Did Matthew Misinterpret Hosea 11:1?

Did Matthew Misinterpret Hosea 11:1?

a) Hosea 11:1 says: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.”

b) Critics argue that Matthew misuses this verse in his Gospel (Matthew 2:15). Matthew claims that Jesus’ family’s flight to Egypt and later return fulfilled Hosea 11:1. But the Hosea passage is not written as a prophecy. It is a historical reference to the Exodus—God bringing Israel, His “son,” out of slavery in Egypt. By lifting only the phrase “Out of Egypt I called my son” and applying it to Jesus, some say Matthew is forcing the text to mean something it never meant.

c) However, Matthew was not misinterpreting but rather re-reading Israel’s history through the lens of Jesus’ life. His Gospel consistently portrays Jesus as the one who embodies Israel’s story and brings it to its fulfillment. Just as Israel went down into Egypt and was later called out, so Jesus retraced this pattern in His own life. For Matthew, this was not coincidence but divine design: Jesus is God’s true Son who fulfills in Himself what Israel, God’s “son,” could not.

d) Thus, Matthew was not hiding Hosea’s meaning but drawing a theological connection. He saw Jesus’ journey as the climax of Israel’s story—a story that pointed forward to the Messiah.