The Divine Allurement: Yahweh’s Faithful Betrothal Text: Hosea 2:14-23
Introduction: The Scandal of Covenant Love
The book of Hosea is a difficult book. It is not difficult because it is philosophically complex or because the Hebrew is obscure. It is difficult because it is raw, earthy, and offensive to our modern sensibilities. God commands His prophet to marry a prostitute, a woman of harlotries, as a living, breathing object lesson of God’s relationship with His people, Israel. And Gomer, true to form, plays the harlot. She runs after other men, other lovers, other gods. She is the picture of covenant unfaithfulness. And we, if we are honest, are Gomer.
We live in a therapeutic age that wants a god who is a celestial butler, a divine affirmation machine. We want a god who strokes our egos, not one who exposes our spiritual adultery. But the God of Scripture is a jealous God. He is a husband, and His covenant with His people is a marriage covenant. When we chase after idols, whether they are made of wood and stone or of money, sex, and power, we are not just breaking a rule. We are breaking a vow. We are committing spiritual adultery. And God takes this with the utmost seriousness.
The first part of Hosea 2 is a blistering divine lawsuit. God lays out the charges against His unfaithful wife, Israel. He details her whoredoms, her chasing after the Baals, her forgetting Him, her provider. He threatens to strip her naked, to make her a wilderness, to have no mercy on her children. This is the language of righteous, covenantal fury. And just when we think the judgment is final, that the divorce is absolute, the tone shifts in a way that is utterly breathtaking. The God who has every right to cast off His bride forever, instead speaks of wooing her back. This is the scandal of grace. It is not just forgiveness; it is a relentless, pursuing, restorative love. The passage before us today is one of the most glorious descriptions of this divine romance in all of Scripture. It is the gospel in miniature, showing us how God takes His adulterous people and makes them His faithful bride.
The Text
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her And bring her into the wilderness And speak to her heart. Then I will give her her vineyards from there And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. And it will be in that day,” declares Yahweh, “That you will call Me Ishi And will no longer call Me Baali. So I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth So that they will be remembered by their names no more. And in that day I will cut a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, The birds of the sky, And the creeping things of the ground. And I will break the bow, the sword, and war from the land, And I will make them lie down in security. And I will betroth you to Me forever; Indeed, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know Yahweh. And it will be in that day, that I will answer,” declares Yahweh. “I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth, And the earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil, And they will answer Jezreel. And I 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!’ ”
(Hosea 2:14-23 LSB)
The Wilderness Wooing (v. 14-15)
We begin with the shocking turn in verse 14:
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her And bring her into the wilderness And speak to her heart." (Hosea 2:14)
The word “therefore” is astonishing. After listing all her adulteries, the logical conclusion should be, "Therefore, I will destroy her." But this is the logic of grace, not the logic of merit. God’s "therefore" is a therefore of sovereign love. He says, "I will allure her." This is the language of courtship. God is not going to drag her back kicking and screaming, though He has every right to. He is going to win her heart. He is going to woo her.
And where does He take her to do this? Into the wilderness. This is profoundly significant. The wilderness was the place of Israel’s first honeymoon with God after the exodus from Egypt. It was a place of utter dependence, where they had to rely on Him for daily manna, for water from a rock. But it was also the place of their grumbling and rebellion. God is taking her back to where it all began, to strip away all her false lovers, all the distractions of the Baals who she thought gave her grain and wine. In the wilderness of judgment and discipline, with nothing left to rely on, her heart will finally be open. And there, God will "speak to her heart." This Hebrew phrase means to speak tenderly, to comfort, to persuade. It is the language a lover uses to his beloved.
"Then I will give her her vineyards from there And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt." (Hosea 2:15)
Out of the place of discipline comes blessing. He will give her vineyards, a sign of fruitfulness and joy, right there in the wilderness. And He will transform the "valley of Achor" into a "door of hope." The valley of Achor means "valley of trouble." It was the place where Achan and his family were stoned for their sin after the battle of Jericho, bringing trouble on all of Israel (Joshua 7). God is saying that the very place of judgment for sin will become the entrance to hope and restoration. This is a gospel promise. The cross of Christ, the ultimate valley of trouble, where the judgment for our sin was poured out, is now our only door of hope. God takes the place of our greatest shame and makes it the source of our greatest joy. And the result is singing, a restoration of the joy of her first salvation, like when Miriam sang after crossing the Red Sea.
Husband, Not Master (v. 16-17)
This restored relationship will have a new character, a new intimacy.
