Hosea 2:6-8

ISRAEL'S INGRATITUDESPURIOUS LOVERS

TEXT: Hosea 2:6-8

6

Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns and I will build a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths.

7

And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.

8

For she did not know that I gave her the grain, and the new wine and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.

QUERIES

a.

Of whom is the prophet speaking in this context?

b.

Why did she not find the lovers she was seeking?

c.

Why did she now know the person supplying her grain and wine?

PARAPHRASE

So, because Israel insists on playing the harlot I am going to put an obstacle in her way to finding her lovers, She will pursue her false gods but she will not catch up with them; and she will search for them but she will not find them: then, having realized they are impotent and spurious lovers, she will have learned her lesson and say, Oh, it was so much better for me when I was with my first husbandI will humble myself and return to Him, seeking His forgiveness, She became a harlot because she allowed herself to forget that I gave her the food, clothing and enjoyments of life; she allowed these gifts of Mine to be employed in worshipping Baal.

SUMMARY

God is going to make Israel realize the impotency and spurious nature of its false lovers, their idols.

COMMENT

Hosea 2:6. I WILL HEDGE UP THY WAYS. AND. BUILD A WALL AGAINST HER. Is the prophet speaking of Gomer or Israel here? We believe the context insists upon Israel being the object of this warning. It is possible that Hosea took a similar action toward Gomer in an attempt to reclaim her before she sold herself completely into slavery (cf. ch. 3). However, the primary object of this prediction is Israel. God is going to place such an insuperable obstacle between Israel and continued idol-worship that she will not be able to find any way to worship idols again. The path leading to idol worship was going to be blocked with a solid wall of resistance. The hedge of thorns probably refers to the intense suffering they endured in the captivities. This was a lesson they never forgot. The Jews never again worshipped idols! Over and over again Ezekiel repeats the phrase Then will you know that I am Jehovah. referring to the lessons they would learn from the sufferings of their captivity.

Hosea 2:7. SHE SHALL FOLLOW AFTER HER LOVERS, BUT SHE SHALL NOT OVERTAKE THEM. THEN SHALL SHE SAY, I WILL GO ANE RETURN TO MY FIRST HUSBAND. At first, when they are in distress and tribulation at the judgment of God in the siege and captivity they will search with zeal for some comforting oracle or action from their loversthe false gods. But they shall not even find their idols for the king of Assyria will come and take their idols away and then Israel will realize that there is no deliverance or comfort to be found in these false gods. She will wake up to the utter nothingness of idols. Although Israel was taken into the midst of an idolatrous empire (Assyria), and there had even more opportunity to practice idolatry, it learned the worthlessness of all trust in idols quickly and was thus impelled to turn to the Lord God Jehovah, her first Husband, in faith and repentance, seeking His mercy. While in her captivity she came to herself and saw the shame of her former religious promiscuity. She said, like the prodigal in Jesus-' parable, I will return. This is the purpose in all of God's hedges of thorns and His wallsto bring us to say, I will return.

Augustine wrote, I escaped not Thy scourges, for what mortal can? For Thou wert ever with me, mercifully rigorous, and besprinkling with most bitter alloy all my unlawful pleasures, that I might seek pleasure without alloy. But where to find such, I could not discover, save in Thee, O Lord, Who teachest by sorrow, and woundest us, to heal, and killest us, lest we die from Thee. This is somewhat the same as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:3-10 and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Hebrews 10:32-39; Hebrews 12:1-11. This was the experience of Job and countless others whom the Lord loved enough to chasten. The Lord loved Israel with an everlasting love and so he chastened them. The moment of crisis was when they decided, I will return.

Hosea 2:8. SHE DID NOT KNOW THAT I GAVE HER THE GRAIN. WHICH THEY USED FOR BAAL. Israel should have known the source of her blessings for the law of Moses in all its institutions of sacrifices and offerings and its precepts was intended to remain them. However, the law, the word of the Lord had been forgotten. Israel's ignorance was willful and culpable (cf. Amos 7:10-16; Hosea 4:1-6; Hosea 5:4; Micah 2:6-11; Jeremiah 6:10; Jeremiah 6:14; Jeremiah 6:16-19). She deliberately ignored the word of God and used what God provided to worship and perpetuate the religion of Baal. But her captivity restored her to sanity, She was taught again Whom she was dependent upon for life.

Baal worship was brought into Israel by Jezebel, daughter of a king of Sidon. Jehu destroyed it for a time, because its adherents were followers of the house of Ahab. The worship was cruel, like that of Moloch, immoral and abominable. It advocated (at least by Jezebel) the extermination of worship of Jehovah and its most zealous adherents caused many of the prophets of God to be slain. To such an abominable curse the people of Israel attributed the blessings which only Jehovah could give the people,

QUIZ

1.

What is probably meant by the hedge of thorns and the wall?

2.

What is meant by not finding her lovers?

3.

What is the significance of the phrase I will return?

4.

Why did Paul say he was chastened or afflicted?

5.

Why did Israel not know where her material blessings originated?

6.

What is Baal worship?