Hos 2:14-15 | KingComments | STEP | With this verse a description begins of what God will do to His people in the future. That description continues to the end of the chapter. After the judgments now follow the promises of salvation. The judgment that God must announce and also execute is not His last word to His people. The “therefore” with which the verse begins introduces the blessing, just as the “therefore” of introduces the judgment. The place God chooses to begin blessing is the wilderness. There the people, His wife, must learn that the false gods could not make her rich. In the solitude of the wilderness, alone with the LORD, she will learn where her sin has taken her. There she will feel the lack of the blessings God had given her in His land. This is God’s way with His people to do her well at last. This bringing her into the wilderness is what God does when He lets His people be deported by the Assyrians and scattered in “the wilderness of the nations” ( ). The wilderness is the place where the “youth memories” are reminisced. God can remind them there of the days of old, when Israel in her first love followed Him ( ). The word “wilderness” here in Hosea and the quotation of “Egypt” in the following verse point to a historical similarity with the time of Israel’s departure from Egypt. Just as God then commanded the people to leave Egypt, go into the wilderness, and begin the journey to the promised land, so will He do in the future. Just as in that time, the time of her first love, the people will be brought back into the “wilderness”. There God will test it, judge it and cleanse it, so that it will find the way of blessing and will regain possession of the land. Many will be judged. Only a remnant will effectively come there. This was also the case with the exodus from Egypt on the way to the promised land. The bodies of many have fallen in the wilderness. It is remarkable how this judgment of scattering is presented here, namely as a matter of divine love. God says He “will allure” her there and “speak kindly to her”, or literally “speak to her heart”. He “allures” her. He does not drag her into the wilderness. The word for “allure” contains the thought of “persuading by means of attractive benefits”. Behind the coercion of scattering, which is necessary because of her unfaithfulness, lies God’s love. God wants His people to be only for Him again. “To speak kindly” means to speak to someone in a friendly, encouraging, comforting way. The same expression is used in Isaiah 40 and Ruth 2, where it is also meant to put the other person at ease ( ; ). Just as for Israel the wilderness is a picture of scattering among the nations, for us the wilderness is a picture of the place where God tests and forms us. In our personal life, after deviating from the path with the Lord, restoration often begins because we end up in trial. We discover that life without God does not give the satisfaction we expected from it. We have disappointing experiences. Life starts to look like a wilderness. There is nothing ‘edible’ to be found, nothing that can really give a person satisfaction. But then we also discover that God has ‘allured’ us into that trial and wants to ‘speak kindly’ in it. This is how God does it, also with us, because He loves His own.

‏ Hosea 2:14-15

God Is Going to Allure His People

With this verse a description begins of what God will do to His people in the future. That description continues to the end of the chapter. After the judgments now follow the promises of salvation. The judgment that God must announce and also execute is not His last word to His people. The “therefore” with which the verse begins introduces the blessing, just as the “therefore” of Hos 2:6 ; 9 introduces the judgment.

The place God chooses to begin blessing is the wilderness. There the people, His wife, must learn that the false gods could not make her rich. In the solitude of the wilderness, alone with the LORD, she will learn where her sin has taken her. There she will feel the lack of the blessings God had given her in His land. This is God’s way with His people to do her well at last.

This bringing her into the wilderness is what God does when He lets His people be deported by the Assyrians and scattered in “the wilderness of the nations” (Eze 20:35-36). The wilderness is the place where the “youth memories” are reminisced. God can remind them there of the days of old, when Israel in her first love followed Him (Jer 2:2). The word “wilderness” here in Hosea and the quotation of “Egypt” in the following verse point to a historical similarity with the time of Israel’s departure from Egypt. Just as God then commanded the people to leave Egypt, go into the wilderness, and begin the journey to the promised land, so will He do in the future.

Just as in that time, the time of her first love, the people will be brought back into the “wilderness”. There God will test it, judge it and cleanse it, so that it will find the way of blessing and will regain possession of the land. Many will be judged. Only a remnant will effectively come there. This was also the case with the exodus from Egypt on the way to the promised land. The bodies of many have fallen in the wilderness.

It is remarkable how this judgment of scattering is presented here, namely as a matter of divine love. God says He “will allure” her there and “speak kindly to her”, or literally “speak to her heart”. He “allures” her. He does not drag her into the wilderness. The word for “allure” contains the thought of “persuading by means of attractive benefits”.

Behind the coercion of scattering, which is necessary because of her unfaithfulness, lies God’s love. God wants His people to be only for Him again. “To speak kindly” means to speak to someone in a friendly, encouraging, comforting way. The same expression is used in Isaiah 40 and Ruth 2, where it is also meant to put the other person at ease (Isa 40:2; Rth 2:13).

Just as for Israel the wilderness is a picture of scattering among the nations, for us the wilderness is a picture of the place where God tests and forms us. In our personal life, after deviating from the path with the Lord, restoration often begins because we end up in trial.

We discover that life without God does not give the satisfaction we expected from it. We have disappointing experiences. Life starts to look like a wilderness. There is nothing ‘edible’ to be found, nothing that can really give a person satisfaction. But then we also discover that God has ‘allured’ us into that trial and wants to ‘speak kindly’ in it. This is how God does it, also with us, because He loves His own.

A Door of Hope

The return from the wilderness in the land is depicted with beautiful words by Solomon in the book of Song of Songs: “Who is this coming up from the wilderness Leaning on her beloved?” (Song 8:5). Here we see Israel, no longer leaning on her own strength, but on her Beloved. He spoke to her heart and promised her blessings. That is why she is coming out of the wilderness.

The comfort that the LORD has for His people is not only expressed in words. In His grace He will also give her access to His blessings. They are blessings which He has first given her and then taken away from her. Now that she has learned that all blessings come only from God, she may accept them again from God’s hand. In His grace He even calls the vineyards “her vineyards”. Here the vineyards represent the blessings of the land of Canaan.

“The valley of Achor” is a reminder of God’s judgment on sin (Jos 7:1 ; 24-26). When Israel has executed this judgment on the sin that happened among them by God’s command, the door that gives access to the blessing can be opened again. Thus, a “sorrow” – that is what Achor means – becomes a door of hope (cf. Isa 65:10).

It is also true for us personally. The valley where we confess and condemn our sin becomes a place of hope. A valley speaks of humiliation. Humiliation, judging our sins, is the starting point of re-experiencing fellowship with God. In Golgotha we see this place of judgment at its deepest level, but where the door of hope is also opened wide.

If Israel is allowed to possess the blessings of the land again in the future, she will “sing”, as she did at the Red Sea after her redemption from the bondage of Egypt (Exo 15:1 ; 21a). This is the song “in the days of her youth”.

With the blessings she will enjoy again in the future, she will experience the joy of her first rescue and redemption again. Grace gives a new beginning to her history, which is accompanied by unshakeable blessings. The freshness of this renewed youth, which will dawn for the whole people, will then no more be lost.