Hosea 11:1

When Israel [was] a child, then I loved him,.... Or, "for Israel [was] a child" (u); a rebellious and disobedient one, therefore his king was cut off in a morning, and he has been, and will be,

When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.

HOSEA CHAPTER 11. Israel’ s ingratitude to God for his benefits, . God’ s judgment upon them, . His mercy toward them, . Ephraim’ s falsehood, and Judah’ s fidelity, . When Israel was a child; in the infancy of Israel, which is here dated equal with his being in Egypt. Then I loved him; manifested that tender and paternal affection which I did bear to him, increasing him in numbers, wealth, and honour. Called my son; adopted him to be my son, and as my son provided for him, and brought him out of servitude; I so loved him as to give Egypt for his ransom, . Out of Egypt; where they had sojourned two hundred and fifteen years, and in them suffered many outrages from the Egyptians, who were their enemies, and aimed at extirpating Israel. Now, amidst such enemies, God owned them to be his sons, his eldest son, and redeemed him out of bondage, a fruit of wonderful love never to be forgotten. This in the letter and history is exceeding plain, but there is difficulty in the application of this unto Christ, and his call out of Egypt, of which many interpreters treat at large, which may not now be so much as summarily touched. It is too little to say that the evangelist doth allude to this place, , and I think it is too much to say this place is cited by Matthew, as in the history of the thing, referring only to Christ being called out of Egypt; but if you will make Israel the first adopted son, type of Christ, the first-born, and the history of Israel’ s coming out to be a type of Christ’ s future coming out, you then give to both their proper share in these words, and the letter and history is verified in both, and the principal import of the words will refer to Christ, as principally intended in them, yet not excluding the type.

Hosea 11:1 When Israel [was] a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.Ver. 1. When Israel was a child, then I loved him] On, because Israel was a child I loved him. Young things are lovely; young children especially, for their innocence and ignoscence. Some sense it thus, Israel was a child, and had nothing of worth or lovely in him; yet I loved him freely, Deuteronomy 7:7 Hosea 10:9, called him out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, led him through the deep, as a horse in the wilderness, Isaiah 63:13, possessed him of the promised land. Out of which though I shall shortly cast him for his ingratitudes, yet there is hope of his restoration, by the Messiah my Son, whom when I have called out of Egypt, he shall gather together again the dispersed of Israel, and bring life and immortality to light by the gospel. The foundation of which restoration he here maketh to be his own free grace. He hath holpen his servant (or his child, τουπαιδας, Luke 1:53) Israel, in remembrance of his mercy. "God so loved the world, that be gave his only begotten Son," &c., John 3:16. Here then beginneth our prophet’ s first evangelical sermon, as Tarnovius observeth, who also readeth the text thus: Albeit Israel was a child, such a forlorn outcast child, as is described Ezekiel 17:1-24 Ezekiel 23:1-49, yet I loved him, and adopted him for my son; not for any defect on my part (for I had an only begotten Son, in whom I am well pleased), or for any desert on his part, for I found him in his blood, in his blood, in his blood, when I cast my skirt of love over him, and said unto him, Live, Ezekiel 16:6. Yea, and for his salvation’ s sake, I have called, that is, I have decreed to call, out of Egypt (whither he fled from Herod, and where he abode two or three years at least) my child Jesus, whose office it is to "save his people from their sins," Matthew 1:21. And although I might justly have deprived them of such a Saviour for ever, because when he came to his own, his own received him not (yea, rejected him to whom their own signs given to Herod did so aptly and evidently agree), yet out of Eygpt, to show the constancy of my love to Israel, have I called (by mine angel, as Jacob by a messenger called his wives to him into the field, Genesis 31:4) my Son Christ, Matthew 2:23, who is God’ s Son, first, by eternal generation, Proverbs 8:22-23; secondly, by personal union, Psalms 2:7. And thus God called out of Egypt, first Israel his people, and then Christ, the head of his people; in whom at length this prophecy was fulfilled.

XI. (1) Comp. Hosea 9:10 and Exodus 4:22-23. In this context there cannot be a prophecy of the Christ, for obstinate conduct and rebellion would thus be involved in the prediction. It is true that Matthew 2:15 quotes the passage in illustration of the fact that the true Son of God was also submitted in His youth to the hard schooling of a cruel exile. The calling out of Egypt of the Messiah gave a new indication of the cyclical character of Hebrew history. The passage helps us to understand what is meant by the formula, “that it might be fulfilled,” &c.

CHAPTER XI This chapter gives a very pathetic representation of God's tender and affectionate regard for Israel, by metaphors chiefly borrowed from the conduct of mothers toward their tender offspring. From this, occasion is taken to reflect on their ungrateful return to the Divine goodness, and to denounce against them the judgments of the Almighty, 1-7. But suddenly and unexpectedly the prospect changes. Beams of mercy break frown the clouds just now fraught with vengeance. God, to speak in the language of men, feels the relentings of a tender parent; his bowels yearn; his mercy triumphs; his rebellious child shall yet be pardoned. As the lion of the tribe of Judah, he will employ his power to save his people, he will call his children from the land of their captivity; and, as doves, they will fly to him, a faithful and a holy people, 8-12. NOTES ON CHAP. XI Verse 1. When Israel was a child] In the infancy of his political existence. I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.] Where he was greatly oppressed; and in this I gave the proof of my love. I preserved my people in their affliction there, and brought them safely out of it.

1. When Israel was a child] i. e., in the earliest stage of Israel’s national existence, which is here dated, not, as in Hosea 2:3, from the wanderings in the wilderness, but from the sojourn in Egypt. For the figure, see on ‘gray hairs’, Hosea 7:9. called my son out of Egypt] ‘Called’ him, locally, into the land of Canaan, and morally, to set an example of true religion. Comp. Exodus 4:22, ‘Israel is my son, my firstborn; and I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me.’ The words are quoted in St Matthew (Hosea 2:15), who renders from the Hebrew, in connexion with the sojourn of the child Jesus in Egypt. Like the portraiture of the Servant of Jehovah in the second part of Isaiah, the description of Israel as Jehovah’s Son was held to be at least in part applicable to the one perfect Israelite. The national ideal never realized in the nation was realized in the Christ. The divine purpose so often baffled in the one was completed in the other.

When Israel was a child, then I loved him - God loved Israel, as He Himself formed it, ere it corrupted itself.

1. A child — The childhood of Israel is the earliest stage of its national existence, here identified with the stay in Egypt (compare Hosea 2:3; Hosea 9:10). I loved him — Or, I began to love him (compare Hosea 9:15).