ἀναχωρεῖν (1) ‘to retire’ from danger as here, and chs. Matthew 4:12; Matthew 12:16, and elsewhere; (2) in the later Classics ‘to retire from business or public life;’ (3) in Ecclesiastical writers ‘to retire from the world,’ ‘become a hermit, or anchoret’ (ἀναχωρητής).

This word, which occurs much more frequently in this Gospel than elsewhere in N.T. seems to connect itself with two points in the traditional life of St Matthew 1. His stay in Egypt—the cradle of the anchoret life. 2. His asceticism, to which the notion of ‘retirement’ is closely related.

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Old Testament