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.”
Parallel Translations
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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.”
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and was there vnto the deeth of Herod to fulfill that which was spoken of the Lorde by the Prophet which sayeth out of Egypte haue I called my sonne.
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And was there vnto the death of Herod, that that might be fulfilled, which is spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, saying, Out of Egypt haue I called my sonne.
Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Matthew 2:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hosea 11:1 “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
- Exodus 4:22 You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Yahweh says, Israel is my son, my firstborn,
- Numbers 24:8 God brings him out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox. He shall consume the nations his adversaries, shall break their bones in pieces, and pierce them with his arrows.
- Luke 24:44 He said to them, “This is what I told you, while I was still with you, that all things which are written in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me must be fulfilled.”
- Matthew 1:22 Now all this has happened that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
- Matthew 2:17 Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,
- Matthew 2:19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,
- Matthew 2:23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets that he will be called a Nazarene.
- Matthew 4:14-15 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
- Matthew 8:17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.”
- Matthew 12:16-18 and commanded them that they should not make him known: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen; my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit on him. He will proclaim justice to the nations.
- Matthew 21:4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,
- Matthew 26:54 How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?”
- Acts 12:1-4 Now about that time, King Herod stretched out his hands to oppress some of the assembly. He killed James, the brother of John, with the sword. When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to seize Peter also. This was during the days of unleavened bread. When he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him out to the people after the Passover.
- Matthew 26:56 But all this has happened that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
- John 19:28 After this, Jesus, seeing that all things were now finished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I am thirsty.”
- John 19:36 For these things happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.”
- Acts 12:23-24 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory. Then he was eaten by worms and died. But the word of God grew and multiplied.
- Matthew 27:35 When they had crucified him, they divided his clothing among them, casting lots,
- Acts 1:16 “Brothers, it was necessary that this Scripture should be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was guide to those who took Jesus.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain
Hos. 11:1
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 15 And was there until the death of Herod:…
15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
Ver. 15. And was there till the death of Herod] Which was a matter of two or three years at least {a} For Christ was born in 32 of Herod’s reign, fled when he was about two years old, or soon after his birth (as others are of the opinion), and returned not till Herod was dead, after he had reigned seven and thirty years.
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That it might be fulfilled that was spoken, &c.] When the Old Testament is cited in the New, it is not only by way of accommodation, but because it is the proper meaning of the places both in the type and in the truth.
{a} Epiphanius vult haec biennio post natum Christum conligisse.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And was there until the death of Herod,.... Which…
And was there until the death of Herod,.... Which was in a very short time; for Eusebius (i) says, that immediately, in a very little time after the slaughter of the children at Bethlehem, the divine vengeance inflicted diseases on him, which quickly brought him to his end; so that, according to the learned Dr. Lightfoot (k), Jesus was not above three or four months in Egypt. Now all this was brought about,
that it might be fulfilled; not by way of accommodation of phrases to a like event; or by way of type, which has a fresh completion in the antitype; or as a proverbial sentence which might be adapted to any remarkable deliverance out of hardship, misery and destruction; but literally, properly, and in the obvious sense thereof;
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which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, not Balaam, in Num 23:22 or Num 24:8 but in Hos 11:1 "when Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt": the meaning of which passage is, either in connection with the last clause of the foregoing chapter thus; "in a morning shall the king of Israel be cut off", "because Israel is a child", a rebellious and disobedient one, acting a very weak and wicked part; "yet I have loved him, or do love him", and "have called", or "will call", (the past tense for the future, frequent in the Hebrew language, especially in the prophetic writings,) "my son out of Egypt"; who will be obliged to retire there for some time; I will make him king, set him upon the throne, who shall execute justice, and reign for ever and ever; or thus, "because Israel is a child", helpless and imprudent, and "I love him", though he is so, "therefore l will call", or I have determined to call
my son out of Egypt: who through a tyrant's rage and malice will be obliged to abide there a while; yet I will bring him from thence into the land of Judea, where he shall live and "help" my "servant", (l), "child Israel"; shall instruct him in his duty, teach him the doctrines of the Gospel, and at last, by his sufferings and death, procure for him the pardon of all his transgressions; of which there is a particular enumeration in Mat 2:3. This is the natural and unconstrained sense of these words, which justifies the Evangelist in his citation and application of them to Christ's going to Egypt, and his return from thence, as I have elsewhere (m) shown.
