Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
Parallel Translations
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Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
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Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
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(2-1) Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, instead of that which was said unto them: 'Ye are not My people', it shall be said unto them: 'Ye are the children of the living God.'
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Cross-references (20)
Passages linked to Hosea 1:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 2 Corinthians 6:18 I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
- Galatians 4:6-7 And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
- John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name:
- Romans 9:25-28 As he says also in Hosea, “I will call them ‘my people,’ which were not my people; and her ‘beloved,’ who was not beloved.” “It will be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ” Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved; for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.”
- 1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. In the past, you were not a people, but now are God’s people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
- 1 John 3:1-2 See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him. Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.
- Romans 8:14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God. For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
- Isaiah 43:6 I will tell the north, ‘Give them up!’ and tell the south, ‘Don’t hold them back! Bring my sons from far away, and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
- Hosea 2:23 I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘My God!’ ”
- Isaiah 66:20 They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into Yahweh’s house.
- Isaiah 60:4-22 “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather themselves together. They come to you. Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried in arms. Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you. The wealth of the nations will come to you. A multitude of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense, and will proclaim the praises of Yahweh. All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you. The rams of Nebaioth will serve you. They will be accepted as offerings on my altar; and I will beautify my glorious house. “Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the islands will wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring your sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of Yahweh your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you. “Foreigners will build up your walls, and their kings will serve you: for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had mercy on you. Your gates also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led captive. For that nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted. “The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you; and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet. They will call you Yahweh’s City, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. “Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one passed through you, I will make you an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. You will also drink the milk of the nations, and will nurse from royal breasts. Then you will know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. For bronze I will bring gold; for iron I will bring silver; for wood, bronze, and for stones, iron. I will also make peace your governor, and righteousness your ruler. Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. The sun will be no more your light by day; nor will the brightness of the moon give light to you, but Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will not go down any more, nor will your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will end. Then your people will all be righteous. They will inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. The little one will become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation. I, Yahweh, will do this quickly in its time.”
- Genesis 13:16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring may also be counted.
- Hosea 1:9 He said, “Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.
- Genesis 22:17 that I will bless you greatly, and I will multiply your offspring greatly like the stars of the heavens, and like the sand which is on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of his enemies.
- Genesis 32:12 You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’ ”
- Hebrews 11:12 Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.
- Isaiah 48:19 Your offspring also would have been as the sand and the descendants of your body like its grains. His name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.”
- Jeremiah 33:22 As the army of the sky can’t be counted, and the sand of the sea can’t be measured; so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.’ ”
- Isaiah 49:17-22 Your children hurry. Your destroyers and those who devastated you will leave you. Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live,” says Yahweh, “you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride. “For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now that land will be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. The children of your bereavement will say in your ears, ‘This place is too small for me. Give me a place to live in.’ Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children and am alone, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’ ” The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and lift up my banner to the peoples. They shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
- Isaiah 54:1-3 “Sing, barren, you who didn’t give birth; break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who didn’t travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” says Yahweh. “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your habitations; don’t spare: lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out on the right hand and on the left; and your offspring will possess the nations and settle in desolate cities.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Now follows consolation, yet not unmixed. God seems here…
Now follows consolation, yet not unmixed. God seems here to meet the objections which we know hypocrites had in readiness, whenever the Prophets denounced destruction on them; for they accused God of being unfaithful if he did not save them. Arrogating to themselves the title of Church, they concluded that it would be impossible for them to perish for God would not be untrue in his promises. “Why! God has promised that his Church shall be for ever: we are his Church; then we are safe, for God cannot deny himself.” In what they took as granted they were deceived; for though they usurped the title of Church, they were yet alienated from God. We see that the Papists swell with this pride at this day. To excuse all their errors they set up against us this shield, “Christ promised to be with his own to the end of the world. Can the spouse desert his Church? Can the Son of God, who is the eternal Truth of the Father, fail in his faithfulness?” The Papists magnificently extol the faithfulness of Christ, that they may bind him to themselves: but at the same time, they consider not that they are covenant breakers; they consider not that they are manifestly the enemies of God; they consider not that they have divorced themselves from him.
The Prophet, therefore seeing that he had to do with proud men, who were wont to arraign the justice of God, says, The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea; that is, “When the Lord shall cut you off, still safe will remain this promise which was given to Abraham;
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‘Look at the stars of heaven, number, if thou canst, the sand of the sea; so shall thy seed be,’” (Genesis 15:5.)
We indeed know, that whenever the Prophets severely reproved the people and denounced destruction, this was ever opposed to them, “What! can it be that the Lord will destroy us? What would then become of this promise, Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the sea?” Hence the Prophet here checks this vain-confidence, by which hypocrites supported themselves against all threatening, “Though God may cut you off, he will yet continue true and faithful to the promise, that Abraham’s seed shall be innumerable as the sand of the sea.”
I indeed admit that the Prophet here gave hope of salvation to the faithful; for it is certain that there were some remaining in the kingdom of Israel. Though the whole body had revolted, yet God, as it was said to Elijah, had preserved to himself some seed. The Prophet then was unwilling to leave the faithful, who remained among that lost people, without hope of salvation; but, at the same time, he had regard to hypocrites, as we have already stated. We now see the design of the Prophet, for he teaches that there would be such a vengeance as he had spoken of, though God would not yet be forgetful of his word; he teaches that there would be such a casting away of the people, though God’s election would yet remain firm and unchangeable; in short, he teaches that the adoption by which God had chosen the offspring of Abraham as his people would not be void. This is the import of the whole. Then the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which is not to be measured nor numbered.
