From: Matthew 2:13-18
The Flight Into Egypt
[13] Now when they (the Magi) had departed, behold, an angel of the
Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the Child and
His mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for
Herod is about to search for the Child, to destroy Him." [14] And he
rose and took the Child and His mother by night, and departed to Egypt,
[15]and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill
what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt have I called My
Son."
The Massacre of the Innocents
[16] Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men,
was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in
Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under,
according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men.
[17] Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
[18] "A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel
weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they were
no more."
Commentary:
14. St. John Chrysostom, commenting on this passage, draws a particular
attention to Joseph's faithfulness and obedience: "On hearing this,
Joseph was not scandalized, nor did he say, `This is hard to
understand. You yourself told me not long ago that He would save His
people, and not He is not able to save even Himself. Indeed, we have
to flee and undertake a journey and be away for a long time...'. But
he does not say any of these things, because Joseph is a faithful man.
Neither does he ask when they will be coming back, even though the
angel had left it open when he said `and remain there till I tell
you.' This does not hold him back: on the contrary, he obeys, believes
and endures all trials with joy" ("Hom. on St. Matthew", 8).
It is worth noting also how God's way of dealing with His chosen ones
contains light and shade: they have to put up with intense sufferings
side by side with great joy: "It can be clearly seen that God, who is
full of love for man, mixes pleasant things with unpleasant ones, as He
did with all the Saints. He gives us neither dangers nor consolations
in a continual way, but rather He makes the lives of the just a mixture
of both. This was what He did with Joseph" ("ibid".).
15. The text of Hosea 11:1 speaks of a child who comes out of Egypt and
is a son of God. This refers in the first place to the people of
Israel whom God brought out of Egypt under Moses' leadership. But this
event was a symbol or prefiguration of Jesus, the Head of the Church,
the New People of God. It is in Him that this prophecy is principally
fulfilled. The sacred text gives a quotation from the Old Testament in
the light of its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. The Old Testament
achieves its full meaning in Christ, and, in the words of St. Paul, to
read it without keeping in mind Jesus is to have one's face covered by
a veil (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:12-18).
18. Ramah was the city in which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
concentrated the Israelites he had taken prisoner. Since Ramah was in
the land of Benjamin, Jeremiah puts this lament for the children of
Israel in the mouth of Rachel, the mother of Benjamin and Joseph. So
great was the misfortune of those exiled to Babylon that Jeremiah says
poetically that Rachel's sorrow is too great to allow for consolation.
"Rachel was buried in the racecourse near Bethlehem. Since her grave
was nearby and the property belonged to her son, Benjamin (Rachel was of
the tribe of Benjamin), the children beheaded in Bethlehem could
reasonably be called Rachel's children" (St John Chrysostom, "Hom. on
St Matthew", 9).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.