WWUTT 2259 Out of Egypt, I Called My Son (Hosea 11:1-12)

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Hosea 11 .1 says, Out of Egypt I called my son. Matthew says in his gospel that this is about Jesus.

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But when you look at it in context, it's not about Jesus, it's about Israel. Something to consider when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

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Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

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Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Well, being Thursday, we're back to our

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Old Testament book, and we've been studying through Hosea. There was this prophet by that name.

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God told him to take a wife of whoredom who would betray Hosea, who would cheat on him, and go jump into the beds of other men.

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And this was supposed to be a picture of God's relationship with Israel, who had been unfaithful to the

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Lord, and they had whored themselves out with false gods. And so now punishment is going to come upon Israel.

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In what we're going to read today, we see something prophetic here that Christ will fulfill. A pretty significant passage in Hosea chapter 11.

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Now this is a little shorter chapter, just 12 verses, so I'm going to go ahead and read through the whole thing. Hear the word of the

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Lord. When Israel was a youth, I loved him. And out of Egypt I called my son.

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The more they called them, the more they went from them. They kept sacrificing to the

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Baals and burning incense to graven images. Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk.

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I took them in my arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, and I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws.

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And I bent down and fed them. They will not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria, he will be their king, because they refused to return to me.

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And the sword will whirl against their cities and will consume their gate bars and devour them because of their counsels.

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So my people are hung up on turning from me. Though they call them to the one on high, none at all exalts him.

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How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can

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I give you over to be like Adma? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within me.

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All my compassions are stirred. I will not execute my burning anger.

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I will not make Ephraim a ruin again. For I am God and not man, the

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Holy One in your midst. And I will not come in wrath. They will walk after Yahweh.

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He will roar like a lion. Indeed, he will roar, and his sons will come trembling from the west.

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They will come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria.

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And I will settle them in their houses, declares Yahweh. Ephraim surrounds me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, and Judah is also unruly against God, even against the

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Holy One who is faithful. Now, if we were to keep going here, the first verse of chapter 12 really goes along with this, but I'm going to wait until next week.

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We'll get to that passage. Ephraim feeds on wind and pursues the east wind continually.

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He abounds in falsehood and destruction. Moreover, he cuts a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.

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So that last verse of chapter 11, it still really kind of continues over into chapter 12. Whoever came up with the chapter divisions was off by a verse here.

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But then when you get to Hosea 12 too, Yahweh has a contention with Judah and will punish

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Jacob according to his ways. So that's where the shift happens there. Judah is then the focus in chapter 12 with regards to their betrayal against God.

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So they will likewise be punished, but they will be restored back to the land. God will be faithful to fulfill the promises that he made with his people and will do so through the

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Jews. So let's come back up to the start of this here. This is broken into really three parts.

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If you consider that the last verse more goes with chapter 12 than with chapter 11.

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So we start with God pining for his son in verses one through four.

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Then God mentions who will really be his father. He doesn't use that word, but that's kind of the case here.

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Because of Israel going after false gods, well, who is it that is really going to govern over them and will rule them with a strong hand?

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When I was the one that taught him to walk, somebody else is going to abuse him. They won't be a loving father, but they'll still be a father to him.

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And that's the mention of Assyria that we have in verses five through seven. But then the

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Lord pines for his son in verses eight through 11 and says, I will not destroy you, but I will be faithful to complete what

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I had said would be the promise for the children of Abraham. So let's come back up to Hosea chapter 11 here.

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We go through this first part, and this is the verse. This first verse here is a big one in Matthew chapter two, saying that what happened in the life of Jesus was a fulfillment of what is said here in Hosea 11 one.

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When Israel was a youth, I loved him. And out of Egypt, I called my son.

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Now, if I were to just read that second line out of Egypt, I called my son. And I were to ask you, where is that found?

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You might say, well, the Gospel of Matthew, because this is where God had told

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Joseph and Mary to flee to Egypt. Well, it was it was said to Joseph in a dream, take the mother and her child and go to the land of Egypt.

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And so he does, since Herod is seeking to kill the Christ child. And he's given an order that all boys in Bethlehem and the surrounding region who are two and younger are to be put to the sword.

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So Joseph and Mary get out, taking Jesus with them to Egypt. And this is going to fulfill what had been spoken by the prophet.

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This is said here in Matthew two, 14. He being Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod.

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This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Out of Egypt, I called my son.

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Now, that's a big mention right there. Of course, pointing back to Hosea 11 one.

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But when we read Hosea 11 in context, this isn't the prophet talking about a messiah who's going to come in the future that will fulfill all of these things and save his people.

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That doesn't even seem to be the nature of what we're reading about here. This is about the judgment of Israel. So how did

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Matthew get out of Hosea 11 one that this was something that even had a future fulfillment to it?

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With regards to Christ. So once again, when Israel was a youth, I loved him.

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And out of Egypt, I called my son. The more they called them, the more they went from them.

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They kept sacrificing to the bales and burning incense to graven images. Well, that's certainly not describing

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Christ. Jesus didn't go after false gods. So how could this wicked

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Israel be compared to Christ as a prophecy pointing to the messiah who was going to fulfill this?

