Hosea 2

 

Hosea 2

In this chapter God speaks of Israel as his wife, a wife who has committed adultery. The chapter is very neatly tied together. There is the main declaration in 1-5; followed by three therefore (6-8, 9-13, 14-24); the last therefore includes three in that day (16, 18, 21).

2:1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
2:2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
2:3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
2:4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
2:5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.

This is the main declaration of the chapter: Israel has been an unfaithful wife, she has committed whoredoms and adulteries. This is obviously spiritual adultery, the real sin being idolatry. What led to Israel’s forsaking the LORD for idols? The belief that the old gods of the land were the ones who blessed the people with bread and water, wool and flax, oil and drink. It was a land of milk and honey before Israel moved in and they believed the lie that the gods of the Canaanites, the Baalim or Baals, were the reason.

2:6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
2:7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
2:8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.

Therefore – she does not know that I gave her the corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, so I will frustrate her and she will not find her lovers.

2:9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
2:10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
2:11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
2:12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
2:13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot me, saith the LORD.

Therefore – because she went after her lovers and forgot me, I will take away my corn and wine and wool and flax, and cause her mirth to cease.

2:14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
2:15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

Therefore – I will allure her, I will woo her, I will win her heart again. The chapter changes here. This is God's grace!

2:16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
2:17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

At that day / in that day – this is a key phrase in the prophets; a promise is made (I will allure her), and when I do that this is what will happen. Pay close attention to in that day, find the original statement, then follow the in that day statements. Here it is, When I allure her, she will call me ‘My husband’ and not, 'My lord.' Intimacy. I will remove the names of Baalim. "Thou shalt call me Ishi - That is, my man, or my husband; a title of love and affection; and not Baali, my master, a title exciting fear and apprehension." (Adam Clarke)

2:18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
2:19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
2:20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, judgment, lovingkindness, mercy, faithfulness, and thou shalt know the LORD. Such grace!!

2:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
2:22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
2:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

This is beautiful! I like the way the Septuagint has v 23, “And I will sow her to me on the earth; and will have mercy on No Mercy, and will say to Not My People, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Lord, you are my God.”

O the love, mercy, and grace of God! It is this grace he extends to us. When we were lost in sin and rebellion, God sent Christ to die for us. When Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to search for us. When we believed in Christ our sins were forgiven and we were reconciled to God. If, after we were born again, we fell back into sin, when we returned to the Lord he forgave and restored us. Truly, “Grace that is greater than all our sin.”

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,
calling for you and for me;
see, on the portals he's waiting and watching,
watching for you and for me.

Come home, come home;
you who are weary come home;
earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling,
calling, O sinner, come home!
(Will L. Thompson , 1880)