Matthew 2:21

21 So Joseph took the child and his mother and went to Israel.

Matthew 2:21 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 2:21

And he arose and took the young child and his mother
He exactly conformed in every circumstance to the orders given him, with respect to the persons he took, the place he went to, and the expeditiousness of doing it; and is an example of ready and cheerful obedience to the commands of God, worthy of imitation. We may learn from hence, as well as from some other instances already met with, a reason among others, why, though Mary was a virgin, and even if she was to continue so, yet she must be espoused to Joseph as her husband; that she might have one to take care of her and her young child, and be a means, under God, of preserving, protecting, and providing for them.

Matthew 2:21 In-Context

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream while he was in Egypt.

20 The angel said, "Get up! Take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, because the people who were trying to kill the child are now dead."

21 So Joseph took the child and his mother and went to Israel.

22 But he heard that Archelaus was now king in Judea since his father Herod had died. So Joseph was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he went to the area of Galilee,

23 to a town called Nazareth, and lived there. And so what God had said through the prophets came true: "He will be called a Nazarene."