I Will Allure Her – Hosea 2:14-23

In a sense we may say God is not prudish.  He is not obscene, but He does not hesitate to speak in intimate terms about His beloved.

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.  And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.  And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

“And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD.

“And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land.  And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”  (Hosea 2:14-23 ESV)

Yahweh further depicts how He will restore Israel.  Like a lover He will woo her in the wilderness, the place where Israel originally wandered on the way to Canaan and where, in a sense, she will be while exiled from her land through Assyria’s conquest.  Whereas she was cursed, like Achan in the valley of Achor after he took treasure from Jericho against God’s word, her place of exile will become a door of hope for restoration.

From then on she won’t call Yahweh “my Baal” (which in Hebrew means, my master or my husband) but “My Husband” (Hebrew, ishi, the word Adam used of himself when naming woman, he being ish, she ishah).  Idolatry will be far from her mouth and covenant loyalty to Yahweh paramount.  And He will make her dwelling place one of safety and peace as His wife forever, a relationship of righteousness, justice, love, mercy and faithfulness.  They will know Him intimately.  And the covenant He makes with them and with the land of Israel will be restored and they His people forever.

When we depart from God He disciplines but He also longs to restore us and the restoration is not to slavery but to intimate fellowship.