Hosea 11:1  “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son”

Exodus 2:23-25 documents what happened to the Jews after the Pharoah who had appointed Jospeh as his second-in-command died. The new Pharoah, Ramses II, was exactly opposite the previous Pharoah.

Ramses II made the Jews slaves to Egypt. And it was then that the Jews cried out in deep anguish. God heard their cries and went into action. Why? Because of His COVENANT with their forefathers:

“Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So, God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.”

Then, God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ speak to Moses in the third chapter of Exodus – known as the “Burning Bush” passage – where in Exodus 3:7-10 the Father tells Moses He will not only deliver the Jews out of Egypt but bring them into the Land He promised to Abram’s descendants (Genesis 12:1):

“The Lord said: ‘I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So, I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey (the “Promised Land”), to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Later, in Exodus 4:22, God tells Moses exactly how to describe to Pharoah Ramses II the nation of Israel that he made his slaves. Moses is to tell Pharoah that Israel is “His firstborn son”:

“Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So, I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.”

First, notice “son” is in lower case. Second, notice Israel is God’s “firstborn”, where in Jewish culture the firstborn son gets a double portion of the inheritance and is the principal heir and successor of the family.

This is significant in 2 ways:

1. In Exodus 12, when God gives Moses the details of the Passover, He explains that in order to bypass the 7^th plague – death of the family’s firstborn – they must hide within their homes with their doorframe covered in the blood of the Passover Lamb. None of the Egyptians placed the blood of the Passover lamb on their doors, so their firstborn died. But any Jewish household who trusted and obeyed God’s commands for the Passover had their firstborn saved from death.

• Later, in the prophet Hosea’s book named after him, he opens chapter 11 in describing Israel as God’s “son” (lower case) who was called out of Egypt: “When Israel was a child, I loved him,

and out of Egypt I called My son” (Hosea 11:1). This is also described in Numbers 24:8-9, where Balaam blesses Israel rather than cursing them (as King Balak of Moab wanted him to do):

“God brings him out of Egypt … “Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you.”

In the New Testament, Joseph and Mary flee to Egypt with the baby Jesus to escape King Herod’s plan to find and kill Jesus. When Herod dies, they are called out of Egypt and back to Israel. The incredible part of this event is Matthew claims Jesus’s return to Israel from Egypt is the fulfillment Hosea 11:1:

“An angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream: ‘Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt; stay there until I bring you word; Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.’ He took the young Child and His mother and departed for Egypt, and was there until Herod’s death, to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through Hosea, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” (Matthew 2:13-15).

Matthew CAPITALIZES “Son” because God is talking specifically about Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son who is the second Person of the Trinity.

But, “son” is not capitalized in either Hosea nor Numbers because these verses speak directly to Israel.

Here, we are seeing again – as we discovered with the “True Vine” and the “Root of the Olive Tree” – that Jesus Christ (not the Church) is the True Israel.

“The Evidence of Faith’s Substance”_Article #640