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NASB | Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a child [a young nation], I loved him, And I called My son out of Egypt. [Matt 2:15] |
Bible Question:
How can the son in Hos 11:1, which in context is Israel, be someone else in it's fulfillment? Hos 11:1 When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son. Matt 2:15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON." |
Bible Answer: Hello Michael, You're not alone in your observation regrading Hos. 11:1. The use of the Old Testament in the New continues to be a subject of great debate and much has been written regarding it. Writing in Bibliotecha Sacra, Tracy Howard (ThM Dallas Theological Seminary)observes the following: (I'll quote in part) "One of the thornier problems is the use of Hosea 11:1 (“Out of Egypt I called My son”) in Matthew 2:15. The difficulty of this problem is evidenced by the numerous solutions offered by evangelicals, some of which have serious ramifications in both hermeneutics and theology." The Problem: "The problem of Matthew’s use of Hosea 11:1 is articulated by Ellis, who writes, “To many Christian readers, to say nothing of Jewish readers, the New Testament interpretation of the Old appears to be exceedingly arbitrary. For example, Hosea 11:1 (‘Out of Egypt I called my son’) refers to Israel’s experience of the Exodus; how can Mt. 2:15 apply it to Jesus’ sojourn in Egypt?”1 As Ellis correctly points out, Hosea 11:1–2 describes the history of the nation of Israel at the time of the Exodus as well as the succeeding events." "It is important to observe that the reference in Hosea 11:1 is to the nation Israel and her historical Exodus. No exegetical evidence exists that a concept of Messiah (either explicitly or implicitly) is in this passage. That Hosea’s focus was on the nation and not Messiah is also demonstrated from verse 2, in which he described the events after the Exodus." Various Solutions exist to attempt an explanation: 1.Predictive Prophecy "Some commentators regard Matthew 2:15 as a direct fulfillment of Hosea 11:1" 2. Sensus Plenior "William LaSor has argued that the use of Hosea 11:1 in Matthew 2:15 is an appropriate example of sensus plenior. The principle of sensus plenior, advocated primarily by Roman Catholic scholars, has been debated frequently, However, in recent years it has also been the subject of discussion by evangelicals, particularly with the renewed study of the use of the Old Testament in the New." 3.Typological: "This solution maintains that the events in the life of the nation as described in Hosea 11:1–2 “typified” the life of Messiah in Matthew 2:13–15. Exactly what this means can vary because the word “type” is used loosely. Traditionally typology has been defined by centering on the idea of prefiguration. For example Fritsch says that a type is “an institution, historical event or person, ordained by God, which effectively prefigures some truth connected with Christianity.” According to this position, the events described in Matthew 2:13–15 were prefigured in Hosea 11:1–2.34 However, the prefigurative view of typology has questionable implications." [Bibliotheca Sacra : A quarterly published by Dallas Theological Seminary. 1996. Dallas TX: Dallas Theological Seminary.] This is a brief summary of the entire article, but hopefully will be of help. It really delves into an aspect of Hermenuetics that can be very scholarly.:-) If you'd like the full article, just let me know. Speaking the Truth In Love, BradK |
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Questions and/or Subjects for Hos 11:1 | Author | ||
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Stevia | ||
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Michael Draves | ||
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EdB | ||
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BradK |