Hosea Chapters 2-3

First Oracle of Hope (2:14-23)

Here Hosea (God speaking) changes drastically, as he switches from the condemnation of the previous
passage. (2:2-13). Here God surprises Israel – and us – with his promised restoration. Israel has
abandoned the covenant, and God’s response is rightfully to proclaim His separation. However, his desire
is not to destroy His people, but to redeem and restore them, and so he speaks an oracle of grace and
mercy – which will then be exemplified by Hosea’s reconciliation with Gomer.
vv. 14-15: God begins with “Therefore …” (Heb. Kane), the same word that introduced his judgements in
2:6 and 2:9, a Hebrew word that carries the implication of rightly or to set upright – a just conclusion to
what has preceded it. We expect Him to continue with judgment and with condemnation, following His
crescendo of the sins of Israel ending with “… but Me – she forgot.” Instead God begins a matching
litany of promise, which is tied to the judgment oracle by a major theme – divine agency. God will act as
he pleases, and what pleases him is to “allure” Israel, to entice her to return to Him. There are strong
echoes of the Exodus here, of God’s freeing of His people from bondage. God will lead Israel in to the
wilderness, just as he led them from Egypt, and he will (in effect) give her a new Conquest, a new
Promised Land, by the renewal of her land. (THE Land!) Even the Valley of Achor (valley of trouble)
will be made a gateway of hope, removing the sin of Achan. Israel will respond “as in the day she came
up out of Egypt”. Egypt has two meanings for Hosea; one as the reminder of the Exodus, of God’s mighty
hand and outstretched arm. The second meaning is the inverse of the Exodus, the threat that if Israel
abandons her Redeemer and covenant, that God will send them back into bondage in the new Egypt:
Assyria. (There is possibly a third meaning, where Egypt stands for temporal power; balanced with
Assyria, they are two tempting allies for the nation, two ways for the people to gain power without God.
Hosea will speak scathingly of this in ch. 7: “Ephraim is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless—
now calling to Egypt, now turning to Assyria.”)
vv.16-17: God makes it clear what it will take for Israel to receive these blessings: Baal worship must be
destroyed. (Cato the Elder). “In that day” (yom hahu) ties the blessings back to the curses pronounced in
ch.1. This idea – that God would set things to right in his time – grows through all the prophets, who
develop their own shorthand for it: Yom YHWH, the Day of the Lord. (Isaiah 2:11-12, 13:6-9, 61:1-3,
[Luke 4:17-21], 63:1-6, Amos 5:18-20, etc., etc. It is mentioned also in Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel
and the rest of the Twelve.) “Says the Lord” – this is God’s message, not Hosea’s. One of the gifts will be
renewed intimacy of covenant. “On that day … you will call me ‘my husband’ and not ‘my master’
(baal). To make it clear that God is retaking his rightful place by displacing Baal, he “will remove the
names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked.” Instead of forgetting God, Israel
will no longer remember Baal.
v.18: Here God promises (yom hahu) to remove two threats, the threat of destruction by wild
animals/wilderness (cf. v.12) and the threat of war. (cf. 1:4-5,7). War and destruction of crops go hand in
hand. (Four horsemen). Assyrian warfare was built on this, with the muster coming at the end of the
harvest so that the army could take for provision that which their enemies had stored. The language of
covenant here indicates that God will renew his covenant with Israel, that his promises are solemn (Gen
9:9) and reminds Israel of God’s faithfulness throughout history.
vv.19-20 This passage is set off by its change of address from third-person to second person. God speaks
directly to Israel, as a husband to a wife (again, echoing in Hosea’s life) and promises himself to her.
“Betroth” is the formal engagement (almost marriage) in Hebrew culture. It would include discussion and
agreement between parents or their representatives and payment of the bride-price. While time might pass
before consummation, the bride was considered to belong to her husband forever. The phrase is used
three times here, a ritualistic emphasis that tells us it is intense. Israel will know the LORD. The five
nouns that are used show what qualities God brings to guarantee his betrothal.(In effect, his bride-price.)
Righteousness and justice are the first pair; God is straightforward in his dealings with Israel, he fulfills
his promises and he will preserve her. He is not wayward in his concern, nor is he arbitrary. He is fair and
he will provide redress for all grievances.
Steadfast love and mercy form the second pair. Steadfast love carries all the ideas of covenant behavior
with it, of the love of a husband for a wife, of a parent for a child, of God for his people who are called by
his name. God’s love is protective and fierce, it is not weak and fickle. Despite his people’s behavior,
despite the justice of his condemnation of them, God still loves them and wants to redeem them with his
mercy. The Hebrew word is related both to the name given to Hosea’s poor daughter and the word for
womb; it carries ideas of motherliness, of tenderness. In the OT, this value is attributed to God more often
than it is to people.
Faithfulness is the final thing God brings to the table. He is faithful (Timothy 2:13). He is dependable,
and his promises can be relied on. (Ps. 33:4-5)
“…and you shall know the LORD” is the climax of this passage. Israel’s response will be to know God,
(cf. vv.8, 13). Again, ‘know’ is not ‘to have knowledge of’ (James 2:19), but to have intimacy with, the
intimacy that is produced by loyalty and obedience to the covenant. The response God demands from
Israel is the same as what he offers: righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy and faithfulness.
All of these qualities (except ‘mercy’) frequently appear together in the Psalms; they are the qualities that
Israel praised in God.
vv.21-23 contain two great promises for Israel: the restoration of the land (through God’s - not Baal’ –
power), and the restoration of the people. Hosea’s children, and by extension the children of Israel, will
be symbolically renamed. Unloved becomes Loved and Not-My-People will be My-People again. (cf.
ch1:9; I AM will be I AM for them again.) The promise to restore fertility (The domain of Baal) is given
as answers; “I will answer,” declares YHWH…”I will answer the skies, and they will answer the earth,
and the earth will answer the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will answer Jezreel.” First,
Israel must answer God (v.14), and then he will answer her. All of creation responds to God and moves at
his commands, as we saw in v.18, and Israel must likewise respond. God, not Baal, moves. Jezreel is a
pun on its meaning (God sows) and on its sound (Yizre’el/Yisra’el). God will sow Israel in the land. Not-
loved’s name is reversed without comment, but God’s declaration of his people requires the people’s
response. Her declaration – “You are my God” closes the salvation message, just as in the day she came
up from Egypt, in the covenant formed at Sinai.