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Scripture Reading: Hosea 11; Hosea 12; Hosea 13; Hosea 14
The first main emphasis of the book of Hosea is the metaphor of Hosea’s marriage with the harlot Gomer. Their three children were also metaphors. The son Jezreel symbolized that God would avenge the bloodshed of Jezreel (2 Kings 10:1-11) upon the house of Jehu and would bring an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel (2 Kings 15:10-12). The daughter Lo-ruhamah symbolized that God would no longer have compassion on the house of Israel. The son Lo-ammi symbolized that Israel was not God’s people. God used Hosea’s marriage to Gomer and his family to demonstrate how Israel as a wife to Jehovah had become unfaithful to her Husband.
The second emphasis in the book of Hosea is the evils of Israel as the unchaste wife of Jehovah. Once a wife becomes unchaste, all kinds of evils follow. Once we forsake God, we too can do any kind of evil. As the unchaste wife of Jehovah, Israel was stubborn in her unchastity. This stubbornness is described in detail in chapters eleven through fourteen. These chapters also reveal Jehovah’s unchanging love, and this is what we will consider in this message.
Hosea 11:1 says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, / And out of Egypt I called My son.” Israel is depicted as the wife of Jehovah throughout the book of Hosea. But when God’s everlasting love is touched, Israel is called God’s son (Exo. 4:22-23), indicating that Israel has the Father’s life. Only real sons, not adopted sons, have their father’s life. Hosea 11:1 also indicates that Christ joined Israel to be the Son of God and that He was called out of Egypt by God (Matt. 2:13-15).
God’s everlasting love is not a love in affection, like the love of a husband toward a wife, but a love in life, like the love of a father toward a son. Love toward a wife is love in affection, but love toward a son is love in life. On the one hand, God loves us as His wife, and the Lord Jesus is our Husband. On the other hand, God is our Father, and we are sons of the Father.
Hosea 11:2a says that Jehovah called Israel by His prophets.
Verse 3 goes on to say that Jehovah taught Ephraim (Israel) to walk, taking them in His arms and healing them.
Verse 4a says, “I drew them with cords of a man, / With bands of love.” The phrase “with cords of a man, with bands of love” indicates that God loves us with His divine love, not on the level of His divinity but on the level of His humanity. God’s love in teaching Ephraim to walk and in taking Ephraim in His arms shows us that God’s love is divine but on a human level. If He loved us on the divine level, we could not touch His love. His divine love reaches us on a human level. He has come down to the human level in order to reach us. This is what it means to say that He drew Israel with the cords of a man, with bands of love.
The remainder of verse 4 says, “I was to them like those / Who lift off the yoke on their jaws; / And I gently caused them to eat.” This yoke was Pharaoh’s yoke, and this eating was the eating of the manna in the wilderness. Pharaoh had put a strong yoke on Israel, but God took off that yoke and gently caused them to eat by bringing them into the wilderness, where God fed them with manna in a gentle way morning by morning (Exo. 16:14-18).
Hosea 11:8 and 9 reveal that Jehovah could not give Ephraim up. “How shall I give you up, O Ephraim? / How shall I deliver you up, O Israel? / How can I make you like Admah? / How can I treat you like Zeboim? / My heart is turned within Me; / All My compassions have warmed. / I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; / I will not return to destroy Ephraim; / For I am God and not man, / The Holy One in the midst of you, / And I will not come in wrath.” Admah and Zeboim were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 14:8; Deut. 29:23). Ephraim had become so evil, even more evil than Sodom and Gomorrah. However, because of His everlasting love, God would not destroy Ephraim.
According to Hosea 11:10 and 11, the children of Israel will walk after Jehovah. He will roar like a lion, and the children of Israel will come trembling from the west like a bird from Egypt and like a dove from the land of Assyria. Jehovah will cause them to dwell in their houses.
At Bethel Jacob found Jehovah, and there Jehovah spoke with the children of Israel, even Jehovah, the God of hosts. Jehovah is his memorial. The children of Israel should return there to their God, keep lovingkindness and justice, and wait on their God continually (12:4b-6).
