The Exodus is a dramatic story. It involves an oppressive empire, a small group of people standing up against that power, some dramatic miracles and eventually freedom. The story of the Exodus is the story of a people, a hero, a villain, and ultimate purpose. It is the kind of story that Star Wars and Lord of the Rings pattern themselves after. The Exodus story itself is told within a pattern that stretches to our earliest storytelling forms (the hero's journey). The drama and power of the Exodus story is why the 10 Commandments are played every year on TV, and why we care if the film gets the story right.
When Matthew 2 quotes Hosea 11, I believe Matthew is trying to show us that Jesus fits squarely into a dramatic story of Exodus, temptation, wilderness and inheritance. Allow me to draw out those comparisons once more.
Israel's Exodus:
Context of suffering (slavery and mass murder)
Mighty miracles (plagues)
Pass through the waters (Red Sea)
Encounter with God (Mt. Sinai)
Enter wilderness (temptation)
Failure to succeed against temptation
Get to edge of inheritance (Jordan River)
Exodus Generation (including Moses) not allowed to enter the inheritance
Jesus' Exodus
Context of suffering (Roman occupation and mass murder- King Herod)
Mighty miracles (Star, Angels, Virgin Birth, etc.)
Pass through the waters (Baptism)
Encounter with God (at the Baptism)
Enter wilderness (temptation)
Success against temptation
Gets to edge of the inheritance (Gethsemane and the cross)
Passes through the waters (a symbol for death- Romans 6:4) again
Enters the inheritance and becomes heir of all things (Hebrews 1)
While there are several parallels between the Exodus of Jesus and the life of the Church, I will not necessarily draw them here. I don't because, realistically, we do not have our own Exodus. We are united to Christ. In passing through the waters of baptism, we are united with Christ in faith because of Jesus and His work. When we pass through temptation and fail, we are not disbarred from the inheritance of Christ, because we are in Christ. While the comparisons of the two Exodus' may look nifty and may seem academic, this is the foundation of grace.
"There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." - Romans 8:1
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