Welcome to “Ehrman Errs,” a blog series devoted to using our conversational AI to refute each alleged biblical contradiction that is posed in the article on Bart Ehrman’s website: 50 Contradictions in the Bible: The Biggest, Most Shocking Differences.
Today’s alleged contradiction:
#24 – Where Did the Family Go After Jesus’ Birth?
Another notable contradiction between Matthew and Luke concerns the family’s movements after Jesus was born. In Matthew, the Holy Family doesn’t return to Nazareth immediately. Instead, they flee to Egypt to escape King Herod’s order to kill all the male infants in Bethlehem. In Luke’s Gospel, however, there is no mention of Herod’s massacre or a flight to Egypt. After Jesus is born, the family completes the required purification rites in Jerusalem (Luke 2:22-24) and then returns directly to their home in Nazareth.
How Does Ehrman Err?
Often Bart Ehrman and similar critics assume that differences in Gospel details automatically constitute contradictions. However, a closer reading of Matthew and Luke through a historical-grammatical lens shows that the two accounts are not contradictory but complementary.
Let’s look carefully at what each Gospel actually says:
1. Luke Presents N1. Luke’s account (Luke 2:22–39):
Luke focuses on Jewish ritual obligations following Jesus’ birth — the purification rites and the presentation of the child in the temple, as required by the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 12:1–8).
After this, Luke writes:
“And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.” (Luke 2:39, ESV)
Luke doesn’t say they went immediately to Nazareth—it simply records that their home was in Nazareth, and eventually, that is where they went. Luke omits the events in Egypt, but omission is not contradiction. The purpose of Luke’s narrative is to show Jesus as the fulfillment of Israel’s hope and the Law; therefore, details about Herod or Egypt were not relevant to Luke’s theme.
2. Matthew’s account (Matthew 2:13–15, 19–23):
Matthew, on the other hand, highlights how Jesus’ early life fulfilled prophecy:
- The flight to Egypt fulfilled Hosea 11:1, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
- The massacre of the infants in Bethlehem recalls Pharaoh’s slaughter of Hebrew boys in Exodus 1, establishing Jesus as a new and greater Moses.
According to Matthew:
“And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod.” (Matthew 2:14–15, ESV)
After Herod’s death:
“He went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.” (Matthew 2:23, ESV)
Notice: neither Gospel specifies exact timing between these events. Matthew gives additional details that Luke—writing from different sources and for a Gentile audience—chose not to include.
3. Reconciling the accounts:
A harmonized timeline looks like this:
- Jesus is born in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1–7; Matthew 2:1).
- The shepherds visit (Luke 2:8–20).
- Jesus is presented in the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:22–38).
- Some time later, the wise men visit (Matthew 2:1–12).
- Joseph is warned in a dream and flees to Egypt (Matthew 2:13–15).
- After Herod’s death, the family returns and settles in Nazareth (Matthew 2:19–23; Luke 2:39).
There is no contradiction—only different emphases serving distinct theological purposes. As C. H. Spurgeon observed in his commentary on Matthew 2, “The Lord’s servants must wait for the Lord’s word before they make a move…Even the Son of God…must depart into Egypt like the rest of the family, and must only come out of it when he is called.” (PreceptAustin.org, Matthew 2 Commentary-C.H. Spurgeon).
The flight to Egypt and return merely fill in what Luke telescopes in his summary statement in Luke 2:39.
4. Theological significance:
As CompellingTruth.org notes, Moses and Jesus share striking parallels. Pharaoh and Herod both sought to destroy infant boys (Exodus 2; Matthew 2). Moses led Israel out of Egypt; Jesus, the true and greater Deliverer, comes out of Egypt to lead His people out of slavery to sin. This alignment shows divine orchestration rather than contradiction.
5. Scriptural harmony:
- 2 Timothy 3:16–17 – “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching…”
- Psalm 18:30 – “This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true.”
- Luke 1:3–4 – Luke carefully investigated “everything from the beginning” so readers “may have certainty.”