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When He arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: (35:9) And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. (mat 2:13-15) (35:10) see Commentary (35:11) Once again, in this prophecy, we see that in the same sentence, the word of God as revealed through Hosea, goes from speaking symbolically: referring to Israel as a child, to using literal language: referring to His Son coming out of Egypt. However, the words of the Old Testament, give no clue to the reader that would have helped him know which parts to take symbolically, and which literally (35:12) This clearly shows that prophetic language follows no rules of past, present, or future tense. The word of God, while seemingly referring to the past, can be referring to a future time. What clearer demonstration could there be of the difficulty in understanding prophetic language before fulfillment? These words would, no doubt, have been overlooked by someone looking forward to the future Christ (35:13) After their fulfillment, however, these words of Hosea stand out above his other words as a jewel that God had set in the scriptures, awaiting the time for their beauty to be revealed. With the coming of Christ, the hidden meaning of these words were revealed. From the actual fulfillment of this prophecy, we get a picture of the omnipotent, benevolent Father watching over His Son. We can see from these words that at no time was Christ in danger, for His Father had known, even from the beginning of time, that there would be those who would seek to take His life, and He had made a plan for His protection (35:14) In these simple words of Hosea, great meaning is contained. But who could have known?
(35:15)
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