Hosea 11:1 is memorable and significant because of its use by Matthew in the NT (2:15). There it is cited in relation to the Christ-child’s flight to Egypt to escape Herod’s violent jealousy and his subsequent return with Mary and Joseph. Matthew’s use of Hosea at this point has created a tremendous amount of discussion among biblical scholars and is frequently assigned in seminary classrooms as an exercise in exploring how the NT uses the OT. We will not enter into the debate over hermeneutics in this lesson, but I do think it is important to make three observations before offering some reflection and application on Matthew’s use of this verse.
First, both Hosea 11:1 and Matthew’s use of it in his Gospel (2:15) are the inspired word of God and, therefore, are to be accepted as authentic, authoritative, and applicable by the Church. Both writers were carried along by the Holy Spirit in their writing. Matthew did not misunderstand or misuse Hosea’s prophecy in citing it as he did. His use of the verse was just as inspired by God, just as fully the word of God, as was Hosea’s original statement of it. Second, the biblical writers saw a larger, more thematic relationship between the history of revelation and redemption and the Incarnation and atoning work of the Son than just explicit predictions and their fulfillment. What does it mean that the OT prophets foretold the coming of the Lord? There are many specific places where the prophets anticipated particular events in the life and ministry of Jesus. But the entire OT anticipates Christ and is about him (Luke 24:24-27, 44-45). All of the prophets foretold his coming (Acts 3:18, 21, 24). OT prophecy and its NT fulfillment is not simply a matter of finding a specific prediction in one place and its corresponding occurrence later in the Bible. The entire narrative of Scripture, the whole scope of human history, anticipates the need, prepares the way, and ultimately helps the elect to perceive the coming of Christ and his saving work on behalf of God’s people. Third, the biblical writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, were able to make connections we might not be able to easily recognize or immediately understand, and they were able to affirm relationships in authoritative ways where we must proceed more cautiously, even as we seek to learn from and imitate their way of seeing Christ everywhere and in everything. I have to be very careful in how I find Christ in the OT, and yet I know from the NT writers that he appears on every page. Some say we should refrain from making any connection to Christ in OT stories unless the connection is made in the NT. Others are so eager to see Christ on every page that their reading of the OT loses any meaningful relationship to the original context and becomes more like an exercise in cloud watching. Wisdom and faithful exegesis will help us find a balance between the two extremes.
What are we to make of Matthew’s citation of Hosea 11:1? Let me suggest the prophecy in Hosea is rightly and profitably read in three aspects. Note I said three aspects, not three different perspectives; these are not different views or interpretations. I am not suggesting three meanings of the passage. I am suggesting that like a gem held up to the light, we can turn the text in our hands and see that within the same passage, contained in the original context and authorial intent, are at least three ways in which the message is rightly understood and applied in relation to God’s people.
First, Hosea 11:1 should be read historically in light of Israel’s experience in the Exodus. The Lord made covenant with Abraham four hundred years earlier, but his rescue of Jacob’s family from slavery in Egypt was the day God formally came to claim the people as his adopted son. He loved Israel before the exodus, but his love was manifested by the exodus. He called Israel out of the house of bondage to be his adopted child. He led him, fed him, protected him, taught him, and gave him an inheritance which the people did not deserve. Though individual Israelites would not refer to God as their Father with the same kind of personal intimacy Jesus did and which he taught his disciples to use, the Lord truly was like a Father to the nation, and his love and care for them was a demonstration of that tender and gracious relationship.
Second, Hosea 11:1 should be read messianically in light of Christ’s experience as a child. Jesus was taken to Egypt because it was no longer safe for him to remain at home. He went there as a stranger who did not belong. Eventually the Lord brought his Son out of that land and called him back to the land of promise. Jesus is the true Son of God, only Begotten rather than adopted, the new and true Israel in whom is to be found everlasting fellowship with God and who secures the everlasting kingdom of God. Everything that Israel was supposed to be, Christ was and is. Everything Israel had opportunity to do, Christ has done. Israel could only foreshadow what the Incarnate Son of God would be and accomplish. Israel’s experience in the OT anticipated Messiah, and Jesus’ life and ministry in the NT fulfilled every aspect and expectation of Israel’s covenant with God and history.
Third, Hosea 11:1 should be read redemptively and typologically in light of the Church’s experience in union with Christ. Because we are united to Jesus, his experience also becomes ours. We see this clearly in multiple passages. Take, for example, Romans 5-8. Those who are united to Adam (covenantally) partake of his sin, guilt, and death; those united to Christ partake of his obedience, righteousness, and life (5). Jesus did not merely die for us; we died with him and rose again to newness of life (6). In Christ we have died to the Law that we were formerly bound to (7), and now we are accounted as sons of God because of our participation in the Son of God by the Spirit of God (8). So the Christ child went down to Egypt because we were captives there, held by the power of sin, subject to eternal death. He went down to Egypt to be our Redeemer, and when he came out of Egypt, we were carried to safety and freedom with him. Through faith we enter the life, experience, suffering, and righteousness of the Incarnate Son of God. We are God’s sons, by adoption, because we have been joined to God’s only Begotten Son. Unlike OT Israel, we will not return to Egypt because Jesus never will. We were not rescued independently or individually. Our exodus took place in and with Jesus Christ, so we never have to return to the house of bondage. --JME
