Hos 2:2-12 | KingComments | STEP | The call to contend with “your mother”, that is Israel – or: to enter into a lawsuit with her – is addressed to the God-fearing within that same Israel. It is a faithful remnant that takes God’s side against sin. The “contention” to which is called is an appropriate and humble testimony against evil, in the sense of being part of the same people being contended. The fact that this call sounds twice in succession indicates the necessity of the accusation. The time is more than ripe for it. A longer delay would give the appearance that God is indifferent to the sins of His people. When God testifies against evil, so must the faithful believers. Hosea is such a faithful believer, as are those who are called “brothers” and “sisters” in the previous verse ( ). Like Hosea, they, too, are indignant about the sin of unfaithfulness to which the people are guilty. They feel the evil and speak and act with it according to God’s will and as His Spirit makes clear to them. The call comes to the individual, faithful believer to testify that the people as a whole are on the way of sin. But it gives extra courage to give this testimony fearlessly when we know that, even in our testimony against evil, we are not alone, but that others share those feelings with us. By clearly distancing ourselves from evil and not participating in it, or even separating ourselves from it, this testimony gains its true power. No one can be a true witness against prevailing evil if he remains connected to it. This call can be applied today to a local church that allows worldly influences and deviates from Scripture. Against this, we must make our voice heard and take action. Deviation from God’s thoughts must be denounced. If, after repeated requests, no response is found, separation must take place. This can only happen when all attempts to come to repentance have failed, when it has turned out that one does not judge wickedness, but allows it to exist or remains consciously connected to it. The call is then: “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness” ( ; cf. ). God can no longer acknowledge Israel as His wife. Through her marital unfaithfulness, she has severed the marriage bond. Through her harlotry she has broken the covenant with Him. She does not seem to have any sense of shame. She is no longer ashamed, no longer knows what blushing is. Instead, the longing for lewdness reads on her face. Jeremiah speaks of having “a harlot’s forehead” ( ). But it is not only on her face that it is read, but practice also proves her complete unfaithfulness to God. Just as harlots blatantly bare their breasts, so Israel offers herself, without shame, to seduce her lovers. God, in His description of the unfaithfulness of His people, is by no means flattering. Without restraint He compares the attitude and behavior of His people with that of a cheeky harlot. He does this so that the Israelites will see the repugnance of their behavior and repent. You will be compared to a harlot after all! We may speak disgracefully of Israel’s behavior, but then we do not understand that the same is said to us ( ; ). If that becomes apparent to us, what is our reaction? It is possible to react angrily or with indifference, but there may also be acknowledgment. In the hope of the latter reaction follows the exhortation, both to Israel and to us, to get rid of lewdness in attitude and behavior. The last part of the verse points out that this adultery takes place in a hidden place, in secret. When hidden sins are confessed and disposed of, Christ can take that place. The bride in Song of Songs says of Him: “My beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh sleeping between my breasts” ( ). Anyone who calls the Lord Jesus ‘my Beloved’ will not allow anything or anyone to displace Him from that place.

‏ Hosea 2:2-12

Call to Contend

The call to contend with “your mother”, that is Israel – or: to enter into a lawsuit with her – is addressed to the God-fearing within that same Israel. It is a faithful remnant that takes God’s side against sin. The “contention” to which is called is an appropriate and humble testimony against evil, in the sense of being part of the same people being contended. The fact that this call sounds twice in succession indicates the necessity of the accusation. The time is more than ripe for it. A longer delay would give the appearance that God is indifferent to the sins of His people.

When God testifies against evil, so must the faithful believers. Hosea is such a faithful believer, as are those who are called “brothers” and “sisters” in the previous verse (Hos 2:1). Like Hosea, they, too, are indignant about the sin of unfaithfulness to which the people are guilty. They feel the evil and speak and act with it according to God’s will and as His Spirit makes clear to them.

