Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Hosea 2:21
And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
21, 22. I will hear ] Rather, I will respond (and similarly throughout). It is a beautiful picture of the harmony between the physical and the spiritual spheres, Jezreel (i.e. Israel, see next verse) asks its plants to germinate; they call upon the earth for its juices; the earth beseeches heaven for rain; heaven supplicates for the divine word which opens its stores; and Jehovah responds in faithful love. The idea is that of Amo 9:13; Joe 3:18, but it is expressed in an unusual manner. Striking parallels have been quoted from Euripides and schylus (fragments beginning respectively
,
and );
but we need not have recourse for illustrations to classical literature. The prophets and psalmists have no scruple in adopting and spiritualizing popular (i.e. heathenish) Semitic modes of thought. One of the most prevalent of these modes of thought is referred to by Hosea both in this chapter and in. Hos 1:2. The heathen Semitic deities were the productive powers of nature, and were grouped in couples of male and female principles, known in the middle zone of Semitic countries as Baal and Baalath (= Baaltis), Baal and Ashrah (see note in Introd., part ii.), and Ashtar (or Ashtor) and Ashtoreth (or Astarte). It was believed that the fruitful earth was the issue of this union; or, by a variation of the same myth, that the earth itself was the female principle. Hence the idea that the land (see Hos 1:2. and comp. the expressions in Hos 2:5 ; Hos 2:9), and, by a later inference, the people of Israel, were the offspring or the spouse of their God was a truism to the hearers of the prophet; but their divine sonship was not physical but moral (see below, on Hos 11:1), and that the nation’s Bridegroom could even divorce his spouse these were strange and offensive ideas. The latter indeed was so inconceivable that Hosea was directed to explain it by allegorizing a distressing episode in his own history. We must not omit to notice in conclusion that the adaptation of mythic and therefore strictly speaking heathenish forms of speech is not confined to the records of revealed religion. The Arabic vocabulary of Mohammedan times contains a group of parallel expressions which may pertinently be referred to here. Thus, for instance bal and ‘ aththar or ‘ athar are used of land which is watered from heaven (i.e., by rain and not by springs), and these, being derivatives of the Arabic forms of the divine names Baal and Ashtar, imply the very same myth which has been mentioned above. So too both in Talmudic Hebrew and in Arabic ‘field, or land of Baal’ means land which has no need of irrigation, and ba‘l in Arabic, according to Lane, any seed-produce only watered by the rain. (See Prof. Robertson Smith, The Prophets of Israel, pp. 172, 409, Cheyne, The Prophecies of Isaiah, Vol. 11. p. 295 = 282 ed. 2). These significant phrases throw a fresh light, not only (as Prof. Smith has shown) on Hosea, but also on the language of Isa 45:8, ‘Shower, ye heavens from above let the earth open, and let them (viz. heaven and earth) bear the fruit of salvation’.
Jezreel ] In Hos 1:4 Jezreel was only mentioned for its historical associations, without any reference to the meaning of its name. Here however it evidently has a symbolic value, viz. ‘God sows (it)’.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I will hear the heavens … – As all nature is closed, and would refuse her office to those who rebel against her God, so, when He hath withdrawn His curse and is reconciled to man all shall combine together for mans good, and, by a kind of harmony, all parts thereof join their ministries for the service of those who are at unity with Him. And, as an image of love, all, from lowest to highest, are bound together, each depending on the ministry of that beyond it, and the highest on God. At each link, the chain might have been broken; but God who knit their services together, and had before withheld the rain, and made the earth barren, and laid waste the trees, now made each to supply the other, and led the thoughts of people through the course of causes and effects up to Himself, whoever causes all which comes to pass.
The immediate desire of His people was the grain, wine and oil; they needed the fruitfulness of the earth; the earth, by its parched surface and gaping clefts, seemed to crave the rain from heaven; the rain could not fall without the will of God. So all are pictured as in a state of expectancy, until God gave the word, and His will ran through the whole course of secondary causes, and accomplished what man prayed Him for. Such is the picture. But, although Gods gifts of nature were gladdening tokens of His restored favor, and now too, under the Gospel, we rightly thank Him for the removal of any of His natural chastisements, and look upon it as an earnest of His favor toward us, the prophet who had just spoken of the highest things, the union of man with God in Christ, does not here speak only of the lowest. What God gives, by virtue of an espousal forever, are not gifts in time only. His gifts of nature are, in themselves, pictures of His gifts of grace, and as such the prophets employ them. So then God promiseth, and this in order, a manifold abundance of all spiritual gifts. Of these, corn and wine, as they are the visible parts, so are they often, in the Old Testament, the symbols of His highest gift, the holy eucharist; and oil, of Gods Holy Spirit, through whom they are sanctified.
God here calls Israel by the name of Jezreel, repealing, once more in the close of this prophecy, His sentence, conveyed through the names of the three children of the prophet. The name Jezreel combines in one, the memory of the former punishment and the future mercy. God did not altogether do away the temporal part of His sentence. he had said, I will scatter; and, although some were brought back with Judah, Israel remained scattered in all lands, in Egypt and Greece and Italy, Asia Minor, and the far East and West. But God turned His chastisement into mercy to those who believed in Him. Now he changes the meaning of the word into, God shall sow. Israel, in its dispersion, when converted to God, became every where the preacher of Him whom they had persecuted; and in Him – the true Seed. whom God sowed in the earth and it brought forth much fruit, converted Israel also bore, some a hundred-fold; some sixty; some thirty.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Hos 2:21-22
I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel
The dependence of universal being upon a benignant providence
Jezreel (seed of God) was a city in the tribe of Issachar.
The valley in which it stood was remarkable for its fertility. Jezreel, in the text, may be either the valley which bore the corn, wine, and oil, or the obedient part of the nation, restored to the country from which they had been carried away. One of the characteristics of the Book of Hosea is the frequent transition from the most distressful to the most delightful annunciations of futurity. Amid all that was adapted to alarm the disobedient many, there was a tender regard for the consolations and hopes of the pious few. The text is a passage of this description. It practically, Net philosophically, depicts the harmony of universal nature, operating under the benignant direction of Providence for the good of man. One seems to feel the piety of the sentiment more for this circuitous tracing of mans enjoyment to his Makers bounty. We find that all second causes, tarry in them as long as we will, and multiply them as we may, yet must terminate in a great first cause. The Deity cannot be excluded from His own universe. The prophets description is, in the true spirit of poetry, the selection of a particular instance which is adorned with all the beauty of imagery, and then put forward as the illustration of a principle.
1. It is the fact that there is such a connection as the prophet has intimated, not only in that particular case, but in all the regions of matter and mind, blending them together, and making them one.
