Friday, September 6, 2024

Luke leaves out the trip to Egypt

Matthew records that Jesus and family flee to Egypt from Bethlehem, while Luke leaves the Egyptian stay completely out, and has the family going to Nazareth after all the Jewish Law requirements are met for Jesus in Bethlehem.   Why does Luke skip any reference to the family fleeing to Egypt?  Luke makes it sound like the family went directly to Nazareth after Bethlehem.  Is this a historical error in either's account?

39 So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. Luke 2:39

He [Herod] sent them [Magi] to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child ... Matthew 2:8 when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother and fell down and worshiped Him. Matthew 2:11 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 ...  Matthew 2:13 when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, "Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel ... " Matthew 2:19-20 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth... Matthew 2:23

Luke appears to do the same thing concerning the early history of Jesus as he does with Paul after his conversion. In Acts, Luke completely skips Paul’s time in Arabia following his conversion but has him in Damascus proclaiming Christ and then going to Jerusalem, yet Paul says in Galatians that after his conversion, he first went to Arabia, then back to Damascus, and then Jerusalem.  But Luke skips the trip to Arabia in Acts, making it seem that Paul never left Damascus. It would seem that Luke, likewise, skipped the time spent in Egypt by Jesus before going to Nazareth. Sometime after the birth of Jesus and the presentation in the temple, the Magi visit a house that they are staying in. Then they are warned to flee to Egypt. When they finally return to Israel, they go to Nazareth.  Luke skips the part about fleeing to Egypt just as he skips the part about Paul spending years in Arabia, making it sound like Paul’s preaching in Damascus happened right after his conversion.   I would also point out that Luke skips a lot of time spent by Paul in Thessalonica in Acts 17, as it seems Paul was there for a short time, but he had to spend much more than a few days, because of the obvious impact he had on not only the gentiles who went to the synagogue, but those who were still into idolatry, as First Thessalonians speaks of the gentiles who turned to God from idols.  And the knowledge of the Thessalonians concerning eschatology indicates that Paul spent much more time there than Luke reveals in the book of Acts.   Paul wrote First and Second Thessalonians before he saw them again--when he was in Corinth.  So, Luke had a habit of jumping from one event to another and leaving out events in-between.

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