| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| |
|
| 1 'Say ye to your brethren Ammi, And to your sisters Ruhamah. |
|
| 2 Plead ye with your mother plead, (For she [is] not My wife, and I [am] not her husband,) And she turneth her whoredoms from before her, And her adulteries from between her breasts, |
She is not my wife – The Lord permitted domestic troubles for Hosea to impress upon him the Lord's view of Israel as a false wife. R2491:1
She stayed in his house until the sixth year. Then he either put her away from him, or she went her own way. R2491:2*
Her husband – Referring to a union in a less particular sense than the New Testament references to Christ and his Bride. Here the word husband simply means caretaker. R1389:1
God was a most merciful husband to Israel. R1389:1, R2491:1
Her whoredoms – Hosea's wife was unfaithful to him, as Israel had been unfaithful to the Lord. R5809:2
Her adulteries – Christendom is, in the Scriptures, charged with adultery, in that she lives with the world. R4811:5
|
| 3 Lest I strip her naked. And have set her up as [in] the day of her birth, And have made her as a wilderness, And have set her as a dry land, And have put her to death with thirst. |
|
| 4 And her sons I do not pity, For sons of whoredoms [are] they, |
|
| 5 For gone a-whoring hath their mother, Acted shamefully hath their conceiver, For she hath said, I go after my lovers, Those giving my bread and my water, My wool and my flax, my oil and my drink. |
|
| 6 Therefore, lo, I am hedging up thy way with thorns, And I have made for her a wall, And her paths she doth not find. |
|
| 7 And she hath pursued her lovers, And she doth not overtake them, And hath sought them, and doth not find, And she hath said: I go, and I turn back unto My first husband, For better to me then than now. |
I will go and return – Not a promise from the Lord that he would remarry them. C296; R1341:6
|
| 8 And she knew not that I had given to her, The corn, and the new wine, and the oil. Yea, silver I did multiply to her, And the gold they prepared for Baal. |
|
| 9 Therefore do I turn back, And I have taken My corn in its season, And My new wine in its appointed time, And I have taken away My wool and My flax, covering her nakedness. |
|
| 10 And now do I reveal her dishonour before the eyes of her lovers, And none doth deliver her out of My hand. |
|
| 11 And I have caused to cease all her joy, Her festival, her new moon, and her sabbath, Even all her appointed times, |
|
| 12 And made desolate her vine and her fig-tree, Of which she said, A gift they [are] to me, That my lovers have given to me, And I have made them for a forest, And consumed them hath a beast of the field. |
|
| 13 And I have charged on her the days of the Baalim, To whom she maketh perfume, And putteth on her ring and her ornament, And goeth after her lovers, And Me forgat an affirmation of Jehovah. |
|
| |
|
| 14 Therefore, lo, I am enticing her, And have caused her to go to the wilderness, And I have spoken unto her heart, |
Her – The true Church. R1841:6
Into the wilderness – The true Church is the Church in the wilderness. (Rev. 12:6, 14; Luke 15:4; Isa. 51:3; Cant. 8:5) R1841:6
Illustrated by the millions of persecuted Jews in Russia who tell, not only of their suffering, but of their deep desire to return to the land given to Abraham and his seed forever. R394:3*
Speak comfortably – Speaking to their hearts. R394:3*
|
| 15 And given to her her vineyards from thence, And the valley of Achor for an opening of hope, And she hath responded there as in the days of her youth, And as in the day of her coming up out of the land of Egypt. |
A door of hope – Which the Millennial reign of the true seed of Abraham will open for these rebellious people. C297, C296; R1341:6
|
| 16 And it hath come to pass, in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah, Thou dost call Me My husband, And dost not call Me any more My lord. |
|
| 17 And I have turned aside the names of the lords from her mouth, And they are not remembered any more by their name. |
|
| 18 And I have made to them a covenant in that day, with the beast of the field, And with the fowl of the heavens, And the creeping thing of the ground, And bow, and sword, and war I break from off the land, And have caused them to lie down confidently. |
In that day – The glorious 1000 years. R541:5*
A covenant – The New covenant. R282:6, R4371:2
will break the bow – Dates the "door of hope" (verse 15) by declaring it to be after the time of trouble, when wars shall be no more. C297; R1341:6
|
| 19 And I have betrothed thee to Me to the age, And betrothed thee to Me in righteousness, And in judgment, and kindness, and mercies, |
Will betroth thee – Possibly the whole house of fleshly Israel, but probably spiritual Israel is meant. C297; R1341:6
|
| 20 And betrothed thee to Me in faithfulness, And thou hast known Jehovah. |
|
| 21 And it hath come to pass in that day, I answer an affirmation of Jehovah, I answer the heavens, and they answer the earth. |
Hear the heavens – The Christ, as a heavenly priesthood, shall make successful intercession for the earth. R1434:1*
Hear the earth – Represented through its "princes," and these princes shall answer the people. R1434:1*
The new earth (2 Pet. 3:13), reorganized society. A319
|
| 22 And the earth doth answer the corn, And the new wine, and the oil, And they answer Jezreel. |
And the wine – Message of joy. R1695:2
They shall hear Jezreel – Thus the great antitypical day of Jezreel is to be realized. R1434:1*
|
| 23 And I have sowed her to Me in the land, And I have pitied Lo-Ruhamah, And I have said to Lo-Ammi, My people thou [art], and it saith, My God!' |
Thou art my people – The spiritual class, selected during the time when fleshly Israel has been cast off. C297; R1341:6
"Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but the election hath obtained it and the rest are blinded." (Rom. 11:7) C297; R1341:6
|