Can someone explain this goof in Matthew 2:15??

Question

Here is Matthew 2:14-15: So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

Here is the verse from the Tanuk he was referencing out of Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

Matthew not only quoted only half of the verse but he took the verse out of context. The verse is refering to Israelites being taken out of Egypt and Matthew tries to show us its a Messianic verse?
Did the early church doctor the doctrine or is the Bible not really divinely inspired??

Steve, if its so clear, please explain to me how I am wrong.

Dawn, you may be right but you have not responded to my question.

Working man, you shame your religion and your God. You will have to answer to God some day for turning away those who ask questions about the Word of God. You have no idea what I believe in my heart yet you assume I am an athiest seeking a cheap thrill by throwing Biblical contradictions in the face of believers?! If I was an athiest is your answer going to bring me closer to God or farther away? Is it going to give me more or less respect for those who claim to believe in the God of Israel?? I believe God will judge you more harshly than a moral athiest, your arrogance is repugnant in the eyes of God. Thats all I have to say.

PUB, Matthew is showing how the prophesy was fulfilled by quoting the actuall prophesy in Hosea!

Answer 1

many things line up and apply to multiple things in prophecy .. its amazing actually .. former things shadow the new ... stuff like that ..

Answer 2

"Half a verse"- verses were not numbered in the time of Jesus, this is a much more recent thing.

The idea of 'messianic verses' is also pretty new. The Gospel writers were not theologians, nor were they there at the time of the Flight from Egypt. They just told the story as best they understood it and apparently used examples from the Tanakh (Jewish Bible, if I am using the term correctly) as teaching or perhaps even memory aids.

I suspect it was more of a "Hey, look, this part of the life of Jesus matches up with this part of Hosea!" than anything more profound.

In fact, we see a few other evidences of what appear to be misquotes or out of context verses in the Gospels as well. Matt. 3:3 , for example, refers to Isa. 40:3, but does not really seem to fit right.

Answer 3

What really astounds me is people who say they do not
believe in God or the Bible yet they have to question if God
is real or look in the Bible and pick verses out of it and says
how could this be possible? Why are you so concerned?
Have a good night.
Edit-
So say I shame everything all you want, you are not making yourself look good. I actually didn't call you an atheist, did I?
It's a double standard here at R&S. People can accuse
Christians of sacrificing people and call us names and
say we should not shove it down their throats yet they
pick apart the Bible. You said, can someone explain
this goof and then said the Bible is not divinely inspired.
If you're a Christian, that sounds pretty strange to me.
They say we should not get mad about it and then when
we ask about what they believe as I did once, some get huffy.
There are crazy people in all religions whether people
believe it or not that twist everything around and take it too
far.
You do not have any clue as to what God will say to me.
Have a good night, you got huffy, I wasn't. I was only asking
you a question and said you astound me which you do and
even more so by how you answered me. Note Theo there-
cut and paste, he astounds me as well.

Answer 4

There are 2 kinds of prophecies (Matthew, Paul and others were very fond of prophecies). The obvious ones such as Isaiah 53 and the not-so-obvious ones, which make sense if you are sure, for other reasons, that Jesus is the Messiah.

Here, its not only Hosea but also Numbers 24:8 referenced.

So in Numbers 24:8 prophet Balaam says:

"His king shall be higher than Agag, amd his kingdom shall be exalted. God brings him out of Egypt. He has strength like a wild ox. He shall consume the nations, his enemies..."

Now this is about a putative King of the Israelites (there was no such king for some centuries). The Israelites were troubling the King of Moab, who was scared of them, Balaam was hired by Moab to prophesy against the Israelites but can only speak blessings. This moment is prior to their crossing the Jordan and taking the promised land. But is it really speaking of this king ... or actually the messiah...

There are a number of messianic prophecies in the Tanach that are speaking of kings like David, where it appears that in fact the Son of David spoken of isn't David's som Solomon, or a later ruler in David's line, but is more. These were taken by Jews as references to the Messiah. So using this interpretive principle the ruler spoken of here is actually in terms of this 'second meaning' the Messiah. The line 'He shall consume the nations his enemies' actually is an echo of Psalm 2, which ostensibly speaks of David, but has a messianic meaning and speaks similarly of the nations being brought to bow to the Messiah (at the 2nd coming that will be).

Answer 5

There are several passages like that including this one...

Matthew 2:18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more."

The immediate context of that passage obviously had to do with the people at the time it was written and nothing to do with the children that Herod had murdered.

Since the Bible IS inspired by the Holy Spirit, one can only conclude that passages like the one I posted and the one you mention contained "shadows" of Christ to come.

Many prophecies have near term, partial fulfillment that foreshadows the final fulfillment like this one that Jesus quoted.

Matthew 24:15 "So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

This prophecy had a first fulfillment when Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated the temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BC but Jesus tells us there will also be a future fulfillment.

Answer 6

Matthew doesn't specify that he is quoting Hosea here - it's also possible he's referring to another prophet's writings entirely. There had been prophets for thousands of years, at times the scriptures refer to the writings and teachings of prophets which are not included in the Bible, whether they were left out by those who compiled the early editions or they were lost generations earlier, we don't know.

Answer 7

No goof at all.
It is a particularly Jewish view that all of Israel is A son.
Could it be that when "Israel was a youth I loved (Jesus)?
The use of "And," presumes "also"
Isaiah 9:6 says the Father is the Son, the mighty God, and the Everlasting Father.
Isaiah 52:13 to 53:12 describes the suffering servant of God.
Why does Judaism avoid teaching this passage?
Isaiah 48:16 makes reference to "the Lord God; His Spirit; and "me."
(Acknowledging that Isaiah is speaking for God, whom do you think "me" is?)
These things actually AFFIRM that the Bible is Divinely inspired.

Answer 8

One needs to look at the surrounding scriptures Matthew 2:14-18 in order to get the full meaning.. Matthew 2:18 fulfills Jeremiah 31:15.

Answer 9

With regard to Matthew 2:14-15, the child and his mother had to go to Egypt to stay away from Herods soldiers. The Lord said through the prophet that He would call His son out of Egypt.......After Herod died, the Lord sent an angel to let them know it was again safe to leave Egypt......and there you go.

Answer 10

Matthew is showing the fulfillment of the prophecy, not quoting another scripture.

Of course it is divinely inspired. But you are not studying correctly, and don't understand that the bible proves it self by studying the scriptures over and over again. There are so many prophecies in the old testament that the new testament is showing fulfilled.

Answer 11

Peace. my answer is this . that it is hard to take either of those statements out of context because they are stand alone statements. Not connected. It simply states that God took his son out of Egypt. And that He loved Israel before it went bad. It only seems out of context when you try to connect the two. Now if they are associated I can guarantee that it will be at a much deeper level . Which is highly probable