Posted on 05/08/2018 2:28:21 PM PDT by pastorbillrandles
Then said the Lord unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the Lord toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine. So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley: And I said unto her, Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I also be for thee. For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. ( Hosea 3)
What does a man do when he is married to a Harlot, who keeps running off , seeking other lovers and their gifts? Her promiscuity has brought her into bondage and made her into a slave!
In this case God told Hosea the prophet to go and redeem her from the slave market she had sold herself into.
The prophet underwent the humiliation of buying back his own wife, for a homer and a half of barley.
He takes her home and tells her, ” I am going to shut you up and away from all of your lovers, none of them shall have you, you are for me exclusively, and I will be yours. But first a long period of cloistering until the time comes for us to be together”.
Hosea then explains the meaning in history of this arable which he is acting out with Gomer the harlot.
There would come a day when there would be no more national Israel, no more temple, priesthood, or King, nor would there be sacrifice, or King, or national symbol. Furthermore there would no more be any idols. Israel would be shut away, and scattered among the nations for many, many days.
At the time Hosea prophesied this, there was an Israel, and a temple and Priesthood, offerings, nationhood, national sovereignty, and symbol. It would be the Babylonian captivity that would cure Israel of the external sin of crass idolatry.
But what is idolatry really, but alienation from God himself?
Hosea was predicting a longer captivity, an obliteration of nation, temple, Kings and Priests.For many days… .
Then there would come a turning point. “Afterwards…”. What happens afterward? Afterwards, Israel returns. She returns in a double sense, first she returns back to the land, but ultimately the return is “Teshuvah”, , a return in the sense of repentance. Israel would one day return to the land physically and subsequently she would come back to the True God and to His Messiah.
In the time of the second return, Israel shall again fear the LORD and his goodness.
When will this return be? “In the latter days…”.
We are currently living in the time between the first return (commencing May 1948 till present) and the second return, which will be the complete repentance and conversion of Israel to God.
Between the wars of 70 ad and 120 ad, the Jewish State was besieged by Roman legionaries, one million Jews were slaughtered and the world’s slave markets were absolutely glutted. The Jewish state was obliterated and Jews were scattered across the face of the earth. There was not another Jewish State in existence until May 1948 when the world witnessed a new state, “The Land Of Israel”. A Nation was born in a day and prophetic events were set in place.
But the population of Israel is secular and even Atheistic for the most part. Israel has returned , but she has not yet returned to her God. She does not yet “seek the LORD her God and David her King (The Messiah) , She is still estranged from her God.
What will it take to bring her back to God in repentance? Nothing less than the great tribulation.
In order for Jesus to come back and establish his rule and reign, Israel must come back to the Land of Abraham,Isaac, and Jacob, and of the Prophets. She must acknowledge her offense against God, before Jesus will ever come back to her.
Thanks! We are studying through 2 Kings now, and have jusst finished the point where the Northern Kingdon has been taken out of the land by the Assyians; where the prophecies of Hosea and Amos particularly apply.
From J. N. Darby's "Synopsis" of 2 Kings 13:
In the prophecies of Hosea the two great principles of God's dealings may be seen, one of which has been set before us in Elisha (the connection between the resurrection of the man about to be buried, and the first Verse I shall quote, is remarkable), namely, redemption from the power of death (Hos. 13:14); and the governmental dealings of God (Hos. 14:9). But how the prophet labours to adapt his voice to the foolishness of Israel, and to make it reach the conscience of this erring people! He comes after Elisha's death. Elisha's presence among them, and the subsequent testimony of Hosea, bring out the marvellous patience and kindness of God towards them. Hosea gives us more than the internal history-he unfolds the causes of the judgments, although God may have sometimes interposed for restoration, and may have appeared to smite when the king was less wicked than ordinarily. In the language of the prophets we find what the people really were in the sight of God. The promise of their restoration, and in principle even that of our present blessing, is found there also.
“We are currently living in the time between the first return (commencing May 1948 till present) and the second return, which will be the complete repentance and conversion of Israel to God.”
Am I correct in thinking Israelites will be scattered throughout the world yet another time when they are betrayed by the antichrist at the abomination of desolation?
In the book of Hosea, distinctions are made. The major distinction is between The House of Judah and the The House of Ephraim/The Northern Kingdom. Judah is mentioned as retaining her position before God. It is The House of Ephraim, which signifies The Northern Kingdom that this book is about, not Judah.
It is The House of Ephraim which is lost into the gentile world, no longer subject to God's mercy, no longer His people, utterly scattered, lost and forgotten. It is at the end of time that the people descendant from the children of The House of Ephraim are once again identified, brought into Israel, and take again their rightful identities as true Israelites.
This book is primarily about The Northern Kingdom, not Judah. Judah has a totally different destiny, taken to Babylon, with a remnant brought back to rebuild The Temple and Jerusalem. Their descendants became the Judites of Jesus time and His parents. The Jews/Judites never lost their identity as the children of Israel. The people of God of The Northern Kingdom did.
The people of The Northern Kingdom and their descendants have been siphoned into the Church, and also will be found at the end of the age and brought back to Israel as true Israelites. They are those who were not My people, who shall be called the people of God again.
We are to rightly divide The Word of God. One extremely important division is between The Southern Kingdom and The Northern Kingdom. Much of The Bible, to be rightly understood, is about these two Kingdoms finally and once again becoming one.
They will have to flee Judea when they see the abomination of desolation- you are correct- Pas Bill
you are right, although I believe that the destruction of the Temple and the scattering and re-birth of the nation of Israel from 70 ad -1948 are also anticipated in Hosea three.
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