Punishment and Restoration

Introduction

The Path to Restoration

Punishment

Warning

Hosea 2:2–4 AV 1873

2 Plead with your mother, plead: For she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: Let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, And her adulteries from between her breasts; 3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, And make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, And slay her with thirst. 4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; For they be the children of whoredoms.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 2:2

The section opens with the Lord calling for a formal accusation to be brought against Israel. The covenant relationship is likened to marriage, the Lord being the husband and Israel the wife. The children addressed (cf. your mother) need not represent any specific group within Israel. They are included for rhetorical effect and add to the realism of the figurative portrayal. The word translated rebuke (rîḇ) is used here of a formal legal accusation.

Pleading Command—Israel is to fight the urge to sin, but instead they turn from God to idols.

Equating the sin of idolatry to physical immorality demonstrates the disgust that God has for His people in the sin of idolatry.

Penitence (repentance) Enjoined (linked)

Hosea 2:3 AV 1873

3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, And make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, And slay her with thirst.

Posterity at steak

Hosea 2:4 AV 1873

4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; For they be the children of whoredoms.

Hos. 2:4

Persistence in sin.

Hosea 2:5 AV 1873

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.

Prosperity is not a result of idols

Hosea 2:5 AV 1873

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.

Hos 2:6

Punishment Carried Out

Idols are taken away

Hosea 2:5–7 AV 1873

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. 6 Therefore behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, And make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. 7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; And she shall seek them, but shall not find them: Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; For then was it better with me than now.

Hosea 2:5

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 2:5–7

In verse 5 Israel’s unfaithfulness is vividly pictured. She resolved to pursue her lovers (the Baals; cf. vv. 13, 17; 11:2) because she believed they supplied her physical nourishment (food … water), protection (wool and … linen; cf. 2:9), and pleasure (oil and … drink). In response the Lord declared that He would soon eliminate all means of access to these lovers. Israel would find familiar paths blocked with thorns and stone walls (v. 6). Her frantic efforts to find her lovers would be thwarted (v. 7a). As a last resort, she would resolve to return to her Husband, the Lord, opening the way for restoration. The reality behind this figurative portrayal of judgment probably included drought, invasion, and exile (cf. vv. 9, 11–12; Lev. 26:18–22).

Persistence in Sin.

Hosea 2:5 AV 1873

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.

Prosperity is not a result of idols

Hosea 2:5 AV 1873

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.

Difficulty in the way

Hosea 2:6 AV 1873

6 Therefore behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, And make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

Defeat of her designs

Hosea 2:7 AV 1873

7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; And she shall seek them, but shall not find them: Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; For then was it better with me than now.

hos. 2:7

Determination arrived

Hosea 2:7 AV 1873

7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; And she shall seek them, but shall not find them: Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; For then was it better with me than now.

Hos

Sad Mistake of Israel

Hosea 2:8 AV 1873

8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, And multiplied her silver and gold, Which they prepared for Baal.

Severe chastisement was the consequence

Hosea 2:9 AV 1873

9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, And my wine in the season thereof, And will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

Hos 2:9

Blessings are removed

Hosea 2:8–13 AV 1873

8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, And multiplied her silver and gold, Which they prepared for Baal. 9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, And my wine in the season thereof, And will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness. 10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And none shall deliver her out of mine hand, 11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. 12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, Whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: And I will make them a forest, And the beasts of the field shall eat them. 13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burnt incense to them, And she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, And she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.

Hosea 2:

Sad Mistake of Israel

Hos. 2:

Hosea 2:8 AV 1873

8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, And multiplied her silver and gold, Which they prepared for Baal.

Severe chastisement was the consequence

Hosea 2:9 AV 1873

9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, And my wine in the season thereof, And will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.

Shame aggravates the chastened

Hosea 2:10 AV 1873

10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And none shall deliver her out of mine hand,

Sorrow follows shame

Hosea 2:11 AV 1873

11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.

Hosea 2:10 AV 1873

10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, And none shall deliver her out of mine hand,

Ruin of prospects and possessions

Hosea 2:11–12 AV 1873

11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, Her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. 12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, Whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: And I will make them a forest, And the beasts of the field shall eat them.

Hosea 2:12 AV 1873

12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, Whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: And I will make them a forest, And the beasts of the field shall eat them.

Retribution commensurate with wrong

Hosea 2:13 AV 1873

13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burnt incense to them, And she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, And she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.

Restoration

Renewed Hope

Hosea 2:14–15 AV 1873

14 Therefore behold, I will allure her, And bring her into the wilderness, And speak comfortably unto her. 15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, And the valley of Achor for a door of hope: And she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, And as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.

Renewed Covenant

Hosea 2:16–17 AV 1873

16 And it shall be at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi; And shalt call me no more Baali. 17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, And they shall no more be remembered by their name.

Hosea 2:16

Hosea 2:18 AV 1873

18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, And with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: And I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, And will make them to lie down safely.

Hosea 2:19–20 AV 1873

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. 20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: And thou shalt know the Lord.

Renewed Blessings

Hosea 2:21–23 AV 1873

21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, And they shall hear the earth; 22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; And they shall hear Jezreel. 23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; And I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; And I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; And they shall say, Thou art my God.

Restored Marriage

God’s Command

Hosea 3:1 AV 1873

1 Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.

Hosea Obeyed

Hosea 3:2–3 AV 1873

2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a homer of barley, and a half homer of barley: 3 and I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee.

Illustration Explained

Hosea 3:4–5 AV 1873

4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: 5 afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 3:4

Gomer’s lengthy period of isolation was designed to portray Israel’s exile, when the nation would be separated from its illicit institutions and practices (cf. 2:6–7). The absence of king and prince implied loss of national sovereignty. The elimination of sacrifice and sacred stones meant the cessation of formal religious activity. Sacrifices, having been commanded by the Lord, were a legitimate aspect of worship when offered with an attitude of total devotion to God. However, in Israel sacrifices had become contaminated by their association with Baal worship (cf. 4:19) and by the people’s failure to obey “the more important matters of the Law” (Matt. 23:23; cf. Hosea 6:6; 8:11–13). “Sacred stones” (maṣṣēḇâh) had been a legitimate part of patriarchal worship (cf. Gen. 28:18, 22; 31:13). However, because of those stones’ association with pagan religion, Israel was forbidden to use them after entering Canaan (Lev. 26:1; Deut. 16:22). In direct violation of this covenant stipulation Israel had erected such stones as part of its Baal worship (2 Kings 3:2; 10:26–27; 17:10; Hosea 10:1; Micah 5:13).