"And it will be in that day,” declares Yahweh, “That you will call Me Ishi And will no longer call Me Baali. So I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth So that they will be remembered by their names no more." (Hosea 2:16-17)
This is more than a word game. Both "Ishi" and "Baali" can mean "my husband." But "Baali" also means "my master" or "my lord," and it carries the connotation of a domineering, tyrannical relationship. More importantly, it is the very name of the idols she has been chasing. Israel’s worship had become so syncretistic, so corrupt, that she was addressing Yahweh with the name of her pagan lovers. It was like a wife calling her husband by her lover’s name. God says this abomination will stop. He will cleanse her mouth. The relationship will no longer be one of fearful subjugation to a master, but of loving intimacy with a husband, "Ishi." This points to the new covenant, where the law is written on our hearts, and we obey not out of slavish fear but out of love for our Husband, Christ.
The Cosmic Covenant of Peace (v. 18)
The restored relationship between God and His people overflows to heal the entire creation.
"And in that day I will cut a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, The birds of the sky, And the creeping things of the ground. And I will break the bow, the sword, and war from the land, And I will make them lie down in security." (Hosea 2:18)
Man’s sin in the garden fractured everything. It brought enmity between man and God, between man and man, and between man and the creation itself. Thorns and thistles grew. Animals became hostile. Here, God promises a reversal of the curse. This is a covenant of peace, a new Eden. When we are rightly related to God, our relationship with the creation begins to be healed. This is not some sentimental tree-hugging. This is cosmic restoration. The Apostle Paul speaks of this in Romans 8, how the whole creation groans, waiting for the revealing of the sons of God. The peace God establishes is total. He will not just win the war; He will break the very instruments of war, bringing true security, true shalom. This is ultimately fulfilled in the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, in whose kingdom the lion will lie down with the lamb.
The Unbreakable Betrothal (v. 19-20)
Here we come to the heart of the passage, the divine marriage proposal, repeated for emphasis.
"And I will betroth you to Me forever; Indeed, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In lovingkindness and in compassion, And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know Yahweh." (Hosea 2:19-20)
God uses the word "betroth" three times. In that culture, betrothal was a binding covenant, as legally serious as marriage itself. God is binding Himself to this harlot people. And notice the terms of the betrothal. This is the bride price, the dowry. But it is not what the bride brings; it is what the groom provides. She is spiritually bankrupt. She brings nothing to the table but her sin. So He provides everything.
He betroths her in "righteousness and in justice." This is not her righteousness, but His. He clothes her in His own perfect righteousness. This is the doctrine of justification by faith alone. He deals with her sin justly, by paying for it Himself on the cross, so that He can be both "just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Romans 3:26).
He betroths her in "lovingkindness and in compassion." Lovingkindness is the great Hebrew word hesed. It is covenant loyalty, steadfast love, grace that will not let go. Compassion speaks of His tender mercy for her pitiful state. And He betroths her in "faithfulness." His faithfulness is the guarantee of this covenant, because hers has utterly failed. Because He is faithful, this betrothal is "forever." It cannot be broken.
And the result of all this? "Then you will know Yahweh." This is not mere intellectual knowledge. This is the deep, personal, intimate knowledge of a husband and wife. To know God is to be known by Him, to be loved by Him, to be in covenant with Him. This is eternal life (John 17:3).
The Symphony of Restoration (v. 21-23)
The passage concludes with a beautiful picture of the restored creation working in perfect harmony, a symphony of answered prayer.
"And it will be in that day, that I will answer,” declares Yahweh. “I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth, And the earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil, And they will answer Jezreel." (Hosea 2:21-22)
Because of Israel’s sin, the heavens were shut up, there was no rain, and the earth was barren. The people cried out to the grain for food, but the grain could not answer. The grain cried to the earth, but the earth was dust. The earth cried to the heavens, but the heavens were brass. Now, God reverses the cascade of judgment. God will answer the heavens, sending rain. The heavens will answer the earth, making it fertile. The earth will answer the grain, wine, and oil, making them grow. And they will answer "Jezreel."
Jezreel was the name of Hosea’s firstborn son, a name that meant "God scatters," a name of judgment. But the word also means "God sows." The very name that signified judgment is now transformed into a name of blessing. God will sow His people back in the land. This is the ultimate reversal.
"And I 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!’ ” (Hosea 2:23)
Here God explicitly reverses the names of Hosea's other two children. Lo-Ruhamah ("No Compassion") will become Ruhamah ("She has obtained compassion"). And Lo-Ammi ("Not My People") will become Ammi ("My People"). This is the great promise of the new covenant. And the Apostle Paul, in Romans 9, tells us that this promise finds its ultimate fulfillment not just in the restoration of ethnic Israel, but in the inclusion of the Gentiles. We who were not a people, who were outside the covenants, aliens and strangers, have been brought near by the blood of Christ. God has said to us, the wild olive branches, "You are My people." And by His grace, we are enabled to look to Him and say, in the words of a true and loving bride, "You are my God." This is the story of our salvation. We are all Gomer. And Christ is our faithful Husband, who found us in the wilderness of our sin, who spoke tenderly to us, who made our valley of trouble a door of hope, and who has betrothed us to Himself forever.