Matthew 2:21

21 So he got up [and] took the child and his mother and {entered} the land of 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 Now [after] Herod had died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

20 saying, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the life of the child are dead."

21 So he got up [and] took the child and his mother and {entered} the land of Israel.

22 But [when he] heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream, he took refuge in the regions of Galilee.

23 And he came [and] lived in a town called Nazareth, in order that what was said by the prophets would be fulfilled: "He will be called a Nazarene."

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the previous participle ("got up") has been translated as a finite verb
• [b]. Literally "entered into"