Hosea 2 Notes - Part 2

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Verse 7

“I will go and return to my first husband.”

If you haven't already, please go and read Part 1.  Do you see that verse 6 was a transitional verse?  Verse 2 started a discussion of original 10-Israel.  Then in verse 6 we see that literally hundreds of years later - generation after generation of the descendants of 10-Israel - would be afflicted with a condition of lack of knowledge.  A case of amnesia.  Like a person who doesn’t remember or acknowledge certain important things that came before today.  And this condition lasts until the end of the age…our day.  But then we see an awakening from this state of confusion.  But how?  How does it all play out?  The great awakening begins with utter destruction, as we're told over and over again by the prophets.


Gomer plays the part of harlot 10-Israel.  Hosea marries the harlot Gomer but Gomer is bent on following after her lovers.  Gomer leaves Hosea and forgets from where she came.  She falls victim to a state of amnesia about her past.  But then something happens:  “She will chase her lovers…she will seek them but not find them.  Then she will go and return to her first husband.”  It's evident that Gomer plays the harlot until it’s no longer possible for her to play the harlot.  It’s really quite sad.  The Church of America doesn’t wake up until she absolutely has to.  She doesn’t wake up until God strips away all her comforts…until all her cities are burned with fire. (Isaiah 1:7, 6:9-11)  “Then they will know that I am the God that strikes.”  (Ezekiel 7:9)

Verse 8

“She did not know.”  What an indictment the Father is making about his people.  We casually read these words and skim right over the Father trying to tell us that his heart is broken by his people.  Look in Isaiah 5…look how the Father describes his vineyard.  What is the vineyard?  His people are his vineyard and he is the owner of the vineyard.  We in America in 2011 take it all for granted.  Everything we have we attribute to ourselves.  But God is saying he gave us all the wealth that we now enjoy.  Are we living as the people of middle Africa?  No clean running water? Hardly a stitch of clothing?  No ipods?  No television?  Living in mud huts?  No stores full of food on every main street?  No!  We are the cream of the crop.  We are the wealthiest people who have ever lived.  How do we show God thanks and honor for all these things?  As a whole, we don’t.  Our actions prove it.  God says in Malachi 2 that we don’t even honor him with the tithe.  We take everything for granted.  We say to ourselves ‘I just happen to have popped into existence in a wealthy country.'  It was God who gave us everything we have. It was he who caused us to increase. 

The truth of God’s Word contains both the physical and the spiritual.  We are physical beings with physical needs such as food and clothing.  But there is contained in theses passages that which also speaks to our spiritual needs.  Said by one author concerning the spiritual meanings of these things: 

“That new wine signifies the derivative natural truth, is evident from the signification of corn, as being good; and from the signification of new wine, as being truth;”

   Beyond the physical, God is saying here that he was responsible for instructing us in all the good things of this life.  He gave us truth and wisdom and the good that comes from it.

Verse 9

“I will take away...”  Following the thought started in verse 7.  God, at the end of the age, has to get our attention.  Amos 4 (and Isaiah 1, Jeremiah 14) says we’ll see God attempt to correct us before it’s too late.  Before, as he says here, he has to strip us of everything.  But we already know what the end result of those corrections will be.  Isaiah 1 says “why should I keep correcting you?  You’ll just sin more and more.”  We know that these corrections, these plagues coming to America, will not wake us up.  So we see here in Hosea 2 that God will finally take away everything.  Job 1:21 says the Lord gives and Lord takes away.  Why?  He always has a reason...and he's always justified.  As Isaiah 1 says, our cities will be burned with fire.  The land will be laid desolate.  “I will take away the grain in it’s time and the wool in it’s season.”  Amos 8:11 says there will be a time of famine...not of bread or water...but of hearing the words of the Lord.  As is evident from the preceding verses, Amos is speaking of the same day: the destruction of America.  The days are numbered.  When the time comes, everything will be taken away.

Verse 10

"I will uncover..."  Compare with Jeremiah 13:26 and Ezekiel 16:37.  God is saying I'm going to expose you for what you are.  You are without me.  You are without the good virtues: truth, honesty, justice, goodness.  The world is deceived by you right now because you appear strong.  You appear to be in control.  But the time is coming when you will be exposed as one who is lacking; one who is weak; one who is defeated and full of shame.  "No one will deliver her."  Isaiah 47:15:  Thus shall they be to you With whom you have labored, Your merchants from your youth; They shall wander each one to his quarter. No one shall save you.

Verse 11

Easter, gone.  President's Day, gone.  Valentines Day, gone.  Thanksgiving, gone.  Christmas, gone.  Independence Day, gone.  Labor Day, gone.  Memorial Day, gone.  St. Patrick's Day, gone.  MLK Jr. Day, gone. Sunday morning Church service, gone.  Holloween, gone...never should have been. (If you are a child of God, please stop celebrating this holiday!)  Easter bunny, gone...never should have been.  Santa Clause, gone...never should have been.  Christmas tree, gone...never should have been. (Jeremiah 10:3-5)  Easter ham, gone...never should have been. (Isaiah 65:4)

Verse 12

"These are my wages..."  I have these things because of my great wisdom and power.  I traded with all the earth:  Merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.  The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all. (Revelation 18:12-14)  "...And all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with fire..." Micah 1:7

Verse 13

"I will punish her For the days of the Baals to which she burned incense."

Jeremiah 2:23  "How can you say, 'I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals'?  See your way...Know what you have done..."

I'm convinced the people of God, as a whole, have no idea how far we've fallen.  Why don't we know?  Because we don't read his Word.  We think God is all about grace and forgiveness.  We think God doesn't remember our sinful lifestyles.  We think we get a free ticket into bliss before all the trouble starts.  The day is coming when God will contend with his people.  One way or the other, he will cause his people to understand.  Folks, it's going to be horrible beyond words that can describe.  Why is all this coming?  "... But Me she forgot..."  God says over and over again "and then they will know that I am the Lord."  And in other places he says "they don't know me."  God's own people don't really know him.  We know of him.  But we don't know him.  We don't know him because we don't know his Word.  

There's a song on the Christian radio today that says "Speak to me, please speak to me...Whisper, shout it...Give me something..."   Folks, I really can't stand this song.  Jeremiah 6:10, speaking of our day, says "my word is a reproach to them...they don't delight in it"  But God, I'm so dry and I need to hear from you.  Well, did you read my word?  Folks, doesn't his word say that he keeps us in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him?  Oh, but if I just pray long enough he'll speak to me.  If I just get in my prayer closet...  That's all well and good, but what about his Word?  Do you need peace?  Get in his word.  Do you need wisdom?  Get in his word.  Do you want to know him?  Get in his word.  Do you need a change of heart?  Do his word.

Jeremiah 6:10

To whom shall I speak and give warning, That they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, And they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach to them; They have no delight in it.

Isaiah 26:3

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.

Phillipians 4:7

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Psalm 119:165

Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.