The Source of the Story of the Escape of Jesus to Egypt

Chapter III

The Sources of the Gospels and the Way of Writing Them

Section IV

The Texts that were attributed directly to the Old Testament in the Gospels

In this section we will examine the texts of the Old Testament that were attributed directly to it, and the Gospels authors said that they have not been fulfilled, and achieved only in Jesus and his time and his generation, to find out what is the truth and the reality of them, and if the Gospels authors have told the truth or not.

3 - The Source of the Story of the Escape of Jesus to Egypt

Matthew 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him."

Matthew 2:14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt,

Matthew 2:15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."

The Gospels readers will be surprised concerning the large number of Old Testament texts that have been quoted to prove that Jesus is a god and the son of God, and one of the three Hypostases who are one and have the same essence and nature, as say the churches, but the readers will be exceedingly surprised when they read the full texts in the Old Testament, and see that what was taken from them to prove the attributes and the life of Jesus is inconsistent with all facts and reality and the history of the children of Israel, as shown in the previous texts, as well as in this text. So, when Matthew read the saying of Hosea "out of Egypt I called My son"; he forgot all things that the text of Hosea was talking about, and took that sentence and put it in the context of his story in the Gospel, and how Jesus escaped to Egypt; to prove that Jesus was mentioned in the Old Testament, although this story contrasts with the Gospel of Luke, who did not mention that Jesus escaped to Egypt, but he stayed in the Holy Land, and goes to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of the Passover, (Luke 2:41-56)!

Before reading the full text of Hosea I would like to read the text from other versions:

King James Version

Hosea 11:1 When Israel [was] a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

Hebrew Version

Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.

Septuagint Version

Hosea 11:1 Early in the morning were they cast off, the king of Israel has been cast off: for Israel is a child, and I loved him, and out of Egypt have I called his children.

As we note that Matthew quoted the text from the Hebrew Version, not from the Septuagint, which he was usually relying upon it, and the rest of the Gospels authors as well. So what is the mystery beyond this issue? Matthew quoted the text from the Hebrew Version because the text of the Septuagint here does not help him to deliver his idea! So is it true that the text of Hosea in Hebrew version speaks about the story of escape of Jesus to Egypt, which goes against Luke who said that Jesus went to Galilee and did not go to Egypt, (Luke 2:39-40)?

Let's first read the text of Hosea, and then we will continue the discussion:

Hosea 11:1 "When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

Hosea 11:2 As they called them, So they went from them; They sacrificed to the Baals, And burned incense to carved images.

Hosea 11:3 "I taught Ephraim to walk, Taking them by their arms; But they did not know that I healed them.

Hosea 11:4 I drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love, And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them.

Hosea 11:5 "He shall not return to the land of Egypt; But the Assyrian shall be his king, Because they refused to repent.

Hosea 11:6 And the sword shall slash in his cities, Devour his districts, And consume them, Because of their own counsels.

Hosea 11:7 My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they call to the Most High, None at all exalt Him.

Hosea 11:8 "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.

Hosea 11:9 I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim. For I am God, and not man, The Holy One in your midst; And I will not come with terror.

Hosea 11:10 "They shall walk after the LORD. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, Then His sons shall come trembling from the west;

Hosea 11:11 They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt, Like a dove from the land of Assyria. And I will let them dwell in their houses," Says the LORD.

Hosea 11:12 "Ephraim has encircled Me with lies, And the house of Israel with deceit; But Judah still walks with God, Even with the Holy One who is faithful.

In this text the Lord says "when Israel was a child I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son", and this term (my son) was used by the author s of the Old Testament to refer to the children of Israel and the love of the Lord to them, and sometimes was used to indicate to a particular person, the following are some of the texts that talk about some people as they are the sons of the Lord, despite the Jews and the churches did not say that those people have become true sons of the LORD!

Exodus 4:22 "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: "Israel is My son, My firstborn.

Exodus 4:23 "So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn."‘"

Jeremiah 31:9 They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn.

Psalm 68:5 A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.

Psalm 89:6 For who in the heavens can be compared to the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened to the LORD?

Psalm 89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, And to be held in reverence by all those around Him.

Psalm 89:19 Then You spoke in a vision to Your holy one, And said: "I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people.

Psalm 89:20 I have found My servant David; With My holy oil I have anointed him,

Psalm 89:21 With whom My hand shall be established; Also My arm shall strengthen him.