(i) Hist. Eccl. l. 1. c. 8. p. 25, 26. (k) Harmony of the New Testament, p. 6. (l) Luke i. 54. (m) Prophecies of the Messiah, &c. p. 123, &c.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain That it might be fulfilled - That is, whereby…
That it might be fulfilled - That is, whereby was fulfilled. The original word frequently signifies, not the design of an action, but barely the consequence or event of it. Which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet - on another occasion: Out of Egypt have I called my Son - which was now fulfilled as it were anew; Christ being in a far higher sense the Son of God than Israel, of whom the words were originally spoken. Hosea xi, 1.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. Out of Egypt have I called my…
Verse 15. Out of Egypt have I called my son.] This is quoted from Ho 11:1, where the deliverance of Israel, and that only, is referred to. But as that deliverance was extraordinary, it is very likely that it had passed into a proverb, so that "Out of Egypt have I called my son," might have been used to express any signal deliverance. I confess, I can see no other reference it can have to the case in hand, unless we suppose, which is possible, that God might have referred to this future bringing up of his son Jesus from Egypt, under the type of the past deliverance of Israel from the same land. Midrash Tehillin, on Ps 2:7, has these remarkable words: I will publish a decree: this decree has been published in the Law, in the Prophets, and in the Hagiographia. In the Law, Israel is my first-born son: Ex 4:22. In the Prophets, Behold, my servant shall deal prudently: Isa 52:13. In the Hagiographia, The Lord said unto my lord: Ps 110:1. All these passages the Jews refer to the Messiah. See Schoetgen.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain The death of Herod - Herod died in the…
The death of Herod - Herod died in the thirty-seventh year of his reign. It is not certainly known in what year he began his reign, and hence it is impossible to determine the time that Joseph remained in Egypt. The best chronologers have supposed that he died somewhere between two and four years after the birth of Christ, but at what particular time cannot now be determined. Nor can it be ascertained at what age Jesus was taken into Egypt. It seems probable that he was supposed to be a year old (see Mat 2:16), and of course the time that he remained in Egypt was not long. Herod died of a most painful and loathsome disease in Jericho. See the notes at Mat 2:16; also Josephus, Ant. xvii. 6. 5.
That it might be fulfilled ... - This language is recorded in Hos 11:1. It there evidently speaks of God’s calling His people out of Egypt, under Moses. See Exo 4:22-23. It might be said to be fulfilled in his calling Jesus from Egypt, because the words in Hosea aptly expressed this also. The same love which led him to deliver His people Israel from the land of Egypt, now led him also to deliver His Son from that place. The words used by Hosea would express both events. See the notes at Mat 1:22. Perhaps, also, the place in Hosea became a proverb, to express any great deliverance from danger; and thus it could be said to be fulfilled in Christ, as other proverbs are in cases to Which they are applicable. It cannot be supposed that the passage in Hosea was a prophecy of the Messiah. It is evidently used by Matthew only because the language is appropriate to express the event.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Out of Egypt have I called my son.[3] St.…
Out of Egypt have I called my son.[3] St. Jerome understands these words to be taken out of the prophet Osee, (Chap. xi. 2.) and granted they might be literally spoken of the people Israel: yet as their captivity in Egypt was a figure of the slavery of sin, under which all mankind groaned, and as their delivery by Moses was a figure of man’s redemption by our Saviour Christ, so these words in a mystical and spiritual sense apply to our Saviour, who in a more proper sense was the Son of God, than was the people of Israel. (Witham) --- The application of this passage of the prophet to Christ, whereas in the simple letter it might appear otherwise, teaches us how to interpret the Old Testament; and that the principal sense is of Christ and his Church. (Bristow)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Ex Ægypto vocai filium meum. In the Septuagint Greek: ta tekna autou, filios ejus.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain And was there until the death of Herod--which took…
And was there until the death of Herod--which took place not very long after this of a horrible disease; the details of which will be found in JOSEPHUS [Antiquities, 17.6.1,5,7,8].
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying-- (Hos 11:1).
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Out of Egypt have I called my son--Our Evangelist here quotes directly from the Hebrew, warily departing from the Septuagint, which renders the words, "From Egypt have I recalled his children," meaning Israel's children. The prophet is reminding his people how dear Israel was to God in the days of his youth; how Moses was bidden to say to Pharaoh, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, My first-born; and I say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me; and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born" (Exo 4:22-23); how, when Pharaoh refused, God having slain all his first-born, "called His own son out of Egypt," by a stroke of high-handed power and love. Viewing the words in this light, even if our Evangelist had not applied them to the recall from Egypt of God's own beloved, Only-begotten Son, the application would have been irresistibly made by all who have learnt to pierce beneath the surface to the deeper relations which Christ bears to His people, and both to God; and who are accustomed to trace the analogy of God's treatment of each respectively.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 15. By the prophet — Hos_11:1. Out of Egypt……
15. By the prophet — Hos_11:1. Out of Egypt… son — The passage quoted from the prophet is spoken of Israel, the people being personified as an individual. When Israel was a child then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. A type is a person or object divinely designed to prefigure a future character or object to which it bears designed resemblance. The future object so prefigured is called the antitype. Type is therefore visible prediction, as prophecy is spoken prediction. Thus the sacrifices were divinely appointed types of the great atoning sacrifice of Christ. An entire set or combination of objects may be typical of an entire set of antitypical objects. The objects may resemble, and the principle which connects the objects of the combination may be the same in both sets. Thus here we have of type and antitype, then, two sets:
