by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
There are different kinds of prophecies. Some are direct and some are indirect. Some are in the form of typology, and therefore, when Jesus fulfills them, it is not always obvious how it is a shadow, and then Jesus fills in the form. I want to observe some things about how Matthew sees Jesus as “fulfilling” Hosea 11:1, even though it does not appear to be a direct prophecy about Jesus. So, Matthew 2:15 is where Matthew speaks of Jesus fulfilling the statement of Hosea 11:1: “Out of Egypt I have called My Son<\/em>.”<\/p>\n Critics tend to view things superficially and claim that Matthew is misusing Hosea 11:1, when the context is directly about Israel and God’s deliverance from Egypt. The critic argues that New Testament writers attempted to “retrofit” Jesus onto Old Testament scriptures in dishonest ways. I want to challenge that argument. I am convinced that some critics do not wish to acknowledge the various ways Jesus fulfills both direct and indirect prophecies.<\/p>\n God called Israel out of Egypt because inside Israel was a greater Son destined to bless “all families of the earth<\/em>” (Genesis 12:1-3; 22:18). If Israel fails, the “seed” inside Israel still has to succeed because God’s promise must succeed. So, there was Israel, and there was the coming “seed” of Judah embedded in that national son. One son fails in doing the will of God, but God won’t totally eliminate Israel because there is a successful Son that also comes out of Egypt.<\/p>\n Israel is the son that “sacrificed to the Baals<\/em>” (Hosea 11:2). They were a disappointment to God because, despite all the good things He did for them, they refused to repent and were bent on backsliding (Hosea 11:3-7). This is obviously not directly about Jesus. He did not need to repent and was never inclined to backslide from God.<\/p>\n How could God totally give them up when the blessing of the world was still embedded in them? He could not do to them as he had done to Admah and Zeboiim. God’s heart churned with sympathy for the world. If He totally destroyed all of Israel, how could the promised Messiah come and give a chance of salvation to those not so hardened in sin?<\/p>\n Even though the main part of Israel, Ephraim, encompassed God with lies and deceit, coming to the temple with hearts far from God, there was still hope in Judah, the tribe designated to bring us the Messiah (Hosea 11:12). So, Jesus is prophetically embedded in Judah. Judah was part of the Israel that God called out of Egypt. Why call the nation of Israel out of Egypt when you know they are going to fail to serve You? Because You know that the hope of the whole world is among the called out of Egypt, in that seed that would be called “Jesus” (savior). So, God was\u00a0also thinking of the successful\u00a0son<\/strong>, Jesus. He wasn’t thinking only of the failed son, Israel, but the embedded successful Son, Jesus.<\/p>\n “By a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt<\/em>” (Hosea 12:13). Moses, the type, brought the first son out of Egypt. But God had in mind bringing them out of Egypt in order to fulfill His promise to bring in Jesus, the real (antitype), who leads us all out of the antitype bondage, sin. Jesus could not remain in Egypt to fulfill His mission. The whole purpose of bringing out the son, Israel, was so that the Son, Jesus, could come into Mariah, Jerusalem, to be offered as the lamb of God (Genesis 22). He was called out of Egypt. He was not called to stay in Egypt to keep from dying. So, Jesus is the fulfillment of Hosea 11, the whole reason Israel was brought out of Egypt. What some meant for evil, God meant for good.<\/p>\n Because God would not fail in “blessing all families of the earth<\/em>” (Genesis 12, 22), the mission of Jesus was not to stay in Egypt for safety, but to come out of Egypt in due time to fulfill the great promises of God. Even further into the book of Hosea, God’s promise was revealed to heal the problem of backsliding Israel. Jesus was the healer of hearts and souls.\u00a0Because God promised “I will heal their backsliding<\/em>” (Hosea 14:4), Jesus had to come out of Egypt yet again. Matthew was not misusing Hosea 11:1. He was reminding us that the context was not just about immediate backsliding Israel, but about the Son who would come out of that son to heal and bless all families of the earth. God would not leave Him in Egypt this second time when the first time He was embedded in the reasons for bringing those stiff-necked people out of Egypt. It fulfills Hosea 11-14 to bring Jesus out of Egypt to be the Lamb of God who would die in Jerusalem for the sins of the whole world. Matthew knew this prophecy had to be fulfilled in Jesus, God’s Son, who was successful.