“Say you to your brothers, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.” Note how the names of the three children have been repeated, combining Hosea 1:11, with its mention of Jezreel, and this verse with the mention of Ammi and Ruhama. The positive note brought out here would serve to confirm that ‘Jezreel... [ Continue Reading ]
“Contend with your mother, contend, for she is not my wife, nor am I her husband, and let her put away her whoredoms from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts, 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 l... [ Continue Reading ]
“Yes, upon her children will I have no mercy, for they are children of whoredom; because their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them has done shamefully.” And the consequences of Israel's behaviour will be that her sons and daughters will suffer with her. They too will receive ‘no co... [ Continue Reading ]
“Because she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.' ” The picture is of Israel thirsting after false religion because they were confident that it was that which, along with cult prostitution, ensured fertility, and resulted... [ Continue Reading ]
JUDGMENT IS TO FALL ON GOD'S REJECTED PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY HAVE FOLLOWED FALSE RELIGION AND FALSE GODS, NOT REALISING WHO IT WAS WHO WAS REALLY THEIR BENEFACTOR. THEY WILL BE EXPOSED AND SHAMED, SOMETHING WHICH WILL CAUSE THEM ONCE AGAIN TO THINK OF YHWH (HOSEA 2:5). Because of His people's unfaithf... [ Continue Reading ]
“Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths.” And the consequence was to be that the way to her lovers would be blocked. Thorn hedges would block the way, forming a wall which would prevent her from finding her pat... [ Continue Reading ]
“And she will follow after her lovers, but she will not overtake them, and she will seek them, but will not find them.' So while she may still seek to follow after her lovers, she will not be able to catch up with them, and she will seek them and not find them. All access to them will have been los... [ Continue Reading ]
“Then she will say, “I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now. For she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, and the new wine, and the oil,” The result of this will be that she will be brought to her senses and will recognise how foolish she has... [ Continue Reading ]
“Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.' So because she had failed to recognise that it was YHWH Who had given her all her good things, and had given the silver and gold that re... [ Continue Reading ]
“And now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none will deliver her out of my hand.” For naked she was to become. God would uncover her lewdness (nabluth = withered state) and unfaithfulness in the sight of her chosen lovers, but they would be unable to do anything to help he... [ Continue Reading ]
“I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.” And all her celebrations, and her rituals, and her feasts would cease. The round of new moon celebrations, Sabbath celebrations and solemn assemblies would be no more. Israel woul... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, of which she has said, “These are my hire which my lovers have given me,” and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field will eat them.” The vines and fig-trees, concerning which she had boasted that their fruitfulness was given to her... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I will visit on her the days of the Baalim, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me,” says YHWH.' And Israel will have visited on her (in judgment) all the times when she had decked herself up in her splend... [ Continue Reading ]
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak reassuringly (comfortably, lovingly) to her.' The picture now changes sharply to one where YHWH seeks again to woo Israel, as he had done in the wilderness when He had delivered them from Egypt (compare Jeremiah 2:2... [ Continue Reading ]
HOPE SHINES THROUGH FROM THE FUTURE BECAUSE ONE DAY YHWH WILL ONCE AGAIN DRAW HIS PEOPLE BACK TO HIMSELF AND WILL RESTORE HER SITUATION. ISRAEL WILL DWELL SECURELY, HAVING BECOME BETROTHED TO YHWH FOR EVER, AND THE DAY OF JEZREEL (GOD SOWS) WILL COME. THEY WILL ONCE MORE BE HIS PEOPLE AND HE WILL BE... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope, and she will make answer there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.” And it would be out of that wilderness into which He had enticed her that He would giv... [ Continue Reading ]
“And it will be at that day,” says YHWH, “that you will call me Ishi, and will call me no more Baali.” And YHWH promises that ‘at that day' (the day when His promises were fulfilled) they will call Him Ishi (my husband) and will no longer call Him Baali (my lord). There is an indication here of jus... [ Continue Reading ]
“For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they will no more be mentioned by their name.” The point behind all this is that, as a consequence, the name of Baal will be eradicated from their thinking, so that his name will, as it were, be ‘taken out of their mouths'. They wi... [ Continue Reading ]
“And in that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of the heavens, and with the creeping things of the ground, and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely.” We can contrast here Leviticus... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I will betroth you to me for ever; yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.” Here we move to a new picture. Hosea could not betroth to himself his old wife. That would not have been allowed by the Law (Deuteronomy 24:1). But God can... [ Continue Reading ]
“I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you will know YHWH.” Furthermore it would be in faithfulness. They will have a new heart and a new spirit, so that they will truly know YHWH. Faithful response to One Whom they have truly and genuinely come to know in their hearts is required, and... [ Continue Reading ]
“And it will come about in that day, I will answer,” says YHWH, “I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth, and the earth will answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and they will answer Jezreel.” In that day it is God Who will act. It is He Who will commence the process. H... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I will sow her to me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy, and I will say to those who were not my people, ‘You are my people,' and they will say, ‘You are my God'.” And just as grain has been sown in the earth, so God will sow Israel in the earth. They will be... [ Continue Reading ]