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Fra Angelico and Fra Filippo Lippi, The Adoration of the Magi

Hosea: out of Egypt I called my son

A prophet of the northern kingdom in the eighth century BC. Chapter 11 remembers God calling Israel, his son, out of Egypt, a line Matthew applies to the return of the child Jesus.

About this witness

Hosea prophesied in the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BC, in the decades before its fall to Assyria in 722 BC. His book speaks of God’s love for an unfaithful people in the language of a wounded husband and a grieving parent.

Chapter 11 opens with God remembering Israel’s beginnings: when Israel was a child he loved him, and called his son out of Egypt. He taught him to walk and drew him with bands of love, and even in judgment he cannot give him up.

In Hosea the line looks back to the exodus; it is history, not prediction. Matthew applies it to the holy family’s return from Egypt after the death of Herod the Great, reading Jesus as the Son who relives Israel’s story. This is typology, and the reader can weigh the pattern Matthew sees.

Out of Egypt

1 “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

2 They called to them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to engraved images.

3 Yet I taught Ephraim to walk. I took them by their arms, but they didn’t know that I healed them.

4 I drew them with cords of a man, with ties of love; and I was to them like those who lift up the yoke on their necks; and I bent down to him and I fed him.

Hosea 11:1–4
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The text

Chapter 11 of Hosea in the World English Bible, with verse numbers.

Chapter 11

1 “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

2 They called to them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to engraved images.

3 Yet I taught Ephraim to walk. I took them by their arms, but they didn’t know that I healed them.

4 I drew them with cords of a man, with ties of love; and I was to them like those who lift up the yoke on their necks; and I bent down to him and I fed him.

5 “They won’t return into the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian will be their king, because they refused to repent.

6 The sword will fall on their cities, and will destroy the bars of their gates, and will put an end to their plans.

7 My people are determined to turn from me. Though they call to the Most High, he certainly won’t exalt them.

8 “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.

9 I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim, for I am God, and not man—the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath.

10 They will walk after Yahweh, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children will come trembling from the west.

11 They will come trembling like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will settle them in their houses,” says Yahweh.

12 Ephraim surrounds me with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit. Judah still strays from God, and is unfaithful to the Holy One.

SourceWorld English Bible (WEB) — https://ebible.org/web/ LicencePublic domain
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