The prophets. God sent the prophets to call Israel again and again, but the more the prophets called them, the farther they went away from the prophets. From the time Titus destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70 until now, God has not raised up any prophets among the Jews. According to the Lord’s word in Matt. 21:43, the kingdom of God has been taken from the Jews and has been given to the church. In the church every regenerated believer is a priest (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6), and every believer should endeavor to prophesy (1 Cor. 14:1, 31, 39; cf. Num. 11:29).

Implying Christ in His union with Israel as the Son of God, who is loved by God and was called out of Egypt by God (Matt. 2:13-15). This indicates that although Israel became exceedingly evil, Christ still became organically one with Israel through incarnation to be a real Israelite. Christ joined Himself to Israel in the matter of being a son of God.

This verse implies Christ as the Son of God. It also implies that all God’s chosen people become sons of God by virtue of their being organically united with Christ (cf. Rom. 11:17 and notes; Gal. 3:26 and note Gal. 3:26^2b). This is possible because Christ is the Son of God in two aspects: the aspect of His being the only begotten Son of God and the aspect of His being the firstborn Son of God. In eternity Christ was God’s only begotten Son (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9), possessing only divinity without humanity. As such, He was unique. However, one day Christ was incarnated to be a man, taking on human nature and joining Himself with humanity (John 1:14). After dying an all-inclusive, vicarious death on the cross, He entered into resurrection. In resurrection and through resurrection He was begotten of God in His humanity to be the firstborn Son of God, possessing both divinity and humanity (Acts 13:33 and note Acts 13:33¹; Rom. 1:3-4 and notes). Hence, in addition to His being the unique, only begotten Son of God from eternity, Christ, after His incarnation and through His resurrection, has become the Son of God in another sense, in the sense of being the firstborn Son of God (Heb. 1:5-6). Furthermore, in Christ’s resurrection all His believers were begotten of God, regenerated (1 Pet. 1:3), to be the many sons of God (Heb. 2:10), Christ’s many brothers (Rom. 8:29), to be His members for the constituting of His organic Body. All this is implied in this verse.

The last four chapters of this book concern Jehovah’s unchanging love versus Israel’s stubborn unchastity. Israel is depicted as the wife of Jehovah throughout this book (Hosea 2:7, 19). But when God’s everlasting and unchanging love is touched, Israel is called God’s son (Exo. 4:22-23), indicating that in God’s view Israel has the Father’s life (cf. Hosea 1:10 and note Hosea 1:10^3c). 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. On the one hand, God loves us as His wife, and the Lord Jesus is our Husband (John 3:29; 2 Cor. 11:2). On the other hand, God is our Father, and we are sons of the Father (Gal. 3:26; 4:6).

Although God is loving, He is also a God of purity and righteousness. He cannot tolerate any kind of uncleanness or unrighteousness. Wherever these things are found among God’s people, God comes in to chastise them. Nevertheless, when God’s people are chastised by Him, they are still loved by Him (cf. Heb. 12:6; Rev. 3:19). God’s everlasting love (Jer. 31:3) is always victorious. Eventually, in spite of our failures and mistakes, God’s love will gain the victory (cf. Rom. 8:35-39).

Admah and Zeboim were destroyed with Sodom and Gomorrah (Deut. 29:23). Israel had become even more evil than Sodom and Gomorrah. However, because of His everlasting love, God would not destroy Israel (v. 9).

This yoke was Pharaoh’s yoke in Egypt, and this eating was the eating of the manna, a type of Christ as our heavenly food (John 6:31-35), 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).

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 divinity but on the level of humanity. God’s love is divine, but it reaches us in the cords of a man, i.e., through Christ’s humanity. The cords through which God draws us include Christ’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. It is by all these steps of Christ in His humanity that God’s love in His salvation reaches us (Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:9-10). Apart from Christ, God’s everlasting love, His unchanging, subduing love, could not be prevailing in relation to us. God’s unchanging love is prevailing because it is a love in Christ, with Christ, by Christ, and for Christ.