Sermon Tone Analysis

In these verses the Lord described His overtures of love and Israel’s future positive response.

The Lord promised to initiate reconciliation with His wayward wife by alluring her.

Allure refers here to tender, even seductive, speech.

Elsewhere the term describes a man’s seduction of a virgin (Ex.

22:16) and a lover’s attempt to entice a man (Samson) into divulging confidential information (Jud.

14:15; 16:5).

Wilderness is a idiom that represents

- A picture of Israel’s 40 years of wandering in the wilderness after the Exodus.

- It sometimes represents a picture when Israel experienced the Lord’s care in a special way.

The allusion to the wilderness also represents a remarkable reversal in the use of the desert motif in this chapter.

For the Lord had threatened to make Israel “like a desert” (Hosea 2:3).

According to verse 14 the desert will become the site of His romantic overtures to her.

There He will speak tenderly to her

This Hebrew idiom refers to gentle, encouraging words, such as a man speaks to his desired bride

The wilderness is therefore the place for encountering God, albeit that encounter might involve wrestling with the devil as well

There is transformation in my wilderness!

Eschatological teaching

Relating to death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul and of humankind.

God therefore mediates between humanity and the rest of creation to end the estrangement between the two (see Gen 3:17–19; Rom 8:20–21).

What Hosea has in view, therefore, is a restoration of the creation order—a paradise regained.

It is the same vision that Isaiah has in 11:6–7, and that has its fulfillment in the new heaven and new earth of the Rev 21:1.

to betroth (oneself) v. — to promise to marry someone.

The basic sequence of thought in these verses is plain enough: God will address the heavens, and the heavens in turn will send rain to the earth, which in turn will produce the fruit of the soil, which in turn will meet the need of Israel, which had been turned into a wilderness.

Thus Hosea gives us another reversal: a good harvest returns to Israel (contrast 2:9).

But we need to answer a number of questions.

Why does Hosea here use the verb “respond”?

Why is Israel called “Jezreel”?

Why does God “plant her” in the land?

“Respond” conveys two ideas.

It is first of all a positive answer to a call for help.

The people are in a desolate land and call for help, the land calls to the heavens for rain, and the heavens look to God for direction.

In short, “respond” conveys the idea that the prayers of the people will be answered.174

Second, “respond” emphasizes the power of the word of God, the same power that acted in creation (Gen 1).

In contrast to Baal, Yahweh does not go through some elaborate conflict with death in order to secure a harvest for his people, nor does he need to be rescued by his consort.

He simply speaks the word.

“Jezreel” obviously alludes to the name of Hosea’s firstborn and looks back to the beginning of the text.

It anticipates the name changes in 2:23bc and tells us that we are approaching the end of this section.

The name Jezreel had meant calamity for Israel (1:4–5), but now it implies salvation and prosperity.

Jezreel means “God sows.”

Previously Hosea had associated the name with bloodshed (1:4), but now he takes the same

Hosea had associated the name with bloodshed (1:4), but now he takes the same name and uses its meaning to teach that God will provide for his people.

What had been hidden at first is now revealed: “Jezreel” has a double meaning, and for this reason it, unlike the other two names, need not be changed.

We should notice that the agricultural items specified (“grain, the new wine and oil”) do not constitute an exhaustive list of all the crops that the land will produce.

On the other hand, two of the items (wine and oil) are associated with celebration and wealth.

The point here is that Israel will not only have food and shelter but will have an abundance of the best.

Furthermore, by describing their salvation in such cosmic terms, with heaven and earth participating in their deliverance, God in effect declares that he will move the whole universe to bring this about.

The ramifications go well beyond the concerns of a small nation on a small piece of land.

The return of the exiles is a type for a new order of eternal celebration in a new heaven and earth.