Reflections on Hosea 2

Hosea 02 (Contemporary English Version)


1. So let your brothers be called "My People" and your sisters be called "Shown Mercy."
   
2. Accuse! Accuse your mother! She is no longer my wife, and now I, the LORD, am not her husband. Beg her to give up prostitution and stop being unfaithful,
   
3. or I will strip her naked like the day she was born. I will make her barren like a desert, and she will die of thirst.
   
4. You children are the result of her unfaithfulness, and I'll show you no pity.
   
5. Your mother was unfaithful. She was disgraceful and said, "I'll run after my lovers. Everything comes from them-- my food and drink, my linen and wool, my olive oil and wine."
   
6. I, the LORD, will build a fence of thorns to block her path.
   
7. She will run after her lovers, but not catch them; she will search, but not find them. Then she will say, "I'll return to my first husband. Life was better then."
   
8. She didn't know that her grain, wine, and olive oil were gifts from me, as were the gold and silver she used in worshiping Baal.
   
9. So I'll hold back the harvest of grain and grapes. I'll take back my wool and my linen that cover her body.
   
10. Then I'll strip her naked in the sight of her lovers. No one can rescue her.
    
11. I'll stop Israel's celebrations-- no more New Moon Festivals, Sabbaths, or other feasts.
    
12. She said, "My lovers gave me vineyards and fig trees as payment for sex." Now I, the LORD, will ruin her vineyards and fig trees; they will become clumps of weeds eaten by wild animals.
    
13. I'll punish her for the days she worshiped Baal and burned incense to him. I'll punish her for the times she forgot about me and wore jewelry and rings to attract her lovers. I, the LORD, have spoken!
    
14. Israel, I, the LORD, will lure you into the desert and speak gently to you.
    
15. I will return your vineyards, and then Trouble Valley will become Hopeful Valley. You will say "Yes" to me as you did in your youth, when leaving Egypt.
    
16. I promise that from that day on, you will call me your husband instead of your master.
    
17. I will no longer even let you mention the names of those pagan gods that you called "Master."
    
18. And I will agree to let you live in peace--you will no longer be attacked by wild animals and birds or by weapons of war.
    
19. I will accept you as my wife forever, and instead of a bride price I will give you justice, fairness, love, kindness,
    
20. and faithfulness. Then you will truly know who I am.
    
21. I will command the sky to send rain on the earth,
    
22. and it will produce grain, grapes, and olives in Jezreel Valley.
    
23. I will scatter the seeds and show mercy to Lo-Ruhamah. I will say to Lo-Ammi, "You are my people," and they will answer, "You are our God."
    

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God's mercy is contrasted in this chapter of Hosea with the unfaithfulness of His people. Though Israel is in the role of the unfaithful people in this setting, they are representative of all people. We are all like this. We evaluate our goodness using our own measure of good deeds, and also our badness by our own measure of evil deeds. Usually by this means we come out looking good. We forget, though, that God does the evaluation and it is done by His measures and not ours. His measures have to do with our relationship to Him and to each other. We see it taking place in this account with Hosea and his wife.

The wife, Gomer, had not been faithful to Hosea, her husband. She had pursued other men, exchanging sexual favors for food and water, wool and flax, oil and drink. Stupidly she had overlooked that she had all this provided by her husband. And so it was with Israel. She took the provisions God gave her and offered them to the god, Baal, so he would provide her food and water, wool and flax, oil and drink. What greater offense could Israel make to the One who made her and gave her everything she needed? She ignored God as the source of all she had, took what He gave her and offered it to an idol, placing her trust in the idol to give her what she needed. As stupid and totally irrational as it is, this continues to happen, at least in principle, on an increasing scale. Only the Baal idols today are science and nature.

What was to happen to Israel? Since she didn't recognize God as the source of what she had, He was planned to take these things away from her that she looked for from Baal. She would discover the real source of what she had. In the case of Gomer, she was not able to find the other men she pursued with which to exchange sex for necessities. She would come to learn that she had it better with her husband and decide to return to him. So it was to be with Israel. She pursued Baal for what she wanted but would discover that he could not be found and could not provide what she needed. Then Israel would learn that what she had, had come from God and decide to return to Him. When she did, God would restore her vineyards and all that she once had. God does not leave us devastated. That is not His intent or goal. His goal is to restore us when we turn away from Him. Many read of these accounts and view God as angry and vengeful. With Him, avenging wrong is not what it is with us. We do it to 'get back' at those who have wronged us. He does it to restore those who have wronged Him to a relationship with Him.

In the end, God says that He will have compassion on 'No Compassion', and will call 'Not My People', 'My People', and in turn, all of these will call Him their God. In chapter one of Hosea these were the names of the children Hosea had with Gomer. This is the goal God has in mind for His people always.