Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20071118.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Hosea: God's BALANCE Of Judging And Blessing His People
Part III: God's BALANCED Use Of Punishment To Lead To His People's Blessing
(Hosea 2:1-13)
  1. Introduction
    1. God's discipline is something often dreaded even by believers as though it were an unproductive exercise.
    2. Actually, God is so good that even His discipline is of positive value, a truth Hosea 2:1-13 illustrates:
  2. God's BALANCED Use Of Punishment To Lead To His People's Blessing, Hosea 2:1-13.
    1. Though some view Hosea 2:1 as part of Hosea 1:1-11, and Hosea 2:2 as introducing a new section, God uses the masculine plural imperative forms of the verbs "say" and "plead" in Hosea 2:1-2 to call individual godly folk in Israel to address fellow godly "brethren" and "sisters" in verse 1 and "your mother" the godless nation in verse 2. Thus, I believe that Hosea 2:1-2 fit together, cf. Kittel, Biblia Hebraica, p. 896.
    2. As such, God in Hosea 2:1 anticipated a future generation in Israel that would be restored to blessing through God's forgiveness, and so God urged them to address one another as His people who once were unpitied ("Lo-ruhamah") and had once been no longer God's people ("Lo-ammi") but who later would be restored to being God's people and pitied, the respective meanings of "Ammi" and "Ruhamah" in Hosea 2:1, cf. Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Hosea 1:6 and 1:9.
    3. Nevertheless, in the short-term, God called individual godly folk like Hosea to plead with his current wayward generation, "your mother;" this title begins to describe God's theme that Israel had left Him much like a wife would leave her husband for another man to where God explained that, in practical terms, "she is not my wife, neither am I her husband," Hosea 2:2; Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 1382-1383.
    4. Thus, Hosea warned of God's punishment of Israel in the form of agricultural famine, Israel, Hos. 2:2b-3.
    5. That punishment and its causes that had angered the Lord are described in Hosea 2:4-13 as follows:
      1. Israel had left God to worship false Baal gods, Hosea 2:4-5; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Hosea 2:5.
      2. Thus, God thus would punish Israel with a loss of agricultural blessings: He would remove these to show He had given them, not Baal who was alleged to bring rain for crops, Hosea 2:6-7a. That would force His people to discern that it was God Who had supplied agricultural bounty, not Baal, 2:7b-13.
    6. However, though God's punishment would involve His withdrawing His agricultural blessings so that Israel would be left like a "desert" in an agricultural famine, recalling the days when God led Israel in the wilderness during the exodus from Egypt, He would again woo Israel to Himself, 2:14-15; Ibid., p. 1385.
    7. [The Valley of Achor, v. 15b, the "valley of trouble", was where Achan was executed for taking Jericho's goods (Joshua 7:26); it is used in this context to signal Israel's coming judgment would lead her to repent with subsequent blessing like Israel's defeat at Ai via Achan's sin and judgment later led to victory at Ai and Israel's rededication to the Lord, Hosea 2:15b; Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to Hosea 2:15 (Joshua 8:1-29, 30-35).]
    8. Accordingly, when Israel repented to call God her husband ("Ishi") instead of her Baal god ("Baali"), removing the practice of using names of the false Baal god in overcoming her tendency to worship false idols, God would give her a Messianic Kingdom covenant of tameness in animals and peace, 2:16-18.
    9. Then, He would spiritually betroth Israel anew to Himself, an eternal betrothal in righteousness, justice, loyal love and mercy due to Israel's repentance resulting from suffering God's discipline, 2:19-20a ESV.
    10. At that time Israel would righteously "acknowledge" the Lord, not Baal, as God, Hosea 2:20b NIV.
    11. Then, with Israel again being personified as "Jezreel" (cf. Hos. 1:10-11), she would call to God for grain, wine and oil, these would call to the ground for production, the ground would call to the heavens for rain, and God, not Baal, would supply it (opposite Canaanite theology), and would thus "sow" [recalling "Jezreel" that means "God sows", Ibid., ftn. to Hosea 1:4] His people with agricultural blessings, Hosea 2:21-23a. Israel would be called His people by God, and Israel would call God [not Baal] her God, 2:23b!
Lesson: Though God planned to punish Israel with a loss of agricultural blessings for seeking their bounty from false gods, in her punishment, she would see God had been her only true Source of such blessings, and repent of such idolatry to seek God alone that He might forever provide them for her!

Application: When God disciplines, may we not view it as a dreadful, unproductive event, but value its work to call us to repent, and accordingly repent that we might be blessed again, cf. Psalm 19:9-11.