2. The influence of this fact upon our feelings and conduct, its righteous tendency or unrighteous application, its gloom or gladness, must arise from the notions of the Divine character with which it is associated in our convictions. There is not merely a community of properties, but a reciprocity of influence, from the minutest to the mightiest substances, from the nearest to the most remote, from the grain to the mass, from the mass to the mountain, from the mountain to the island or continent, from that to the solid globe, from our globe to the solar system, from that system to other systems, having their relative positions and combined movements, until it expands beyond our sense or imagination in the multiplicity of worlds, and the boundlessness of space. This connection applies to time as well as to space. In the mind and life of man it wilt be seen that the thoughts of the one and the events of the other have a similar connection, and are under similar influences. No idea springs up in the mind spontaneously, without something to introduce it, something which stands to it in the relation of a cause, itself the effect of something which preceded. The universe may be regarded as a great machine, but everything depends on our believing, or not, that this machine has a Mover and Maker, and on the notions we entertain of His dispositions and designs. Some blend this fact with the denial of God. Others blend the fact with the admission of a God, an Almighty Creator, but not a God whose love is the same to all the rational beings whom the system brings into existence–a God who is partly benevolent and partly malignant. It is the glory of our faith to blend with this fact the deepest conviction of the universal love of the Creator. All things lead us back to God, the infinite goodness. Learn–
1. A lesson of humility and of gratitude.
2. A lesson of caution.
3. Let our devotion be universal as the presence and influence of our God. Let it pervade our lives. (J. R. Beard.)
Second causes:–
1. God is wont to work good for His people by second causes. He sends not things immediately from heaven, but the heavens hear the earth, and the earth hears the corn and the wine. We must look to second causes, but take heed of resting on them. Though God sometimes works beyond means, and even contrary to them, ordinarily He uses second causes.
2. There is a concatenation in second causes, and not merely a use. Every one in their order ministers to the other. If we could see the comely order of the creatures, we should see them all linked together by a golden chain.
3. Nothing can be done by any link of the chain of second causes, but by Gods being at the uppermost link.
4. It is most comely, and a great blessing, when the right order and chain of second causes hold; as in nature, so in any society, when all preserve their due subordination. When they are out of order, it is a great misery to a city or kingdom. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
Family prayers
By this very elaborate and poetically ingenious figure the prophet appears to be giving a contrived representation of the fact, that when God brings m the promised day of His universal reign on the earth, there will be a grand convergency of causes to prepare it, and, like so many concurrent prayers, to make common suit for it before Him. Thus he figures the world as being the beautiful valley called Jezreel, which is the garden, so to speak, of the land. And it is to be as when the people of Jezreel get their harvest, by having everything in a train of concurrent agency to prepare it–they make petition by their careful tillage to the corn, the grapes, and olives, that they will grow apace; these in turn make suit to the earth to give them nutriment; this again hears them, and lifts its petition to the heavens, asking rain and dew; whereupon, last of all, the heavens hand up the prayers to God, to furnish them water, and let them shed it down; which petition He graciously hears, and the harvest follows. So he conceives it will be as the harvest of the world approaches. It will be as if all things were put striving together, and a prayer were going up for it through all the concurrent circles of providence. Gods counsel and kingdom are constructing always a perfect harmony, by their convergence on His perfect end. Then, as the perfect end is neared, and the harmony with it grows complete, it will be as if more things were concurring in it, and asking for it, and prayer, falling in as a cause among causes, will have them all praying with it, or handing up its request. In which we may see what holds good of all prayer, and how or by what law it prevails. In one view the whole future is prayed in by the whole present, being such a future as the whole present demands. The more things therefore prayer can get into harmony with itself in its request, the more likely it is to prevail; and the more alone it is, and the more things it has opposite to it, in the field of causes, the less likely it is to prevail–even as Adam had less hope of success in praying for Cain, that the blood of Abel was crying to God against him from the ground. All prayer being under this general condition, family prayer will be, of course. I handle the subject in this form, in the conviction that the prayers of families are so often defeated by the want of any such concert in the aims, plans, tempers, works, and aspirations of the house, as are necessary to a common suit before God; in other words, because the prayers, commonly so called, are defeated by the suit of so many causes contrary to them. I drop out of notice family worship as observance, and speak of it only as the open state of prayer and communion with God in the house.
I. The manner in which prayers of all kinds get their answers from God. Two things are wanted.
1. That the matter requested should agree with Gods beneficent aims, or the ends of good to which His plans are built.
2. That the prayer should agree with as many other prayers and as many other circles of causes as possible: for God is working always towards the largest harmony, and will not favour therefore the prayer of words, when everything else in the life is demanding something else, but will rather have respect to what has the widest reach of things and persons making suit with it. See how it is in the great realm of nature. The Bible history, too, shows a grand convergency of all the matters included in it, and a mysterious concert weaves all its facts together, and keeps them working towards the same result. In the same way, descending to a lower field, every conversion to God takes place when some largest harmony demands it. If we come directly to the matter of prayer itself, we meet the promise, that If we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us, and If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them. By the whole economy of prayer God is working toward the largest, most inclusive harmony, and prayer is to be successful just according to the amount of concurrency there is in it. First, there is to be the completest possible concurrency with God; then a concurrency of one or two hundred, or, if so it may be, two hundred millions of petitioners in a common suit; and then all these are to be total in the suit, bringing all their lustings, affections, works, plans, properties, and self-sacrifices into the petition; whereupon the prayer will grow strong, just in proportion to the amount of agreement or concurrence there is in it.
II. Conditions of successful family prayer. The great infirmity of family prayers, or of what is sometimes called family religion, is that it stands alone in the house, and has nothing put in agreement with it. It is a first point of religion itself, that by its very nature, it rules presidingly over everything desired, done, thought, planned for, and prayed for in the life. The mere observance kind of piety, that which prays in the family to keep up a reverent show, or acknowledgment of religion, is not enough. It leaves everything else in the life to be an open space for covetousness and all the gay lustings of worldly vanity. What is prayed for in the house by the father, is sometimes not prayed for by the mother in her family tastes and tempers. It is necessary that the practical ends, tastes, plans, aspirations, and works of the house should all come into the same circle of concert, and join their petition to reinforce the suit of the prayers. Here is the great lesson of family religion; it is that religion, being the supreme end and law of life, is to have everything put in the largest possible harmony with it. (Horace Bushnell, D. D.)
