Hosea 2:6–15

2:6–8 This pericope (unit of text) captures an entirely different mood of Israel’s covenant partner. Gone is the language of hostility and punishment. His emotions suddenly turn toward a strategy of “tough love” in order to win her back. It is as if the previous paragraph—seething with enmity and reveling in comeuppance—has been forgotten. Now the goal is to restore the relationship. The sudden shifts in mood match the sudden shifts in feeling a husband might experience toward a faithless wife. This conveys something true about God’s attitude toward Israel. He is not portrayed as cool and calculating; his emotions are deeply involved.

God plans to restrict Israel’s freedom uncomfortably. She will experience a decreasing array of choices until her ability to connect with Yahweh’s rivals is beyond her reach (vv. 6–7). Think of Israel as a donkey, hemmed in by walls and thorns so as to be unable to follow its natural instincts. In the same way, God will economically, politically, and militarily render the northern kingdom powerless to derive benefit from gods or political alliances.

Her addiction to other gods will not save her, nor will the nations help. She has not acknowledged that good things come from God—land and water as well as grain, wine, oil, wool, and flax (vv. 8–9). Yahweh has also provided silver and gold, which she has put to the service of Baal (v. 8). Such is the profundity of her ignorance.

But she will realize that she was better off with her “first husband” and will return to him (v. 7). This is the first of twenty-three times that the word “return” (Hb. shub) occurs in Hosea (e.g., 3:5; 5:4; 6:1). It often connotes repentance, a turning of heart and mind back to Yahweh.

2:9–13 Like the previous unit, this one also begins with “therefore.” Here, God details his plan to hedge Israel in and cause her to return (cf. vv. 6–7). Through a painful process she will be separated from her gods. She will seek them but not find them. She will lose the benefits for which she trusted them. Only after she gives up on their provision will she consider returning to Yahweh.

The text of verse 9 reads literally, “Therefore I will turn [shub] and I will take back . . .” Here is an example of God’s turning from one stated intention to another (cf. 1:8–11; 5:14–6:2; 11:9; 14:4). He will systematically take from Israel all of the good things that had beguiled her. If her grain and wine cannot be separated from Baal, then the grain and wine will have to go. By taking away (Hb. “rescuing”) Israel’s wool and flax, her folly will be exposed. Naked she will stand, with no reason or evidence that her faith in Baal was justified (v. 10). He will “rescue” goods from her grasp (v. 9), but no one will “rescue” her from his grasp (v. 10). Her “lovers” will stand silently by as spectators, unable to act, as Yahweh exposes her shame. Such will be the extent of the rough intervention she needs.

In addition, God declares, “I will put an end to all her mirth” (v. 11). The Hebrew phrase is, woodenly, “I will turn all her mirth”—the word shub again. An idolatrous thread is woven throughout the fabric of Israelite society. Something of Baal and the fertility cult touches every religious event—even those done in the name of Yahweh. Thus, it all has to go. Israel must be separated with finality from this terrible addiction. She must no longer think of her lovers. The benefits she believed came from her gods must be removed. Yahweh has to amputate in order to save the patient.

God will (woodenly glossed) “visit the days of the Baals upon her” (v. 13), meaning the guilt accumulated by her false worship will be punished. Indeed, her faithlessness is metaphorically described as dressing up, putting on jewelry, and going after other lovers while forgetting the Lord. God desires her to love and pursue him exclusively (v. 13). The harsh measures are necessary if he is to “turn” this difficult people back to himself.

2:14–15 This passage also begins with “therefore” (cf. 2:6, 9). God will allure Israel once more. He will “speak tenderly to her” (lit., “speak to her heart”). It will be as when he redeemed Israel from bondage in Egypt, brought her to the wilderness, and covenanted with her.

The Valley of Achor (v. 15) is important in Joshua 7. Israel had been defeated due to one man’s disobedience. Once the sin was punished—requiring the man’s death with his family at the Valley of Achor—Israel went on to victory. Hosea 2:15 references this event and reveals that the site will become something different, an entryway into a positive future. This is parallel to how Jezreel, a place of judgment, became a symbol of future blessing as well (1:11).

On that day, Israel will “answer”—respond—like the generation redeemed from Egypt. At Sinai, Yahweh covenanted with them. The future relationship between God and Israel will be like that all over again. She will love him back. She will have eyes only for him.

Take note that this passage is as much an emotional reaction to being betrayed as was the earlier one in which the Lord expressed his righteous desire to execute his people (2:3). There, he would make her like a parched desert. The “wilderness” was a curse. Here, he has reversed that curse and transformed the wilderness into a blessing. He loves Israel very much. He imagines she will feel the same eventually. It will be like the good old days, early in the relationship, when they were young lovers. Perhaps this is why even a harsh section like 2:7–9 is couched in language reminiscent of the Song of Solomon (Song 3:1–4; 5:2–7). Perhaps this is also why the wilderness wanderings seem to be remembered through rose-colored glasses. Although the wilderness experience was often a period of frustration and anger for Yahweh, requiring at times its own brand of tough love, his own tenderness for his people causes him to focus on the positive aspects even of those difficult times.