The call comes to the individual, faithful believer to testify that the people as a whole are on the way of sin. But it gives extra courage to give this testimony fearlessly when we know that, even in our testimony against evil, we are not alone, but that others share those feelings with us. By clearly distancing ourselves from evil and not participating in it, or even separating ourselves from it, this testimony gains its true power.

No one can be a true witness against prevailing evil if he remains connected to it. This call can be applied today to a local church that allows worldly influences and deviates from Scripture. Against this, we must make our voice heard and take action. Deviation from God’s thoughts must be denounced.

If, after repeated requests, no response is found, separation must take place. This can only happen when all attempts to come to repentance have failed, when it has turned out that one does not judge wickedness, but allows it to exist or remains consciously connected to it. The call is then: “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness” (2Tim 2:19b; cf. Rev 18:4-5).

God can no longer acknowledge Israel as His wife. Through her marital unfaithfulness, she has severed the marriage bond. Through her harlotry she has broken the covenant with Him. She does not seem to have any sense of shame. She is no longer ashamed, no longer knows what blushing is. Instead, the longing for lewdness reads on her face. Jeremiah speaks of having “a harlot’s forehead” (Jer 3:3). But it is not only on her face that it is read, but practice also proves her complete unfaithfulness to God. Just as harlots blatantly bare their breasts, so Israel offers herself, without shame, to seduce her lovers.

God, in His description of the unfaithfulness of His people, is by no means flattering. Without restraint He compares the attitude and behavior of His people with that of a cheeky harlot. He does this so that the Israelites will see the repugnance of their behavior and repent. You will be compared to a harlot after all!

We may speak disgracefully of Israel’s behavior, but then we do not understand that the same is said to us (2Cor 11:3; Jam 4:4). If that becomes apparent to us, what is our reaction? It is possible to react angrily or with indifference, but there may also be acknowledgment. In the hope of the latter reaction follows the exhortation, both to Israel and to us, to get rid of lewdness in attitude and behavior.

The last part of the verse points out that this adultery takes place in a hidden place, in secret. When hidden sins are confessed and disposed of, Christ can take that place. The bride in Song of Songs says of Him: “My beloved is to me a bundle of myrrh sleeping between my breasts” (Song 1:13). Anyone who calls the Lord Jesus ‘my Beloved’ will not allow anything or anyone to displace Him from that place.

Consequences of Unrepentance

The word “or” indicates that repentance is still possible. But if the call made at the end of Hos 2:2 is not answered, the consequences will be as described in Hos 2:3. In Hosea 1 there is no such possibility. There the judgment is announced, without mentioning that repentance averts this judgment. However, in a judgment preaching it is not always necessary to point out that one can escape that judgment by repentance. Jonah, for example, only preaches judgment (Jona 3:4). If this judgment is acknowledged, remorse and repentance come (Jona 3:5). As a result, God does not execute the judgment (Jona 3:10).

The judgment that God will bring upon His people if they do not repent means that He will strip her naked as on the day of her birth. This means that He will take away all the privileges He has bestowed on His people. He will also bring her into a state of complete helplessness, a state that the prophet Ezekiel depicts when he describes Israel on the day of his birth (Eze 16:4-5). This is presented to Israel as a warning, so that it will come to repentance. Furthermore, God warns His people that He will also make her like a wilderness, a place where there is no water and people die of thirst. God will withhold the rain from the people in His judgment. No more blessing will be her part.

It is always touching to see how God speaks to His people. It is as if He still hesitates to execute His judgment. Through the service of Hosea, He offers her a last chance to escape. As Hosea sees that the people do not care about his message – a message on behalf of God – his statements become more vehement and penetrating.

No Compassion on the Children

By speaking of “your mother” (Hos 2:2) the LORD has addressed the people as a whole. Now He speaks of “her children” with whom the individual Israelites are meant. He will show them no compassion, because they were born as a result of ‘the mother’s’ dealings with false gods. The idolatry reigns supreme in Israel. God is not thought of. The blessings obtained are attributed to the Baal (Hos 2:8). Not only the nation as a whole is guilty, but also each Israelite individually. In every Israelite the fruit of the adultery of ‘the mother’ becomes visible. The saying “like mother, like daughter” (Eze 16:44) applies here.

