Smoodock's Blog

It is important to understand that, although the Jews were in the Land of Promise, they were still in exile. Originally, Adam and Eve were exiled from the Presence of God. This was the first exile that gives all other exiles their meaning. Adam and Eve and their children were still in Eden, but ‘something’ prevented their reentry into the Presence of God (symbolized by the Garden), but Cain was exiled from Eden, because of his slaying of his brother and hiding his sin. Next, the world, except for Noah and his family, was exiled to death, but soon afterward, the world was exiled once again and scattered all over the earth (Genesis 11). Abraham was brought out of this exile by God, but soon Jacob was exiled first to Haran and then to Egypt, where is son, Joseph, was also exiled.

Finally, all Israel is brought back out of exile and into the Promised Land, where they enjoyed the Presence of God through Temple worship. Nevertheless, the Temple curtain still separated them from coming too close (cp. Genesis 3:22-24), leaving the original exile in place. Nevertheless, through their unfaithfulness, all Israel was again exiled to Assyria and Babylon and the Temple was destroyed, driving them further away from the Presence of God, which was symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant beyond the Temple curtain. Although the Jews were permitted to return to the Promised Land and rebuild the Temple, the Ark of the Covenant was not in the 2^nd Temple, meaning there was no representation of God’s Presence in the rebuilt Temple (Jeremiah 3:16).[1] Therefore, at the time of Jesus’ birth, the Jews were still in exile from the Presence of the Lord, represented by the Ark of the Covenant beyond the veil in the Temple.

After the departure of the Magi, it is implied that Joseph planned to stay in Judea rather than return to Nazareth, because, instead of returning to Nazareth after Mary’s purification, they continued their stay in Judea, for Joseph had a dream there, wherein he was instructed by an angel to take Mary and Jesus to Egypt (Matthew 2:13), because Herod would soon seek to slay the child. Jesus wouldn’t be safe anywhere in Herod’s realm, which included Nazareth.

The angel instructed Joseph to remain in Egypt, until he appeared to him again to say it was safe to return. Immediately, afterward Joseph took his family and departed out of the realm of Herod and journeyed down to Egypt (Matthew 2:14). Thus, just as Jacob was exiled to Haran because of Esau’s threat against his life, and then to Egypt due to the threat of the famine, so Jesus was exiled to Egypt to fulfill the history of his people. If the Jews, or for that matter, if the Jews and the gentiles were to be brought out of exile, Jesus had to be exiled himself and then brought out from exile into the Promised Land.

So, Joseph remained in Egypt until news of Herod’s death was brought to him by the angel, and this occurred in order to fulfill what the prophet Hosea had said: “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew 2:15; cp. Hosea 11:1).

We need to understand, however, that this wasn’t a prophecy that Jesus would go down to Egypt. Hosea recalled that Israel was brought out of exile to the Promised Land, where the Temple was built, which also included the Ark of the Covenant, symbolizing being brought into the Presence of God. Jesus “fulfilled” this in that he, God made flesh, came into the Promised Land to be with his people, so for the first time since Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple, the people of Israel was in the Presence of God, but the veil still remained (cp. Hebrews 10:20).

______________________________________________________________

[1] “The inmost part of the temple was twenty feet in each direction and was separated from the outer part by a veil, and in it there was nothing at all.” – JOSEPHUS: Wars of the Jews; book 5, chapter 5, paragraph 5 [219]