Totally NOT a debate about the veracity of the gospels

[Mudhammam]

I see them traveling from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to Nazareth. Maybe the author of Matthew's Gospel confused Egypt with Jerusalem? Or maybe he just constructed that whole Egypt scene to give the illusion of "fulfilled prophecy" that fit the pattern of his theological narrative?

Matthew was writing to Christians who had been Jews. Luke is writing predominately to gentile Christians and specifically, to a man named Theophilus.

Matthew does not record certain aspects of Jesus' early life while Luke does. This is because they are each writing to different audiences.

The Matthew account you reference takes place approximately two years after Jesus was born.

That's right. Most people assume Matthew is writing about a newborn Jesus like Luke is but this is incorrect. The Matthew account takes place well after the account Luke gives of His circumcision and presentation in the temple. Matthew mentions nothing about Jesus' circumcision or presentation in the temple because the Jews did not need to be told this, they already knew this was the custom whereas gentile Christians would not have been familiar with these intrinsically Jewish customs and therefore Luke includes them.

Matthew records the visit of the Magi (most people think the Magi came to visit Jesus while He was lying in a manger. This is a common misconception and is not true), Luke of the shepherds and angels. Matthew records the slaughter of the children, Luke does not. Why? Matthew includes it as a fulfillment of prophecy. Luke does not mention the prophecy because it was Jewish specific and thus there is no reason to mention the slaughter of the children.

Luke contains a more detailed account of the baby Jesus because his style is more chronological and systematic while Matthew's is more geared toward recording Jesus' fulfillment of OT prophecy.

Both gospel writers however sum up their coverage by stating that Jesus and His mother and Joseph eventually returned to Nazareth.

When taking the two together, we have a clearer picture of what was going on as opposed to what we would have if only one gospel writer had recorded what was going on.

*sigh*

We're not talking about Matthew omitting details, which is suspicious enough, we're talking about him flatly contradicting Luke by specifying that the holy family purposely avoided Jerusalem after Jesus' birth.