One could argue that children cannot do anything about it if their mother plays the harlot. But that is not the point here. After all, not all follow the mother in her adulterous behavior. Those who are called “brothers” and “sisters” (Hos 2:1), who are called to contend with their mother (Hos 2:2), do not participate.

If God does not take care of children born out of harlotry, it is because they act according to their birth. These children have no repentance, no crying out to God, no begging for His compassion. They do exactly the same things as their mother. The fact that God does not take care of them is only due to themselves, to their own adulterous behavior in imitation of their mother.

The Harlotry of the Mother

With “mother” again the whole people of Israel is meant. By “them”, in the second line, are meant the children of Hos 2:4. Just as Gomer has followed her lovers and received gifts from them, so Israel does with the idols of the surrounding nations. Israel attributes all the blessings with which the LORD has overloaded them to the favor of the false gods.

Undoubtedly these things have come into their possession as a result of trade agreements. But Israel links the thought to the fact that the surrounding nations possess this merchandise as a result of the benevolence of an idol. Therefore, in addition to possessing the material benefits, Israel desires to connect spiritually with those gods. After all, these gods bring them all their prosperity.

The unfaithful people pretend that these goods belong to her through the generosity of the world, from which she indeed wants to receive them. By her “lovers” especially Egypt and Assyria are meant, with whom she has made lewd commitments (Eze 16:26 ; 28-29).

She made those commitments in order to obtain earthly benefits. But she is blind to the fact that she has received these earthly benefits from God as well (Hos 2:8). They continue to seek their satisfaction exclusively in earthly pleasures. As a result, they are beyond the experience described by David: “You have put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound” (Psa 4:7). David’s joy does not lie in earthly prosperity and wealth. What everyone who is honest also deeply recognizes today is David’s portion. When the heart finds peace in God, it is perfectly happy and does not care about all earthly glory.

What Israel has done, Christianity does now: it seeks its advantage in the world. Without asking for God of Whom everything is, Christians enjoy all kinds of things in the same way as the people of the world do. They also often say that they have worked hard for it themselves, thus asserting their right to a certain standard of living. Only for the form, sometimes a ‘form prayer’ is said at meals. Many Christians want to benefit as much as possible from all kinds of advantages to make life on earth as pleasant as possible.

Today’s Christianity is completely alienated from what drives a man like Paul. When he talks about certain advantages, from which he could make a profit, to the satisfaction of his ego, he says that for Christ’s sake he has given up everything (Phil 3:7-8). That is why he can declare Christians who exceed themselves to be enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil 3:18-19). In what way would there be no idols today? Of how many Christians is the god not “[their] appetite”? They fill themselves with all sorts of worldly ‘delights’. This idol may therefore rejoice in an unprecedented popularity. Why is that? Because Christ is no longer everything to the heart.

We can also learn from Rebekah’s attitude when she is asked to go to Isaac. When Abraham’s servant has told all kinds of things about Isaac and also shown her precious things, and then suggests to her that she goes with him, she says without hesitation, “I will go” (Gen 24:58). She takes all the hardships of the wilderness journey to be with Isaac. Nothing from her parental home is able to keep her there. Although she has not seen Isaac, she has seen so much of his glory that she likes to go with the servant. She gives herself unconditionally to him, he is her first love. If our love for the Lord Jesus is just as great, we are not so full of all those earthly delicacies.

“Bread” and “water” are necessities of life; “wool” and “flax” are used to make clothes; “oil” and “wine” symbolize joy and festivities. It is around these things that the life of the Israelites at the time of Hosea revolves, and it is around these things that the lives of countless Christians today revolve.

