Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Jude 1:5
Did Jesus lead the people out of Egypt, and if so, isn’t this an obvious reference to Jesus’ preexistence? No.
There are two apparent problems to me in this reading as it is. First, the name “Jesus” is a name given to a baby, a human being, who is born of Mary, who is a descendent of this nation of Israel, not the prehuman Son/Logos. See Matthew 1:21. To say “Jesus” saved Israel from Egypt would be very strange to say the least. Second, even in Matthew 2:14-15, we read: “And having arisen, he took the Child and His mother by night and withdrew into Egypt, and there he remained until the death of Herod, so that it might be fulfilled what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my Son.'” This is Jesus, going into Egypt and later being taken out of Egypt, to fulfill the scripture that the Lord said, “out of Egypt I called my son.” This must be the Father speaking. And it is applied to Jesus representing Israel, not the God who led them out of Egypt. If this is fulfilled in God the Father saying this about Jesus, the son, then the original scripture must be about God the Father when he said “Out of Egypt I called my son” in Hosea 11:1. Is Israel the son of Jesus? Is Jesus the Father of Israel? How many Father’s did Israel have? Just one according to Malachi 2:10. A trinitarian wants to say Jesus and the Father are the same God, but they do not want to say they are the same Father.
This text clearly makes no sense. But there’s a very significant textual variant here. The original text either says “Jesus saved the people out of Egypt,” or, “the Lord saved the people out of Egypt.” There are some manuscripts which say “God” but based on external evidence, these do not seem like they could be original to the autographical text.
ESV: that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt
BLB: that Jesus, having saved at one time a people out of the land of Egypt
CSB: that Jesus saved a people out of Egypt
DRB: that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,
NET: that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,
LSV: that Jesus, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt
NRSV: that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt,
YLT: that the Lord, a people out of the land of Egypt
NAB: that [the] Lord who once saved a people from the land of Egypt
CEV: the Lord rescued from Egypt
HCSB: The Lord first saved a people out of Egypt
NASB: that the Lord, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt,
KJV: the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,
NIV: the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt
As we can see, modern Bible’s are split on whether it reads “Jesus” or “Lord.” It should be obvious that the Lord saved the people from Israel. Some have argued “well Jesus is Lord, so even if the text says ‘Lord,’ we know it’s still talking about Jesus.” If you want to say this, then again, you run into the same problems as above. Also, we have the issue of Acts 2:36, it is the “Jesus whom you crucified that God has made Lord.” Was Jesus the lord of Israel back when they were led from Egypt? Some have brought up the statement at the end of verse 4, “our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” If Christ is our only Lord, then “Lord” must refer to Jesus, so they say. But this verse, verse 4, is about the Christian congregation that Jude is writing to. Jesus is “their” only Lord. “Our” only Lord as Christians. Compare 1 Corinthians 8:6. This isn’t about Jesus being the only Lord of Israel when they were in Egypt. Who was the Lord of Israel back then?
Verse 9 makes a statement that is extremely strange and has been so devisive that some have questioned whether Jude is canonical/inspired or not. It says:
But Michael the archangel, when he was reasoning with the devil, disputing about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring against him a blasphemous judgment, but he said “The Lord rebuke you.”
We don’t know where this quotation comes from. Some early church fathers have suspected some Jewish literature, the Assumption of Moses or the Death of Moses or the Ascension of Moses, or they were referring to literature that has been lost. We do have a copy of the “Assumption of Moses,” but it doesnt contain this quotation. Some have argued he’s quoting from Deuteronomy or Zechariah and extrapolating. This isn’t our topic of concern today to resolve, supposing there even is a resolution. The reason I bring this passage up is because the phrase “the Lord rebuke you,” this “Lord” would refer to the Lord of Israel, who is the Father. Even though Jude says that Christ is our “only Lord,” this doesn’t stop him from quoting this text, addressing the Father as “Lord.” The Father was the Lord of Moses and Israel. This objection seems to miss the point.
In conclusion, it is weak evidence to rely on this text to prove the preexistence of Jesus, given the weight of this textual variant. We can also see that it would be strange to call the prehuman Son “Jesus” when this is his distinctly human name, and the action this text supposedly grants him, is not something he did in his human nature. We also see that it is only the Father who can say, “out of Egypt I called my son.” It is not Jesus calling his son from Egypt. This text is about what the Lord, God the Father did. There is no prehuman Jesus saving Israel for Egypt.