The chain of blessing
The language of this text is poetical and highly figurative, but quite easy of comprehension. Jezreel, the seed of God, is the name used by this prophet to designate the people of God. We have, then, a picture of the whole process by which God answers His people when they pray, Give us this day our daily bread. The passage is not only beautiful, but suggestive. Its range is very wide. It leads all along the chain of effect and cause, from man through nature up to God. Beginning at the lower extremity, we find ourselves first in the wide and busy domain of political economy, with its two branches of production and distribution. Stepping upwards, we reach the sphere of natural science, and the highest raises us to the lofty regions of theology. We begin, however, with the highest link.
1. However many links may seem to intervene in natures chain, if followed up, it always leads to God at last. If the harvest came by some process of evolution, whence came the process of evolution? We may carry back the chain of second causes as far as we may, we shall always find the farthest link fastened to the throne of the Omnipotent.
2. It is God that hears, not only at the extremity of the chain, but through it all, between each separate link, however long it may be. Not only is God the First Cause, He is in all intermediate causes too. We speak of laws, laws of nature. But who made the laws? And who enforces the laws? There must be power to do this. Where is it? What a remarkable thing is the regular proportion between what is produced and what is needed for consumption in a given year. The whole thing is left to individual choice, there must therefore be some power at work to preserve the necessary equilibrium. There is the law of supply and demand to regulate this. But this law, like all other laws, implies a lawgiver. It implies a power above ourselves.
3. Food is produced where population is scanty, it is wanted mainly where population is dense. Whately says, Mans foresight often gets the credit for what is due to Gods wisdom. All the foresight of man would fail for a work so stupendous as this. Many have the idea that the farmer is more dependent on the Divine power than the artisan and the manufacturer. It is a mistake. The chain along which we derive our manufactured goods from the Giver of all good may be longer than the other, but God is just as surely at the upper end of it, and in each intermediate link. No machine can produce power. All the force which is used in all our factories is ultimately traceable to the sun. It was the sun which, millions of years ago, poured its rays on the luxurious vegetation of the carboniferous era, and filled it full of a latent force, which, after the leaves and stems and roots containing it had been pressed and hardened and blackened underground, should be avail able to those who, in future ages, should dig it up as coal, and use it to heat their houses and drive their engines. Our manufactures as our agriculture are of God, and of Him only. (J. Monro Gibson, D. D.)
The promise of plenty
1. While the Lords people are within time, they may read their own frailty in needing so many things to uphold even their outward man.
2. Outward mercies do so far follow on the covenant as the confederate may be free of fear and anxiety about them. Albeit the Lord do not always see it meet to heap plenty of corn and wine and oil upon His people, yet they have as much as, with godliness and contentment, may suffice. When they seek the best things, other things will certainly be added.
3. God is so tender a respecter of necessities that He hath an ear to hear the dumb cries of very insensible creatures in their need.
4. Gods reconciled people are to read, not only Gods love in their plenty, but that all the creation do, in their kind, with a good will, concur to serve him who is now at peace with his Maker.
5. The Lord sets a mark of excellency upon man, and especially upon His Church, in that so many things concur to serve them and provide for them.
6. Whatever it be that one creature affords unto another, or may be in the course of nature expected from it, yet every creature in itself is empty, and must be supplied by God before it satisfy any.
7. As the Lord is not to be tempted, but waited on in His established order for anything, so we are not to rest on any such order or course of nature, but to see Gods hand in it, who establisheth and blesseth it for such ends.
8. The Lords former sad dispositions towards His people will not hinder Him to change His dealing; but He will make His kindness so much the sweeter. (George Hutcheson.)
God and His universe
I. The operations of the universe are under the intelligent direction of the great God. The universe is here represented as in action. There is nothing stationary; all things are full of labour. The universe is not a self-acting machine, left to itself to work out. The great Machinist is ever with it, observing and directing every motion. This fact serves several important purposes.
1. To account for the unbroken order of nature.
2. To impress us with the sanctity of nature.
3. To inspire us with reverence towards the greatness of God.
II. That the operations of the universe are generally conducted on the mediatory principle. I will hear the heavens, etc. Look at this mediatory principle in its relation to man–
1. As a material being. How did we receive these corporeal frames: how are they sustained; how are they broken up?
2. As a spiritual being. How does knowledge come to man? He has teachers.
III. The operations of the universe are mercifully subordinated to the interests of the good. Jezreel, or the children of God, receive from God three things.
1. The blessings they devoutly sought.
2. The multiplication of their number.
3. The heightening of the sympathy between them and God. I will call them My people. (Homilist.)
And they shall hear Jezreel.
The audience of Jezreel
The prophet refers, under the symbolic title Jezreel, to Gods own faithful people, the undefiled remnant of Israel; those who were brought back to their own land after the captivity in Babylon. In a larger sense we are to understand the passage as a prophecy of the blessings which such of the Jews as accept our Lord Christ, and those of the Gentiles who believe in Him, shall enjoy under the Gospel.
I. The way in which God promises to be gracious to his people at the last. He will deal with them through a chain of intermediate agencies.
I. Superficially the text is but a poetic way of saying that all the universe shall unite to help the people of God.
2. The deeper thought is, that in this mode of due order and proportion, having respect to the fitness of all things which He has made. God rules the universe, albeit for the sake of His people.
II. The broad and all-embracing method of the Divine operation ought to be a great strength to us in times of discouragement and doubt. The tendency of modern life seems to be to make men pessimistic. It seems as if the enormous natural forces brought out into the light, and harnessed to work mans will for him, had somehow paralysed our human instincts. Human life seems to be becoming more and more but the life of a machine. God has promised to hear our prayers, but only on the condition that we approach Him in the way He has appointed. (Catholic Champion.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. I will hear, saith the Lord] The sentence is repeated, to show how fully the thing was determined by the Almighty, and how implicitly they might depend on the Divine promise.
I will hear the heavens] The visible heavens, the atmosphere, where vapours are collected. The clouds, when they wish to deposit their fertilizing showers upon the earth.
