Category:Flight into Egypt (subject)

The Flight into Egypt refers to an episode in the life of Jesus of Nazareth and his parents Mary of Nazareth and Joseph of Nazareth. The episode is narrated only in the Gospel of Matthew (Mt 2:13-23), and later Christian tradition.

Overview

According to the Gospel of Matthew, after the Adoration of the Magi, an angel warned Joseph to take the child and his mother into Egypt, as Herod the Great was planning the Massacre of the Innocents. When Herod died, they went back to the land of Israel, but being afraid of Herod Archelaus, they settled at Nazareth in Galilee.

Flight into Egypt, in ancient sources

Gospel of Matthew

Mt 2:13-15.19-23 (NRSV) -- [13] Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." [14] Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, [15] and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son"... <The narrative of the Massacre of the Innocents follows> [19] When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 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." 21 Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. 23 There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean."