Hosea+11.1+and+Matthew+2.14

=toc= = = = = =Context and Introduction=

Hosea 11:1
The book of Hosea speaks of God’s covenant love with Israel. God commands Hosea to marry a prostitute and become a living illustration of Yahweh’s faithfulness to an adulterous nation. In chapter 11, God laments Israel’s apostasy. Immediately before this passage, He proclaims judgment on the cities of Israel and Judah.[1] Starting in chapter 11, God is reminds Israel of His previous faithfulness to them. Despite all of His graces to His chosen people, they continue to move away from Him and into the snares of other nations and their false gods.[2] If Israel continues in this way, God promises to “undo the exodus and send Israel to a new Egypt,”[3] namely, Egypt to live under a new Pharaoh, the Assyrian king. Hosea 11:1 uses a metaphor to describe Israel as a son of God. “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”[4] The father-son metaphor communicates the idea of great affection. Also, it allows Hosea to communicate that he is referring to the beginning of the Hebrew nation. The exodus from Egypt is in view here. In the book of Exodus, God declares to Pharaoh, “Israel is my firstborn son.”[5] Apart from this connection with Exodus, the father-son metaphor is unexpected, especially since the book of Hosea mostly focuses on the husband-wife metaphor.[6] In context, the implication of God calling Israel out of Egypt is that the action of rescuing is an evidence of God’s love for His “son.”[7] Yaweh declares His love for His people and offers, as proof, His work in the exodus. If He did not love His people, He would not have rescued them out of the tyranny.

Matthew 2:14
Matthew 2 provides a record of Jesus’ early life. He was born into Bethlehem soon found by trouble. The king Herod heard of this new “King of the Jews” and determined to exterminate the child. By divine revelation, Joseph was told to flee with Mary and the child to Egypt. It is here in the narrative that Matthew quotes the latter half of Hosea 11:1 and connects it with Jesus’ journey to Egypt. It should be noted that Matthew quotes the prophet while communicating that Jesus traveled to Egypt rather than out of Egypt. Many interpret the verse to refer to the time, that Jesus came back from Egypt, but this is not what is recorded in scripture. There are several other abnormalities one would not expect in such a passage.

Abnormalities
Several questions arise when one examines Matthew’s quotation of Hosea 11:1. First, the statement “out of Egypt I called my son” refers to a past event and there is no implication in Hosea that it is a prophecy of anything future. This would lead some to believe that Matthew has “wrenched Hos 11:1b from its context and applied it gratuitously to Jesus.”[8] Some scholars go so far as to say that Matthew misunderstood the text he quoted.[9] Second, Matthew chose to translate the passage reflective of the Hebrew text rather than that of the LXX which reads, “And out of Egypt I called his children.”[10] Garrett helpfully points out that, “Assuming he [Matthew] was aware of the LXX, his choice of the Hebrew reading over the Greek must be regarded as deliberate.”[11] Third, if Matthew’s purpose in the quotation was to show a prophecy concerning the Messiah coming out of Egypt, he could have more easily used Numbers 24:7-8[12] which states in connection with the Messiah, “God brings him out of Egypt.”[13] Such a text would more readily lend itself to an identification with the Messiah in that it is obviously prophecy, whereas the verse in Hosea is a recounting of past events speaking of Israel the nation.

=Matthew’s Intention=

The link between Hosea 11:1 and Matthew 2:14 is allusive. The questions stem from the issue of authorial intent. To understand the connection, we must understand Matthew’s intent in quoting Hosea.

Typology of Christ to Israel
Garrett informs his readers that “Many interpreters observe that the idea that Jesus fulfilled Hosea 11:1 corresponds to the typology that one finds throughout Matthew, in which Jesus recapitulates the story of Israel.”[14] One of Matthew’s themes is to point out similarities between Jesus and Israel in order to show that Jesus is essentially the perfect Israel and is, therefore, worthy to be both their king and sacrifice. For example, both Jesus and Israel wandered in the wilderness, Israel for forty years, and Jesus for forty days.[15] The implication, then, is that Matthew purposefully picked this passage to relate Christ to the nation of Israel. Jesus was rescued from the threat of Herod and was delivered to the safety of Egypt because Israel was called out of tyranny into safety by God.[16] This view supports not only the theme of parallel histories in Matthew, but the entire gospel as well. Furthermore, it would imply that Matthew did not overlook the Numbers prophecy and remove Hosea 11:1 from its original context.[17] Indeed, Matthew uses the very context of Hosea 11:1 to make his point that Jesus and Israel are parallel.[18]

Divine Sonship
The parallel histories of Israel and Christ highlight the parallel sonship of both the nation and the Man. God calls Israel His child and Jesus, too, is the Son of God. The nation is the heir of the blessings of God, therefore Jesus is the heir to His Father’s riches. The connection here is that Jesus is loved as God’s Son just as the nation of Israel was loved as God’s son. The major theme of Matthew is Christ as the Son of God.[19] His reference, then, to Hosea 11:1 is entirely fitting with his overall point.

=Hosea’s Intention=

A much more difficult question to answer is that concerning the nature of Hosea’s original intention in calling Israel’s God’s son.

Direct Reference to the Messiah?
Hosea could have intended to prophecy about another aspect of the Messiah’s life. Garret notes that is “not extremely common for God to speak of the nation as a whole as His son.”[20] This could indicate an allowance for a future reference about the Messiah. Despite unusual choice of words, there is no indication from the context that Hosea intends to communicate a picture of the Messiah. This could be a case of sensus plenior (Latin, “fuller meaning”). This is based on the concept that sometimes Old Testament authors “wrote better than they knew because the Holy Spirit led them to use vocabulary that had a significance of which the writer themselves were unaware.”[21] David Turner argues that this view is not acceptable because it credits an “inscrutable hermeneutic” to the Holy Spirit.[22] Furthermore, viewing the passage in such a light implies that the readers of Hosea would not be able nor intended to infer a reference to the Messiah from said prophecy.

Pattern of God’s Love
The history of God’s interaction with His people tends to work in patterns. Many times shadows, images, and types are presented in the Old Testament which find their complete fulfillment in the new. It could be more easily inferred, then, that Hosea’s intention is to bring “to light certain patterns that occur repeatedly in the relationship between God and his people.”[23] In the passage, we see that God has been faithful to Israel in the past by calling them out of Egypt, He will be faithful to Israel in the future by calling them out of exile, and in the same way He was faithful to Jesus by calling Him out from under Herod.[24] Just as God showed His love and fatherly position over the nation of Israel, so He demonstrated the same love and headship over Christ.[25] It is this “theological motif that was dear to Matthew: divine sonship.”[26] This was accomplished by the similar actions of rescuing Israel from Egypt and Jesus from Herod. It seems that the intention of Hosea was to simply record the message of God to His people and this message foreshadowed a future fulfillment in Christ. This noted, it is also important to remember that the shift in metaphors appears to be purposefully and not merely a coincidence.[27]

=Significance of the Link=

Together, the two passages grant deeper understanding of Israel as God’s son whom He loves and is faithful toward. Also, the connection is given that Jesus is the Son of God. These two relate to the reader that God has a great “love and loyalty to His people.”[28] The modern Christian may find comfort in this faithfulness, which God demonstrates toward His followers despite the extent of their abilities. Finally, the passages emphasize Christ’s fulfillment as the perfect Israel. He turned to God instead of running away as we see Israel do in Hosea.[29] Christ is the perfect fulfillment of Israel’s destiny and He is the object of God’s fatherly love just as Israel is. [30]

=Bibliography=

Allen, Leslie. //The books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah//. Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 1976. Crossway Bibles. //ESV study Bible : English Standard Version.// ESV text ed. Wheaton Ill.: Crossway Bibles, 2008. Garrett, Duane. //Hosea, Joel//. Nashville Tenn.: Broadman & Holman, 1997. Turner, David. //The Gospel of Matthew//. Carol Stream Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2005.

[1] Crossway Bibles., //ESV study Bible : English Standard Version.//, Hosea 10:7-15. [2] Ibid., Hosea 11:2-4. [3] Garrett, //Hosea, Joel//, 219. [4] Crossway Bibles., //ESV study Bible : English Standard Version.//, Hosea 11:1. [5] Garrett, //Hosea, Joel//, 219; Crossway Bibles., //ESV study Bible : English Standard Version.//, Exodus 4:22. [6] Garrett, //Hosea, Joel//, 220. [7] Crossway Bibles., //ESV study Bible : English Standard Version.//, Hosea 1:11. [8] Garrett, //Hosea, Joel//, 220. [9] Turner, //The Gospel of Matthew//, 90. [10] Garrett, //Hosea, Joel//, 220. [11] Ibid. [12] Ibid. [13] Crossway Bibles., //ESV study Bible : English Standard Version.//, Numbers 24:8a. [14] Garrett, //Hosea, Joel//, 221. [15] Crossway Bibles., //ESV study Bible : English Standard Version.//, Exodus 14:33, Matthew 4:1-2. [16] Turner, //The Gospel of Matthew//, 91. [17] Garrett, //Hosea, Joel//, 221. [18] Allen, //The books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah//, 401. [19] Turner, //The Gospel of Matthew//, 90. [20] Garrett, //Hosea, Joel//, 220. [21] Ibid., 221. [22] Turner, //The Gospel of Matthew//, 90. [23] Garrett, //Hosea, Joel//, 221. [24] Ibid., 222. [25] Turner, //The Gospel of Matthew//, 91. [26] Ibid., 90. [27] Garrett, //Hosea, Joel//, 222. [28] Turner, //The Gospel of Matthew//, 91. [29] Crossway Bibles., //ESV study Bible : English Standard Version.//, Hosea 11:3. [30] Turner, //The Gospel of Matthew//, 91.

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