They shall hear the earth] When it seems to supplicate for rain.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
21. in that dayof grace toIsrael.
heavens . . . hear theearthpersonification. However many be the intermediateinstruments, God is the Great First Cause of all nature’s phenomena.God had threatened (Ho 2:9) Hewould take back His corn, His wine, c. Here, on the contrary,God promises to hearken to the skies, as it were, supplicatingHim to fill them with rain to pour on the earth and that the skiesagain would hearken to the earth begging for a supply of the rain itrequires; and again, that the earth would hearken to the corn, wine,and oil, begging it to bring them forth; and these again would hearJezreel, that is, would fulfil Israel’s prayers for a supply of them.Israel is now no longer “Jezreel” in the sense, “Godwill SCATTER” (Ho1:4), but in the sense, “God will PLANT”(Ho 1:11).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it shall come to pass in that day,…. When these espousals shall be made, when the marriage of the Lamb will be come, and his bride will be betrothed to him; then the whole creation, the heavens and the earth, shall contribute of their riches and plenty to make a marriage feast for them; or then shall the spouse of Christ, in a very visible and plentiful manner, by virtue of the marriage union between them, partake of all his good things, both temporal and spiritual; and especially the latter, as signified by the former; but yet in the use of means, and as the effect of prayer, as follows:
I will hear, saith the Lord; the petitions of his new married bride, which he cannot deny her :or, “I will answer” a; men oftentimes hear, and answer not; but when the Lord hears his people, he answers them, and grants them their requests; he is a God hearing and answering prayer. So the Targum,
“I will receive your prayer, saith the Lord.”
I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; in these and the following words is an elegant personification, a figure by which inanimate creatures are represented as persons speaking, praying, asking, and being heard and answered; and a beautiful climax, or a chain of second causes linked together, and as depending upon the first cause, the Lord himself; the heavens are represented as desiring the Lord of nature, the Maker and Supporter of them, having been like brass, and shut up, that they might have leave to let down their refreshing dews, and gentle showers of rain, upon the earth; and the earth as being dry and thirsty, as gaping, opening its mouth, and imploring these benign influences of the heavens; and both as answered: for so it may be rendered, “I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth” b; the Lord promises to answer the desires of the heavens, and allow them to drop their dew, and distil their rain; and so they shall answer the cravings of the earth. The spiritual sense may be, according to Schmidt, Christ is he on whom all blessings depend; “heaven” may signify the Holy Spirit Christ gives, who intercedes with him for the saints; the “earth” the ministration of the word and ordinances, by which the Spirit is given, invoked by the ministers of them. Or, as Cocceius, the “heavens” may design the ministers of the church, who govern in it, and who pray and plead for help, assistance, and success; and the “earth” the audience, the common people, who also pray, and are heard and answered, when ministers let down the dew and rain of evangelical doctrine upon them, and water them, and refresh them with it; and such precious seasons as these, as the fruit of prayer, will the saints have in the latter day.
a “respondebo”, Calvin, Drusius, Tarnovius, Cocceius. b “respondebo coelo, et illud respondebit terrae”, Cocceius, Drusius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“And it comes to pass in that day, I will hear, is the word of Jehovah; I will hear heaven, and it hears the earth. And the earth will hear the corn, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will hear Jezreel (God sows).” God will hear all the prayers that ascend to Him from His church (the first is to be taken absolutely; compare the parallel in Isa 58:9), and cause all the blessings of heaven and earth to flow down to His favoured people. By a prosopopeia, the prophet represents the heaven as praying to God, to allow it to give to the earth that which is requisite to ensure its fertility; whereupon the heaven fulfils the desires of the earth, and the earth yields its produce to the nation.
(Note: As Umbreit observes, “It is as though we heard the exalted harmonies of the connected powers of creation, sending forth their notes as they are sustained and moved by the eternal key-note of the creative and moulding Spirit.”)
In this way the thought is embodied, that all things in heaven and on earth depend on God; “so that without His bidding not a drop of rain falls from heaven, and the earth produces no germ, and consequently all nature would at length be barren, unless He gave it fertility by His blessing” (Calvin). The promise rests upon Deu 28:12, and forms the antithesis to the threat in Lev 26:19 and Deu 28:23-24, that God will make the heavens as brass, and the earth as iron, to those who despise His name. In the last clause the prophecy returns to its starting-point with the words, “Hear Jezreel.” The blessing which flows down from heaven to earth flows to Jezreel, the nation which “God sows.” The name Jezreel, which symbolizes the judgment about to burst upon the kingdom of Israel, according to the historical signification of the name in Hos 1:4, Hos 1:11, is used here in the primary sense of the word, to denote the nation as pardoned and reunited to its God.
This is evident from the explanation given in Hos 2:23: “ And I sow her for myself in the land, and favour Unfavoured, and say to Not-my-people, Thou art my people; and it says to me, My God.” does not mean “to strew,” or scatter (not even in Zec 10:9; cf. Koehler on the passage), but simply “to sow.” The feminine suffix to refers, ad sensum, to the wife whom God has betrothed to Himself for ever, i.e., to the favoured church of Israel, which is now to become a true Jezreel, as a rich sowing on the part of God. With this turn in the guidance of Israel, the ominous names of the other children of the prophet’s marriage will also be changed into their opposite, to show that mercy and the restoration of vital fellowship with the Lord will now take the place of judgment, and of the rejection of the idolatrous nation. With regard to the fulfilment of the promise, the remarks made upon this point at Hos 1:11 and Hos 2:1 (pp. 33, 34), are applicable here, since this section is simply a further expansion of the preceding one.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
The Lord promises again that he will not be wanting to the people, when they shall be reconciled to him. We must, indeed, in the first place, seek that God may be propitious to us; for they are very foolish who desire to live well and happily, and in the meantime care nothing for God’s favor. The Prophet shows when the happiness of men begins; it begins when God adopts them for his people, and when, having abolished their sins, he espouses them to himself. It is therefore necessary, in the first place, to seek this; for as we have said, the desire of being happy is preposterous, when we first seek the blessings of an earthly life, when we first seek ease, abundance of good things, health of body, and similar things. Hence the Prophet now shows, that we are then only happy when the Lord is reconciled to us, and not only so, but when he in his love embraces us, and contracts a holy marriage with us, and on this condition, that he will be a father and preserver to us, and that we shall be safe and secure under his protection and defense.
But at the same time he comes down to things of the second rank. Our happiness is, indeed, as we have said, in the enjoyment of God’s love; but there are accessions which afterwards follow; for the Lord provides for us, and exercises a care over us, so that he supplies whatever is needful for the support of life. Of this later part the Prophet now treats: he says, In that day. We see that he reminds us of the covenant, lest we be content with worldly abundance; for as it has been said, men are commonly devoted to their present advantages. Hence the Prophet sets here before our eyes the Lord’s covenant; he afterwards adds, that God’s favor would reach to the corn, and to the wine, and the oil.
