I don't know if you will find this valuable, but I think that the way the NT writers wrote the word 'Fulfilment' in the gospels is neither literal nor metaphorical but is meant to draw commentary from the prophets. Each of the ten or so fulfilments to which Matthew refers are quotations from a prophet, none of which claim to predict anything. I give one example of what I think is the clearest and best way to understand fulfilments mentioned by Matthew, giving a brief analysis of the first 'Fulfilment' in Matthew's gospel.
Here is the example: Matthew 2:15 "where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'Out of Egypt I called my son.'"
I think when he mentions a fulfilment Matthew wants you to look up the related entire section in the prophets, then read that section until you have a grasp of the situation and the prophet's complaints. Then he wants you to apply the prophet's complaint to the gospel story at the place where it was alluded from. What you come out with is not exactly a metaphor but a commentary from a particular prophet.
Referring to the example in Matthew 2:15 our verse alludes to Hosea 11:1, but Hosea does not in any way suggest that the messiah will go to live in Egypt and later come out but is literally talking about Israel proper. What can Matthew mean by calling Jesus in Egypt a fulfillment? To answer that requires actually studying Hosea, but lets rely upon commentary by scholars since that is a lot of work. Lets use Matthew Henry, since he is no longer with us and cannot complain! He says Hosea is laconic and sententious and his writings are accounted the most difficult of any of the prophets. Skimming Matthew Henry's comments upon chapters 10 and 11 of Hosea we find that Hosea is complaining that Israel around 750 B.C.E. is oppressed by enemies not from sheer luck but because they are in idolatry. Hosea 10:1 whines "Israel is an empty vine!" ---- Now here we start to apply the prophet's complaint to Matthew's fulfillment. --- To these things Matthew alludes as he quotes "Out of Egypt I called my son!" Something in Hosea 10 brings up a faint recollection of something in the Didache, too: "First, concerning the cup: We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David your servant, which you made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be the glory forever." Didache 9:2 So here we can see a wealth of connections between Matthew's fulfillments and the lives of early Christians who saw themselves perhaps as trying to do work that had been left undone. They were avid readers thoroughly familiar with Hosea who saw themselves as grafts onto a vine that had places left empty.
Now rather than an obscure quotation of a prediction we have obtained a little summary of the passage to which Matthew alludes, and we can compare the situation in Hosea 10 & 11 with the situation surrounding the time of Jesus birth. Are there similarities? Yes, plenty of similarities, and that is what Matthew is pointing out. The Jews once again are surrounded by enemies. They are in Egypt all over again but they are being called out. This then is what Matthew means by 'Fulfilment' of Hosea 10 & 11 to which he alludes by quoting Hosea 10:1.
Here is the example: Matthew 2:15 "where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'Out of Egypt I called my son.'"
I think when he mentions a fulfilment Matthew wants you to look up the related entire section in the prophets, then read that section until you have a grasp of the situation and the prophet's complaints. Then he wants you to apply the prophet's complaint to the gospel story at the place where it was alluded from. What you come out with is not exactly a metaphor but a commentary from a particular prophet.
Referring to the example in Matthew 2:15 our verse alludes to Hosea 11:1, but Hosea does not in any way suggest that the messiah will go to live in Egypt and later come out but is literally talking about Israel proper. What can Matthew mean by calling Jesus in Egypt a fulfillment? To answer that requires actually studying Hosea, but lets rely upon commentary by scholars since that is a lot of work. Lets use Matthew Henry, since he is no longer with us and cannot complain! He says Hosea is laconic and sententious and his writings are accounted the most difficult of any of the prophets. Skimming Matthew Henry's comments upon chapters 10 and 11 of Hosea we find that Hosea is complaining that Israel around 750 B.C.E. is oppressed by enemies not from sheer luck but because they are in idolatry. Hosea 10:1 whines "Israel is an empty vine!" ---- Now here we start to apply the prophet's complaint to Matthew's fulfillment. --- To these things Matthew alludes as he quotes "Out of Egypt I called my son!" Something in Hosea 10 brings up a faint recollection of something in the Didache, too: "First, concerning the cup: We thank you, our Father, for the holy vine of David your servant, which you made known to us through Jesus your servant. To you be the glory forever." Didache 9:2 So here we can see a wealth of connections between Matthew's fulfillments and the lives of early Christians who saw themselves perhaps as trying to do work that had been left undone. They were avid readers thoroughly familiar with Hosea who saw themselves as grafts onto a vine that had places left empty.
Now rather than an obscure quotation of a prediction we have obtained a little summary of the passage to which Matthew alludes, and we can compare the situation in Hosea 10 & 11 with the situation surrounding the time of Jesus birth. Are there similarities? Yes, plenty of similarities, and that is what Matthew is pointing out. The Jews once again are surrounded by enemies. They are in Egypt all over again but they are being called out. This then is what Matthew means by 'Fulfilment' of Hosea 10 & 11 to which he alludes by quoting Hosea 10:1.
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