Hosea 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. I WILL BETROTH THEE UNTO ME FOREVER; YEA, I WILL BETROTH THEE UNTO ME IN RIGHTEOUSNESS ... I WILL EVEN BETROTH THEE UNTO ME IN FAITHFULNESS. "Betroth" is thrice repeated, implying the intense love of God to His people, and perhaps also the three Persons of the Triune God severally engaging to make good the betrothal. The marriage-covenant will be as it were renewed from the beginning on a different footing; not for a time only, as before, through the apostasy of the people, but "forever," through the grace of God writing the law on their hearts by the spirit of Messiah (). IN RIGHTEOUSNESS ... JUDGMENT. The Hebrew for "in" may be translated "with" [bª-] "righteousness," which...

The Prophet here again makes known the manner in which God would receive into favor his people. As though the people had not violated the marriage vow, God promises to be to them like a bridegroom, who marries a virgin, young and pure. We have before spoken of the people’s defection; but as God had repudiated them, it was no common favor for the people to be received again by God, and received with pardon. When a woman returns to her husband, it is a great thing in the husband to forgive her, and not to upbraid her with her former base conduct: but God goes farther than this; for he espouses to himself a people infamous through many disgraceful acts; and having abolished their sins, he contracts, as it were, a new marriage, and joins them again to himself. Hence he says, _I will espouse thee to me. _We now perceive the import of the word, espouse: for God thereby means, that he would not...

14-23 After these judgments the Lord would deal with Israel more gently. By the promise of rest in Christ we are invited to take his yoke upon us; and the work of conversion may be forwarded by comforts as well as by convictions. But usually the Lord drives us to despair of earthly joy, and help from ourselves, that, being shut from every other door, we may knock at Mercy's gate. From that time Israel would be more truly attached to the Lord; no longer calling him Baali, or "My lord and master," alluding to authority, rather than love, but Ishi, an address of affection. This may foretell the restoration from the Babylonish captivity; and also be applied to the conversion of the Jews to Christ, in the days of the apostles, and the future general conversion of that nation; and believers are enabled to expect infinitely more tenderness and kindness from their holy God, than a beloved wife...

Verse 19. _I WILL BETROTH THEE UNTO ME_] The people are always considered under the emblem of a _wife_ unfaithful to her husband. _IN RIGHTEOUSNESS_] According to law, reason, and equity. _IN JUDGMENT_] According to what is fit and becoming. _IN LOVINGKINDNESS_] Having the utmost affection and love for thee. _IN MERCIES._] Forgiving and blotting out all past miscarriages. Or there may be an allusion here to the dowry given by the husband to his wife: "I will give righteousness," c., as a dowry....

AND I WILL BETROTH HER UNTO ME FOREVER - God does not say here, “I will forgive her;” “I will restore her;” “I will receive her back again;” “I will again shew her love and tenderness.” Much as these would have been, He says here much more. He so blots out, forgets, abolishes all memory of the past, that He speaks only of the future, of the new betrothal, as if it were the first espousal of a virgin. Hereafter God would make her wholly His, and become wholly her’s, by an union nearer and closer than the closest bond of parent and child, that, whereby they are “no more twain, but one flesh;” and through this oneness, formed by His own indwelling in her, giving her Himself, and taking her into Himself, and so bestowing on her a title to all which is His. And this, forever. The betrothal and union of grace in this life passeth over into the union of glory, of which it is said, “Blessed are...

EXPOSITION HOSEA 2:2 PLEAD WITH YOUR MOTHER, PLEAD: FOR SHE IS NOT THY WIFE, NEITHER AM I HER HUSBAND. In this second chapter the same cycle of events recurs as in the first, with this difference, that what is expressed by symbol in the one is simply narrated in the other. The cycle is the common one of sin: its usual consequences of suffering and sorrow; then succor and sympathy in case of repentance. The persons addressed in the verse before us are those individuals in Israel who had still retained their integrity, and who, notwithstanding surrounding defection and abounding ungodliness, had continued steadfast in their loyalty and love to the Lord. They might be few in number, widely scattered, perhaps unknown to each other, and of comparatively little note; yet they are here called on to raise their voice in solemn warning and earnest prote

AND I WILL BETROTH THEE UNTO ME FOR EVER,.... Which is taking them into a marriage relation with himself; and is to be understood not of the whole body of God's elect, who were secretly betrothed to in the everlasting covenant from eternity; for is respects what is yet to come; but of the people the Jews, when converted in the latter day, when will be the marriage of the Lamb with them, and with the fullness of the Gentiles then brought in; of which see Revelation 19:7, who will then return to their first husband; and though the Jews have been divorced, they will be received again, and be afresh betrothed; a new covenant or contract will be made with them, and which shall last for ever, Jeremiah 31:31 and this may be applied to every particular soul at conversion, which is the day of their open esp

In this chapter God compares Israel to a woman who had been unfaithful to her husband in the very worst and most wicked manner. Hosea 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._ She attributed to false gods the gifts which God had given to her. This was great ingratitude to God, and a high insult to his holy majesty. Hosea 2:6. _Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths._ That is what God does to sinners whom he means to save. He will not let them take their own course. He gives them thorny trials which hedge up their way. He puts an obs

CHAPTER 2 Appeal and Punishment for Unfaithfulness The Resumed Relationship _ 1. The appeal and complaint (Hosea 2:1) _ 2. The punishment for Unfaithfulness (Hosea 2:6) 3. The resumed relationship and its great blessing (Hosea 2:14) Hosea 2:1. Who is addressed in the first verse of this chapter? Some think the children of the prophet are meant. The godly in Israel, those who obtained mercy, are addressed, for the Lord acknowledges such still as “Ammi”-my people. The godly are to plead with the rest of Israel their mother, but who is disowned by Jehovah as the wife, on account of her adulterous conduct. Then the Lord th

HOSEA 2:2 (Hebrews 2:4). In this discourse, which seems to be based upon and imply the narrative in Hosea 1, 3, the prophet sets forth the unfaithfulness of the people and land of Israel to her Divine husband, Yahweh. Israel had played the harlot in going after other lovers (the local Baalim) for gifts (the fertility of land, flocks, etc.); the consequent punishment will end in her return to her first husband. The section sub-divides at Hosea 2:13; the first part (Hosea 2:2) predicts severe punishment, and the second (Hosea 2:14) contains a promise of restoration followin