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Well, remember, Israel is God's son. This is a child that God has brought up, has raised up.

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We've seen other references to that in Hosea 11 or in Hosea in the book altogether.

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And this is also in the other prophets referring to Israel as a son. But Israel betrayed

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God. They were not faithful to do the things that God had made a covenant with them to do.

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As long as they were faithful to the covenant, then they would receive blessings. But if they betrayed the covenant, then they would receive curses.

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And these are this is the threat of the curses here that we're reading about here in these chapters of Hosea.

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So Israel failed at every point that Israel was to obey God. They did not do it.

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They failed every time. But Jesus was faithful to his father in heaven in everything.

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He successfully, without fail, without error of any kind, sinless to perfection,

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Jesus did the will of the father. And so in this way,

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Jesus accomplishes what Israel was unable to accomplish. What Matthew does in his gospel, because the

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Hosea 11 one reference doesn't come up in the other three gospels. It's not in Mark, Luke and John.

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What Matthew is doing is doing through the first four chapters of his gospel. He is showing how

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Jesus fulfilled those things that Israel was incapable of accomplishing. They did not do.

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Failed at every point. Betrayed God, sinned, went after false gods. Jesus doesn't do that.

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Again, Hosea 11 two, they kept sacrificing to the bales, burning incense to graven images.

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They forgot their God. But Jesus was always faithful to the will of the father.

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So where Israel failed, Jesus succeeded. And essentially what Matthew is showing through the beginning of his gospel is that Jesus is faithful Israel.

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Jesus accomplishes all that Israel did not do. And more than this, even because Jesus also accomplishes what

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Adam failed to do. And this is why Paul refers to Jesus as the last

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Adam, where Adam disobeyed God. And even he transgressed the covenant. We've read that in Hosea, how

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Adam transgressed the covenant that God had made with Adam. Jesus was faithful to do what

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Adam could not accomplish. So in this way, Jesus becomes the last Adam. He also is faithful Israel.

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Jesus is described in Revelation one five as the faithful witness from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

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This is what Israel was supposed to be. They were supposed to be the faithful witness. They were supposed to be a testimony to the world of the goodness of God to his people.

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But yet they did not do that. What what did they testify to the world? That God's anger kindled against them and he would wipe them out.

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The northern ten tribes would be completely driven from their land and never return. Whereas the southern tribe of Judah would be exiled, but God would show mercy to them and allow them to return to their land, rebuild the temple even.

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And that's what that's what happens in the history of Judah. But Israel, because of their unfaithfulness, they're going to receive great punishment.

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They kept sacrificing to the bales. They were burning incense to graven images. Yet it is I who taught

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Ephraim to walk. I took them in my arms, but they did not know that I healed them.

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And it's like they're biting the hand that feeds them. As the old idiom goes, I led them with cords of a man with bonds of love.

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And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws. And I bent down and fed them.

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This is God talking about how he was the one who had freed Israel from Egypt.

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And we know that within a matter of weeks of coming out of Egypt, practically weeks.

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That Israel turned around and worshipped a false God instead of the true God. And that was the golden calf.

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They raised up a golden calf in the wilderness while Moses was up on the mountain, receiving the words of the covenant, receiving the commandments.

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And what did the people do? They didn't know what had become of Moses. They thought maybe he got incinerated up there on that mountain, because in the presence of God was down upon it.

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And the mountain was burning like smoke from a kiln. Maybe we're never going to see Moses again. So what do we do?

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And Aaron makes for them the golden calf, which they begin to worship, dance around, celebrate.

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God had freed them from the bonds of slavery. And this was their response to give all the credit and glory to the work of their hands instead of the work of God's hands.

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I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws. So this is a very burdensome kind of yoke.

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This isn't just the bar that goes across to oxen that are pulling a plow.

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This is a brutal yoke that will even go through the mouth, like it's attached to a bridle as well as being upon the neck like this.

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But God is saying, I took that yoke from their jaws. I bent down and fed them.

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And Israel did not glorify God. So we have in this next part, who is

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Israel's father really? And why did I title this section that way? Well, if you'll remember from John eight, when the people said to Jesus, we have

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Abraham as our father, Jesus said, no, the devil is your father. If you knew

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Abraham, then you would know me because Abraham knew of me. But your father is the devil and your will is to do your father's desires.

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So I mentioned here that God is going to turn Israel over to their real father, which is

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Assyria. This is a wicked pagan nation that does the work of the devil.

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And so God is going to turn them over to him. You won't have a father that loves you. You'll have a father that beats and abuses you.

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They will not return to the land of Egypt, God says. Now, there's been elsewhere that we've read Isaiah and even earlier in Hosea, where it was said that the people of Israel would be sent back to Egypt.

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But that's really more of a type. They never went back into slavery in Egypt. But there's a type that's being spoken of there because Egypt was who they were enslaved to previously.

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So often when it is said that Israel will go back into slavery, it will be as if to say they'll be sent back to Egypt.

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It's just a reference or a metaphor to being enslaved once again. But I'm not going to return them to Egypt, God says.

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Assyria, he will be their king because they refuse to return to me.