But we must notice the Prophet’s words, I will hear, he says, or I will answer, ( ענה, one, means to answer, but it is here equivalent to hear,) I will hear then, I will hear the heavens, and they will hear the earth. The repetition is not superfluous; for the Israelites had been for some time consumed by famine, before they were led away into exile; as though the heavens were iron, no drop of rain came down. They might hence have thought that there was now no hope; but God here raises them up, I will hear, I will hear, he says; as though he said, “There is no reason for the miserable condition in which I have suffered you long to languish as your sins deserved, to discourage you; for I will hereafter hear the heavens.” As the Prophet before reminded them that when the beasts were cruel to them, it was a token of God’s wrath; so also he teaches by these words that the heavens are not dry through any hidden influence; but that when God withholds his favor, there is no rain by which the heavens irrigate the earth. Then God here plainly shows that the whole order of nature, as they say, is in his hand, that no drop of rain descends from heaven except by his bidding, nor can the earth produce any grass; in short, that all nature would be barren were he not to fructify it by his blessing. And this is the reason why he says, I will hear the heavens and they will hear the earth, and the earth will hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and all these will hear Jezreel
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.
Hos. 2:21. I will hear] The heavens pray to God, to give to earth its fertility; the earth and all creatures desire to satisfy the wants of Gods people; God is no longer scattering, but providing and planting.
Hos. 2:22 Jez. =] the seed of God.
Hos. 2:23. Will sow] A promise antithetic to the threat (Deu. 28:23; Lev. 26:19); expressive of prodigious converts and innumerable blessings on the earth (Rom. 11:12-15). The children now change names to show mercy and prove restoration. And with tenderness I will cherish her that had been Lo-Ruhamah (the not-beloved), and I will say to Lo-Ammi (to the no people-of-mine), Ammi (my own people) art thou; and he shall say, My God [Horsley].
This chapter is an enlargement and application of the first, the symbol of the one is expounded by the other. The sinful conduct of the nation is condemned, punishment is threatened, but salvation is proclaimed in promise of restitution and the blessings of peace and subsistence. The remnant among Israel, for whose sake God preserved a corrupt people, must prove living witnesses for him, testify to his goodness and grace, and urge others to turn to Jehovah. The penitent must plead with the impenitent, the converted with the unconverted, and the children with the parents.
HOMILETICS
THE UNIVERSE GOVERNED IN THE INTERESTS OF HUMANITY.Hos. 2:21-23
In these verses we have an unbroken chain of causation. The prophet represents God as listening to the prayer of the heavens, to allow them to give fertility to the earth. The heavens fulfil the desire of the earth, and the earth yields its increase to the nation; all things in heaven and earth depend upon God, so that without his bidding not a drop of rain falls from heaven, says Calvin, and the earth produces no germ, and consequently all nature would be barren, unless he gave it fertility by his blessing.
I. All things are subordinate to God.
1. God is the Creator of all things. All things were made by him at first. He only has absolute being and original essence. Creation is derived from him, The Great First Cause. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. By this simple expression Atheism, Polytheism, Pantheism, and Materialism are denied, and that philosophy which sees nothing apart and distinct from matter is reproved. We have no chance work, no theory of development here. Matter is not eternal. The world had a birthday. In the beginning God; God before primordial matter; God before its arrangement into shape and order; God first, and last, and everywhere; God before all things; God the cause of all things, and God the meaning of all things.
2. God is the Conserver of all things. That which was dependent at first cannot afterwards become independent. It requires the same hand to sustain as to create a thing. God did not create the world like a carpenter builds a house, to stand still. Having its very being from him, that being cannot be, or continue to be, without him. By him all things consist, or stand together. God is the Conservation and Correlation of forces. Not an atom is permitted to fall out of existence. Things may travel far, and take different shapes; but nothing is destroyed. The tiniest dew-drop is long-lived as the mighty ocean, and the feeblest nebule indestructible as the everlasting hills. As in matter, so in mind and morals. I know whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever. Nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it.
3. God is the Governor of all things. Creation carries with it the idea of control and superintendence. We are under law, mild, gracious, paternal law. But laws of themselves are impotent without the law-giver. Second causes depend upon the First Cause, and cannot put forth any causation without God. God works, and is ever active in his dominions. We are not the inhabitants of a fatherless world, nor is the earth a little province in a forsaken universe. God directs and controls all forces, all agencies, and all events, for the accomplishment of his design. There are no localities with God. He is everywhere present, and ruleth over all. In effecting his great designs he is independent also of every other creature, and renders the purpose and plans of every other power subordinate and auxiliary to his own. Here one sovereign forms an alliance with others for mutual interests and protection. If one were to oppose another the opposition might endanger all states under the alliance. But were all kings and kingdoms of the universe to unite against him, they could not succeed. His throne is above the heavens, above the accidents and contingences of earth. The frame of nature might be unhinged, and the universe fall into commotion, but he reigns undisturbed, God over all, and blessed for evermore.
II. All things co-operate, or work together. God hears the heavens; they hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel. Here we have the connection and concatenation of all things. God is not the author of confusion. Providence, therefore, which is Gods will in action, is consistent with itself. It is the glory of creation that it everywhere marches in time, moving to the music of law. Here is the true music of the spheres. A consummate harmony of relationships so dominates over the whole, that we have never an organic demand without the means of satisfying it, that amid innumerable changes and intermediate ends we find designs of final results. The world is not a machine, and the action of God interference; things are not like particles of dust driven in a whirlwind: but all things work together, work in harmony, subserve the ends for which they were made, and never cease to conform to Gods will, and be a reflex of his wisdom and goodness. The principle of mediation is seen everywhere in Gods government. I will hear the heavens. Heaven intercedes for earth, and the earth for men upon it. In the common intercourse and concerns of life, one man is blessed through another and for the sake of another. Our material and spiritual gifts come through the medium and mediation of another. But this regular system of established agency connects the result with the sovereign will of God. The first power is a link placed at the foot of the eternal throne. I will act upon the heavens, the powers of nature above us; they shall act upon the earth, the powers and sources of vegetation beneath us; the earth shall act upon the corn, and the wine, and the oil; the results of their combined and mysterious influence. Thus the chain is complete and unbroken.
Where one step broken, the great scales destroyed:
From natures chain whatever link you strike,
Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike.
III. All things are governed in the interests of the Christian Church. They shall hear Jezreel. Jez. means the seed of God, the nation pardoned and restored to God. All things not only work together, but good is the result, and this good is to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28). The universe in all its operations and departments contributes to the interests of Gods people. Events do not happen in human society and the Christian Church as if left to the mere causalities of nature, and were not under Divine control. Human happiness is promoted and human wants supplied, and men in Christ are the objects of Gods eternal purpose.
1. Human wants are satisfied. Corn, wine, and oil are given to Jezreel. Chastisements are removed, Divine favour is restored, and men are daily loaded with benefits and blessings. The gifts of nature are emblems of the gifts of grace. Constant bread, common mercies, and spiritual joys are bestowed with a liberal hand. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
2. There is spiritual increase in the Church. I will sow her unto me in the earth. Persecution and affliction did not diminish Israel. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church. God restored her, and in her dispersion she was the means of scattering the knowledge of God and the seeds of Divine truth. Gentiles were converted to God, and the earth will yet be the scene of an increase richer than any yet enjoyed. The fields are already white unto harvest.
