Hosea 11:1

1. Israel . . . called my son out of Egypt—BENGEL translates, "From the time that he (Israel) was in Egypt, I called him My son," which the parallelism proves. So Hosea 12:9; Hosea 13:4 use "from . . . Egypt," for "from the time that thou didst sojourn in Egypt." Hosea 13:4- : also shows that Israel was called by God, "My son," from the time of his Egyptian sojourn (Hosea 13:4- :). God is always said to have led or brought forth, not to have "called," Israel from Egypt. Hosea 13:4- :, therefore, in quoting this prophecy (typically and primarily referring to Israel, antitypically and fully to Messiah), applies it to Jesus' sojourn in Egypt, not His return from it. Even from His infancy, partly spent in Egypt, God called Him His son. God included Messiah, and Israel for Messiah's sake, in one common love, and therefore in one common prophecy. Messiah's people and Himself are one, as the Head and the body. Hosea 13:4- : calls Him "Israel." The same general reason, danger of extinction, caused the infant Jesus, and Israel in its national infancy (compare Genesis 42:1-43; Genesis 45:18; Genesis 46:3; Genesis 46:4; Ezekiel 16:4-6; Jeremiah 31:20) to sojourn in Egypt. So He, and His spiritual Israel, are already called "God's sons" while yet in the Egypt of the world.