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Read Hosea 2

“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’

Israel Punished and Restored

“Rebuke your mother, rebuke her,
    for she is not my wife,
    and I am not her husband.
Let her remove the adulterous look from her face
    and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.
Otherwise I will strip her naked
    and make her as bare as on the day she was born;
I will make her like a desert,
    turn her into a parched land,
    and slay her with thirst.
I will not show my love to her children,
    because they are the children of adultery.
Their mother has been unfaithful
    and has conceived them in disgrace.
She said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
    who give me my food and my water,
    my wool and my linen, my olive oil and my drink.’
Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes;
    I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
She will chase after her lovers but not catch them;
    she will look for them but not find them.
Then she will say,
    ‘I will go back to my husband as at first,
    for then I was better off than now.’
She has not acknowledged that I was the one
    who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil,
who lavished on her the silver and gold—
    which they used for Baal.

“Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens,
    and my new wine when it is ready.
I will take back my wool and my linen,
    intended to cover her naked body.
10 So now I will expose her lewdness
    before the eyes of her lovers;
    no one will take her out of my hands.
11 I will stop all her celebrations:
    her yearly festivals, her New Moons,
    her Sabbath days—all her appointed festivals.
12 I will ruin her vines and her fig trees,
    which she said were her pay from her lovers;
I will make them a thicket,
    and wild animals will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the days
    she burned incense to the Baals;
she decked herself with rings and jewelry,
    and went after her lovers,
    but me she forgot,”
declares the Lord.

14 “Therefore I am now going to allure her;
    I will lead her into the wilderness
    and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
    and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
    as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

16 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
    “you will call me ‘my husband’;
    you will no longer call me ‘my master.’
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
    no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
    with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
    and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
    I will abolish from the land,
    so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
    I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,
    in love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness,
    and you will acknowledge the Lord.

21 “In that day I will respond,”
    declares the Lord
“I will respond to the skies,
    and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
    the new wine and the olive oil,
    and they will respond to Jezreel.
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
    I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
    and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

Go Deeper

Like the relationship between Hosea and Gomer, God compares Israel to an unfaithful wife. Hosea is wronged and wounded by Gomer’s pursuit of other lovers. The Israelites left behind their covenant relationship with God and turned toward idols. They took the gifts God had given them and used them to worship Baal. The start of this chapter describes the judgment an unfaithful wife receives because of the pain and brokenness she caused.

Without warning, the tone of the chapter changes. In verse 14, the Lord begins to explain the purpose behind the punishment Israel is receiving. Through reminding Israel of what He has done for them, He is drawing His people back to Himself. Because of God’s love, His covenant with them remains despite their unfaithfulness. 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us that love is patient, it keeps no record of wrongs, and it always perseveres. In God’s love, He demonstrates this patience and perseverance by having mercy on His people. This is not because they had already turned back to God. They did not beg Him for forgiveness. They did not acknowledge the covenant they had broken or express a desire to change their ways. This chapter gives us a picture of God’s faithfulness to Israel, and reminds us that He loves us in the same way.

God’s judgment and discipline always leads to restoration. He loves His people in a way that invites them back into a relationship with Him. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Although Israel turned away from God and did not recognize His provision for them (v. 8) and used the very gifts they received from God to worship an idol, God continued to restore them to Himself. In the same way, God sees us in our idolatry and our choice to continually turn away from Him and loves us anyway. Verse 19 says, “I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.” Knowing we are sinners, God still holds us close. May we respond to His faithfulness by directing our worship to the only One who is truly worthy.

Questions

  1.  What gifts from God are you prone to turning into idols?
  2.  Where have you seen God’s faithfulness to bring you or someone you know back into a relationship with Him?
  3.  How can you spend time today redirecting your focus and your worship back to God? Maybe that is by spending time in silence to meditate on God’s Word, through prayer, or through spending time worshiping through song.

Dig Deeper

This article from GotQuestions.org helps shed some light on Israel’s constant return to worshiping the idol Baal. Just like Gomer was drawn into adultery by her own self-serving desires, Israel is pulled away from God again and again.

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8 thoughts on “Hosea 2”

  1. Father,
    Forgive us for breaking your law and your heart. When our hearts become hardened to sin, our relationship with you is broken. You have given to us immeasurably, yet too often we fail to see or acknowledge you as the giver of all things. We have taken credit when all along it was only by your rich mercy and grace that we have received blessing after blessing. Deliver us from idolatry, each and every thing that captures our affections and lures us away from you. Bind us to You, the only One who is perfectly righteous, just, loving, compassionate and faithful. Restore us! Thank you for graciously accepting us, forgiving us and drawing us back when we acknowledge and turn away from our sin. You have removed our sins as far as the east is from the west and placed your banner of love over us. Unworthy as we are, we humbly thank You!

    1. But God is so rich in mercy!! But God loves us so very much!!! But God wants our relationship with Him to be continual!!! But God made a way when there was no way!!! But God shows us favor over and over!!! Oh how I praise Him But God oh how I LOVE YOU!!!!

  2. In verse 19-20, God says, “I will take you to be my wife forever. I will take you to be my wife in righteousness, justice, love, and compassion. I will take you to be my wife in faithfulness, and you will know the Lord.” Each of these descriptors shows me a piece of myself that I cannot fulfill on my own. Apart from God, I am not righteous; I cannot exercise true justice; my love is tainted; I often have little compassion; and I have not been faithful to Him. Yet, God says that in our unity with Him, He will provide each of these things! In this, I’m reminded of Romans 5:8. “God demonstrates His love for us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Before you or I could even ask the Lord to take us as His bride, He chose to save us according to His love for us.

  3. I love how verse 7 indicates a foreshadowing of the parable of the prodigal son. We have so much life in the Father that we take for granted. It’s always a joy to me when I see glimpses of Jesus throughout the Old Testament.

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