TEXT [Commentary]

black diamond   B.   Israel’s Restoration on the Basis of the Covenant (1:10–2:1)

10 [*]“Yet the time will come when Israel’s people will be like the sands of the seashore—too many to count! Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’ 11 Then the people of Judah and Israel will unite together. They will choose one leader for themselves, and they will return from exile together. What a day that will be—the day of Jezreel[*]—when God will again plant his people in his land.

2:1 [*]“In that day you will call your brothers Ammi—‘My people.’ And you will call your sisters Ruhamah—‘The ones I love.’

NOTES

1:10 [2:1] like the sands of the seashore. This image often appears as an indication of large numbers (e.g., Josh 11:4; 1 Sam 13:5; Rom 9:27). As here, the simile is applied at times to Israel’s future hope, especially in connection with the Abrahamic covenant as culminating in the new covenant (Gen 22:17-18; Jer 33:22).

children of the living God. Those who had been called “not my people” will become God’s acknowledged family. In contrast to Baal and the dead idols, Israel’s God is the true and living God. In him alone are life (Pss 42:2; 84:2) and the hope for success (Josh 3:10).

1:11 [2:2] the day of Jezreel. This speaks of a day when God’s scattered people will be freshly planted (see note on 1:4 on the meaning of “Jezreel”) in the land. The double sense (cf. 1:4-5; 2:22-23) indicated by the name Jezreel here indicates a future reversal of Israel’s imminent scattering among the nations. As plants sown in the soil come up from earth, so a reinstituted Israelite state will emerge in its land.

2:1 [3] Ammi . . . Ruhamah. Jezreel’s brother(s) and sister(s) will likewise experience a life-transforming name change: “Not my people” (1:9) will become “My people,” and “Not loved” (1:6) will become “The ones I love.” The NLT follows the MT in reading plural nouns here. Although the LXX has smoothed out the problem by reading singular nouns, the difficulty of the MT argues for the retention of the plurals.

McComiskey (1992:32) insists that the plural nouns “brothers and sisters” (especially the latter) must refer to children born to Gomer before her marriage to Hosea. However, the plurals may be explained as referring both to the children mentioned previously and what they represent—all the people of restored Judah and Israel now united under one leader. Just as Jezreel represents the nation, so “the brothers to whom the new name ‘Ammi’ is given in v. 3 and the sisters who are now called ‘Ruhama’ equally represent the whole nation” (Andersen and Freedman 1980:213).

COMMENTARY [Text]

Tempering the gloomy prediction of 1:2-9, God indicated that Israel’s historical judgment and exile would be but a first step in the eventual restoration to the Land of Promise. In accordance with the standing promises to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 17:1-8; 22:15-18) and David (2 Sam 7:11-16; 1 Chr 17:10-14; Ps 89:1-4, 27-37), God will once again restore his people to “his land,” and the place of their inheritance. All of this will be realized in a new relationship between Israel and God. Once judged, they will again be called his children. As faithful members of his family, they will enjoy all the blessings that only a heavenly Father can bestow.

Israel had been called to be God’s children, his special treasure (Exod 4:22; 19:5-6; Deut 14:1-2; Jer 2:3). Although he had tenderly cared for them all along, they had repeatedly taken him for granted, even being disobedient and at times unfaithful children (Deut 1:31; 32:5-20; Isa 1:2-4; Jer 3:4). Therefore, despite his great desire to bless his children (Jer 3:19-20), God frequently had to chastise them (Deut 8:1-5). Nevertheless, God’s love for his people remained (11:1, 8-9), as he often pleaded with them to repent and come back to him (e.g., 14:1; Jer 3:22). Then they would know his forgiveness as he purified them and restored them to the land. In that future day, he will make a new covenant with David’s heir on the throne and pour out the blessings he had always intended for them (Jer 31:31-34; 32:40-44; 33:6-8; Ezek 34:13-16, 23-31; 36:22-27; Zeph 3:9-20). Hosea’s message of hope, then, is in harmony with standard Old Testament teaching.

Hosea’s prophecy (1:10; cf. 2:23) was cited by Paul (Rom 9:22-29) to illustrate God’s further intentions. The judgment upon Israel’s obdurately unfaithful people will fulfill the latent blessings inherent in God’s promissory covenants. Not only faithful Israelites but Gentiles, too, will make up those who are called God’s people (cf. 1 Pet 2:10). Then a redeemed people, Jew and Gentile alike, will stand together united under one head, David’s heir, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Indeed, God’s covenant with Abraham envisioned that Gentiles would eventually be included within the family of God (Gen 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; Gal 3:8). The terms of the Abrahamic covenant, channeled through the Davidic covenant, passed into the new covenant (Jer 31:31-34; 33:15-26; Ezek 34:20-31; 37:15-27). The New Testament makes it clear that this line of promises has already been put into effect through the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (cf. Acts 2:29-39). Christ himself affirmed that he was effecting the terms of the new covenant (Matt 26:27-29; cf. 1 Cor 11:25). Paul points out that God had made him a minister to represent the new covenant (2 Cor 3:6), a covenant which the author of Hebrews demonstrates is both in effect and superior to the old Mosaic covenant (Heb 8–10).

Whatever eschatological implications there may be in the age-old promise to Abraham, it is also true that such blessings have already been initiated in Christ (Rom 4:13-17; 8:14-17; 11:13-32). For he has rendered obsolete those external matters that separated Jew and Gentile, and created “in himself one new people from the two groups” (Eph 2:14-15; cf. Gal 3:26-29). Through his death on the cross, the body of Christ (the believing church) is united by its living head. As God’s dear children (Gal 3:26), all believers have been brought into the very presence of Christ (Col 1:18-22). Taken into union with Christ (Gal 2:20), believers now enjoy a vital oneness with him.

The New Testament represents this union under a number of metaphors and phrases; many emphasize the “togetherness” of the believer with Christ. Some are positional: Thus although believers were crucified (Gal 2:20), died (Col 3:3), and were buried together with Christ (Rom 6:4), they have been made alive, raised, and seated together with him in the heavenly realms (Eph 2:6). Others are experiential: Although believers may suffer with Christ, they shall be glorified together with Christ (Rom 8:17) and eventually reign together with him (2 Tim 2:12).

Accordingly, believers may live victorious lives, free from sin’s domination, and they can reflect the characteristics of the one who has taken up his residence in them (Col 3:1-17). What potential there is, then, for Christian believers! As members of the family of the living God and energized by their union with Christ and the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (1 Cor 3:16; Eph 5:18), believers should lead meaningful and productive lives. Like Israel of old, Christians also look forward to a future day, a time when Christ himself will reign in the midst of a purified people coming from every nation, tribe, people, and language (Rev 7:9; cf. Dan 7:13-14; Rev 11:15).