Exodus 4:19

Hebrew Bible

14 Then the Lord became angry with Moses, and he said, “What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak very well. Moreover, he is coming to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. 15 “So you are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And as for me, I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you both what you must do. 16 He will speak for you to the people, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were his God. 17 You will also take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.” 18 So Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Let me go, so that I may return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” 19 The Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, because all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” 20 Then Moses took his wife and sons and put them on a donkey and headed back to the land of Egypt, and Moses took the staff of God in his hand.

Matthew 2:20

New Testament

16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he became enraged. He sent men to kill all the children in Bethlehem and throughout the surrounding region from the age of two and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men. 17 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud wailing, Rachel weeping for her children, and she did not want to be comforted, because they were gone.” 19 After Herod had died, 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 child’s life are dead.” 21 So he got up and took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel.

 Notes and References

"... The parallels between this narrative and that of Exodus continue to be drawn. Like Pharaoh before him, Herod, having been frustrated in his original efforts, now seeks to achieve his objectives by implementing a program of infanticide. As a result, here - as in Exodus - rescuing the hero's life from the clutches of the evil king necessitates a sudden flight to another country. And finally, in perhaps the most vivid parallel of all, the present narrative uses virtually the same words of the earlier one to provide the information that the coast is clear for the hero's safe return ..."

Goldberg, Michael Jews and Christians, Getting Our Stories Straight: The Exodus and the Passion-Resurrection (p. 147) Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001


"... It concludes with the application: 'You cannot serve God and mammon.' Here 'mammon' is personified as an idol, the service of whom is the rejection of God. Betz interprets: 'Materialism ... is a pseudo-religious way of life, the service of a pseudo-god identified by the name of Mammon.' Mammon is not found in the Old Testament. At Qumran it is found with the sense of 'property' (1 QS 6:2; CD 14:20). It has much the same neutral sense in Pirke Avot 2:12. In Targum Onkelos on Genesis 37:26, it refers to the wicked 'gain' of Joseph's brothers. In Targum Onkelos on Exodus 18:21, the honest judge is one who 'abhors mammon.' In the New Testament it is used only in Matthew 6:24 and in Luke 16:9, 11 (modified by adikia). (Compare 2 Clement 6:1, which reflects dependence on Matthew) The sentiment expressed is similar to that of others both in ancient Judaism and among pagan writers ..."

Talbert, Charles H. Reading the Sermon on the Mount: Character Formation and Decision Making in Matthew 5-7 (p. 123) University of South Carolina Press, 2004


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