The recurring “my” that stands before each of these articles is reminiscent of the parable of the rich fool the Lord Jesus pronounces (Lk 12:13-21). The man is doing well. Things are going so well that he can no longer store everything in his storerooms. He thinks about the measures to be taken and comes to the conclusion that he will demolish the old barns and build bigger ones. He talks about “my crops”, “my barns”, “my grain and my goods”. We see how selfish this man is and how his whole thinking is focused on his possessions. The word “my” comes out of his mouth quite a few times! We also see this selfishness in Nabal who does not want to give David anything of his possessions (1Sam 25:11).

But the man in the parable has not yet finished his reflections. He has his ducks in a row and thinks he can now enjoy himself. We can say that the man has thought well and has arranged his affairs very well, too. But there is one thing he has not thought about and that is the word the Lord Jesus speaks before he tells the parable: “For not [even] when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions” (Lk 12:15b).

Therefore, the parable does not end with a successful businessman enjoying life, but with the reality that God has the last word. God calls someone who lives only for money and good, food, drink and pleasure, a ‘fool’. Suddenly the earthly life can come to an end and then you will no longer have any use for all those things for which you have toiled so hard and to which you are so attached.

Thorns and a Wall

This verse indicates how God acts with His people to bring them back from their own path. He uses imagery twice: “hedge up her way with thorns” and “build a wall”. A road barred with thorns is a road on which an impenetrable barrier has been placed. You can only go up that road if you are prepared to suffer painful injuries. The path of sin is made unattractive, its painful side is shown.

Someone can be kept from a sinful road if it is painted in bright colors that will mean, for example, the ruin of his health. A military exercise ground or a minefield can be cordoned off by barbed wire because it is very dangerous to enter this terrain or field. Anyone who does not heed the warnings and still wants to risk it must bear the consequences. He can get a lot of clothes tears and also physical injuries, he even runs the risk of being killed. Only a fool does not care about thorns or barbed wire.

But God still has a means. He will close off access to the path taken by sin with a wall. He does this to bring the illegal users – His unfaithful people – from the path of sin back on the right path. God erects a wall, a wall that provides seclusion, separating His people from their lovers (cf. Job 19:8).

This happens when He scatters Israel. Then they no longer exist as a nation and as a nation they no longer have contact with foreign peoples and their gods. In this way she can no longer commit adultery with the idols. In Hosea 3 this is further elaborated, but here this judgment is described as a disciplinary measure that must lead to conversion (Hos 2:7).

The Decision to Return

In this verse follows the elaboration of what God did in Hos 2:6. If Israel appeals in vain to the nations from whom they have benefited so much, they will remember that they have not had it that bad with God. They will return to Him. Unfortunately, the confession of sin is missing. There is no repentance. There is no disgust for their sin and the idols are not given up.

With the prodigal son in Luke 15 this is different. That boy also thinks it is better in the world than at home. But when he is in misery, he remembers how much better he had it at home. When he gets up and goes back home, he does so with a confession (Lk 15:13-20).

If only Israel had returned to God with such a confession. The following verse makes it clear that they have no awareness that God has given them everything they attribute to the idols.

This picture of Israel also applies to nominal Christians. One seeks the world and its benefits, its riches and prosperity, the pleasant existence, without asking for God. But it can happen that there is no longer any advantage to be gained in the world, for example by a natural disaster that takes away all the abundance of a country, or by a disease that puts an end to all plans. Then there is a tendency to return to that good old ‘religion’. In wartime the churches fill up and when there is personal need, people often start praying again. But if one starts asking for God again solely because of need, without remorse and repentance, this is just a hollow phrase. God will certainly not listen to it (Job 35:12-13 ; Job 35:9-10).

God Is Not Acknowledged as the Giver

God is the source of all blessing. “The grain, the new wine and the oil” are more often mentioned together (Deu 7:13 ; Deu 11:14 ; Deu 12:17 ; Deu 14:23 ; Deu 28:51). They are the three main blessings of the land. If one starts to consider the gifts that God gives in nature or spiritually apart from Him as the Giver, the unfaithfulness is born. Israel has lost the awareness that it owes everything it possesses to God.

