It is wonderful to consider the deeper meaning of some elements of the Christmas story we may not have thought about as much this time of year.  This week, one such example I was meditating on had to do with the reason why the Lord was called "out of Egypt." 

Christmas Season Blessings,

Ethan

OUT OF EGYPT

NCL 1988

Because Egypt was a storehouse, it symbolizes [spiritual] knowledge, and especially the knowledge of things in the Word. The Lord's stay in Egypt signifies His instruction as a child in knowledges. This does not mean the Jesus studied ancient religions in Egypt, but that His stay there shows that He had to acquire knowledges from the Word as a part of His advancement unto Divinity. Even as Abram came out of Egypt "rich in cattle, in silver and in gold," and even as Israel later came out of Egypt enriched with jewels of silver and jewels of gold, which they later used to build a tabernacle of worship, so the Lord was enriched in childhood with those knowledges which could be fashioned in His mind into a spiritual tabernacle.

Having seen what is signified by "Egypt" and the reason the Lord was taken to that land, [we now consider] this text from Hosea's prophecy and from Matthew. It reads: "Out of Egypt I called My Son" (Matt. 2:15). It does not say "I have sent My Son to Egypt," or "brought Him to Egypt." It says, "I have called Him out of Egypt."

[This is because] cannot remain in knowledges alone. Knowledges are essential for providing the objects of wisdom; they are not wisdom itself. Remaining in knowledge only, or allowing the mind to rest satisfied in the mere knowledge of spiritual things, results in [a kind of] spiritual slavery such as is pictured by the slavery of Israel in Egypt. It was said of Israel after their sojourn in Egypt that they were to be delivered "out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

So the Lord too was called out of Egypt. The knowledges He acquired were a means, not an end. Is not this a message for our [us]? We should...learn from the Word. We should go down to that "Egypt" for the knowledges of truth as they are given in revelation. But why? For the sake of [our] life! We should store up and treasure these objects of thought because they are open to the Lord Himself and are the objects on which the light of heaven may shine.  [So it is that] we learn not simply to become intelligent, but to become spiritually wise, to become forms of charity.