Biblical Hebrew Forum

["John Richards" <jhr AT universalist.worldonline.co.uk>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "George Athas" <gathas AT globalfreeway.com.au>
> The NT writers do not seem to be finding proof-texts in the sense that I
think you are
> advocating. They seem to be employing typology. For example, Matthew's
Gospel uses the
> "out of Egypt" text as a precedent or "type" for Jesus rather than saying
that it was
> originally and totally about Jesus.

If this is the case, why does Matthew so frequently use the form "this
happened so as to FULFIL what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet . .
. " - as he does with the "out of Egypt" quotation itself?

I agree that later patristic writers like Origen often saw things more in
terms of symbolism, but that is a different matter.

Best wishes

John