Did Matthew misinterpret Hosea 11:1? ("When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.").

Question: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." - Hosea 11:1. Matthew (2:15) claims that the flight of Jesus' family to Egypt is a fulfillment of this verse. But Hosea 11:1 is not a prophecy at all. It is a reference to the Hebrew exodus from Egypt and has nothing to do with Jesus. Matthew tries to hide this fact by quoting only the last part of the verse ("Out of Egypt I have called my son").

Response: Matthew wasn't trying to hide anything, he was trying to show that the life of Jesus had many parallels with the history of the Jewish people. Matthew did this frequently throughout his Gospel. In Matthew 2:15, he cites an example of leaving the land of Israel and taking refuge in Egypt. The Israelites had done this during the early part of their history, to escape a famine that had threatened their existence. And, many centuries later, Jesus' family did the same thing, during the early part of Jesus' life, to elude King Herod's plan to kill Jesus.

Next: Did Jesus contradict his own teaching about calling someone a "fool?"

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