Egypt

Egypt appears throughout Scripture both as a place of refuge in times of famine and as the setting for Israel's most defining act of deliverance, the Exodus, which shapes the nation's identity and worship for the rest of the Old Testament.

Joseph, sold into slavery by his own brothers, rises to become second in command in Egypt, and it is his position there that later saves his entire family from famine, bringing Jacob and his descendants to settle in the region of Goshen.

Over subsequent generations, the Israelites in Egypt grow numerous enough to alarm a new Pharaoh "which knew not Joseph," leading to their enslavement and forced labor, and eventually a decree ordering the death of Hebrew male infants, the very threat Moses survives as a baby.

Exodus 3:10 records God commissioning Moses to confront Pharaoh and lead Israel out of Egypt, a mission that unfolds through ten devastating plagues before Pharaoh finally releases the Israelites following the death of Egypt's firstborn sons during the first Passover.

The Exodus from Egypt becomes the central event Israel's later worship, law, and identity repeatedly reference, celebrated annually at Passover and cited throughout the Old Testament as the defining proof of God's power and covenant faithfulness toward His people.

Centuries later, Egypt becomes a place of refuge once again when Joseph, husband of Mary, is warned in a dream to flee there with his family to escape King Herod's murderous decree against young children in Bethlehem, remaining until it was safe to return.

Matthew connects this flight to Hosea's prophecy, "out of Egypt have I called my son," originally referring to Israel's own exodus, now applied to Jesus Himself, drawing a deliberate parallel between the nation's history and the life of its promised Messiah.