Son of God: Israel or Jesus?

When most people hear the phrase “Son of God,” they instinctively think of Jesus—and rightly so. But if we want to understand why that title matters so deeply, we have to begin earlier in the biblical story. Before the title is focused on Jesus, it is first used in a corporate, covenantal sense for Israel.

In Exodus 4:22, God tells Pharaoh, “Israel is my firstborn son.” That is a remarkable statement. God is not saying Israel is divine. He is saying Israel is chosen, loved, claimed, and called. Israel belongs to Him in a special covenant relationship.

This means that Israel’s sonship is not about nature but about identity and vocation. Israel is God’s son because God redeemed them, brought them near, and set them apart to reflect His character in the world. They were meant to trust Him as Father, obey Him as Lord, and display His holiness before the nations.

In other words, sonship in the Old Testament is not merely sentimental. It is deeply purposeful. To be God’s son means to bear the family likeness. Israel was supposed to reflect God’s justice, mercy, holiness, and trustworthiness in the sight of the world.

That helps us understand why Israel’s later failures are so grievous. Their problem was not merely that they broke laws. Their deeper problem was that the son no longer resembled the Father. Instead of trust, they grumbled. Instead of holiness, they compromised. Instead of showing the nations what God is like, they often became like the nations themselves.

This is one of the Bible’s great themes: God chose a people to live as His son in the world, but that son repeatedly failed to live up to the calling.

And yet, even here, we should not move too quickly to condemnation. Israel’s sonship was real. God truly loved them. He truly called them. He truly bound Himself to them in covenant mercy. Their failure does not erase the beauty of the calling; it shows us how weighty the calling really was.

So before we get to Jesus as Son, we must first feel the importance of Israel as son. God always intended to have a people who would live in trust, obedience, likeness, and blessing. Israel carried that calling first.

That is why the story of sonship matters. It is not a side detail in the Bible. It is one of the main threads of the whole story.

The question the rest of Scripture begins to raise is this: Who will finally be the faithful Son God intended?