Matthew 2:19-23 Moving
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 13, 2019, Matthew 2:19-23
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 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 withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
(Understanding the Text) Evidence 6: Jesus was called a Nazarene. I assumed that this referred to a specific prophecy about Nazarenes/Nazarites, but the SDA commentary says that there is no specific verse that matches this saying and that Matthew has been accused of being uninspired because of this. The commentary offers three explanations and an observation about this. The observation is that when Matthew referred in other areas to specific Old Testament texts, he said the prophet singular, but here he uses prophets plural. Thus, he is referring to a group of prophecies together rather than one specific text. The first explanation is the least likely. There may have been other inspired texts that the Jews of Matthew’s day had access to which did not become part of the cannon that we call the Old Testament today. The next two explanations are more likely. There are two possible roots for the name Nazareth. One is Nazir meaning separated one, but the other is Neser meaning “sprout” “sprig” “shoot”. If the root of Nazareth is sprig, it is the equivalent of branch and Matthew is referring to the Messianic prophecies of the branch. Finally, in Jesus’ day to be called a Nazarene was the equivalent of showing someone that you despised him. Thus, for Matthew’s readers the word was everything negative, and Matthew was referring to the prophecies about Jesus being despised. I tend to go with the last explanation, partly because Matthew, the tax collector, focuses on the outcasts and despised ones. He would have probably identified with people held in contempt by the greater Jewish society. Thus, Matthew would have focused on the prophecies about the Messiah being despised. I think evidence number 6 is that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Messiah being held in contempt. If Jesus had been raised in Bethlehem or Jerusalem, He would have had the honor of being from the city of the King David. Combined with His lineage, it would have attracted people for the wrong reason. By being raised in Nazareth, Jesus’ background had no attracting power. People had to be attracted to Him for the right reasons.
Joseph had quite a few dreams directing him to certain actions. He followed the instructions in those dreams. Had he had direct messages from God all his life or did they just begin when Jesus came into his life? Did he have other directions from God as Jesus grew up? Or were these travel directions the last of the dreams? Joseph obeyed every dream. From Matthew 1 and 2 we can know some things about Joseph’s personality. He was obedient to God. He was compassionate. He was poor (because he needed the wise men’s treasure to survive in Egypt and because he had to accept a stable as a birthplace for Jesus.) I don’t think that he was much of a planner. Otherwise, he would have prepared better for the birth in Bethlehem. On the other hand, maybe life made it impossible to plan like with the flight to Egypt. Maybe, he had originally planned to leave Mary in Nazareth and at the last minute realized how impossible that was, or maybe he had planned on leaving earlier, but something delayed him. He did his duty to others as implied in his betrothal to Mary where it is probable that he was doing it not because he wanted to be married again, but because Mary’s father needed an heir. In fact, that may have been the circumstance that determined his taking Mary with him at the last minute. Her father could have threatened to have her stoned for the disgrace to his name, or her father died and left Joseph her only protector.
(Revelation of God) God communicates with people in a variety of ways. With Mary, an angel spoke directly to her. The same thing happened with John the Baptist’s father. Joseph had dreams. Some prophets had visions. We are told that the Spirit was strong in John the Baptist from before his birth. Peter also seems to have heard the Spirit speaking to him directly, as well as having visions. God communicates through the scriptures and through other people. In the Old Testament, God even used a talking donkey. I think that we have to be careful not to limit the way that we expect God to communicate with us, or we might limit our ability to receive His messages.
The news of Herod’s death would have reached Egypt quickly, but it may be that Joseph knew about it quicker than others. If Mary and Joseph had found out about Herod’s death through the rumor mill, they would have also known who his successor would be; however, if the dream instructed them on the very day of Herod’s death and told them to return immediately, they would have been in transit towards Israel as the news was in transit towards Egypt. Thus, they only heard all the news when they reached Israel.
They may have initially had dreams of raising the Messiah in Bethlehem or even Jerusalem and being His honored parents, but those dreams were dowsed by the events that they had experienced from the strange birth in a stable with shepherds bearing tales of angels paying homage to the child, then the prophecies in the temple that resulted in nothing but silence, then the wise men bearing gifts which were needed for their flight (not their raising of the king) and finally Herod’s slaughter of the children of Bethlehem in his determination to kill the young king. Joseph realized that his role was not so much one of honored father of the Messiah, but rather protector of the endangered king. He must have realized how totally helpless he was to defend the young king from the powerful forces aligned against Him. Thus, Joseph was more than willing to follow the angel’s instructions and settle in Nazareth in Galilee.
(Application) My application for myself is that following God’s will is always about dependence rather than independent action. In realizing my own helplessness, I learn to depend on God for my instructions and obeying those instructions. Then, I can perform mighty works for God. Then, God can work through me. Those works may not be flashy or attracting honor from others, but they are important for God’s plan. Joseph performed a mighty service guarding and raising the Messiah, yet we only have a few verses that tell about a service that spanned maybe almost 30 years, for sure at least 13 years. Few people think of the importance of Joseph in Jesus’ life nowadays, yet he was handpicked and obedient to God and performed his service well. Being a father may not be seen by many as a great work, but to God it is. Many of the jobs that God gives me may not seem like great works, but to God they are important and I need to do them as well as I can in order to serve Him.
(Prayer) I want to always obey Your instructions I want to be faithful in carrying out the jobs that You have given me, but I fear that I am easily distracted and discouraged. Give me the wisdom, focus, and encouragement that I need to perform the jobs that You wish me to do well.