Bible Study Series: Matthew 2:13-15. How do we interpret dreams from God?
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 2:13-15
13 After they departed, look! An angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, “Get up and take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and be there until I tell you, for Herod is about to seek the child, to destroy him.” 14 Then he got up and took the child and his mother at night and departed for Egypt. 15 And he was there until Herod died, so that the word spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled, saying,
“Out of Egypt I have called my Son” [Hos. 11:1].
Commentary
As I noted in the initial comments in vv. 10-12, heaven is opening up, just a little. We can see how God communicates with his people, through dreams and an angel. Renewalists believe that God still speaks in dreams. He even sends angels to appear in dreams.
13:
The ones who departed are the Magi.
Look!” see v. 9 for more comments in the previous post for more information. It is an updated translation of the older “behold!”.
Osborne, referring to a first-century Jewish writer named Philo in Egypt, says that there was a large Jewish population in Egypt: one million according to Philo (comment on 2:13). Sometimes ancient writers inflated numbers, but even if one million were cut by half or two-thirds, the number is still large. Joseph could find refuge and safety there.
In previous posts, I already brought up this study of angels. Here is a list of the basics.
Angels:
(a) Are messengers (in Hebrew mal’ak and in Greek angelos);
(b) Are created spirit beings;
(c) Have a beginning at their creation (not eternal);
(d) Have a beginning, but they are immortal (deathless).
(e) Have moral judgment;
(f) Have a certain measure of free will;
(g) Have high intelligence;
(h) Do not have physical bodies;
(i) But can manifest with immortal bodies before humans;
(j) Can show the emotion of joy.
See my posts about angels in the area of systematic theology:
Angels: Their Duties and Missions
Angels: Their Names and Ranks and Heavenly Existence
Angels: Their Origins, Abilities, and Nature
But we have to be careful about how we interpret dreams. Dream interpreters go way overboard, saying things like, “Write down your dreams! You may forget them!” I have never forgotten a dream that God has given me. I can recall every one, when needed. If you forget your dream when you wake up and throughout the day, then God never gave it to you. You may forget it right after you wake up (I have), but then the dream comes back sometime that day or the next. God won’t let you forget his dreams he gives you.
Dreams and Visions: How to Interpret Them
But don’t go overboard in interpreting them, as some teachers advocate. Most of your dreams which you believe come from God need to be “put on the shelf.” Don’t obsess over them. Seek Jesus in his word.
The angel issued commands to Joseph, or one verb functions as a command, “Getting up, take the child ….” “Take” is imperative, “getting up,” is not quite, but it adds up to the same thing—“Do as I say! Your life depends on it!”
“be there”: it really is the command form of the verb “to be.” Joseph was not just going to waste time by simply existing in Egypt. He was going to “be there.” A command, an imperative.
I really like how the angel says to Joseph that Jesus is “the child” and then “and his mother.” The angel does not say, “Get up and take your wife and child.” It seems Joseph is simply the watcher or caretaker of the mother and her child. Biologically, the child was not his, so the angel is being precise here. It takes special grace and revelation to care for a child that is not your own. Joseph does not think twice about it. I’m really learning in these two chapters in Matthew’s Gospel that Joseph was a special man. He deserves our respect. I wish I could clone him by millions of men around the globe!
14:
Matthew repeats word for word what the angel said, except he changes from the command or imperative form to a report. “Then Joseph got up and took the child and his mother.” Once again, it is precisely pointed out that the child belongs to his mother, not to Joseph. He is the silent partner in all of this. He is a man of instant obedience. As noted in Matt. 1, this instant obedience contrasts with Zechariah’s (John the future Baptist’s father) reluctance (Luke 1:18-23).
Gabriel’s Good News, Zechariah’s Doubts
Grammarian Olmstead notes the parallels between vv. 13-14 and Exod. 2:15, which reads: “When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian” (Exod. 2:15). The circumstances were different because Moses had just killed an Egyptian. But the kings were seeking to kill both of the heroes of the story, and they had to “depart” (in the Greek version of Exod. 2:15).
15:
And Matthew reports that Joseph “was there.” No mere existence. I wonder what job he got while he was in Egypt? How did they get food? He was a foreigner in a foreign land. He just received costly gifts from the Magi, so he may have lived off of them.
Jesus, through his father Joseph, went in the reverse direction of the Israelites, who came out of Egypt. Then he too would come out, as the fulfillment of the Exodus. He was no slave, thankfully. He will soon liberate all slaves from their sin.
Matthew has a high view of Scripture. The Lord himself spoke through the prophet Hosea.
‘Total’ Inerrancy and Infallibility or Just Infallibility?
The prophecy was about God’s son Israel being called and guided out of Egypt during the Exodus. You can read the first fifteen chapters of the book of Exodus, to see the wonderful escape of millions of people. Now Matthew does not deny the first fulfillment, but Jesus is Israel’s redeemer, so he is the ultimate fulfiller of this prophecy. As noted, he is about to call people out of spiritual Egypt—out of their spiritual bondage (John 8:34-36).
Jesus is the new Israel.
Liberty and Redemption in Leviticus 25 from a NT Perspective
To conclude …..
The circumstances of his birth were dicey. Joseph was about to put her away or divorce her, but an angel intervened in a dream. He took her as his wife. Joseph and Mary really are the heroes of the story, and Mary deserves special status because she had to carry and birth the child under a social cloud, but Joseph had his own test of obedience, and he passed. He really was a “righteous man.”
GrowApp for Matt. 2:13-15
1.. Without taking the symbolism too far, Egypt speaks of slavery and spiritual bondage, your past life. Jesus, though sinless, identifies with your past. However, he is now about to call everyone everywhere to leave their own “Egypt.” How has God set you free from your own “Egypt”?
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1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
Reconciling Matthew’s and Luke’s Genealogies: Mission: Impossible?
Common Details in Matthew’s and Luke’s Birth Narratives
SOURCES
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