Flight Into Egypt

 

There has always been an image in my mind of St. Joseph leading a donkey which bears the Blessed Virgin carrying the Baby Jesus on a long walk through the wilderness to a tiny Egyptian village in the middle of the desert to wait out the storm of King Herod’s wrath. I never found that fully satisfying though. There are only two references to the Holy Family’s flight to Egypt that I am aware of in Holy Scripture and I can not ever recall hearing any Catholic theologian speak extensively on the issue. In essence the trip is in an intellectual and historical black out for me, but none the less interesting.

Let’s set the stage for their flight from Israel. In the Fourth Century BC the city of Alexandria was founded and Egypt was reborn with a new capitol, a new religion, a new dynasty and a new idea. The Ptolemaic idea was to build an empire based on knowledge. This was masterfully accomplished and the city became the intellectual center of the world. In the middle of the First Century BC Alexandria was acquired by the Roman Empire, but the intellectual dream lived on. At the city’s founding it was about one third Jewish and by the early years of the First Century AD the city had grown to a population of one million with a Jewish population two hundred thousand strong (not insignificant). In fact, it was the largest Jewish population in the world outside of Israel and Judea and birthplace of the Septuagint. It had a large synagogue and would have been a community familiar to the Holy Family, and it was close by both land and sea. St. Joseph would have found employment easily and the transition would look almost seamless to my eye. So, the more I learn about Alexandria, the more I begin to believe this is exactly the place Jesus celebrated His first birthday.

Aside from all that there was quite an interesting Jewish fellow by the name of Philo who was born into affluence in Alexandria in the year 20 BC. He enjoyed all the privileges of Roman citizenship and led a life devoted to casting Jewish tradition in a Greek philosophic light. He is credited by Justin Pollard and Howard Reid (in their book The Rise and Fall of Alexandria) with bringing the idea of “The Word” to Jewish tradition, thus setting the foundation for Christianity. He wrote extensively on Jewish tradition and had a classical education to compliment his Jewish heritage. As I read the brief account of his work I could not help but think of how God might have been working to perfect His work on earth by introducing Jesus to this man in the prime time of his educational formation. Could God have been working to establish His Church while preserving His Son from Herod’s jealousy?