After the Wise Men had left, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said: “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you because Herod will search for the child to kill him.” Joseph got up; that very night he took the child and his mother and departed for Egypt, staying there until the death of Herod. Thus, was fulfilled what the Lord had announced through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” (Matthew 2:13-15)

This scene represents the Holy Family (Joseph, Mary, and the child Jesus) escaping to Egypt to avoid the persecution that King Herod had ordered against the infants of Bethlehem under two years of age, while an angel protects the family's path as they are forced to leave their country.

This episode is recounted very briefly in the Gospel of Matthew: after the departure of the Wise Men from the East, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream and, after revealing Herod’s plans, tells him to flee to Egypt and stay there until further notice.

The representation of this passage has been enriched over time with additional characters, episodes, and miracles, thanks to the accounts found in the Apocryphal Gospels and the Golden Legend. For example, the palm tree that bends before Christ to feed the Holy Family, the confusion of Herod’s soldiers who were pursuing them, or the thieves who, moved by the Child, end up protecting Him.