<\/p>\n I hope you can see the wisdom in the use of Hosea 11:1. It was not a phony “retrofit” by Matthew, but an amazing eisegesis that brings out the whole of what is in this text. It is absolutely marvelous and amazing!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton There are different kinds of prophecies. Some are direct and some are indirect. Some are in the form of typology, and therefore, when Jesus fulfills them, it is not always obvious how it is a shadow, and then Jesus fills in the form. I want to observe some things about how…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1233,73,708,169],"class_list":["post-92185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-hosea","tag-jesus","tag-matthew","tag-prophecy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":24797,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-could-out-of-egypt-i-have-called-my-son-be-about-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":92185,"position":0},"title":"How could “out of Egypt I have called my Son” be about Jesus?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: About the \"from Egypt I called my son\" prophecy: Was God applying the same thing to Jesus and to Ephraim? Answer: \u201cWhen Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son\u201d (Hosea 11:1). Egypt was a nation given over to idolatry. Hence, when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10540,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-jesus-said-to-be-of-nazareth-if-he-was-born-in-bethlehem-and-who-was-the-serpent-in-the-garden\/","url_meta":{"origin":92185,"position":1},"title":"Why is Jesus said to be of Nazareth if he was born in Bethlehem and who was the serpent in the Garden?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 23, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! My brother-in-law asked me, \"Why was Jesus called Jesus of Nazareth if he was born in Bethlehem?\" My answer was because he was only born in Bethlehem, but he was raised in Nazareth. Was I correct? He also feels that Jesus, in the form of a snake, tempted\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":90461,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-was-jesus-first-referred-to-as-the-son-of-god-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":92185,"position":2},"title":"When was Jesus first referred to as the Son of God in the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: When was Jesus first referred to as the Son of God in the Old Testament? Answer: \"I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-matthew-fabricate-a-prophecy-to-support-his-claim-that-jesus-was-the-messiah\/","url_meta":{"origin":92185,"position":3},"title":"Did Matthew fabricate a prophecy to support his claim that Jesus was the Messiah?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have another question.\u00a0 It may seem like I am attacking Christianity with this one, but I'm not.\u00a0 I'm just very interested in studying the Bible and every now and then I come across an objection I need help answering.\u00a0 So here is the objection I found on another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2214,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-prophecy-have-an-immediate-application-or-only-a-future-fulfillment\/","url_meta":{"origin":92185,"position":4},"title":"Did prophecy have an immediate application or only a future fulfillment?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, When a prophet was making a prophecy (e.g.\u00a0Isaiah 55:1, the invitation) did it have a solution or an answer for the listeners (Israel) at that time, or did they have to look at it only as something in the future? Answer: That would depend on what the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":89530,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/skeptic-reexamining-isaiah-and-other-biblical-texts\/","url_meta":{"origin":92185,"position":5},"title":"Skeptic: Reexamining Isaiah and Other Biblical Texts","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Quote: \"Likewise, Isaiah is not a solitary author crafting messianic predictions. It is a composite work, consisting of First Isaiah (8th century BCE), Deutero-Isaiah (6th century BCE), and Trito-Isaiah (5th century BCE), each shaped by the political landscape of Assyrian and Babylonian influence. The \"Suffering Servant\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92185\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Did Matthew Misuse a Verse from Hosea?<\/h2>\n
Hosea 11 Is About Two Sons, Each Called Out of Egypt<\/h2>\n
The Failed Son<\/h2>\n
God Does Not Want to Totally Destroy<\/h2>\n
Hosea 11 Holds Out Hope in Judah<\/h2>\n
But One More Comparison Needs Recognition<\/h2>\n
Jesus Had Also to Be Called Out of Egypt<\/h2>\n