Whenever I heard Egypt, the mental picture that I got was that it was a place were Israelites were in bondage for many years. It, later on, occurred to me that Egypt was not just a place of bondage but it was also a place of refuge where many people including Abraham sought shelter in Egypt. But God didn’t forever keep them in Egypt, he brought them back to the promised designated land.

Passage: Matthew 2:13-21

Last episode we saw how the Magi’s visited Jesus in Bethlehem where the family was settled in a small house. We don’t know yet how old Jesus might have been because that’s not mentioned in the Bible. The Magi’s visited them, gave the gifts and as they were about to return to Herod, the angel of the Lord warns them to take another route as Herod’s intention was to kill the baby and not to worship him. So they went by another route.

When Herod learned that the Magi’s deceived him and took another route, he ordered his soldiers to kill all the baby boys under 2 years of age. By this, we can assume that Jesus could have been 2 years of age.

The angel of the Lord warns Joseph in the dream, he takes the mother and the child and escapes to Egypt. From there God calls them out and finally settled in Nazareth. As the prophet, Hosea said in 11:1 “Out of Egypt I called my son”!

All through this Joseph never questioned God’s decision, he wholeheartedly obeyed them.

You can check this blog for An Extra mile for Obedience

Points to Ponder

Was it only Joseph who found themselves in Egypt? Here are few other people who were in Egypt:

  1. Abraham, went to Egypt to take refuge when severe famine had hit. Genesis 12:10-20
  2. Joseph was sold by his brothers to Egypt and when he was made the Prime Minister, all his family was taken to Egypt as the famine had hit hard. Genesis 37-50, speaks of Joseph’s journey in Egypt and how God brought the entire clan of Jacob to Egypt during the famine.
  3. Israelites become slaves in Egypt which is explained in Exodus
  4. Moses was born and trained in Egypt and then he escaped from Egypt. He returned to Egypt to bring the Israelites to the promised land.
  5. Jeremiah was forced to go to Egypt (Jeremiah 43:1-7)

Take Aways:

One thing that we can understand or takeaways is this; You might not be meant to be in that place of refuge where he has taken you, he will bring you out of there and will take you to the promised land. Don’t cling on to the refuge land when he calls you out of it, for you are not to stay in a land as refugees with all comforts instead he wants to take you to your promised land which you will own forever.

This article was posted under the section A Date with Christ in the category Episodes.