Matthew 2:22 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Matthew 2:22
But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee:
to hear (in various senses) · verb — aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
that
ὅτιhoti
G3754
demonstrative · conjunction
Archelaus
ἈρχέλαοςArchelaos
G745
people-ruling · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
reign
βασιλεύειbasileuei
G936
to rule (literally or figuratively) · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
in
ἐπίepí
G1909
properly
Judaea
ἸουδαίαςIoudaias
G2449
the Judæan land (i.e. Judæa) · noun — genitive singular feminine, a place
of
ἀντὶanti
G473
opposite · preposition
his
αὐτοῦautou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
father
πατρὸςpatros
G3962
a "father" (literally or figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine
Herod
ἩρῴδουHērōdou
G2264
heroic · noun — genitive singular masculine, a proper name
afraid
ἐφοβήθηephobēthē
G5399
to frighten · verb — aorist passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
go
ἀπελθεῖν.apelthein
G565
to go off (i.e. depart) · verb — second aorist active infinitive
thither
ἐκεῖekei
G1563
there · adverb
notwithstanding
δὲde
G1161
but · conjunction
God
χρηματισθεὶςchrēmatistheis
G5537
to utter an oracle (compare the original sense of G5530… · verb — aorist passive participle, nominative singular masculine
in
κατ᾽kat᾽
G2596
(prepositionally) down (in place or time) · preposition
dream
ὄναρonar
G3677
a dream · noun — accusative singular neuter
aside
ἀνεχώρησενanechōrēsen
G402
to retire · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
into
εἰςeis
G1519
to or into (indicating the point reached or entered) · preposition
parts
μέρηmerē
G3313
a division or share (literally or figuratively · noun — accusative plural neuter
Galilee
Γαλιλαίας,Galilaias
G1056
Galilæa (i.e. the heathen circle) · noun — genitive singular feminine, a place
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 48:17-18 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the wa…
Luke 2:39 And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.
John 7:52 They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
Isaiah 30:21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to th…
Genesis 19:17-21 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in…
1 Samuel 16:2 And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the LORD said, Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrific…
Psalms 48:14 For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.
Psalms 73:24 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Matthew 2:19–end
We have here Christ's return out of Egypt into the land of Israel again. Egypt may serve to sojourn in, or take shelter in, for a while, but not to abide in. Christ was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and therefore to them he must return. Observe,
I. What it was that made way for his return - the death of Herod, which happened not long after the murder of the infants; some think not above three months. Such quick work did divine vengeance make! Note, Herods must die; proud tyrants, that were the terror of the mighty, and the oppressors of the godly, in the land of the living, their day must come to fall, and down to the pit they must go. Who art thou then, that thou shouldest…
But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod--Archelaus succeeded to Judea, Samaria, and Idumea; but Augustus refused him the title of king till it should be seen how he conducted himself; giving him only the title of ethnarch [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 17.11,4]. Above this, however, he never rose. The people, indeed, recognized him as his father's successor; and so it is here said that he "reigned in the room of his father Herod." But, after ten years' defiance of the Jewish law and cruel tyranny, the people lodged heavy complaints against him, and the emperor banished him to Vienne in Gaul, reducing Judea again to a Roman province. Then the "scepter" cle…
But when he heard that Archelaus,.... This Archelaus was a son of Herod the great by Malthace Samaritan, and was appointed by him for his successor a little before his death, and was upon it declared king by the populace, the soldiers, and those that were in power; all which is affirmed by Josephus (a), and confirms the account given by the Evangelist; with whose account agrees what the Jewish chronologer says (b), that
"Archelaus, the second king of the family of Herod, reigned after his father's death: and a little after he says, Caesar Augustus caused Archelaus to reign "in the room of Herod his father"'';
which is the very phrase used by Matthew. Now this man was like his father, a v…
The Church Fathers
But finding the seed of their hereditary unbelief still abiding, they fear and withdraw; admonished by a vision, to wit, seeing the Holy Ghost poured upon the Gentiles, they carry Christ to them.
Or, we may apply it to the last times of the Jewish Church, when many Jews having turned to the preaching of Enoch and Elijah, the rest filled with the spirit of Antichrist shall fight against the faith. So that part of Judæa where Archelaus rules, signifies the followers of Antichrist; Nazareth of Galilee, whither Christ is conveyed, that part of the nation that shall embrace the faith. Galilee means 'removal;' Nazareth, 'the flower of virtues;' for the Church the more zealously she removes from the earthly to the heavenly, the more she abounds in the flower and fruit of virtues.
(Verse 22) But hearing that Archelaus was reigning in Judea, in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee. Many fall into error due to ignorance of history, thinking that he is the same Herod who mocked the Lord in his passion, and who is reported to be dead now. Therefore, this Herod, who later became friends with Pilate, is the son of that Herod, the brother of Archelaus; and Tiberius Caesar himself, the city of Lugdunum, which is in Gaul, banished him, and made his brother Herod successor to the kingdom. Read the story of Joseph.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Archelaus — Ruler of the people, son of Herod the Great, by Malthace, a Samaritan woman. He was educated along with his brother Antipas at Rome. He inherited from his father a third part of his kingdom viz.,…
Bethlehem — House of bread. (1.) A city in the “hill country” of Judah. It was originally called Ephrath (Gen. 35:16, 19; 48:7; Ruth 4:11). It was also called Beth-lehem Ephratah (Micah 5:2), Beth-lehem-judah (1…
Divination — Of false prophets (Deut. 18:10, 14; Micah 3:6, 7, 11), of necromancers (1 Sam. 28:8), of the Philistine priests and diviners (1 Sam. 6:2), of Balaam (Josh. 13:22). Three kinds of divination are…
Herod Archelaus — (Matt. 2:22), the brother of Antipas (q.v.).
Herod the Great — (Matt. 2:1-22; Luke 1:5; Acts 23:35), the son of Antipater, an Idumaean, and Cypros, an Arabian of noble descent. In the year B.C. 47 Julius Caesar made Antipater, a “wily Idumaean,” procurator of…
Jesus — (1.) Joshua, the son of Nun (Acts 7:45; Heb. 4:8; R.V., “Joshua”). (2.) A Jewish Christian surnamed Justus (Col. 4:11). Je’sus, the proper, as Christ is the official, name of our Lord. To distinguish…
Mary — Hebrew Miriam. (1.) The wife of Joseph, the mother of Jesus, called the “Virgin Mary,” though never so designated in Scripture (Matt. 2:11; Acts 1:14). Little is known of her personal history. Her…
Archelaus (Archaelaus) · A ruler of — A ruler of
Dream · .Concerning the return into Palestine — .Concerning the return into Palestine
Galilee · Christ: Brought up in — Christ: Brought up in
Jesus, The Christ · .Flight into and return from Egypt — .Flight into and return from Egypt
Matthew 2:19-23
Matthew 2:19-23
19. But when Herod was dead, lo, the angel of the Lord appeareth, by a dream, to Joseph in Egypt, 20. Saying, Arise, and take the child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel: for they are dead who sought the life [218] , of the child. 21. And he rose and took [219] the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel. 22. But when he had heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: but, warned by a heavenly communication through a dream, he withdrew into the parts of Galilee. 23. Having come there, he dwelt in the city [220] which is called Nazareth, that what had been spoken by the p…
Archelaus, like his father, governed brutally, immorally, and tyrannically. • Joseph fulfilled prophecy in moving to Galilee to avoid Archelaus’s jurisdiction (cp. 4:12-16).
Wine · Consequence of putting (when new), into old bottles — Consequence of putting (when new), into old bottles
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
