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Hosea 2
In verse 1 a believing remnant is owned of God. Hosea is directed to “Say unto your brethren, Arnmi (“My people”) and to your sisters, Ruhamah (“Having obtained mercy”). Some had humbled themselves before God because of their sins and the sins of the nation, and to these He had respect; they were His people, while Israel as a whole was worshiping idols.
Verse 2: “Your mother” is Israel, and Jehovah was her Husband (Jeremiah 31:3232Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: (Jeremiah 31:32)), but now, because of her turning to the idols of her heathen neighbors, He cannot acknowledge a relationship to which she has been habitually untrue. (Isaiah 1:2121How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. (Isaiah 1:21); Jeremiah 2 and 3; Ezekiel 16 and 28; 2 Kings 17:7-23, 23:26-27, etc). Hosea was used to recall to Israel their departure from God, but their after-history has shown that though several prophets were raised up at this time, their testimony was unheeded by the mass of the people.
Verse 4: “Her children” are the separate kingdoms of Israel and Judah as already seen in Ezekiel 23. Forgetful of God, who had brought them out of Egypt to be to Him a people of inheritance (Deuteronomy 4:2020But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day. (Deuteronomy 4:20)), they had gone after idols. The “lovers” of verse 5 were these false gods, owned by Israel as the source of the blessing’s enjoyed. (See as an example of this 2 Chronicles 28:2323For he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel. (2 Chronicles 28:23)).
Verse 6: In mercy, God would hedge up the way with thorns, and fence guilty Israel in with a wall, so that they should not find it easy to go on in ungodliness. 2 Kings 15 and 16 give the circumstance’s which God employed to that end: attacks from the neighboring nations and conspiracy and murder within Israel. There were moments when the voice of conscience stirred the people to a measure of repentance (verse 7), but there was no permanency about it, and God had resort to famine (verse 9). (See 2 Chronicles 20:88And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, (2 Chronicles 20:8)). Worse days were however to come, for though there were godly kings (over the two tribes of Judah only) the nation knew no lasting repentance. The ten tribes were soon removed into captivity, and the two tribes ere long followed them, fulfilling the promise of verses 10-13.
Verses 14-23 await their fulfillment in the day to come, when God will bless His earthly people in such measure as they have never known heretofore. First they are to be “allured” by Him, and brought into the “wilderness”, where He will speak to their heart (see margin). This points to the time of trial and of searching. judgment through which both the Jews and the long lost ten tribes will be passed. See Ezekiel 20:10-26, 33-4910Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11And I gave them my statutes, and showed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. 12Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. 13But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out. 15Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands; 16Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. 17Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness. 18But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: 19I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; 20And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God. 21Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness. 22Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. 23I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; 24Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. 25Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; 26And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 20:10‑26)
33As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you: 34And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. 35And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. 36Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God. 37And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: 38And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 39As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols. 40For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things. 41I will accept you with your sweet savor, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. 42And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers. 43And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. 44And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God. 45Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 46Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field; 47And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein. 48And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it: it shall not be quenched. 49Then said I, Ah Lord God! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables? (Ezekiel 20:33‑49), verses 33-38 relating to the ten tribes who will be dealt with before they reach the land of their forefathers, while the two tribes will be judged within its borders.
The valley of Achor was a scene of judgment when the children of Israel first entered the promised land (Joshua 7:24-2624And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. 25And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day. (Joshua 7:24‑26)). Equally unsparing will be the judgments yet to fall upon Israel, but a remnant will be saved, so that the valley of Achor (trouble) will be a door of hope. Then shall they know Jehovah in their hearts, and no longer in an unbelieving profession. His name will be “my Husband” instead of “my Master”, —a term also used for a husband in the Old Testament.
ML 09/27/1936