3. There is restoration to friendship with God. Mercy for those that were unpitied, that had not obtained mercy, and those that were not Gods people were to become his people. God would anew declare them his people, and they would affectionately respond to the call. Jew and Gentile, bond and free, Barbarian and Scythian, will be one in Christ. All that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos. 2:21-22. All nature is closed and would refuse her office to those who rebel against her God, so when he hath withdrawn his curse, and is reconciled to man, all shall combine together for mans good, and by a kind of harmony all parts thereof join their ministries for the service of those who are at unity with him. And, as an image of love, all, from the lowest to the highest, are bound together, each depending on the ministry of that beyond it, and the highest on God. At each link the chain might have been broken; but God, who knit their services together, and had before withheld the rain, and made the earth barren, and laid waste the trees, now made each to supply the other, and led the thoughts of man through the course of causes and effects up to himself, who ever causes all which come to pass [Pusey].
Learn
1. The unworthiness of man. A dependent, sinful creature.
2. The dignity of man. All creatures employed to help him.
1. The abundance of Gods giftscorn, wine, and oil.
2. The goodness of God in supplying themI will hear.
3. The medium through which they comeheaven and earth.
4. The certainty of their bestowmentIt shall come to pass.
Hos. 2:23. I will sow her. The Church the channel of blessings to the world. The Church can only bless the world as she is blessed herself.
A beautiful earth.
1. The residence of the Church of GodI will sow her unto me in the earth.
2. The theatre of the mercy of GodI will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy.
3. The scene of obedience and love to GodThou art my people. Thou art my God.
Gods mercy.
1. The sum of human wantsnot obtained mercy, not my people.
2. The source from which it comesfree grace. I will have mercy.
3. The result of its bestowmentThou art my people.
4. The evidence of its possessionThou art my God.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 2
Hos. 2:23. My God. All in this life that is truly good is included in this, my God! if said not from habit, but with a full title to its use. This is a word of faith, by which we place our whole reliance upon the almighty, true, and compassionate God; it is a word of hope, by which we provide ourselves with all good perpetually in God, who is a Rock of Eternity; a word of love and fellowship, by which we delight ourselves in the goodness of God, and give ourselves wholly up to him [Rieger.] This God is our God. Is it so? Then infinite riches, infinite beauty, infinite excellence is ours. Is it so? Then all he has is ours; his infinite resources are ours; his providence, his Son, his Spirit, his heaven, are ours (1Co. 3:23). If the character of God be paternal, then your character should be filial, and the leading features of that are dependence and love.
Hos. 2:21-22. Providence is God in motion; God teaching by facts, and God fulfilling, explaining, enforcing his own word. Providence is God rendering natural events subservient to spiritual purposes; rousing our attention when we are careless; reminding us of our obligations when we are ungrateful; recalling our confidence when we depart from him by dependence upon his creatures. Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord [The Pathway].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
LOVE RECONCILINGISRAEL IS LOVED
TEXT: Hos. 2:21-23
21
And it shall come to pass in that day, I will answer, saith Jehovah, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth;
22
and the earth shall answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall answer Jezreel.
23
And I will sow her unto me in the earth: and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them that were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God,
QUERIES
a.
What is the point in giving answer to Jezreel?
b.
How is God going to sow her in the earth?
PARAPHRASE
And on that day when I make a new people, says Jehovah, I will hear. Yes, I will hear the heavens as they pray to Me to allow them to supply the earth with fertility. The heavens will, in turn, hear the supplications of the earth and supply what the earth asks for. The earth will hear the needs of the grain and the vine and the olive tree and supply them with sustenance. The crops of the earth will hear the supplications of the changed Jezreel, and give to her in abundance. At that same time I will take the Israel I scattered and gently sow a new seed for a harvest of My own. I will pity those who are Not Pitied, and I will call those who are not My people, Now You are My People. They will respond and say, You are our God!
SUMMARY
In highly figurative language the prophet now describes the overflowing love which Jehovah promises to shower down upon the new Israel
COMMENT
Hos. 2:21-22 . . . IN THAT DAY, I WILL ANSWER, SAITH JEHOVAH . . . AND THEY SHALL ANSWER JEZREEL. The phrase in that day, refers to the same time as the preceding sectionwhich is the Messianic age. This is plainly evident from 1Pe. 2:10 where the apostle quotes Hos. 2:23 as being fulfilled in the establishment of the church and calling of men and women to become a royal priesthood, a holy nation, Gods own people . . . There is double apostolic confirmation of this section in Hosea being a Messianic prophecy. The apostle Paul says (Rom. 9:19-26) that Hos. 2:23 is a prophecy of the receiving of the Gentiles into the scheme of Gods redemption through their faith in Christ.
The word answer should be translated hear. Hosea uses highly figurative language here to depict the shower of blessings upon this new betrothal of God to new Israel. The bethrothal having been completed (in Christ, Ephesians 5), the prophet now represents heaven and earth standing nearby ready to serve the Bridegroom as He showers His bride with presents. The heavens and the earth are represented as earnestly asking the Husband (God) which presents are to be showered upon the Bride. The Husband hears and directs that all the riches of His domain be given Her. So the church is blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3). K & D say, . . . the prophet represents the heaven as praying to God, to allow it to give the earth that which is requisite to ensure its fertility; Whereupon the heaven fulfills the desires of the earth, and the earth yields its produce to the nation . . . all things in heaven and on earth depend on God . . . without His bidding not a drop of rain falls from heaven, and consequently all nature would . . . be barren, unless He gave it fertility by His blessing.
The name Jezreel (formerly used figuratively to predict Gods scattering of Israel in the captivityin the sense of judgment) is now used in the good sense to denote a new sowing. This is evident from the context and the following verse (Hos. 2:23). So the figure represents God, the Husband, showering down gifts upon His Bride, the Church, through the agency of His whole creation. The reader should read in connection with this Eph. 1:3-23 and Col. 1:9-29.
