When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”
Matthew 2:14-15
The wise men had not come all this way to honor Herod, but one greater than Herod, the promised “Child” of whom the Heavens told. Following the guiding star, the wise men find the young Child in a house in Bethlehem and pay homage to Him, worshipping Him. Both they and Joseph are warned in dreams of Herod’s wicked intentions. While the wise men return to their own country by a circuitous route, Joseph obediently takes Mary and Jesus, fleeing to Egypt (Matthew 2:14-15). They flee by night to mask their absence and direction and did not return until the threat of Herod ceased upon his death. The vitally important point is that Jesus was brought up out of Egypt later on, thus fulfilling the words of the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” Matthew uses his typical formulation here, emphasizing the Speaker in the text, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.” God Himself called His Son out of Egypt. This was prophesied and fulfilled. By this fulfillment, Jesus’ identity as the Son of God is beyond doubt.
Which prophet did God use to say this about His Son? Somewhat surprisingly, there are three candidates: Moses, Balaam and Hosea. The clearest of these is Hosea. The other two prophecies are valuable as well as they explain and enrich. God spends most of His time in Hosea’s prophecies detailing the heartbreaking betrayal of Israel’s transgressions. Various metaphors are used: Israel is an harlotrous wife divorced (Hosea 1:2; 2:2) and remarried (Hosea 2:14-20); Israel is a bastard child (Hosea 1:9; 2:4) adopted again (Hosea 2:23); Israel is a used up prostitute bought off the slave block (Hosea 3:1-5). These three themes are repeated throughout Hosea’s prophecy and are mixed with other metaphors favoring animal and agricultural imagery. Israel is a stubborn calf (Hosea 4:16), a lost lamb (Hosea 4:16), a silly dove (Hosea 7:11), a donkey in heat (Hosea 8:9), and a heifer that loves to thresh (Hosea 10:11). These allusions to the idolatry and immorality of Israel are paired with other word pictures that emphasize Israel’s folly and faithlessness. Israel is feckless like a morning cloud and evaporating dew (Hosea 6:4), lustful like a preheated, ever-ready oven (Hosea 7:4-7), compromised like a half-baked cake (Hosea 7:8), foolish like sowing the wind, reaping the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7), disappointing like a bounty of grapes and figs gone bad (Hosea 9:10, 16; 10:1), lost like a twig on the water (Hosea 10:7). All these metaphors of animals and agriculture remind us of the debasement of idolatry. “We become what we worship.”
In the midst of all these metaphors we find another, heart wrenching picture. Hosea 11:1-4 When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. As they called them, So they went from them; They sacrificed to the Baals, And burned incense to carved images. “I taught Ephraim to walk, Taking them by their arms; But they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, With bands of love, And I was to them as those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped and fed them. Behold God’s love for His toddler Son, Israel. He carefully taught the little one to walk, steadying, training and loving. How often God as a Father healed him, fed him, gave him rest and protected him! Yet Israel (Ephraim), turned to the Baals. Ephraim’s lip-service-worship of God was as empty as his counsel (Hosea 11:6-7). Although Ephraim deserved annihilation, God will spare a remnant as He plaintively asks, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.” (Hosea 11:8) Ephraim is an “unwise son” (Hosea 13:13) whose redemptive history is brought into focus so that God’s grace and mercy may be exalted by contrast with Israel’s faithlessness.
God first calls Israel His son by Moses’ mouth in Exodus 4:22, “And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn.” Much the same was communicated to Herod when the chief priests and scribes quoted God’s favorable prophecy of Messiah. Both Pharaoh and Herod, feeling threatened, wanted to kill God’s son (Exodus 1:15-16; Matthew 2:13). Both Pharaoh and Herod’s deaths correlate with departure from Egypt (Exodus 14:1-31; Matthew 2:19-21). Both incidents precede wilderness testing by deprivation (Exodus 16:1-17:7; Matthew 4:1-2). Both incidents precede the declaration of a new covenant (Exodus 19:1-24:18; Matthew 5:1-8:1). While full of connections, this pattern of allusions is also full of significant contrasts. Jesus is God’s true and faithful Son Who passes His wilderness testing and brings not just a newer covenant (as Sinai is a follow up to Moriah), but the New Covenant. John the Baptist is the greatest of the Old Covenant. As impressive as John the Baptist is, Jesus of Nazareth is far, far greater than John and all the Old Covenant (Matthew 3:1-17; 11:1-12:42). The Sermon on the Mount repeatedly shows a similar pattern of correlation and transcendence (Matthew 5:17-20, 21-22, 27-28, 31-32, 33-34, 38-39, 43-44; 7:28-29).
Israel’s victory by God’s hand is remembered and deployed by Balaam as a warning against king Balak and his coalition of Moabites and Midianites. Numbers 24:8-9 “God brings him out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox; He shall consume the nations, his enemies; He shall break their bones And pierce them with his arrows. ‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’ “Blessed is he who blesses you, And cursed is he who curses you.” This series of praises consolidates the particularities of Israel into the person of the Messiah. Balaam’s prophecies are echoed by many other passages (Genesis 12:1-3; 49:8-10; Deuteronomy 33:16-17; 1 Samuel 2:10; Psalm 2:7-12; 92:9-11). The most significant of these, Genesis 12:1-3, demonstrates Moses’ awareness of Israel’s significance being personalized in a promised Seed (Genesis 3:15). Thus the Seed of the Woman and Abraham is the hope of mankind and enjoys God’s special favor. The Son of God is the Son of Man whose reign necessarily proves as devastating to His enemies as liberating for His people (Daniel 2:44; 7:9-14).
There is yet another significant passage in the Old Testament that identifies God’s Son. Here, too, we find God’s covenant dealings with Israel consolidated to a single man, the Son of David. 2 Samuel 7:12-16 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. “He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. “I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. “But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. “And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ” When God declares of the Son of David “I will be his Father, and he shall be my son” He indicates the vital, covenantal significance of the king. The king stands in for the kingdom. As goes the king, so goes the kingdom. How often through the stories of Israel do we find the whole nation either thriving or suffering based on the behavior and leadership of the king? As always, the covenants amplify the ruin of the first Adam while anticipating the reign of the Last Adam. Matthew is entirely correct and consistent to see in Jesus of Nazareth the fulfillment of Hosea 11:1.
