Does Matthew misquote Hosea? Does he chop a verse in half to mislead his readers? Does he take something that's history and try to make it into messianic prophecy? Hey friends, Michael Brown here.
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Check out the videos. Make sure you click the bell as well. That means that any new video comes out, you'll be notified about it. All right, so. In the Gospel of Matthew, In the second chapter Matthew recounts what happens.
Yeshua is just a baby child. And there's fear for his life. Herod wants to kill him.
So. Joseph being warned in a dream. The fleas with Miriam, Yeshua's mother. flees with them to Egypt. And then sometime later, word is out, Herod's dead, the one that wanted to kill Messiah, he's dead.
So they feel safe to return.
Alright, so... It says this happened. to fulfill what was written in Hosea out of Egypt I called my son. Out of Egypt, I called my son. Wow.
So Hosea prophesied. That's why it seems. Matthew 2 quoting Hosea 11. It seems like Hosea prophesied. that the Son of God would go into Egypt as a child and would be called out.
Well, the problem is when you go to Hosea 11, first it's not a prophecy. It's talking about... Egypt. In and Israel. In Egypt before the Exodus.
That's what it's talking about. When Israel was a child, I loved him and I called my son out of Egypt But the more called, the more they rebelled. In other words, it's about Israel's past history. It's not talking about the Messiah as God's son. It's talking about...
Israel as God's son. And the allegations, that's why Matthew cut it in half and just said, out of Egypt, I called my son. He didn't put the other part in when Israel was a child, because that would give it away. and Matthew was hoping to fool his ignorant readers.
Okay, so I'm going to demolish that view in a moment. But just think about this logically. First thing. Is Matthew going to spend a period of many, many years? writing his gospel, writing his account, or taking many years before he finally publishes it.
Knowing that he's misquoting verses and that any Jew who knew his Bible at all would instantly know he was misquoting. And any Jew who didn't know his Bible within seconds of checking would find out he's misquoting. Does that even make sense? Or could it be that Matthew is a first century Jew. was quoting scriptures.
Just like the later rabbis would quote scriptures, in the Talmud, in the Midrash, and other related writings. and that Matthew's insight was far deeper. And... Just as is very common in Talmudic writings and other early rabbinic writings. that they'll quote a part of a verse, assuming you know the whole verse.
It's not to trick you. It's assuming you know the whole verse and they'll pull out the part that's most relevant. If I'm talking to a Christian audience, I say, you know, for God so loved, well, they know the rest of it, for God so loved the world that he gave us one and only sin. They know John 3, 16.
So, the same way, Matthew's quoting a part of the verse, assuming the readers know the whole. And what's his point? as it happened to Israel. God's Son. of whom God says, for example, Exodus 4, Israel is my son, my firstborn, as it happened to Israel, God's son, God's firstborn, among the nations.
as it happened to Israel in its infancy as a nation. Israel In Egypt, called by God out of Egypt. Out of Egypt, I called my son. So also. The Messiah.
the Son of God, the firstborn over all creation. As a child goes into Egypt, and God calls his son, his greater son, out of Egypt, as it happened to Israel.
So it happened to the Messiah. That's what Matthew was saying. In fact, Matthew has many quotes through his gospel where he's making the same point. You know, for example, David in Psalm 41 speaks of being betrayed by a friend. As it happened to David, the king of Israel, and the prototype of the Messiah, so also he's betrayed by a friend that ate with him and dipped his bread next to him.
Messiah, in the same way, is betrayed by a friend who dipped bread with him. As it happened to David, So what happened to the Messiah? Hey, let's even think about Moses. When Moses is born, there's an attempt by Pharaoh to kill him. They want to kill all the male children of Israel.
Obviously, it was time for deliverance to come. Pharaoh was threatened by the growing number of Israelites. We just got to kill all the boys. He doesn't know he's trying to kill the next deliverer, but that's what's actually going on. As it happened to Moses as a child.
So what happens to the Messiah as a child? And the Israelites are 40 years in the wilderness. And the Messiah goes for 40 days in the wilderness. And he is deprived and fast there as Israel was deprived in certain ways in the wilderness. And Yeshua in the wilderness, dealing with the temptations of Satan, quotes three verses from the book of Deuteronomy, the book of Deuteronomy being the book about the wilderness wanderings, where Moses sums up what happened at the end of that time period.
And just as Israel. Receive the law. on Mount Sinai.
So Yeshua goes up on the mountain to teach. and give this Torah. this revelation, this insight, this instruction. from his father.
So Matthew's bringing all these parallels. It's very rich. It's very beautiful. In fact... Yeshua is presented.
as a greater Moses. You say, no, no, no, Jews don't believe there's anyone greater than Moses. Uh oh, so some would say that.
Well, Here's what's really interesting. Let me show you. Isaiah 52, 13, so this is the beginning of the famous passage, Isaiah 53, the most famous Messianic passage in the Hebrew scriptures for followers of Yeshua. Matthew, excuse me, Isaiah 52, 13 starts with these words, Hine yeskil Avdi, yagunde nisave gava mod.
So, look, my servant will act wisely or will prosper. Yahoo, he'll be. He'll be exalted. And and they saw it and and lifted up the Ga'vama and very high.
So that's the prophecy about him. Midrash Tanchuma. Which is uh part of an early midrash on on different parts of the Hebrew Bible. and then developed over the centuries.
So it says this. First, it ties it in with Zechariah 4. where it speaks of this great mountain and says the mountain is Melecha Mashiach. It's Ben-David. It's the son of David.
It's King Messiah. All right, and then it ties that in. with Isaiah 52, 13, with this very passage. And you know what it says, we'll just put it on screen for you. Here's what it says.
that that the Messiah, Messiah son of David, Will be what? Higher than Abraham. more exalted, lifted up more than Moses. and even higher than the ministering angels.
So E even in ancient Midrash says that the Messiah will be more exalted than Abraham. Moses and the ministering angels, and that's what Matthew's doing. As it happens to Israel, so it happens to the Messiah. As it happened to Moses, so it happens to Messiah. As it happened to David, so it happens to the Messiah.
It's beautiful, it's rich, it's very much in keeping with how Jewish people quoted and used scripture in the first century. And Matthew is assuming his audience knows the whole verse. And the moment they hear the part of it, it's like it'll trigger the rest of the verse, and then they'll see the amazing parallel. And I only scratched the surface of the richness of what Matthew quotes in the first few chapters of his good news, of his gospel. If you're a Jewish person and you never read it, By all means, read it.
