| Hosea
2
God appeals to His unfaithful people |
|
|
|
| 1 ¶ Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. | This response is part of
the perfect Israel promised in verses 10 and 11 of chapter 1 ho0110.
Notice that the "Lo" has been removed from the beginning of the names.
It is the Hebrew word for "not" or "no." The nation's direction with respect
to faithfulness to God was their choice.
Ammi Means "my people." This was God's appeal. Ruhamah "my loved one" |
| .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;
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. .4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. .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. |
2 -
Plead
with your mother The people were to plead with their leaders.
Commitment is required in marriage and in a relationship to God.
3 - Strip her naked They were rejecting their true provider and their land would be left a desert. 4 - Not have mercy ... whoredoms Compare re1705a, ex2005. 5 - Mother ... my lovers The Egyptians, Assyrians and others were called on to protect Israel. The people of the true God began to worship their gods. See je0301, je2220, je3014. 5 - Give me my bread Instead of recognizing the true God as the one who provided for them as He does the birds mt0626. |
| .6
¶ Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make
a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
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. .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. |
6 -Hedge
her way. Adultery appears attractive
v5
but it leads to frustration (way hedged), and disappointment v7a.
6 - Thorns ... wall ... Not find ... paths " (Job 19:8; La 3:7,9). The hindrances which the captivity interposed between Israel and her idols. As she attributes all her temporal blessings to idols, I will reduce her to straits in which, when she in vain has sought help from false gods, she will at last seek Me as her only God and Husband, as at the first (Isa 54:5; Jer 3:14; Eze 16:8). (BBE). 8 - She did not know She had chosen ignorance in turning from the God of truth and light. |
| .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.
10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand. 11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. |
9 -
I
... take away ... in time Sheds light on the spirit or breath
that was taken back ec1207.
Here God provides for His faithful people but will withdraw the blessings
of faithfulness.
10 - Discover Litrally "uncover" or "reveal." la0422. |
| 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.
.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 forgat me, saith the LORD. |
13 - Days of Baalim ... earrings See note with 1 Peter 3. |
| .14
¶ Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak comfortably unto her.
.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. |
15 - Give her ... valley of Achor After the sins of Achan were dealt with in the Valley of Achor there was hope for the Israelites after defeat jos0724. |
| 16 And it shall be at
that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call
me no more Baali.
.17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. 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 with 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. |
16
- Call me Ishi The word means "my husband." "Baali"
is also a husband but in the sense of a master, implying fidelity by force.
18 - Covenant ... break the bow Baal worship was to control nature. God here promises to be in control. 18 - Break the bow God would be their protection. |
| 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.
20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD. 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; .22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. .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. |
19
- Betroth ... for ever The previous marriage had failed.
Israel had been unfaithful (v5) and God had disavowed
her (v2). He would
take her back. The permanence of the marriage depended on her. The promises
of this verse are excellent.
20 - Know the Lord Israel had been going through the formalities without a personal experience with the Lord. We need personal prayer and study to know Him. See mt0722,23; jn1703. 21 - Hear Literally "answer," communication with heaven. 22 - Jezreel See on ho0104. 23 - Sow her After the captivity she was to have been reestablished as being sown into the soil of the promised land. 23 - Mercy God longs for faithful people. See on 1:10. |
|
|
|
|
|