Israel is My Son, Even My Firstborn (Exodus 4:22)

2022-02-24

Did you ever wonder why the Gospel of Matthew quotes Hosea 11:1, and then you read the context of the Hosea passage, and were left scratching your head? The verses of interest are these:

When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. (Matthew 2:14-15)

When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. (Hosea 11:1-2)

The Hosea passage clearly is talking about historical Israel and their sins, but Jesus was without sin. Part of the fulfillment is this: Jesus was everything Israel was supposed to be. Israel was supposed to be the nation that led the world into the worship of the Lord, and they failed. Jesus fulfilled that aspect of Israel. (We should not be terribly hard on Israel; if we picked a different nation out of a hat to fulfill their role, that nation would fail as well.)

However, there is more to this fulfillment. Consider what God said to Moses:

And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. (Exodus 4:22-23)

To not let Israel go would result in the death of Pharaoh’s firstborn. That came to pass. The Exodus Pharaoh’s predecessor killed Israel’s children. Consider some of the similarities in Herod’s story in Matthew 2. He also slew children to kill Jesus. Also consider Matthew 2:15’s beginning: “And was there until the death of Herod.” To fight against the firstborn Son of the Lord would cost one’s life. Instead of Herod’s son, it was his own life this time.

Who is the real firstborn Son? Who is the only begotten Son? Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The one who rejects Him will face God’s wrath. “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry” (Psalm 2:12).

Matthew 2:15 is more than just Hosea 11:1. It is the bigger picture of the Exodus that is fulfilled. One often needs to look at more than the quotation for fulfilled prophecy and typology. Just like in Matthew 27:9 (Jeremiah vs. Zechariah), you need to look in more than one place to find fulfillment.