The Return from Egypt to Nazareth

Matthew 2:19-23 completes the chapter through another pair of dreams directing Joseph's movements. The wording "those seeking the child's life are dead" recalls Exodus 4:19 in the Septuagint, where Moses is told that those seeking his life have died. This verbal echo strengthens the Moses-like pattern already suggested by the threatened infants and the escape from a murderous ruler. Joseph initially returns toward "the land of Israel," but fear of Archelaus, who succeeded Herod in Judea, leads to another divine warning and a move north into Galilee.

The settlement in Nazareth also addresses a narrative problem created by Matthew's earlier focus on Bethlehem: Jesus is born in the Davidic town yet becomes known publicly as a Galilean from Nazareth. Matthew concludes with another fulfillment formula, "He will be called a Nazarene," but no surviving Old Testament passage contains that exact wording. The plural "through the prophets" may indicate a thematic synthesis rather than citation of a single text.

Several explanations have been proposed for the saying. One connects "Nazarene" with Hebrew netser, "branch," in Isaiah 11:1, producing a wordplay associated with Davidic hope. Another relates it to themes of contempt or low status attached to an obscure Galilean town, drawing on broader prophetic motifs rather than a verbal prediction. A connection with the Nazirite institution of Numbers 6 is generally considered linguistically problematic because "Nazarene" and "Nazirite" are distinct terms, though it has had a long interpretive history. Matthew leaves the precise scriptural basis unstated.

Matthew 2 consists of three movements centered on Jesus' location and the contrasting responses to his birth: the visit of the magi to Bethlehem, the family's flight into Egypt amid Herod's violence, and their return to Israel and settlement in Nazareth. The chapter is geographically expansive, moving from the East to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, then to Egypt, and finally to Galilee. Herod the Great dominates the political setting, while dreams, scriptural citations, and divine guidance govern the narrative's theological interpretation.

The chapter develops Matthew's presentation of Jesus through a dense pattern of fulfillment. Micah identifies Bethlehem as the expected birthplace of a ruler; Hosea's language of Israel's exodus from Egypt is reapplied to Jesus; Jeremiah's lament over Rachel becomes a scriptural frame for the massacre; and the obscure statement that Jesus "will be called a Nazarene" closes the sequence. These citations portray Jesus as Israel's Messiah and, in Matthew's typological presentation, as one who recapitulates Israel's history while provoking both Gentile homage and royal hostility.