SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/20/2019
12:21 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Escape to Egypt”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt.
2:13-15
Message of the verses: “13 Now when they
had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream,
saying, "Arise and take the Child and His mother, and flee to Egypt, and
remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to
destroy Him." 14 And he arose and took the Child and His mother by night,
and departed for Egypt; 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that what
was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, "OUT
OF EGYPT DID I CALL MY SON.’”
We
begin with a quote from John MacArthur’s commentary: “From pheugo
(to flee) we get our word fugitive,
one who escapes from something or someone.
The word is here in the present imperative, indicating the beginning of
action that is to be continued. Joseph
and his family were immediately to begin fleeting, and were not to stop until
they were safely within ‘Egypt’ and beyond the reach of Herod. The distance from Bethlehem to the border of
Egypt was about seventy-five miles, and another hundred miles or so would have
been required to get to a place of safety in that country. Traveling with a baby made the trip both
slower and more difficult.”
During
this interestamental period the Jews were safe in a city that was made and
named after Alexander the Great called Alexandria. I have to believe that this little family was
surely happy to get there and I suppose that because of the craft that Joseph
had it would not be difficult for him to get employment very soon after arriving.
I
have read that by the year 40 A.D. that there were over a million Jews living
in this city of Alexandria. MacArthur
adds “In the third century B.C. a group of Jewish scholars in Alexandria had
produced the Septuagint, a translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew to
Greek. The Septuagint was used by much
of the early church, and it was from that version of the Old Testament that
many New Testament writes quote.” While
studying the book of Hebrews fifteen years ago I found out that the writer of
Hebrews used the Septuagint for all of his OT quotes. When I began to study the book of Psalms to
teach in our Sunday school class one of our Pastors who leads the seniors gave
me his copy of the Septuagint to help me in my studying.
We
have mentioned in an earlier SD that Joseph probably used the gifts that the
magi gave to Jesus to finance their trip to Egypt.
One
may wonder why God allowed Joseph and his family to go to Egypt, for we know that
God could have protected them right there in Judah. However we see only two supernatural events
that accompanied this and that was the dream to leave and then the dream to
return once Herod was dead. This makes
me think of when Jesus fasted for 40 days and then tempted by the devil as
Satan wanted Jesus to turn stones into bread.
Jesus could have easily done this but this would have gone against what
God intended Him to do. He could not
have used His own power for His own benefit, and so I believe that is the same
reason that Joseph and his family were not just transported right to Egypt, but
probably either walked or rode donkeys, which was the same way they got to
Bethlehem before Christ was born.
I
will close this SD by saying that there is nothing known about their stay in
Egypt except they went there and then they returned. I have mentioned that Joseph probably had a
job in order to support his family, but to me that just makes sense. How long were they there? We will discuss that in our next SD.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Living as a born-again human being in the 21st
century country of the United States of America I find it kind of similar in
the way that Joseph and his family lived while they raised Jesus along with His
brothers and sisters. I know that there
are differences in technology and ways of travel, but I am talking about the
way that the Lord cared for them and how the Lord cares for me. I love reading and studying the Word of God
and this was surely a part of what went on in their family.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Continue my quest of humility knowing that I
can do nothing on my own that will please the Lord, but must rely on the Spirit
of God to show me the things He wants me to do for the cause of Christ.
Today’s quotation from “Love in Action”
comes from David Jeremiah’s comments on Luke 24:32-33.
“An hour before, they wouldn’t have had
the energy or the desire to make such a trip.
But now, after seeing Jesus and being encouraged by His presence, they
were ready to fly! Back to Jerusalem
they went. They found the disciples and
told them about their life-changing experience.
He was alive! He had risen from
the dead!”
12/20/2019 12:56 PM
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