The Great Painters' Gospel / Pictures Representing Scenes and Incidents in the Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ

by Henry Turner Bailey

THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT.

Crespi, Plate 24, has pictured Joseph's dream. An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. (Matt. 2:13.)

Fürst, Plate 26, illustrates the words "And he arose and took the young child and his mother, and departed." (Matt. 2:14.)

Plockhörst, Plate 27, shows the holy family passing through southern Judea, accompanied by cherubs, but unconscious of their presence.

Hofmann, Plate 25, shows them passing through the Wilderness of Shur, Joseph with his broad axe for protection, unconscious of the guardian angel who accompanied them, to keep them in all their ways. (Ps. 91:11.) "That old serpent" is already in the wilderness, waiting! His time has not yet come.

Benz, Plate 28, has taken as his subject the first moment of rest in a place "even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as thou comest into Zoar." (Gen. 13:10.) Joseph has a typical Egyptian water-jar upon his arm. The little child is pleased with the flowers, after his long journey through the desert, and holds a bunch of them in his hand. The place of rest seems to be just at the edge of the desert,—a secluded, well-watered spot, out of Herod's reach.

Merson, Plate 29, is a poetic seer as well as an artist. The sphinx riddle was "What is man?" Merson has placed the answer before the sphinx at last. He who was himself the answer to the world-old question, propounded a new question which all must answer, "What think ye of Christ" (Matt. 22:42).

Morris, Plate 30, gives us a glimpse of the life of the Holy Family during the sojourn in Egypt. Joseph is resting in the tent after his day's work, and Mary is teaching the child to walk. All are unconscious of the ominous shadow so evident now to us. The hatred which threatened the child, would not spare the man. The exile in Egypt is but the prophetic shadow of the coming event—crucifixion. The child's hands extend towards the cactus and the palm, symbols of suffering and of victory.