Hosea 11

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How could Hosea’s unfaithful wife Gomer ever question her husband’s love? Didn’t he demonstrate it by seeking her out, pleading with her to come home, and paying the price to set her free?

How could Israel ever question God’s love and refuse to respond to it? After all, the nation had not only broken the law of God; they had broken the heart of God. In the closing chapters of this book, Hosea reminded them of God’s compassion for His people, and he did it by presenting three clear evidences of God’s love.

At least fourteen times in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses used the word remember. Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell address to the new generation of Israelites as they were preparing to enter the Promised Land. But why would Moses ask these young people to look back when they were getting ready to move forward? Because a correct understanding of God’s dealings in the past is the best way to be certain of success in the future. Philosopher George Santayana expressed this truth succinctly: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it.”

God’s love demonstrated at the exodus (vv. 1–2). God sent Joseph ahead into Egypt to prepare the way for Jacob and his sons. What Joseph’s brothers did to their brother was meant for evil, but God used it for good (Gen. 50:20). Because of Joseph, the people of Israel were kept alive during the severe famine and were able to multiply in the ensuing years. From this humble beginning, God formed a nation; Moses led that nation out of Egypt in great power and triumph (Ex. 12—15).

Hosea pictures the God of the exodus as a tender father who freed his son from bondage. The emphasis here is not on Israel the unfaithful wife, but on Israel the ungrateful son. (For God as “Father” and Israel as a “son,” see Ex. 4:22–23; Isa. 1:2–4; Deut. 32:5). After all God did for His son, he will refuse to return His love or obey His will.

God’s love demonstrated in the wilderness (vv. 3–4). The loving father not only carried His son out of bondage, but He taught him to walk and tenderly cared for him during the wilderness journey. When a child stumbles and gets bruised, mother and father are there to give healing and encouragement, and that’s what God did for His people. He taught them, healed them, and led them; He was careful to lead them as you would a child and not as you would an animal. He bound Himself to them with cords of love, not with bit and bridle (Ps. 32:8–9) or a galling yoke.

Read Hosea 11:1–4 again, but instead of noting what God did for Israel, notice how Israel treated God. Like spoiled children, they rebelled against their Father and turned to idols. God spoke to them through His prophets, but the more God called to Israel, the more they strayed from Him! They were happy to enjoy His gifts, but they didn’t want to obey the Giver. He sought to lead them with ties of love, but they said, “Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us” (Ps. 2:3).

Throughout history, whether Jewish or Gentile, human nature is pretty much the same, and all of us are prone to do what Israel did: enjoy God’s blessings, but take God for granted. “My people are determined to turn from me” (Hos. 11: niv). “Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters!” (Isa. 1: nkjv), God set them free and guided them to their inheritance, but within one generation after the death of Joshua, the nation turned to idolatry and forsook the Lord (Judg. 2:7ff.).

God’s love demonstrated by His longsuffering (vv. 5–7). On more than one occasion, God could have destroyed the nation and started over again (Ex. 32:10), but He chose to be longsuffering. When the journey became difficult, the Jews wanted to go back to Egypt; they complained when they should have been praying and giving thanks for God’s mercies.

We have already seen that some of the references to Egypt in this book refer to the “new bondage” in Assyria (Hos. 11:5). Israel refused to repent, so the nation had to go into captivity. They made plans without consulting God, so their defenses would fall before the invaders. The only time they called on God was when they were in trouble, and God graciously helped them; but now the end had come.

God’s love demonstrated by His faithfulness to His promises (vv. 8–9). What a revelation we have in 11: of the compassionate heart of God! According to Jewish law, a rebellious son was supposed to be turned over to the elders of the city and stoned to death (Deut. 21:18–21), but how could God do this to His beloved son, Israel? (Centuries later, His innocent, only begotten Son would suffer for the sins of the whole world.) God destroyed the cities of the plain because of their sins (Gen. 18:16—19:29), and those people didn’t have the same privileges of learning about God that Israel had. What right did Israel have to expect God to spare them, especially since they were sinning against a flood of light.

What motivated God to spare Israel from total destruction? Not only His deep compassion, but also His faithfulness to His covenant. “For I am God, and not man” (Hos. 11:9). “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Num. 23: nkjv).

God’s covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1–3) is unconditional and will not change; therefore, the nation of Israel is preserved. But His covenant with Israel at Sinai had conditions attached, and if the people failed to meet those conditions, God was obligated to withdraw His blessings. Israel’s possession of the land and its blessings is based on the Abrahamic covenant, but their enjoyment of the land and its blessings is based on the Mosaic covenant. God was faithful to both covenants: He preserved the nation, but He disciplined them for their sins.

God’s love demonstrated by the hope of future restoration (vv. 10–12). Often in Scripture you will find a declaration of judgment immediately followed by a promise of hope, and that’s the case here. Hosea looks ahead to the end times when Israel will be gathered together from all the nations, brought to their own land, cleansed of their sins, and established in their kingdom. In the past, God roared like a lion when He judged the nation (5:14; 13:7), but in the future, His “roar” will call His people to come back to their land. Like birds turned loose from their cages, the people of Israel will swiftly fly to their own land, and God will “settle them in their homes” (11: niv).

Meanwhile, God is longsuffering with His people, as He is with all sinners (2 Peter 3:9), even though they lie to Him and rebel against Him (Hos. 11:12). What Jesus said to Jerusalem in His day, God was saying through Hosea to the people of that day: “How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matt. 23: nkjv).

God’s mercies in the past certainly proved His love, but Hosea offered a second evidence that God loved His people.