1. Pharaoh, Israel, Egypt, Canaan.
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2. Herod, Christ, Egypt, Palestine.
The individuals of each couplet are similar or same, and the relation connecting the individuals of each set is the same. So Israel is a type of the Church, and Christ’s infantile history is a type of his Messianic history, as his Messianic history is a type of the Church. Thus: Adversary, Righteous One, Trial, Restoration.
1. Pharaoh, Israel, Egypt, Canaan.
2. Herod, Christ, Egypt, Palestine
3. Satan, Christ, World, Glory.
4. Satan, Church, World, Heaven.
When the Old Testament designedly uses words which describe the typical points in the type, those words will describe the future antitype. It thereby becomes prediction, which is fulfilled in the antitype. Thus the words, “Out of Egypt have I called my son,” describe the typical point which Israel bears to Christ. It is therefore a prediction which is fulfilled in Christ.
So God’s dispensations do repeat and reproduce similar sets of types and antitypes in continuity. In printer’s phrase, the type continually produces the same set of words and paragraphs, through successive pages and editions. In the present case, Christ’s infant history was so framed as to be brought into antitypical relation; and the words of the prophet were so framed as to predict the antitype Christ in describing the type Israel. The inspiration that enabled the prophet to utter, enabled the evangelist to explain the prediction.
As Israel was God’s chosen among the nations, so Christ was God’s chosen among men. Reciprocally, as Christ was his Son, so Israel was his son. Both are his firstborn. So Exo_4:22 : “Israel is my son, even my firstborn.” In Isa_49:3, the words, “Thou art my servant, O Israel,” are spoken of the Messiah. So the Jewish rabbis have recognized the Scripture doctrine that Israel is type of Messiah. This typeism between Israel and Christ and the Church arises from the fact of their sameness of relation to God, as being objects of divine favour, representatives of righteousness in a world of trial, under pressure of the adversary, yet destined to victory; as we have exhibited in the parallels above.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 15. until the death of Herod] According to the…
15. until the death of Herod] According to the chronology adopted above this would be for a space of less than two years.
that it might be fulfilled] See note on ch. Mat_1:22.
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Out of Egypt have I called my son] Better, I called my son. The history of Israel is regarded as typical of the Messiah’s life. He alone gives significance to that history. He is the true seed of Abraham. In Him the blessing promised to Abraham finds its highest fulfilment. (See Lightfoot on Gal_3:16.) Even particular incidents in the Gospel narrative have their counterpart in the O.T. history. Accordingly St Matthew, who naturally reverts to this thought more constantly than the other Evangelists, from the very nature of his gospel, recognises in this incident an analogy to the call of Israel from Egypt.
The quotation is again from the original Hebrew of Hos_11:2, and again the LXX. differs considerably. Cp. Exo_4:22-23 : “Israel is my son, even my firstborn: and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (15) Until the death of Herod.—The uncertainty which hangs…
(15) Until the death of Herod.—The uncertainty which hangs over the exact date of the Nativity hinders us from arriving at any precise statement as to the interval thus described. As the death of Herod took place a little before the Passover, B.C. 4 (according to the common but erroneous reckoning), it could not have been more than a few months, even if we fix the Nativity in the previous year.
Out of Egypt have I called my son.—As the words stand in Hos_11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt,” they refer, beyond the shadow of a doubt, to the history of Israel, as being in a special sense, among all the nations of the world, the chosen son of Jehovah (Exo_4:22-23). It is hard to imagine any reader of the prophecy not seeing that this was what we should call the meaning. But the train of thought which leads the Evangelist to apply it to the Christ has a distinct method of its own. A coincidence in what seems an accessory, a mere circumstance of the story, carries his mind on to some deeper analogies. In the days of the Exodus, Israel was the one representative instance of the Fatherhood of God manifested in protecting and delivering His people. Now there was a higher representative in the person of the only begotten Son. As the words “Out of Egypt did I call my Son” (he translated from the Hebrew instead of reproducing the Greek version of the LXX.) rose to his memory, what more natural than that mere context and historical meaning should be left unnoticed, and that he should note with wonder what a fulfilment they had found in the circumstances he had just narrated. Here, as before, the very seeming strain put upon the literal meaning of the words is presumptive evidence that the writer had before him the fact to which it had been adapted, rather than that the narrative was constructed, as some have thought, to support the strained interpretation of the prophecy.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And was there until the death of Herod. The…
And was there until the death of Herod. The Revised Version rightly.joins this with the preceding, not with the following, clause. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, (Mat_1:22, notes) Out of Egypt have I called (Revised Version, did I call) my Son. (Hos_11:1, "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt Observe here:
(1) The quotation is not from the LXX ("Out of Egypt I summoned his children"), but from the Hebrew, which Aquila also follows.
