Mount Hermon panorama – northern Israel

We are in the 2^nd chapter of Hosea. In the previous article we covered the naming of the three children of Gomer. Recall that Gomer is symbolic of the Northern Kingdom of Israel; her offspring the people of these ten Tribes of Israel. From the reading of chapter #1, it is probable that Hosea’s first born son was of his union with Gomer. There is debate per the next two children; Lo-Ruhamah, I will show no mercy. You are guilty as accused) and Lo-Ammi (You are not (no longer) my people because you have put a distance between me (God) and you.)

Chapter 3 [next article] ends the discussion of Hosea, Gomer and the three children as a family. Some of the language in these first three chapters applies to Hosea’s family literally. Some of it applies to the nation (all 12 tribes) figuratively. Some of the language applies to both but in different settings.

It is in Hosea 3:1-5 that Hosea is told to recover for a fee his wife from the slave market. She had fallen so far away and down that she was no longer just a prostitute of desire but a slave owned by a master. After re-purchasing her, she was quarantined by Hosea. This is about a future with which Hosea was not a part of…yet. Israel fell into bondage by totally mixing with those who were heathen; i.e. simply put non-believers but perhaps very religious. This is more than symbolism. It is prophecy; prophecy that has come true in part and some that remains in the timing of God the Father. Always remember that God identifies Israel as HIS bride. Jesus identifies the Church of believers as his bride.

The first born of Hosea, Jezreel, means two things per Israel as referenced in chapter three of Hosea. The ten tribes to the north plus the Kingdom of Judah to the south will be scattered to the four corners of the earth. This has been fulfilled. The Valley of Jezreel, also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is where Jesus will begin to regather the same Tribes of Israel. But a price had to be paid. That, my friends, is the Cross of Calvary. Now the price has been paid, but recall there is a hiatus between paying the price and full reunification of all Israelis. Hosea sequestered Gomer after buying her back from the slave market, but we cover this in our next article; chapter 3. [C.f. Read Hosea 1:11]

Back to Chapter Two

Back to Chapter Two

Note in the first verse of Hosea 2 that the “Lo” has been dropped from the names of LO-Ammi and Lo-Ruhamah. We can assume from this that we are no longer seeing God look at them as “LO”; i.e. NOT to any longer be HIS children scattered to the four corners of the Earth. This is a future tense as in prophetic. But then in the next two verses we see that Israel being stripped naked and made a wilderness was not fulfilled for another 120 years. This is when the Southern Kingdom of Judah was “stripped” of her people by Nebuchadnezzar. Now, all of the lands of David and Solomon were laid bare. Its occupants scattered abroad to the hinterlands.

Hosea 2:4-6 takes us back to prophecy and the path to it. “I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths. … Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.’

This wall or barriers to Israel finding her way to or out of self-destruction will be a path bordered by thickets, briars, dangers, and wanderings. Amazingly we see this coming together almost daily and in recent history.

We have discussed possible bible codes per names in previous articles. If we read Hosea’s children’s names as one statement it would read…”Retribution, the hour of punishment has come. I will show no more mercy. You are guilty as accused; no longer my children.”

Hosea 2:9-12 spells out the lack of mercy and the retribution. Verse 13 explains the WHY…but, in verse 14 we find an incredible forgiveness. “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.” …and speak tenderly to her? This sounds more like affection than it does continued retributions. Hosea 2:14 gives us more insight.

“And there I will give her vineyards and make the *Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.”

*The Valley of Anchor takes us back to Joshua 7 and a man named Achan. Space does not permit but Achan had committed a sin for which all of Israel under Joshua was suffering. Here he paid the ultimate price as did his possessions and family. This released Israel from more retribution from God. This is why Hosea states that the Valley of Achor is a door of hope. It is where the wandering Tribes of Israel were released from additional consequences of Achan’s sin.

In Hosea 2:18, then through the end of chapter 2, we find the beginnings of rewards for being chosen by God. This passage is often quoted and pictures depict, but few today know the address of this NEW covenant mentioned in Hosea between God and Israel.

(ASV) And in that day will I make a covenant for them [Israel] 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. [Hosea 2:18]

This passage seems a bit of a stretch to parallel or juxtapose the world to this promise between Israel, God and nature itself. Hosea specifically points this covenant to Israel beginning in the Valley of Anchor.

It may be of particular value to understand this is END TIME Prophecy. V19 says in the NKJV…”I will betroth you to me FOREVER.” Forever means forever. It is the beginning of eternity; an eternal promise. The final verse in Hosea 2 is both exciting and promising.

Hosea 22:23b “Then I will say to those who were not my people, ‘You are my people!’ And they will say ‘You are my God.’” [C.f. Hosea 1:10]

Rev. Dr. Jstark
Written April 2020

PS: Gavin Finley, MD wrote the following in May of 2004. It is so pertinent to us today.

We want a revival. But we want it our way and on our terms. We forget that we serve a sovereign God. For many of us the very idea of God upsetting our carefully maintained command and control systems in the status quo is a real shock. Most of us are completely unaware of the end-time Revival and how it will happen in the trials and travails of the woman of Revelation 12. We have not been told about this before. But we must face the Holy Scriptures squarely and honestly here. We must search the scriptures and discover for ourselves what the Bible is telling us in true and faithful Berean fashion. Then we must believe what the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit is telling us.