When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. God is remembering the early relationship with Israel as a parent remembers a beloved child. There's tenderness in the memory. God brought them out of bondage as a parent would rescue a child from danger.
But the passage goes on to describe how Israel has turned away from that love. They've forgotten their rescuer. They've pursued other gods. And God's heart is torn. The desire to punish them conflicts with the unwillingness to let them go. It's the love that every parent knows: the pain of watching your child reject you.
What gets me is how personal God's love is in this passage. It's not distant or impersonal. It's the love of a parent who carried a child, taught them to walk, healed their wounds. And it's wounded by rejection. It suggests that God is emotionally present to us, invested in our wellbeing, personally grieved when we turn away. That's a level of intimacy that changes how I understand relationship with God.
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