Matthew 2:13, Out of Egypt

4-pyramids-gizaNow when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,  “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.   And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet,  “Out of Egypt have I called my son.” Matt. 2:13

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.” Hos. 11:1

Mischievous,  literal only, people’s form of hermeneutics falls like a lead weight with these verses.

baalLiterally the Hosea passage is about how unfaithful Israel has been to her God.  Hosea is a book about the life of Hosea, whom God tells to take a wife who is a temple prostitute.  God compares Gomer’s prostitution to that of the nations which as prostituted themselves to Baal and Ashtaroth.ashtoreth1

I know of no hermeneutical principle that would get us to the same conclusion that Matthew makes except that he, the Apostle Matthew said so.  There just is no logical reason to pull out part of a sentence about a historical event and say that it was about a future event.

One thought on “Matthew 2:13, Out of Egypt

  1. Pingback: How to deal with the Jews | From the Congregation of Biet Sepher

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