Hos. 2:23 AND I WILL SOW HER UNTO ME IN THE EARTH . . . AND I WILL HAVE MERCY . . . AND . . . SAY TO THEM . . . THOU ART MY PEOPLE . . . The new Israel comes as a result of a new sowingone of Divine grace instead of Divine judgment. The former references to Jezreel (Hos. 1:4-5; Hos. 1:11) had to do with scattering or dispersing rebellious Israel by the judgment of God in captivity. But now, through the seed of Abraham (singular, cf. Gal. 3:16), God sows a new covenant nation, the one noted in 1Pe. 1:9-10 and Rom. 9:19-26. So the name Jezreel is turned into something blessed, just as the names in Hos. 1:6; Hos. 1:9; Hos. 2:1 were changed into blessing. Lange says of this section, The fulfillment is not to be seen in the return of the Jews from the exile, This was, to be sure, a fulfillment, but only a small and feeble beginning. For the promise is to be regarded as essentially Messianic . . . in Christ the new betrothal of God to his people has already taken place . . . Israel, to whom salvation is here promised by the Prophet, comes into view, not according to its natural nationality, but according to its divine destiny, or according to its typical significance as the People of God. This we heartily endorse because to interpret it otherwise would be to contradict inspired, apostolically confirmed fulfillment, as we have shown before.
QUIZ
1.
What specific historical age does in that day refer to here?
2.
What confirmation do we have as to the fulfillment of this section?
3.
What does the figurative language represent here?
4.
What new meaning is given to the name Jezreel here?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(21-23) Will hear.More correctly, I will answer (the prayer of) the heavens. A sublime personification! Heaven pleads with Jehovah, the earth pleads with heaven, and the products of the soil plead with the earth. To all these prayers an answer is vouchsafed. Jehovah answers the heavens with the gifts of dew and rain, wherewith the heavens answer the cravings of the earth, and the earth the cravings of the corn, wine, and oil. And these last, in their turn, answer the wants of Jezreel, a name which, like Achor, is to be invested with brighter meanings. It is to represent a Divine seedthe people whom the Lord hath blessed. (See Stanley, Lectures on the Jewish Church, II. Series, Lecture 32 ad fin., where this idea is eloquently set forth.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21, 22. Another feature of the future blessedness will be the extreme fertility of the soil (Amo 9:13; Joe 3:18). The promise in these verses presents a contrast to Hos 2:9; Hos 2:12, and a continuation of 18a. When the judgment has done its work, Jehovah will restore prosperity in a more abundant measure. The thought is expressed very beautifully under the picture of perfect harmony between the physical and spiritual spheres. Jehovah will no longer restrain the powers of nature from doing their work for the blessing of Israel. “Israel asks its plants to germinate; they call upon the earth for its juices; the earth beseeches heaven for rain; heaven supplicates for the divine word which opens its stores, and Jehovah responds in faithful love.”
Hear Better, R.V., “answer,” or “respond,” as the call comes. The curse threatened in 9ff. is removed.
Jezreel Used in Hos 1:4, for its historical associations; here on account of its meaning, God sows. Why the name is applied to Israel is shown in Hos 2:23: I will sow Establish permanently.
In the earth As in Hos 2:18, better, “land.”
Unto me Not unto the Baalim. Thus the first name symbolic of doom (Hos 1:4) is transformed into one of promise. The same will take place with the others. Lo-ruhamah (Hos 1:6) will again experience the divine favor and mercy; and Lo-ammi (Hos 1:9) will again become the people of God. This transformation in fortune is not wrought arbitrarily; it is based upon the inner transformation described in Hos 2:19-20.
Thou art my God Forever they are cured from running after the Baalim; Jehovah alone they will recognize as their God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And it will come about in that day, I will answer,” says YHWH, “I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth, and the earth will answer the grain, and the new wine, and the oil, and they will answer Jezreel.”
In that day it is God Who will act. It is He Who will commence the process. He will finally give the ‘answer’. He will provide the final solution. His answer will be given to the heavens, so that they may pour rain on the earth, and the heavens will give it to the earth so that it will be responsive to the rain, and the earth will give it to the grain, new wine and oil, so that they will spring forth from the earth, and they will give it to ‘Jezre-el’ (‘El sows’), who represents Israel. Israel will be fully blessed and provisioned. So instead of vengeance Jezre-el will signify reception of blessing as provided by God (El sows). His name will speak of God as sowing blessing. And the whole of creation will be involved (compare Rom 8:19-23).
Consider how the grain and the wine and the oil, which they had seen as provided to them by Baal, will now be known to have come from YHWH (compare Hos 2:6; Hos 2:8). For now they will ‘know YHWH’ and acknowledge Him in all His uniqueness.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Hos 2:21-22. I will hear, &c. I will answer, saith the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the [wants of the] earth.
Hos 2:22. And the earth shall favour the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel. This elegant gradation of the prophet admirably denotes the concert, the harmony, the intelligence, which shall be between all the parts of the universe. They shall no more see the heaven of iron, and of brass, withholding its dew, and its rain; nor the earth, burnt up by the sun, unable to nourish the plants; nor the fruits denied the succour of the earth, nor men deprived of their necessary aliments. This alludes to the spiritual blessings of the Christian church in general, and to the glorious privileges, spiritual and temporal, of the Millennium in particular.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
These are very sweet promises, both in a temporal, and in a spiritual sense; and all ratified, and confirmed, to the believer, in the charter of grace. When the Lord hath brought sinners into a state of salvation, all the nether spring blessings, and the upper spring mercies, both pour in upon the soul. The figure here made use of, in that of God’s hearing the heavens, and they hearing the earth, is very beautiful. In times of drought and famine, the earth in vain looks to the heavens for their beneficial influences, if the Lord shuts them up. But when the Lord acts upon the heavens, and the heavens upon the earth; then there will be showers of blessings’, the corn, and the wine, and the oil, shall abound, and the people of Jezreel shall be filled with plenty. The same holds good in grace. When the dry and famished souls of poor sinners are savingly brought acquainted with God’s rich mercy in Christ, their heaven is no longer to them iron, and the earth brass, but, the Lord hears and answers the intercession of his dear Son; and while prayers are going up, blessings are coming down; and the Lord becomes gracious to his people. Such, and so great, is the wonderful change brought by sovereign, free, and unmerited grace!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Hos 2:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
Ver. 21. And it shall come to pass in that day ] In that time of grace and reconciliation, fitly set forth by the name of a day in regard of, 1.Rev 2:1-29Rev 2:1-29 . Adornation; 3. Consolation; 4. Distinction; 5. Speedy preterition.
I will hear, saith the Lord of hosts
I will hear the heavens
And they shall hear the earth
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Hos 2:21-23
21It will come about in that day that I will respond, declares the LORD.
I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth,
22And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil,
And they will respond to Jezreel.
23I will sow her for Myself in the land.
I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion,
And I will say to those who were not My people,
‘You are My people!’
And they will say, ‘You are my God!’