We see that this has brought sin into the world. In Paradise, God says to man that he may eat freely from all the trees of the garden. But what comes first with Eve? From her answer to the serpent it appears that with her the fruit is in the foreground and that she is not allowed to eat it freely. Her attention is focused on the gift and not on the Giver. And then things go wrong. In a certain sense God blesses all people (Mt 5:45b; Acts 14:17). But just like Israel and just like Eve, modern man does not realize that God is the source of the food and joy he is allowed to enjoy every day.

Not only does Israel not thank God for it, but they also use the gifts of God in their audacity to give them to Baal. This is done, for example, by turning the gold into a statue for the Baal, but also by sacrificing all kinds of gifts to that self-made statue. It is possible that the name ‘Baal’ stands for all the idols here, of which Baal is the most popular.

We may ask ourselves: For what purpose do I use what I have received from God? Do I serve myself with it? Or do I serve others with it, but only for the benefit that it gives me again? Or do I sometimes serve the gods of our time with it, by being fully absorbed in my career, by paying too much attention and money to how I look or by being able to argue as powerfully as possible? There are more examples where a person abuses what he has received from God, to his own credit.

God Takes Away the Blessing

Because of the lack of awareness that God is the source of their blessing (Hos 2:8), God is going to take the blessing away again. Because of their sinful deeds, God will take away their food and clothing so that there is a lack of the most basic necessities of life (1Tim 6:8). For example, God might withhold the rain from the land. More often the people have been punished with drought for their unfaithfulness and idolatry (1Kgs 17:1-7). He can also take away the blessing from enemies who rob the harvest (Jdg 6:1-6).

God acts this way because the people are unfaithful to Him. That is why this verse, as well as Hos 2:6, begins with “therefore”, because God cannot allow His people to appropriate what is His. God speaks here of “My grain”, “My new wine”, “My wool” and “My flax”, to indicate that it comes from Him and remains of Him. What He gives, He does not lose. He remains its Owner and has the right to take it back.

From a spiritual point of view this is also the case. The church has lost a lot of blessing because of her unfaithfulness. Enemies have got the upper hand in the church. People who criticize the Bible are given the space to spread their pernicious teachings on the pulpit. Christians are more open to influences from the world than to the Word of God. If meeting- and organizing techniques prove to work in the world, they are also used to improve discussions in and the functioning of the church of God.

In this way the enemy gains control over the ins and outs of the church. The Word of God is no longer the point of reference, but the word of people. The church becomes an association that is governed in accordance with what is acceptable in worldly associations. God then takes away what He has given in blessing. Believers lose the sense of their connection to a glorified Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3).

This can also be applied to natural life and material things. Sometimes money has to be spent on things that are the result of unfaithfulness or violation of prescribed rules. This is the case with a fine for driving too fast. The money to be paid for this is lost. If you cause a collision, it often costs even more money. It is also possible to treat your health irresponsibly, causing your body to lose certain functions. By bad behavior money and good and health can be taken away from you, you have lost it.

But now the reaction. Do I finish up with: ‘Oh, that can happen to anyone, so to me as well’? That is true, but doesn’t the Christian look any further? God speaks through it. Am I open to learning what God wants to teach me through it? You may certainly expect the latter from a Christian.

God’s People Disgraced

The word translated here with “lewdness” means ’withered state’. That is the end result, when God has taken all her abundance away from her. Israel’s “lovers” will therefore despise her and want nothing more to do with her. It indicates Israel’s deep humiliation.

This is how it goes with everyone who leaves God to serve the world. God will disgrace such a person before the eyes of the world. The world seems like a lover, but as soon as there is nothing more to be gained, you are pushed aside like dirt. Such a thing happens to an Egyptian young man. Because he has become ill, his lord leaves him behind as a prey for anyone who sees him. Fortunately, this young man falls into the hands of David (1Sam 30:11-20).