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(2) The expression in Hosea is based on Exo_4:22, "Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn;" of. also RAPC Wis 18:13. "They acknowledged this people to be the son of God (wmologhsan Yeou uioneinai).
(3) The quotation is, by the context, evidently adduced, not to prove the sonship of Jesus, but to enlarge upon the treatment that he received. The fundamental thought is that the experience of Messiah was parallel to the experience of the nation.
(4) The application of the term "my Son" to Messiah is justified by Jewish thought. In Exo_4:22 the nation was so called; in Psa_2:7 the head of the nation, the theocratic king, received the same title; much more could the great theocratic King, the Messiah, be so spoken of. That, indeed, the name, "the Son of God," was used as a title of Messiahship by the Jews lacks direct evidence (of. Stanton, "The Jewish and the Christian Messiah," 1886, p. 288), but is surely to be deduced from Mat_26:63; (Mat_16:16) of. also the application of Psa_2:7 to Messiah in Talm. Bab., "Succah," 52 a, in the late Midrash "Tillim," in loc., which traces" the decree" there spoken of through the Law, (Exo_4:22) the prophets, (e.g. Isa_52:13) and the Hagiographa (e.g. Psa_2:7 Psa_110:1; for a paraphrase, cf. Edersheim, "Life," etc., App. 9.). It is hardly too much to say that no Jew could consistently, either in the early days of the Church or now, find any difficulty in St. Matthew"s reference of the term "my Son" to Christ.
(5) Seeing that St. Matthew"s reference of tile term "my Son" is justified by Jewish thought, and that the passage in Hosea is adduced to show that the experience of Messiah was parallel to that of the nation, there seems no real need to look for further reasons for the application. St. Matthew may hays held that Messiah was the Flower of Israel, so that what was predicated of Israel could be essentially explained of Messiah; he may have considered that Messiah was so organically connected with Israel that even when the nation was in Egypt Messiah was there also; (cf. Heb_7:10 Heb_11:26) he may have thought that the pro-incarnate Son of God was always with his Church, and therefore with it even in Egypt; but of none of these theories have we any hint. The application of Hos_11:1 to the early life of Christ belongs, we do not doubt, to the very earliest stage of Jewish Christian thought, and to defend it by modem subtleties of interpretation (sound though they may be in other connexions) seems quite out of place. Messiah was in some sense, as all Jews granted, the Son of God; Messiah, like the nation, went down into Egypt; what was predicated of the one was, clearly in this case, true of the other, and the prophet"s words received a "fulfilment." The fulfilment was, indeed, what we should call a coincidence (of. ver. 23, note), but to the pious mind, and especially to the pious mind of a.Jew, coincidences are not chances, they are signs of the Divine Governor (cf. Bishop Westcott, "Hebr.," p. 481: 1889).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 15. That it might be fulfilled, … Out of…
15. That it might be fulfilled, … Out of Egypt have I called my Son. The prophecy here quoted is found in Hosea 11:1. Israel, which was called out of Egypt, is spoken of a son. Israel, however, was a type, and the events portrayed in Israelitish history were typical prophecies. That was the dispensation of types and shadows. Hence, the great outlines were prophetic, and the calling of Israel out of Egypt a prophecy of the Leader of the true Israel being called out of that land.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain Out of Egypt
Out of Egypt
The words quoted are in Hos 11:1 and the passage illustrates the truth that prophetic utterances often have a latent and deeper meaning than at first appears. Israel, nationally, was a "Son 1:1" Exo 4:22 but Christ was the greater "Son 1:1"; Rom 9:4; Rom 9:5; Isa 41:8; Isa 42:1-4; Isa 52:13; Isa 52:14 where the servant-nation and the Servant-Son are both in view.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 2:15 I called my Son out of Egypt: See…
2:15 I called my Son out of Egypt: See Hos 11:1, which refers to the Exodus.
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