Hosea

Hosea 2: Betrothed to the LORD forever

Begin in prayer

Before you read how the LORD speaks to His unfaithful people, please pause with your family. Ask Him to show you His faithful love, and to lead you to Christ, who loves His people as a husband loves his wife.

Yahweh appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.

Jeremiah 31:3

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us how You win back a people who broke Your promise, and show us Jesus, who loves His people and gave Himself for them. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The LORD speaks to Israel as a husband speaks to a wife who has broken her marriage promise. He charges her with running after her lovers, who she thinks give her bread, water, wool, oil and drink. She did not know that the LORD gave the grain, the new wine and the oil, which she used for Baal. So He will hedge her in with thorns and take back His gifts, until she says she will return to her first husband. Then He promises to allure her, speak tenderly to her in the wilderness, and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. He will betroth her to Himself forever, in righteousness, justice, loving kindness, compassion and faithfulness. Those who were not His people will hear Him say, “You are my people”, and they will answer, “My God!”

As you read Hosea 2, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The LORD will win back His unfaithful people and betroth them to Himself forever.

Chapter 2 goes on with the picture of Hosea's marriage, where the LORD is the husband and Israel is the wife. Israel kept the LORD's feasts and also trusted Baal, the storm god, for rain, grain and oil. Verse 8 names the root sin, for she did not know that the LORD gave her the grain, the wine and the oil. So He hedges her in with thorns and takes back His gifts, and the hard words of verses 2 to 13 are said plainly. The Valley of Achor was where Achan was judged after Jericho, yet the LORD calls it a door of hope (Joshua 7). The wilderness recalls the days after Egypt, so His tender words there are a new beginning. A betrothal was a firm promise to marry, and the LORD uses that word three times in verses 19 and 20. Paul uses verse 23 for everyone God calls in Christ (Romans 9 verses 25 and 26). Christ loved His church and gave Himself for her, and He is the Husband this chapter pictures (Ephesians 5 verses 25 to 27).

How does Hosea 2 show us that the LORD will win back His unfaithful people and betroth them to Himself forever?

The LORD charges Israel because she gave His gifts to others.

She said that her lovers gave her bread, water, wool, flax, oil and drink (verse 5). The LORD says He gave the grain, wine, oil, silver and gold (verse 8). That is idolatry, thanking another god for what the LORD gave. The LORD says these things plainly, and His aim is to win her back (verse 14).

The LORD blocks her way so that she will come back.

He will hedge up her way with thorns, so that she cannot find her lovers (verses 6 and 7). Then she will say that she will go and return to her first husband. His discipline has a purpose, and it is to bring her back. The LORD keeps His promise even when people do not keep theirs.

The LORD speaks tenderly and betroths her to Himself forever.

In the wilderness He speaks tenderly to her, and she answers as in the days of her youth (verses 14 and 15). He promises to betroth her in righteousness, justice, loving kindness, compassion and faithfulness. Jesus is the Husband who loves His church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5 verse 25). Those who were not His people hear Him say, “You are my people” (verse 23).

Memorise

I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.

Hosea 2:19

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what other love pulls my heart away from the LORD?

The LORD says of the people who ran after other lovers, “I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her”. Then He says, “I will betroth you to me forever”. Those are the words of a husband who will not give up.

Our sin is a broken promise to God, and we cannot mend it ourselves. So Jesus loved His people and gave Himself up for them. He bore the curse of their broken faithfulness on the cross, and He rose again. His love has paid the whole debt.

So come to Him. Turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus. Every sinner who trusts Him has his sins forgiven, and Jesus keeps him as His own forever.

Parent's note

Tell your children that the LORD wins back a people who broke His promise, and promises Himself to them forever. Parents, please explain verses 2 to 5, 9 and 10 yourself, and be gentle with any child whose parents are apart. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that He wins back His unfaithful people and promises Himself to them forever, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

“For a small moment I have forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you.

Isaiah 54:7

Faithful Lord, thank You that You keep Your promise to a people who broke theirs. Thank You for Jesus, who loved His people and gave Himself for them. Please draw each one of us back to You, and teach us to trust Him. Amen.