Psalm 89:22 The enemy shall not outwit him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

Psalm 89:23 I will beat down his foes before his face, And plague those who hate him.

Psalm 89:24 "But My faithfulness and My mercy shall be with him, And in My name his horn shall be exalted.

Psalm 89:25 Also I will set his hand over the sea, And his right hand over the rivers.

Psalm 89:26 He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation’.

Psalm 89:27 Also I will make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth.

Deuteronomy 14:1 "You are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead.

Deuteronomy 32:20 And He said: ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith.

Hosea 1:10 "Yet the number of the children of Israel Shall be as the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people’, There it shall be said to them, ‘You are sons of the living God’.

Jeremiah 3:4 Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My father, You are the guide of my youth?

Jeremiah 3:14 "Return, O backsliding children," says the LORD; "for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

Jeremiah 3:19 "But I said: ‘How can I put you among the children And give you a pleasant land, A beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations’? "And I said: ‘You shall call Me, "My Father," And not turn away from Me’.

These are some texts that say that the Lord has become a father to the children of Israel, and Ephraim or his firstborn, and a father of the fatherless, and David call Him my father, and this does not make them true sons to the LORD, who have the same nature and essence, as the Gospels and the Church said on Jesus, because He has described them; "They are silly children", "And they have no understanding", "they are foolish", "they have no knowledge", "backsliding children", "Children in whom is no faith" and "they have rebelled against Me", as in the following texts:

Jeremiah 3:22 "Return, you backsliding children, And I will heal your backslidings." "Indeed we do come to You, For You are the LORD our God.

Jeremiah 4:22 "For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge."

Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against Me;

And these are not of the characteristics of the true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, therefore the writing about some people that they are sons of the Lord does not mean that they are true sons, because this contradicted with the Old Testament which based on the Oneness of the Creator, and there is no creature is like the LORD or equal to Him.

As we also notice that the text of Hosea says that the Jews worshiped the idols beside the Lord by saying that they have sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to carved images, Baalim is one of the idols which was worshiped by the Jews before the Babylonian Captivity, and the Gospels did not tell us that the Jews were sacrificing to Baals in the time of Jesus, or even that Baals itself was existing at that time.

Then Hosea talks on the disobedience of the commandments of the Lord by Ephraim, although he has said in former text that Ephraim is "My firstborn", which means that the term "son of God", and "My firstborn" does not mean what has been understood by the authors of the New Testament and the churches, or more precisely, as they try to make us to understand! And then says "He shall not return to the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to repent. And the sword shall slash in his cities, Devour his districts, and consume them, because of their own counsels", and this is what already happened to them as says the Old Testament, and these paragraphs certainly do not talk about Jesus or about his time, because Assyria has ceased to exist before hundreds of years of his nativity, for he was born in the time when the Holy Land was under Roman Rule.

Then the text says that the children of Israel are bent on backsliding from the LORD, and they have surrounded Him with deceit, which raises anger of the Lord. However, eventually the LORD says that He will not destroy Israel, and He will not come with terror, or in wrath, according to the other versions, and the children of Israel will walk after the LORD, and they will come trembling from the west, and will come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria. And He will let them dwell in their houses. Yet the Gospels authors did not mention that the Jews walked after Jesus and they came from the west to follow him or came trembling like a bird from Egypt, or like a dove from the land of Assyria to follow Jesus, because Assyria has ceased to exist before hundreds of years of Jesus, as well as they did not write that Jesus has dwelt the children of Israel in their homes, if the text of Hosea "out of Egypt I called my son" refers to Jesus!

So what is the link between the text of Hosea which talks about the children of Israel before the Babylonian Captivity and Jesus who was born hundreds of years later and the Jews were under Roman Rule? Unless if it was the way or the approach of writing the Gospels through quoting the texts from the Old Testament and reformulating in the framework of narrative; to say that Jesus is mentioned in the Old Testament to bestow a state of holiness and credibility and reliability on the Gospels as shown previously, regardless if they distorted the true meaning of the texts of the Old Testament or contrasts with the other authors as is the case in this text, because Luke did not write that Jesus escaped to Egypt, but he wrote that he was born in Bethlehem, and after forty days went with his parents to Jerusalem, then he went to Galilee and dwelt in Nazareth, etc., as it is written in the Gospel of Luke, chapter II.

After this reading of the text of Hosea, which Matthew quoted one paragraph of it; and contradicted with Luke in the story of Jesus' childhood, I find that the law "do not accept the lying and false" applies to the story of Matthew.