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And the sword will whirl against their cities and will consume their gate bars and devour them because of their counsels.

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So lest any Israelites think, well, maybe I can flee the hand of the Assyrians. I can hold back,

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I can hide out, and then I'll still continue to live in my land. No, they're going to bring such a sword upon this land that they're going to consume anything.

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There won't be anywhere to live in the land of Israel. So verse seven, my people are hung up on turning from me, though they call them to the one on high, none at all exalts him.

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Now, that's a curious translation because also back in verse two, where it says the more they called them, the more they went from them.

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Some other translations will say the more they were called. So there's not the two pronouns that are collective.

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It's just the one. The more they were called, the more they went away, meaning that God was calling out to them, but they would not respond to God.

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They went their own way. It could be the reason why there's the two plural pronouns.

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It could be because it's God's prophets. The more God's prophets called them, the more they went from them.

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It could be that. So when you come down to verse seven, so my people are hung up on turning from me, though they call them to the one on high, none at all exalts him.

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So who's who's they? Once again, it could be the prophets. Another translation will say, though the most high calls them.

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So once again, it's just one plural pronoun instead of two. The legacy is kind of it's curious in that translation because I've never read it that way before until I read it here in the legacy.

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But anyway, after God says that they're going to have a brutal taskmaster, is they are going to be sent back into the hands of the

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Assyrians. Now God is moved in his heart not to destroy them, but to preserve them.

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That doesn't mean that Israel is not going to be punished. They will be because the Assyrians does come against them. But there will always be a remnant.

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And so, Hosea 11, 8 through 11. How can I give you up?

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Oh, Ephraim, how can I surrender you? Oh, Israel, how can I give you over to be like Adma?

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And how can I make you like Zoboam? Well, where are these two cities at? You've heard these names before.

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This was back in the book of Genesis. These were cities of the plains. And we've heard previously about how wicked

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Israel had become and how they had become like Giba, like the town in the

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Benjamites. Where are Benjaminites? Which way would you say that? I don't know. I guess either one would apply.

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But it was like that town among the Benjaminites that became like Sodom and Gomorrah that we read about in the book of Judges.

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So they've been compared to this before. And here it is a reference to two other cities that had been destroyed along with Sodom and Gomorrah in the consumption of God's wrath upon them.

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How can I make you like Adma or like Zoboam? My heart is turned over within me.

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All my compassions are stirred. So I will not destroy them as I did those cities.

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They won't be utterly obliterated. I will not execute my burning anger.

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OK, because it's God's burning wrath that was poured out on the cities of the plains. I will not make

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Ephraim a ruin again. For I am God and not man, the holy one in your midst.

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And I will not come in wrath. So the statement where he says,

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I will not make Ephraim a ruin again, this is in reference to the fact that a punishment, a judgment is coming against them.

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But God's not going to come back over them again as though to completely wipe them out, as though to sweep it down from the base.

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He is he is going to allow there to be a remnant that will be preserved and will return.

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Verse 10, they will walk after Yahweh. He will roar like a lion. Indeed, he will roar and his sons will come trembling from the

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West. That could be a reference to God being the Lion of Judah and how God would preserve his people through Judah, since Judah was the one that was compared to being like a lion by Jacob.

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When Jacob was about to die and he blessed his sons, that was the way that he referred to Judah.

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So then in verse 11, they will come trembling like birds from Egypt and like doves from the land of Assyria.

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And I will settle them in their houses, declares Yahweh. Now, once again, all this is pointing to the

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Savior who is to come because we go back up to that verse at the very beginning out of Egypt. I called my son, and that is

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Christ, who is going to come out of the land of Egypt after Joseph and Mary and Jesus fled there.

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They are going to come out of that place. Probably the Jewish settlement in Alexandria is where they were.

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Once Herod dies, they return back to the Holy Land so that it might be fulfilled that out of Egypt, I called my son.

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Just as Israel was called out of slavery in Egypt, but they failed in the wilderness. Jesus is going to come out of Egypt and succeed in being obedient to the will of the

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Father. Friends, our slavery is our sin. And we who are in Christ Jesus have been called out of that slavery to freedom in him.

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Don't return again to that yoke of slavery. Don't go back to your sin like a dog returns to its vomit or a sow returns to wallow in the mire.

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Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. But if at any point you do stumble into sin, turn back to him again that you may be forgiven.

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Don't continue in these worldly ways that God has promised that he will judge and bring his wrath against.

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He is merciful and forgiving. He loves you and he's calling you to himself.

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Do not ignore the conviction of the Holy Spirit, lest it turned out that your heart is actually hardened and you've never actually been a believer in Christ in the first place.

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Those who know him, know his voice and follow him. Heavenly Father, thank you for this lesson as we have read here in Hosea.

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And I pray that we would not become as Israel had become. The Apostle Paul had told the

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Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 10, these things happened to be a lesson to us that we would not live as they lived and fall into the sins and the depravity that destroyed them.

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But may we walk in the righteousness that you give us in Christ Jesus and honor him with all that we say and do.

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Forgive us our sins and teach us to glorify Christ. It's in his name that we pray.

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Amen. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word, when we understand the text.