Hos 2:21-22 The VERB respond (BDB 772, KB 851, Qal IMPERFECT) is used five times in just two verses. His response is unsolicited and unconditional (e.g., Joe 2:19). A new day of promised agricultural prosperity (cf. Deuteronomy 27-29), which was conditioned on covenant obedience, is coming, but the covenant conditions have been changed. The fallen human heart and spirit are replaced by a new heart and a new spirit (cf. Jer 31:31-34; Eze 36:22-38). Obedience is still the goal!
The purpose of original creation was a stage for fellowship with humankind made in God’s image (cf. Gen 1:26-27). That purpose was thwarted in human rebellion. The consequences of that rebellion has affected the planet (cf. Rom 8:18-25). New Covenant salvation in Christ restores the damaged image and allows intimate fellowship with God and obedience.
The OT pictures this new age in Edenic (agricultural) terms, but the NT widens this metaphor to a new heaven and a new earth (cf. Isaiah 55-66; Revelation 21-22). The scope is no longer Palestine, but the planet!
Hos 2:21 the heavens This refers to the atmosphere around the earth from which comes the rain. See Special Topic: Heaven .
Hos 2:22 Jezreel The term Jezreel means God sows, therefore, there is a play on words here between Hos 2:22-23, as there was in Hos 1:4; Hos 1:11. This was also the name of Hosea’s first child, which can be positive or negative (cf. Hos 1:4).
Hos 2:23 I will also have compassion This is the name Ruhamah, who also was one of Hosea’s children (cf. Hos 1:6). It is mentioned in the context three times, Hos 2:19; Hos 2:23 (twice). Also notice that Lo-Ammi, Hos 1:9, another one of Hosea’s children, is mentioned as well in Hos 2:23.
You are My people. . .You are my God This promise is quoted in Rom 9:25 and 1Pe 2:10 as widening to all people, not just Jews (cf. Isa 11:9).
The terms goi (BDB 156) and ‘am (BDB 766) are often used in a distinct covenant connotation. The first refers to any nation, people, or community that is separated from or not included with the speaker (i.e., a foreigner, an outsider, a non-covenant person). The second has the connotation of inclusion (e.g., Exo 33:13). Notice the play on these words in Hosea.
1. Hos 1:9, Israel not ‘am
2. Hos 1:10, used in Rom 9:24-26 and 1Pe 2:10 as a text which includes Gentiles (goi) within God’s covenant people
3. Hos 2:23, sinful Israel excluded, but now reincluded based on God’s mercy, not their obedience or faithfulness, but on God’s mercy (cf. repeated use of I will in Hos 2:14-23).
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS FOR CHAPTERS 1 AND 2
This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.
1. Did Hosea really marry a prostitute?
2. Why is marriage used as an analogy to covenant?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
I will hear. The restoration comes from, and begins with, Jehovah.
hear = answer, or respond to (Zec 8:12).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
saith: Isa 65:24, Zec 8:12, Zec 13:9, Mat 6:33, Rom 8:32, 1Co 3:21-23
Reciprocal: 2Ch 6:27 – send rain Psa 67:6 – Then Isa 2:11 – in that day Isa 30:23 – shall he Eze 36:8 – ye shall Eze 36:9 – General Eze 36:29 – call Joe 2:21 – be glad Amo 9:13 – plowman Zec 9:17 – corn
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Hos 2:21. See the comments on Dan 12:1 on the significance of the pronoun “that, and learn how indefinite it is as to exact dates. In the present instance it refers to the day when the Gentiles were to bear the Gospei and accept it, thus presenting to God a group Of people from a new source I will hear, heavens shall hear. This unusual language indicates the unity of interest and general cooperation of all forces in the final dispensation that God will give to the world for spiritual salvation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Hos 2:21-22. I will hear the heavens When they ask, as it were, to send their rain on the earth. And they shall hear the earth When it supplicates, as it were, for rain. The earth shall hear the corn and the wine, &c. When they wish, as it were, to supply the wants of man. And they shall hear Jezreel All nature shall hear, and minister to, the people whom God shall restore to their own land. The Hebrew word, however, here rendered to hear, Dr. Waterland more properly renders to answer, thus: I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, &c. In other words, all creatures shall answer the desires and wants of my people: the heavens shall answer the wants of the earth, in sending down seasonable showers: and the earth shall answer the wants of mankind, in bringing forth corn, and wine, and other necessaries of life: and the fruits of the earth shall answer the wishes of my restored people, by giving them due nourishment: see the same sense more plainly expressed, Zec 8:12. Bishop Horsley reads, I will perform my part, saith Jehovah, upon the heavens; and they shall perform their part upon the earth; and the earth shall perform her part upon the corn, &c.; and they shall perform their parts for the Jezreel [the seed of God.] The primary and most proper meaning, says he, of the verb , [rendered to hear,] I take to be to react. But more largely it predicates reciprocal, correspondent, or correlate action. Thus it signifies the proper action of one thing upon another, according to established physical sympathies in the material world; or, among intelligent beings, according to the rule of moral order. And in this passage it is applied first to the action of God upon the powers of nature; and then to the subordinate action of the parts of nature upon one another; and, last of all, to the subservience of the elements, and their physical productions, to the benefit of man; and ultimately, by the direction of Gods overruling providence, to the exclusive benefit of the godly. The gradation of the prophet in the passage is very elegant, and admirably denotes the concert, the harmony, the intelligence, which shall be between all parts of the universe, co-operating for the good of Gods people, who shall then no more see the heaven of iron and of brass withholding its dew and its rain; nor the earth burned up by the sun, unable to nourish the plants, nor the fruits denied the succour of the earth, nor men deprived of their necessary ailments. The words probably allude also to the spiritual blessings of the Christian Church.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear {z} the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
(z) Then will the heaven desire rain for the earth, which will bring forth things for the use of man.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Renewed fertility and restored favor 2:21-23
This message stresses the renewed fertility and restored favor that Israel could anticipate because Yahweh would reach out and save her in the future.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
In that coming day of blessing the Lord would restore agricultural productivity to the land. He would respond to the heavens, personified as crying to Him to send rain. The cry of the heavens would be in response to an appeal that the earth made to it to send rain. The earth would ask for rain because the grain, new wine, and oil had told the earth they needed rain. These crops would appeal to the earth because Jezreel had appealed to it. Jezreel ("God sows or plants") here personifies the nation of Israel as a whole, though its area was also the traditional "breadbasket" of the Northern Kingdom. Israel in the past had cried to Baal, the Canaanite god of rain and fertility, but he had not helped. Having returned to the Lord, the Israelites would now appeal to Him as the true God of fertility, and He would respond by sending rain.