The common things God speaks to all people are forever written down for us. But the individual things God speaks to us – that are just for us – are also part of His Word to our lives. Matthew records this as happening over and over again to Joseph son of Jacob. In 1:20, Joseph has a dream where an angel counsels him to not be afraid to take Mary as his wife. The angel returns in a dream in 2:13, telling him to escape to Egypt. While they are gone, the Massacre of the Innocents takes place, and at some point Herod dies. Now the angel comes again to Joseph, and God speaks to him in a dream once again after that:
“After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.”
The angel tells Joseph he should return to Israel. No doubt glad for the end of his personal exile in Egypt, Joseph does return. But there is a problem. Although “the land of Israel” includes the whole, some parts are significantly more dangerous than others.
Unbeknown to Joseph, Herod’s will had appointed his son Archelaus – a fact disputed by Herod Antipater (Archelaus’ brother). While these matters were in the process of being sorted, Archelaus ordered the army into the temple to quell a minor uprising started in Herod’s last days over the installation of a gold eagle on the temple. History tells us that ~3000 people were killed in the resulting chaos. Caesar Augustus later confirmed Archelaus, although Caesar gave him the title Ethnarch instead of king. This limited his territory and authority, but nevertheless allowed Archelaus to rule the very people he now despised. In God’s very great grace to Joseph, He redirects him from Judea to the north, easing his fears and fulfilling prophesy at the same time. “So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
Joseph and his young family have had to endure the social stigma of Mary’s pregnancy. They’ve had to make the difficult journey to Bethlehem. They had to make another traumatic journey to live in exile in Egypt to avoid a massacre. Finally able to return to Israel, they find they will not be able to start a new life in Judea, where no one was aware of the circumstances of Jesus’ birth. They will have to begin in Nazareth, a backwater town in the north. Although such continuing drama and circumstance is less than ideal, God’s care for Joseph, Mary and Jesus is evident.
If the Lord be with us, we have no cause of fear. His eye is upon us, His arm over us, His ear open to our prayer – His grace sufficient, His promise unchangeable.
John Newton
APPLICATION: Worship
Praise God, He cares for you and guides you, even during and through difficult circumstances.