Flight to Egypt (Hos 11:1; cf. Matt 2:14-15

The prophecy of the childhood of Jesus Christ found in Hos. 11:1 is disputable. The writer of the gospel of Matthew has taken this truth to be applied absolutely to Jesus Himself. Matthew indeed knew Jesus to be the Messiah. “He saw the parallels between Israel and Jesus. Both are spoken of as a son of God, a chosen servant, and a light to the Gentiles. Both are given roles of prophet, priest, and king." Nevertheless Matthew, in quoting the writings of prophet Hosea, understood the differences between Israel and Jesus. So when Matthew wrote his gospel, he believed that Jesus Christ was a fulfillment of Hos. 11:1. “Jesus is therefore the ideal “Israel,” who experienced in principle some of Israel’s experiences in coming out of Egypt, being tested in the wilderness, and then showing the power of God to a watching world.”

The context of the book of Hosea indicates that God was speaking to the nation of Israel. The phrase “when Israel was a child, then I loved him” shows that Jehovah is talking about the childhood period of Israel when the young nation was growing up in Egypt. Matthew reads Hos. 11:1 in exactly that sense and changes nothing. He says that this statement of the prophet found its fulfillment when the child Jesus dwelt in Egypt. Matthew saw that what was written in Hos.11:1 was fulfilled in the early life of Jesus. As Lenski puts it, "[It] was more than a mere coincident resemblance between the childhood of Israel as Jehovah’s son or chosen nation and the childhood of Jesus, the divine Son, both spending their early days in Egypt and thus being called back from Egypt into the Holy Land. Mere accidental coincidences amount to little. Matthew sees far more here. Mere escape from Herod was not nearly all that God had in mind for Jesus. . . . What Matthew points out is an inner and divinely intended connection between the two sojourns in Egypt. God brought about the first sojourn and made that first sojourn a factual prophecy of the second, which he also brought about. The first is thus a divinely intended type of the second."

The writings of Matthew leaves no doubt that what the prophet Hosea said has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. Matthew emphasized this truth when he said, “it might be fulfilled” (Matt. 2:15). In other words, Matthew saw that Israel was a type of the Messiah because Jesus Christ is the Son of God. The cruelty of Pharaoh toward the Israelites is pictured as having an equal in king Herod who attempted to destroy the Son of God, Jesus Christ. God had protected His people in their exodus from the wrath of Pharaoh, in the same way God had protected His Only Begotten Son, on His way to Egypt and during His temporary residence there and even on His way back to His home town. This is to say that the Lord had shown to His people what His Son would do when He came into this world. The truth was given to the Old Testament believers so that they might know what God had planned for His people.