When God pronounces His judgment, it is impossible to escape. No one can stop Him then. Maybe there are people who feel sorry for your situation, but if there is no real return to God, it is not possible to really get out of that ‘withered state’.

God Puts the People’s Feast to an End

God will put to an end everything that pleases His people because it is a pleasure without Him. The feasts have degenerated into religious forms, with no place for God there. The center for religious ceremonies is Jerusalem. The kingdom of the ten tribes will have held its feasts in Bethel and Dan with the golden calves (1Kgs 12:25-33), or in other consecrated places.

Of the feasts described in Leviticus 23, here are mentioned the monthly Feast of trumpets, which are the “new moons”, the weekly “Sabbaths” and “all her feasts”, which are the annual feasts. The annual celebrations include the Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Booth.

But what in Leviticus 23 is called “the LORD’s appointed times” or “the feast days of the LORD” (Lev 23:2), is called here “her feasts, her new moons and her sabbaths”, “all her festal assemblies”. We find the same in the Gospel according to John. There the “Passover to the LORD” (Lev 23:5) is called “the Passover of the Jews” (Jn 2:13 ; Jn 6:4; cf. Jn 5:1 ; Jn 7:2). They do not hold these feasts in honor of God, but for the feast itself. Only the form is maintained.

The same is true of Christianity. The outer forms of religiosity still exist. However, they are empty shells where God is not honored, but where man is central and gorges himself. In the New Testament two things are said to be “of the Lord”. That is “Supper of the Lord” (1Cor 11:20) and “the day of the Lord” (Rev 1:10). The expression “of the Lord” means ’belonging to the Lord’ and appears as such only in these two places.

The Supper of the Lord has become a supper of people. Whether one says that the supper serves to strengthen one’s faith, as in Protestantism, or whether one says that by eating it one eats Christ and therefore has eternal life, as in roman catholicism, in both cases it is not understood what this meal means. The Supper is a meal in remembrance of Him, Who surrendered Himself to God and died for the church (1Cor 11:23-26).

In the same way, the day of the Lord, Sunday, has become a day that we fill with doing things we like to do ourselves. Maybe we still visit a church or meeting, but it should not take too long, because there should also be enough time left for ourselves. We don’t think anymore that it is a day that He has set aside especially for Himself.

By the way, the “day of the Lord” is not a disguised form of the Sabbath, for which all kinds of rules have been devised of what you are allowed to do and especially what you are not allowed to do. The goal of the Lord’s day is that on that day every Christian will dedicate himself especially to the Lord. Of course, it also applies to other days that a Christian is dedicated to the Lord. He cannot live without Him for a moment. But on that special day, the everyday things we always have to do, as much as possible, go aside to honor Him.

Honoring that will happen in the first place by coming together with God’s children. We can also honor Him by giving a little extra attention to some of those who appreciate a visit. Furthermore, anyone who lets himself be led by the Lord, will certainly find to give substance to that day that corresponds to the fact that it is “the day of the Lord”.

Destruction of Vine and Fig Tree

From the feasts in the previous verse, the prophet passes to the fruits of the land. Feasts and fruits belong together because the annual feasts are related to agriculture. The vine and the fig tree represent the delicious fruits of the land, which God intended as a blessing for every Israelite. In the time of Solomon, when he reigns over a large area and has peace on all sides, Judah and Israel live peacefully, “every man under his vine and his fig tree” (1Kgs 4:24-25).

But what is a gift from God is seen by Israel as something they have received from their lovers, Egypt and Assyria. When they see their vine and fig tree, they are no longer reminded of the goodness of God, but of their trading partners. Maybe they boast of their smartness in the negotiations.

God no longer appears in their thoughts. What an insult to Him! But if they think they have received the blessings God has given them from their “lovers”, then they no longer need to count on God’s protection. He will take away any protection from them and make them a booty for their enemies. He who despises God’s blessings must also lack God’s protection.