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The Gospel of Matthew

  1. Lesson One
    Overview of Matthew (Matt 1, 18, 27–28)
    13 Activities
  2. Lesson Two
    Israel's Story and Mission (Matt 2–4, 11–15)
    15 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    Jesus and the Torah (Matt 5–7, 16–17, 23–25)
    18 Activities
  4. Lesson Four
    "The Kingdom of God is Like..."
    10 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  5. Lesson Five
    Author and Audience
    13 Activities
  6. Course Wrap-up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Grab your Workbook Journal!

[Record your answers in the workbook provided at the beginning of this course.]

Matthew’s treatment of the flight of Joseph and Mary to Egypt connects this story with the book of Exodus (through a reference to a passage from Hosea): 

So [Joseph] got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Matthew 2:14-15 (NIV)

This connection with Egypt and Moses is more than superficial. A few verses later Matthew describes the return to Israel in terms that echo the return of Moses with his family to Egypt:

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.
Matthew 2:19-21 (NIV)

Now read the parallel passage from Exodus:

Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.” So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.
Exodus 4:19-20 (NIV)

If we place the two texts side by side, they look something like this:

MatthewExodus
After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt …Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian,
… 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.”“Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

Source: Robert R. Beck, Banished Messiah: Violence and nonviolence in Matthew’s story of Jesus, 2010, p. 17.

  1. Why do you think Matthew is linking the story of Jesus to the story of Israel in Egypt?