Since the land of Egypt Jehovah has been the God of the children of Israel. He will again cause them to dwell in tents as in the days of the appointed feast. He has also spoken unto the prophets. He has multiplied vision, and through the prophets He has used similitudes (vv. 9-10).
Israel was to know that there was no god except Jehovah, for there is no savior besides Him. He knew Israel in the wilderness, in the land of great drought. According to their pasturage (given by Jehovah) they became full (13:4-6a).
Jehovah will ransom them from the power of Sheol; He will redeem them from death (v. 14a). Hence, the next part of the verse says, “Where are your plagues, O death? / Where is your destruction, O Sheol?” Repentance will be hidden from His eyes (v. 14c). God’s love for Israel is everlasting, and He will never repent of this love.
Israel had fallen by their iniquity, and Jehovah through His prophet called them to return to Him their God (14:1). They should take words with them, return to Jehovah, and say to Him, “Forgive all iniquity, / And take us graciously; / Thus we will render our lips as bullocks. / Assyria will not save us; / We will not ride upon horses. / Neither will we say again to the work of our hands, Our God! / Because in You the orphan finds compassion” (vv. 2-3). With their lips they would offer sacrifices and offerings to God.
In verses 4 through 8 we have a picture of Israel in the restoration (Matt. 19:28), as revealed in Hosea 2:15-23; 3:5; 6:1-3; 10:12. Jehovah will heal their apostasy; He will love them freely, for His anger will have turned away from them. He will be like the dew to Israel. Israel will bud like the lily (signifying a pure life trusting in God) and will send forth his roots like the trees of Lebanon (signifying standing steadily in the uplifted humanity). His shoots will go forth (signifying flourishing and spreading); his splendor will be like that of the olive tree (signifying glory in faithfulness); and his fragrance will be like that of the trees of Lebanon (signifying the sweet odor of a life in the uplifted humanity). Those who sit under his shade (signifying being overshadowed by the sufficient grace enjoyed by them — 2 Cor. 12:9) will return. They will revive like grain (signifying being full of life for producing the satisfying food) and will bud like the vine (signifying blossoming for producing the cheering drink). Israel’s renown will be like the wine of Lebanon (signifying a good name spreading like tasteful wine).
I hope that this will be the situation with all the local churches in the Lord’s recovery. Then instead of being an unturned cake or a silly dove or a deceitful bow, we will be like lilies, trees of Lebanon, olive trees, and budding vines.
Israel’s transformation as described in Hosea 14:4-7 is based on the factor of love in life. Love in affection does not transform, but love in life transforms people. A husband who loves his wife in affection may spoil her, but a father who loves his son in life never spoils his son. As a son grows, he is transformed. Our relationship with God is of the divine, eternal life of God. This life enlivens us, regenerates us, sanctifies us positionally and dispositionally, renews us, transforms us, conforms us, matures us, and glorifies us, making us the same as God in life, nature, appearance, and glory.
At the beginning of Hosea, Israel was a harlot, but at the end of this book, Israel has become a son. Eventually, Ephraim declares that he has no more idols. “Ephraim says, What have I yet to do with idols?” (v. 8a). God answers by saying, “(I respond and look on him.) / I am like a green fir tree; / From Me your fruit is found” (v. 8b). Jehovah’s being like a green fir tree (symbolizing God’s being living and evergreen) and Ephraim’s bearing fruit from Him indicates Ephraim’s oneness with Jehovah. It also indicates that a wonderful transformation has taken place, based on the factor of love in life. Today God is the evergreen tree, and we, the believers in Christ, are the branches of the tree, bearing fruit out of Him. This is more than an organic union; it is the oneness of two in one life, in one nature, and in one living. The outcome of this book is transformation in life by God’s love. This is the revelation in chapter fourteen of Hosea, and we all need to see it.
Verse 9 says that the prophet’s word is wise, showing us that the ways of Jehovah are right. The righteous will walk in them, but the transgressors will stumble in them.
