GOD WHO LOVES
Opening Prayer
Thank you, gracious Lord, that you have forgiven my past, are at work in my present, and have promised me an eternal future with you.
Read HOSEA 2:14–3:5
“Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the wilderness
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor[a] a door of hope.
There she will respond[b] as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’;
you will no longer call me ‘my master.[c]’
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them
with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky
and the creatures that move along the ground.
Bow and sword and battle
I will abolish from the land,
so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever;
I will betroth you in[d] righteousness and justice,
in[e] love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in[f] faithfulness,
and you will acknowledge the Lord.
21 “In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.[g]
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.[h]’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,[i]’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
Hosea’s Reconciliation With His Wife
3 The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels[j] of silver and about a homer and a lethek[k] of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”
4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings in the last days.
Footnotes
- Hosea 2:15 Achor means trouble.
- Hosea 2:15 Or sing
- Hosea 2:16 Hebrew baal
- Hosea 2:19 Or with
- Hosea 2:19 Or with
- Hosea 2:20 Or with
- Hosea 2:22 Jezreel means God plants.
- Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ruhamah (see 1:6)
- Hosea 2:23 Hebrew Lo-Ammi (see 1:9)
- Hosea 3:2 That is, about 6 ounces or about 170 grams
- Hosea 3:2 A homer and a lethek possibly weighed about 430 pounds or about 195 kilograms.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Difficult times? Yet, how has trouble (‘the Valley of Achor’, 2:15) sometimes brought you glimmers of hope and renewed awareness of God’s love?Judgment of Israel would be radical, but God was a faithful lover. When his beloved was hopeless and empty, he courted her tenderly, leading her to a new place of blessing (vv. 14, 15). Turning to her husband again would bring freedom from the tyranny of false idols (vv. 16, 17). Harmony would be restored. In mutual agreement, there would be righteousness, justice, love, and compassion—and the betrothed ‘would acknowledge the Lord’ (vv. 19, 20). Abundant growth followed—the result of God’s planting (v. 23). The upside down ways of God would turn ‘not loved’ into the discovery of being loved and of being his people. Then they would freely assert, ‘You are my God’ (v. 23). Perhaps you can recall such a pattern in your own life.
Still, in the opening ‘chapter’ of Hosea’s prophetic, symbolic story, there is one more scene to play out. He proactively sought out his adulterous wife, paid the price for her, and took her home (3:1–3). God helped Hosea understand. Bereft of leadership and spiritual direction, the Israelites would eventually ‘seek the Lord’ again (vv. 4, 5). Recognizing their own unworthiness, they knew that in God blessing waited.
Apply
‘Oh, the love that sought me! Oh, the blood that bought me!’ (‘In Tenderness He Sought Me’, William Spencer Walton, 1850–1906). Take time to read or even sing all of the words of this old hymn—be reminded of God’s great love for you.
Closing prayer
O God, you sought me, you bought me, and made me your own. Indeed, your mercy is beyond measure. Thank you for my redemption in Jesus, undeserved but paid for at a great price.
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