CHAPTER 2

(785 B.C.)

GOMER, A PICTURE OF ISRAEL; GODS LOVE FOR HIS UNFAITHFUL PEOPLE

¹Say you unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. (These words are addressed to a small company of true Believers, which was then ensconced in backslidden Israel, and which the Lord has in all ages, and which is here distinguished by the affectionate titles of My People [Ammi] and the engraced [Ruhamah].)

²Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts (Plead with your mother, plead, speaks of the whole people of Israel taken together as a national unit. The pleading to Israel is to be done by those who still love and serve their Lord. In effect, they were to act as Evangelists.

For she is not my wife, neither am I her husband, in its strict sense, refers to Gomer, who had left Hosea, even after bearing him three children, going back out into the world of sin and iniquity. As Gomer left Hosea for whoredoms, likewise, Israel had left God for whoredoms. So the marriage in both cases was dissolved);

³Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. (The first phrase refers to the fact that Gomer, rather than gaining prosperity, was instead reduced to abject poverty, as future Verses will portray.)

⁴And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms. (The nation as a whole with its body politic is spoken of as the parent. Its citizenry is spoken of as the children. The children proved themselves to be no better than the mother who bore them; they were the worthless progeny of a worthless parent.)

⁵For their mother has played the harlot: she who conceived them has done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. (Likewise, Israel, of which Gomer was a symbol, ran after her lovers, who were the Assyrians and the Egyptians. As a result, Israel worshipped the idols of these heathen nations, and also ascribed her blessings as not from Jehovah, but from these idol gods.)

⁶Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. (Both Gomer and Israel had avowed their determination to pursue their evil course shamefully and sinfully, as if in despite and defiance of the Almighty; consequently, the Lord affirms His Determination to thwart their course of sin and shame.)

⁷And 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. (Partially so, regarding Israel, of which Gomer was a type, this Scripture was fulfilled about 200 years later, with some of Israel returning with Judah from Babylonian captivity; however, it was only a partial fulfillment. The total fulfillment awaits the Second Coming of the Lord.)

⁸For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. (For she did not know that I gave..., portrays an unnecessary Spiritual ignorance. Israel forgot that the great Blessings she was showered with came from Jehovah. She claimed them as hers, and as having been given to her by her idols. But God said that He gave them to her, that they were His, and that He would now take them back.)

⁹Therefore will I return, and take away My Corn in the time thereof, and My Wine in the season thereof, and will recover My Wool and My Flax given to cover her nakedness. (The action here is one of chastisement and, therefore, of love, for the Lord chastises those He loves [Heb. 12:5-11].)

¹⁰And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of My Hand. (Israel would find that none of her idols could deliver her from the Assyrians, which would take her captive.)

¹¹I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts. (As Israel had said by her actions that she did not desire these things, which in truth were the cause of her blessings, the Lord in turn would remove her to where there would be no opportunity to partake of these Ordinances.)

¹²And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she has said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. (As Israel had forgotten Who truly was the Source of her prosperity, even attributing such to idols, the Lord would take away their prosperity. Then she would be made to see as to exactly Who had been her Benefactor. It definitely was not her idols.)

¹³And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgot Me, says the LORD. (And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, simply means I will punish them for serving Baal. The name of Baal came to be used generally as the designation of any idol or false god; consequently, the days of Baal were the days consecrated to Baal, and on which the worship of the True God was transferred to that idol.)

ISRAEL IS RESTORED

¹⁴Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. (The balance of the Verses of this Chapter predict the restoration of Israel under the Covenant of Grace as opposed to that of Law. The nation is pictured as a faithless and debauched wife betrothed as a spotless bride to Immanuel. This impossibility will be effected by the miracle of the New Birth. The old impure Israel will die and a pure virgin will appear as the new nation. As stated, this will take place at the beginning of the coming Kingdom Age.)

¹⁵And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. (And I will give her her vineyards from thence, signifies that the way to the vineyards is through the wilderness. Spiritual discipline precedes blessing and fits it for joy. Hence, the words from thence.

And the valley of Achor for a door of hope, signals back to a vale of horror as described in Josh. 7:24, but which is to become for Israel a door of hope.

The Truth is presented here by the Holy Spirit that where the Wrath of God justly fell, the Grace of God is to brightly shine. The valley of horror becomes the vale of hope. Such was Calvary a place of horror to the Suffering Saviour under the Wrath of God, but a door of hope to the redeemed sinner under the Grace of God.

Thus, this valley of Achor proclaims to the Believer who has suffered defeat that the very area of such defeat can become their area of victory.)

¹⁶And it shall be at that day, sa ys the LORD, that you shall call Me Ishi; and shall call Me no more Baali. (The word Ishi means my Husband, while the word Baali means my Lord. In other words, Israel will no more refer to Baal as her Lord, but will rightly serve Jehovah.)

¹⁷For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name. (The names of Baal shall become so abhorrent to blood-washed Israel that they shall pass away at once from their mouths and from their memories, never more to be mentioned and never more to be remembered.)

¹⁸And in that day will I make a Covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the Earth, and will make them to lie down safely. (And in that day will I make a Covenant for them, refers to the New Covenant, which Israel will accept immediately after the Second Coming. At that time, there will be no more war, which speaks to the universal safety of not only Israel, but of the entirety of the world.)

¹⁹And I will betroth you unto Me forever; yes, I will betroth you unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. (This betrothal between the Lord and Israel will take place immediately after the Second Coming of Christ. Israel will then accept Him, not only as Saviour, but also as Messiah and Lord.)

²⁰I will even betroth you unto Me in faithfulness: and you shall know the LORD. (You shall know the LORD, means that all evils come from not knowing Him [Isa. 1:3; Lk. 19:42, 44].)

²¹And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, sa ys the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the Earth (this speaks of the Earth that shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea [Isa. 11:9]);

²²And the Earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. (Whereas the name Jezreel pertained to judgment when originally given, now it refers to the very opposite. Whereas the Lord scattered and sowed Israel in heathen lands, now He scatters and sows them in the Land of Israel proper, and in prosperity. In other words, the blessing of Israel will be the blessing of the entirety of the world, and the world will also realize that!)

²³And I will sow her unto Me in the Earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not My People, You are My people; and they shall say, You are my God. (Israel was Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi, meaning no more mercy and not My People. Now, Israel will become Ruhamah, i.e., pitied one, and Ammi, i.e., My People.

And I will say to them which were not My people, You are My People, is quoted in Rom. 9:25. It refers in that case to the Gentiles, as an illustration of what may be true in their case as well as in Israels.)