Three messages follow the two on coming judgment. They assure Israel that Yahweh will remain faithful to His promises to His people even though they are unfaithful to Him and incurred His punishment (cf. 1:10-2:1; 2 Tim. 2:13).
The emphasis in this message is on the fact that God would renew His love for Israel and would restore their "marriage"relationship.
2:14 Following Israel's decision to return to Yahweh after her punishment (v. 7), the Lord promised to woo her back to Himself. He would appeal to her with tender and seductive words, lead her into a place where there would be few distractions (cf. 13:5; Jer. 2:2-3), and speak kindly to her heart. This verse presents the Lord as romancing Israel back to Himself.31
"As . . . God persuaded Israel to leave Egypt, go out into the desert, and move on finally to the Promised Land; so in the final day he will persuade her to leave the Egypt of spiritual declension, go out into the wilderness of fellowship alone with God, and move on to the Promised Land of blessed rest."32
2:15 The Lord promised that He would restore the blessings of vineyards to the Israelites. He would turn the valley of Achor (lit. trouble, the site of Achan's sin, Josh. 7:24-26) into a door of hope. This memorial site would no longer remind the Israelites of past sins but would appear to them as the gateway to a new and better future in the land. She would sing again, as the Israelites did when they had crossed the Red Sea (Exod. 15). It is as though Israel would start over as a nation, as she did when she came out of Egypt and the wilderness into the Promised Land.
2:16-17 In that coming day of restoration the Israelites would call Yahweh Ishi, "my husband,"and would refer to Him as Baali, "my lord,"no longer. "Baali"would recall the Baals of Israel's past, which the Lord would remove from her heart and mouth. They would not even mention the name of Baal by referring to Yahweh as their Baali.
2:18 In that day the Lord promised also to make all the animals in the Promised Land safe and secure (cf. v. 12; Lev. 26:5-6, 22). He would make it safe for the animals to live there by removing war from the land. This is a way of saying that the Israelites, and even the animals in Israel, would dwell in peace and security. Attacks from wild animals and destruction from war were prominent motifs employed in the curses threatened in ancient Near Eastern treaties.33
2:19-20 It would be as though Yahweh and Israel began life anew as husband and wife.34They would return to the courtship days and start again as an engaged couple. In the ancient Near East a man paid a price to seal the agreement when he became engaged (cf. 2 Sam. 3:14), and people regarded the couple as good as married in the eyes of the law. What the Lord vowed to give Israel to seal this nuptial agreement was righteousness (what was right), justice (fair treatment), loyal love (unswerving commitment), compassion (tender affection), and faithfulness (dependability). This was God's marriage vow for Israel. In response, Israel would recognize her special relationship to Him and show this by faithfully obeying Him (cf. Jer. 31:31-34).
This message stresses the renewed fertility and restored favor that Israel could anticipate because Yahweh would reach out and save her in the future.
2:21-22 In that coming day of blessing the Lord would restore agricultural productivity to the land. He would respond to the heavens, personified as crying to Him to send rain. The cry of the heavens would be in response to an appeal that the earth made to it to send rain. The earth would ask for rain because the grain, new wine, and oil had told the earth they needed rain. These crops would appeal to the earth because Jezreel had appealed to it. Jezreel ("God sows") here personifies the nation of Israel as a whole, though it was also the traditional "breadbasket"of the Northern Kingdom. Israel in the past had cried to Baal, the Canaanite god of rain and fertility, but he had not helped. Having returned to the Lord, the Israelites would now appeal to Him as the true God of fertility, and He would respond by sending rain.
2:23 The Lord would also sow Israel in the Promised Land; He would plant her there securely where she would grow under His care and blessing. He would show compassion to the people whom He formerly said were "not loved,"and He would reclaim as His own the people whom He formerly called "not my people"(cf. 1:6, 9).35They would then acknowledge Yahweh as their God, not Baal.
"Hosea 2:23, along with 1:10, is quoted in Romans 9:25-26 and 1 Peter 2:10. Paul quoted those Hosea passages to say that both Jews and Gentiles will be converted during the Church Age (cf. Rom. 9:24). This does notmean, however, that he equated the Gentiles with Israel and regarded the conversion of Gentiles as a direct fulfillment of Hosea's prophecy. Paul clearly taught that national Israel would be saved as well (Rom. 11). Rather, Paul extracted from Hosea's prophecy a principle concerning God's gracious activity . . ."36
