Out of Egypt, Into Nazareth

After the wise men returned to their land without reporting Jesus’s whereabouts, King Herod went on a rampage, but before he gave the order to kill all babies in Bethlehem under the age of two, God warned Joseph in a dream to escape with his family to Egypt. They stayed until Herod died, and when the Lord told Joseph that it was safe to go back to Israel, he chose to go to back to his hometown of Nazareth. This leads to a couple of interesting ways to identify Christ. It says in Matthew 2:13-15 that their move to Egypt fulfilled the prophecy that said, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” The Messiah would not be Egyptian, but He would be called out of Egypt. Then, when they moved to Nazareth, Jesus acquired His most frequently used title or identity: Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene.