When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, Matthew 2:14

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“And having arisen, he took the Child and His mother – night, and he withdrew to Egypt” (CG).

In the previous verse, Joseph had a dream where the Lord’s messenger told him to flee to Egypt and stay there until he was given word, noting that Herod would seek the Child to destroy Him. Now, in compliance with those words, it next records, “And having arisen, he took the Child and His mother.”

The words are like those of the previous verse, where the Child is the main subject of the action. Only after He is mentioned is Mary included. With that stated, it continues with the word “night.” There is no article or preposition before the word. Either Joseph was asleep at night and had the dream, whereupon he got up and started the journey, or he may have had an afternoon nap and immediately determined to leave that night.

Either way, they made their departure at night in order to be kept from any eyes that may otherwise see them, “and he withdrew to Egypt.” The verb is in the singular – “he withdrew.” The focus is on the obedience of Joseph as he acts on behalf of the Child and His mother.

Life application: A couple of points of consideration can be gleaned from these few words. The first is something that was seen in the previous verse as well. Jesus is the focus of the action taken. Mary is included only after that. This is not how such things are usually stated. Rather, the norm would be to say something like, “Ron took Shannon and their son to the movies.” However, that is not the case here.

Even though a very young child at this time, the text places the primary focus on Jesus. How different that is than what occurs in the Roman Catholic Church. They place an inordinate amount of attention on Mary. When someone does wrong and goes to a confessional, it is common to hear that they had to say a certain number of Hail Marys, pleading for her intercession.

This is completely unscriptural. In fact, it violates several verses of Scripture. We are told there is one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. We are also told to fix our eyes on Jesus. Mary is dead. She will remain in her grave until the Lord raises her someday. It is unthinkable that we should pray to the dead for anything.

Another point is that Joseph heard the word, and he immediately complied with what was said. Today, we have the completed word recorded in the pages of the Bible. Are we as willing to comply as Joseph was? The same Lord who spoke to Joseph through His messenger is speaking to us today through His word.

Is it any less important to comply with the Bible? Absolutely not. We are given our directives for right living there. Those things that are required for us to do have been recorded and compiled. However, we cannot comply with the word if we don’t know the word. Let us heed the word of the Lord and put that word into action in our lives!

Heavenly Father, help us to realize the importance of knowing and applying Your word to our lives. It is given as a manual for humanity to be right with You, and so may we treat it as such. Help us to always consider the importance of Your word in the conduct of our lives. Amen.