
Matthew 2 : 19 – 23
Jesus lived with His parents in Egypt when Bethlehem and Nazareth were under Herod’s reign. After his death, an angel of God appeared to Joseph in a dream, and asked him to take his child and his wife back to Israel, for those who wanted to kill his son were dead.
Matthew 2 : 20
“Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.”
As always, Joseph obeyed. No, I am not being sarcastic – I am in awe at how unquestioningly Joseph was willing to move. Yes, he did this for his son, but still. He had to take up all his belongings, and start life anew in every place which God pointed him to. Mary – she hasn’t been mentioned here, but still, she followed him and God. Any other spouse, and there would’ve been a shouting match at home involving friends and family.
But alas, Joseph was unable to move back to Israel for he still feared the safety of his son. Herod’s son Archelaus had ascended the throne of Judea after his father, and Joseph was worried that he might still hurt his boy. The angel of the Lord again warned Joseph in a dream, and asked him to instead go to the district of Galilee – yet another change of plans. Finally, they all settled in a town called Nazareth, fulfilling yet another prophecy foretold of the Lord Jesus, that he would be called a Nazorean.
Isaiah 49 : 7
Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
“Kings shall see and stand up,
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
To be honest, I didn’t quite understand this verse, and so I went back and read up on this. Simply put, this is what the verse means:
Paradoxically, the king who humbles himself to become the Servant of rulers will Himself receive their homage.
Jesus Christ and his earthly family fled from the rulers who wished to kill him. They acknowledged that on earth at that time, those kings they ran from were powerful and humbled themselves rather than strutting about that none can harm the Lord’s Son. The subjected themselves to be under the rule of earthly sinful kings, and were the lowest of the lowest in their society. Yet finally, they rose up above all the kings of the world, for in the end, the Lord Jesus Christ rose up above all the mortal kings.
The Bible for Slackers 