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| Photo by Jim Tracy |
1 Say ye to your brothers, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
Ammi means “My People.”
Ruhamah means “Mercy.”
God is talking to Israel.
(The Bible was not divided into chapters until the late 13th century, nearly 2000 years after this scripture was written. Many believe these first five verses should be with chapter one instead of two.)
2 Plead with your mother! Plead, because she is not My wife, neither am I her husband. Let her then put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts.
This is speaking to Gomer and to the nation Israel. Israel was prospering in every way you could think about at this time. The people took this to mean they were pleasing God, but they weren’t. Prosperity is not necessarily a sign of God’s pleasure. In this case, God is fixing to judge them.
America has this problem today. She thinks that because she is the richest nation the planet has ever seen she is OK spiritually. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Throughout history many very poor people were pleasing to God. He just had plans for them that required them to be less affluent than others. Others have needed riches in order to accomplish God’s will in their lives. Riches are not a measure of spiritual status in any way.
3 Lest I strip her naked just like the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.
Living in a prosperous land, who would listen to Hosea?
How many times have you seen marital problems in a couple and the man in the family gives his wife everything he possibly can? Why would he do that? Because he loves her and is trying to win her love back. This may be why God allowed Israel to prosper here.
Hosea prophesies that God will make Israel a dry land and will withhold His Word; physical and spiritual famine.
4 And I will not have mercy on her children, because they are the children of prostitution.
5 For their mother has been a prostitute. She that conceived them has 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.”
Gomer is saying “I am going to go out there after my boyfriends so I can get all kinds of goodies.” She thought she would be better off with them than with her husband.
Israel was worshiping Baal. They thought they were prospering because Baal was blessing them. They were fixing to find out differently.
America thinks her wealth comes from her superior laws, strength, and resources. The truth is, we are rich because God blessed us due to our Founding Father’s faith in Him. Being mostly very devout men, they based our laws and society on God’s Word, so He blessed them. As we move away from that foundation, we risk losing God’s favor.
6 This is why I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and build a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
7 And she will follow after her lovers, but she will not catch up to them, and she will seek them, but will not find them. Then will she say, “I will go back to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.”
Israel will try to bring prosperity back by pursuing false gods even harder. It won’t work. Then she will turn back to God.
8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they gave to Baal.
God is saying that Israel didn’t realize it was Him that was supplying all the good things, but they will realize it eventually.
9 And so I will return, and take away My corn in the harvest time, and My wine in the wine season, and will take back My wool and My flax I gave to cover her nakedness.
He is going to take away all the things He has given Israel to try to woo her to Him.
10 And now I will display her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall deliver her from My hand.
Punishment time.
11 I will also cause all her partying to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her Sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
The Mosaic Law commanded Israel to keep three different feasts every year (and Israel added a couple more later), to hold a feast at the time of the New Moon each month (the time in the moon’s 28 day cycle when it rises with the sun and has no part lit up, as opposed to the Full Moon when it rises when the sun sets and is entirely lit up), and to take a day off work every Saturday. God is going to end all this. In other words, their entire culture will end.
12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she has said, “These are my rewards that my lovers have given me. I will make them a forest, and the wild animals will eat them.
God is telling Israel He is going to flatten her. This happened when the Assyrian army invaded the land.
13 And I will punish her for the times she worshiped the Baalim, when she burned incense to them, and she wore earrings and jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot Me, says the I AM.
14 But I will win her back. I'll bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortingly to her.
15 And I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope, and she will sing there, just like when she was young, like when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
God promises that after He punishes Israel He will bring her back and bless her again and she will be happy like when she was freed from the Egyptian captivity.
After Assyria captured Israel, Babylon destroyed Assyria, then captured Judah. After seventy years, Cyrus the Great captured Babylon and gave the order for the Jews from both Israel and Judah to return to their land. People from both countries united in a revived nation of Judah and, after a time of trouble and rebuilding, were prosperous.
16 And then it will happen, says the I AM, that thou will call Me "My Husband," and not "My Master."
God wants an intimate relationship with Israel, not the relationship of slave/Master. After The Cross, all believers became “Spiritual Israelites.” The relationship with God did change from Master/servant to Husband/wife.
17 For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
He will not only remove the sins of worshiping false gods, but He will remove the very names from their language.
18 And at that time I will make a covenant with the wild animals, and with the birds of the sky, and with the that crawl on the ground. I will break the bow and the sword and the war will be removed from the country, and I will make My people to lie down safely.
God promises peace and happiness after Israel returns from Assyria and Babylon- with the animals of Palestine.
19 And I will betroth thee to Me forever. Yes, I will betroth thee to Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies.
20 I will even betroth thee to Me in faithfulness, and thou will know the I AM.
God is promising a new relationship; one where Israel serves God from the heart and not from slavery. Israel will love God like a new bride loves her hubby.
Many, if not most, of the common folk in Israel accepted Christ during and shortly after His time of walking the earth. Israel accepted her God with a whole heart.
21 And it will happen then that I will call, says the I AM, I will call to the sky, and the sky will call to the earth [with rain],
22 And the earth will call to the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they call to Jezreel.
23 And I will plant her for Me in the land, and I will have mercy on her that had not had mercy. I will say to them which were not My people, "Thou are My people." And they will say, "Thou are my God."
This is hinting at the inclusion of the gentiles in Israel. At the time of Christ, those who accepted Him became the true Israel. At first these were all Jews, but in time the doors were opened to the gentiles and a great flood of people came to be grafted into the Olive Tree called Israel. These are the ones to whom God says “Thou art My People.” And who reply “Thou art my God.”