The narrative of the Evangelist is absolutely simple and unadorned, and amounts to little more than a mention of the journey into Egypt made under Divine direction. No indication is given either of the locality or duration of the stay in the country. The impression conveyed, however, is that the visit was not prolonged.* Had the case been otherwise, it would hardly have failed to find mention in the other Synoptic Gospels, if not in St. John. The absence, therefore, of further record is hardly sufficient ground for throwing doubt upon the reality of the'incident itself.
This brief statement is supplemented and ex- panded in the Apocryphal Gospels with a wealth of descriptive detail. The fullest accounts are found, as might be expected, in the Gospel of the Infancy, and the Gospel of pseudo - Matthew (see Hastings' DB, Extra Vol. p. 430 ft".).
In the Gospel of the Iiif'anci/ (ch. ix. f.), Joseph and Mary with the Child set out for Egypt at cock-crow, and reach a great city and temple with an idol to whose shrine the other idols of Egypt send gifts. There they find accommodation in a hospital dedi- cated to the idol, and a great commotion is caused by their
the reason of the commotion, and are told that an 'occult god* has come, who alone is worthy of worship, because he is truly Son of God. Thereupon the idol falls prostrate, and all the people run together at the sound. The following chapter narrates the healing of the three-year-old son of the priest of the idol, who is possessed by many demons, and whose sickness is described in terms similar to those used of the Gadarene demoniac (Lk 827, Mk 62-5). Thereafter Joseph and Mary depart, being afraid lest the Egyptians should burn them to death be- cause of the destruction of the idol. Passing on their wa.\- they twice meet with robbers in the desert. In the first instance the robbers flee on their approach, and a number nf captives are liberated. At a considerably later ^^tfj.- or th.-ir ifnrnp'- ''li.
xxiii.) two bandits are encoiinterc-l, \\li'>^i [j s mii -i i ii h
Titus and Dumachus, the former ^ I i n
not to molest Joseph and Mary; ;ii I ' ! i -
His crucifixion at Jerusalem tbii-i\ -. .i~ i,i.i ,,iiii -r iwn
robbers, and that Titus shall prt-rL.k lluu inLw l'.ii.iil.^t_. uii the road the travellers ha\ e passed tliroa<:li many cities, at
theii
bride, a leprous girl who r, and many others have nphis (ch. xxv.), where
been healed.
they see the Pharaoh, and remain three' years, during which period Jesus works many miracles : returning at the end of the three years to Palestine, and by direction of an angel making their home at Nazareth.
In a similar strain the Gosi>el iff pseitdo-Matthew (ch. xvii. ff.) records the number of attendants, with riding animals, a waggon, pack-oxen and asses, sheep and rams, that set out with Joseph and Mary from Judaja. In a cave where they had stopped to rest they are terrified by dragons, which, howe\'er, worship the child Jesus ; and lions 'and other wild beasts escort them on their way through the desert. A palm-tree bends down its lx)ughs that Mary may pluck the fruit; and as a reward a branch of it is carried by an angel to Paradise. A spring also breaks forth from its roots for the refreshment of man and beast. And the loiii,^ thirty days' journey into Egypt is miracu- lously shorteiir'I iijt-i r,iin. Tlic name of the Egyptian city to
which they ■■ - il <■■ <..■ s,)tines mthin the borders of
Hermopolis, a i :.i i unit, of any acquaintance from
whom to seek! iL. refuse in the temple, called
the 'capitof n . ii , . t ilie temple, to which divine
honours were diiil_\ p;u(.l, lail j>nisLnLte, and are broken in pieces; and Affrodosius, llie governor of the town, cominfr with an aniiy, at sight of the ruined idols worships the child Jesus, and_ all the people of the city believe in God through Jesus Christ. .Afterwards Joseph is commanded to return into the land of Judah. Nothing, however, is saitl of the actual journey, but a narrative of events ' in Galilee ' follows, beginning with the fourth year of Christ's age.
According to the Gospel of Thomas, ch. i. ff. (Latin, Tisch. Xvv. Apocr. p. 156ff.), Jesus was two years old on entering Ep'pt. He and His parents found hospitality in the house of a widow, where they remained for a year, at the close of which they were expelled because of a miracle wrought by Jesus in brimring a dry and salted fish to life. A similar fate overtakes tliem subsequently in being driven from the city. The angel directs Mary to return, and she ;,'oes with the child to Nazareth. The Historii of Joseph, ch. viii. f., states the duration of the stay in Egypt as a whole year, and names Nazareth as the city in which Jesus and His parents lived after their return into the land of Israel.
The Fliglit of the Holy Family into Egypt has been at all times a favourite subject for the exercise
• Herod's death (Mt 219) would appear to have occurred not long after the • Massacre of the Innocents ' "
510