Hosea 11:1–11

The great corpus of chapters 4–11 began with the call to “Hear the word of the LORD” (Hos. 4:1) and ends with the statement, “declares the LORD” (11:11). It climaxes with this section, where God’s heart is once again revealed clearly. He is emotionally bound to this wayward people and is of two minds about them.

This material “is as tender as any in the Bible”—its intimacy is almost maternal.¹ “Hosea 11:1–11 gives as clear and personal [a] picture into the heart of God as any illustration in all of Scripture.”² God loved Ephraim, adopted him, taught him to walk, held him in his arms, healed him, bound himself to him with “cords of kindness,” bent down to feed him (vv. 1–4). One could not ask for a more attentive parent. He really loved his boy.

The next two sections address the immediate future situation and God’s ambivalence. First, once again God expresses his disappointment and righteous indignation against his people (vv. 5–7). But then, almost miraculously, he reveals how this hurts him more than it does them (vv. 8–9). Yahweh is inwardly conflicted. Israel has offended him to the point that he desires to reject them forever. He wants to punish. He wants to get their attention by whatever harsh means are necessary. But in the end, he just cannot bring himself to do it.

This leads to the final portion of this section of Hosea, which looks to the more distant future (vv. 10–11). With almost rose-colored glasses, in a deeply emotional mood, Hosea envisions the people’s return when God roars at them like a lion. They will hear Yahweh’s too-deep-for-words utterance and will come trembling to him. The final thought of this great corpus is the Lord’s declaration, “I will return them to their homes” (v. 11). God and prophet recognize that Israel’s story will have a happy ending after all.

1. IV.G. My Heart Recoils within Me (11:1–11)
   1. 1. I Love Them (11:1–4)
   2. 2. I Will Kill Them! (11:5–7)
   3. 3. No, I Won’t (11:8–9)
   4. 4. They’ll Come Back (11:10–11)

Early in its history, Israel had for centuries been in bondage in Egypt for no fault of its own. The people originally went down to Egypt as a means of salvation from starvation, God having graciously sent Joseph ahead of them to prepare the way. They were not there as punishment for any sin. They were unjustly enslaved and mistreated, but God identified them as his son, those who inherited the covenant promises made to Abraham, and called them up out of Egypt (11:1).

Many years later, Jesus would be taken as a young child down to Egypt in order to escape the murderous intentions of King Herod. After relating how Herod died and the Lord told the parents of Jesus to come home, it is this very verse that Matthew quotes and applies to Jesus: “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Matt. 2:15). This is not because Matthew is unaware that the verse is speaking of the nation of Israel; it is because he wants his readers to see that Jesus is the new Israel, the one who will finally fulfill Israel’s task, the one in whom the promises made to Israel—that through them the Lord would bless the nations—will fully come to pass.

Sadly, Israel was not at all faithful to such a task, despite all that the Lord did for them. The complaint in Hosea 11:1–4 is that all of God’s gifts did not move Israel to want him. This is a challenge for modern-day believers. What is Christianity for? Why do we follow Jesus? Is it for various gifts, such as a ticket to heaven? Or is it because we want to know him and live a life pleasing to him, in his service? After describing all the Lord has done for us in Jesus (Romans 9–11), Paul shows us the proper response: “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1). Wholehearted obedient love is the proper response to the goodness we have received in Jesus.

Israel’s response to the Lord’s goodness in delivering them from Egypt should have been the same, but it was very different, and the Lord describes his response in incredibly human terms. He loves them—so much so that he is like a parent whose heart is torn over a rebellious child, who knows the child needs strong discipline and who will eventually bring it (Hos. 11:5–6). He cannot give up on the child (v. 8). It is thus true that God knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10), and that he operates on an eternal plan conceived in decrees made between the Father and the Son before the foundation of the earth. He is completely holy, not subject to his emotions’ controlling him as humans’ emotions do (Hos. 11:9). But it is also true that the imagery of Hosea forcefully presents a very impassioned deity, inwardly divided and torn. And he wants his people to know this about him; he wants them to know that the depth of his anger at their rebellion, and the depth of his love despite it, is just like that of a parent toward a child who rebels.

What this means for Israel is clear. On the one hand, they should learn to avoid sin, so that they might not experience the discipline of the Father. At the same time, they should learn that when they do rebel, the proper response is to come back to him with humble hearts, knowing that their Father will forgive them. And if this is true for Israel, how much truer it is for believers in Jesus today. In Jesus, the Lord has shown not only how seriously he takes sin—his own Son had to die for it on our behalf—he also shows how far he will go to receive us back—his own Son died so that we might become his sons and daughters! And this calls us to avoid sin with all our hearts and, when we have sinned, to return to the Lord with all our hearts—to the One who will take us back into his loving arms.