He afterwards adds, And it shall be in the place where it had been said to them, (shall be said, literally,) Ye are not my people; there it shall be said, Ye are the sons of the living God It has been asked, whether this prophecy belongs to the posterity of those who had been dispersed. This, indeed, would be strange; for so long a time has passed away since their exile, and dejected and broken, they dwell at this day in mountains and in other desert places; at least many of them are in the mountains of Armenia, some are in Media and Chaldea; in short, throughout the whole of the East. And since there has been no restoration of this people, it is certain that this prophecy ought not to be restricted to seed according to the flesh. For there was a prescribed time for the Jews, when the Lord purposed to restore them to their country; and, at the end of seventy years, a free return was granted them by Cyrus. Then Hosea speaks not here of the kingdom of Israel, but of the Church, which was to be restored by a return, composed both of Jews and of Gentiles. So Paul, a fit interpreter of this passage, reminds us,
‘Whom he has called, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles; as he says by Hosea, I will call a people, who were not mine, my people; and her beloved, who was not beloved: and it shall be, where it had been said to them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the sons of the living God,’ (Romans 9:24, etc.)
Paul applies this passage, and that rightly, to the whole body of the faithful, collected without any difference, from the Jews as well as from the Gentiles: for otherwise, as we have said, the correctness and truth of prophecy would not be evident: and this view also agrees best with the design of the Prophet which I have just explained. For, since hypocrites in a manner tie to themselves the power of God, the Prophet says, that God can, if he chooses, raise up in an instant a new Church, which would exceed in number the sand of the sea. How so? God will create a Church for himself. From what? From stones, from nothing: for, as Paul says elsewhere,
‘he calls those things which are not, as though they were,’ (Romans 4:17.)
At the same time, God, as it has been said, by his goodness contended with the wickedness of that people; for though they rejected his favour, yea, and obstinately thrust it away from themselves, yet such perverseness did not hinder the Lord from preserving a remnant for himself.
Now, this passage teaches, that they are very perverted in their notions, who, by their own feelings, form a judgement of the state of the Church, and accuse God of being unfaithful, when its external appearance does not correspond with their opinion. So the Papists think; for except they see the splendour of great pomp, they conclude that no Church remains in the world. But God at one time so diminishes the Church, that it seems to be almost reduced to nothing; at another time, he increases and multiplies it beyond all hope, after having raised it, as it were, from death. Isaiah says in Isaiah 10:22,
Were the number of the children of Israel as the sand of the sea, a remnant only shall be saved.
The Prophet there designedly exposes to scorn the hypocrites, who falsely pleaded that prophecy, ‘Look on the stars of heaven, and on the sand of the sea, if thou can’t number them; so shall thy seed be.’ Since, then, Isaiah saw that hypocrites, relying on that prophecy, were rising so perversely against him, he said, “Be it so, be it so, that ye are as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of the sea; yet a remnant only shall be saved;” which means, “The Lord will at last cut you down, and reduce you to so small a number, that ye shall be extremely few.” Now, on the other hand, Hosea says, That after the Israelites shall be reduced to a very small number, that nothing but waste and solitude will appear, then the Lord will restore the Church beyond all human thoughts and will prove that he had not in vain promised to Abraham that his seed would be as the sand of the sea. Since, then, the Lord wonderfully defends his Church, and preserves it in this world, so that at one time he seems to bury it, and then he raises it from death; at one time he cuts it down as to its outward appearance, and then afterwards he renews it; we ought to take heed, lest we measure according to our own judgement and carnal reason, what the Lord declares respecting the preservation of his Church. For its safety is often hid from the eyes of men. However the case may be, God does not bind himself here to human means, nor to the order of nature, but his purpose is to surpass by his incredible power whatever the minds of men can conceive.
Thus then ought this passage, The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, to be expounded: God will gather his Church from all quarters, from the Gentiles as well as from the Jews when the whole world will think it to be extinct.
And it shall be in the place where it had been said, Ye are not my people; there it shall be said, Ye are the sons of the living God The Prophet, in these words, amplifies by a comparison the grace of God; as though he said, “When God shall restore anew his Church, its state shall be more excellent than before.” How so? “They shall not only,” he says, “be the people of God, but also the sons of the living God;” which means, that God will more familiarly show himself a Father to those, whom he will thus suddenly gather into one body. I indeed allow that the ancients under the law were honoured with this title; but we ought to attend to the present passage; for the Prophet contrasts the two clauses, the one with the other: And it shall be in the place where it had been said, Ye are not my people; it shall be said there, Ye are the sons of the living God He might have said, “And it shall be in the place where it had been said, Ye are not my people; there it shall be said, Ye are not my people:” but he ascends higher; God will confer more honour on his new people, for he will more clearly manifest his favour to them by this title of adoption: and it belongs in common to all, to the Gentiles as well as to the Israelites. We ought not to apply this, as it is commonly done, exclusively to the Gentiles: for Hosea speaks not here only of the Church which God attained for himself from the Gentiles, but of the whole Israel of God, a part of whom is the seed of Abraham. Let us then know that God here offers his grace generally, to the Israelites as well as to the Gentiles, and testifies, that after having justly cast away this people, he would make all to know that he had not been unmindful of his covenant, for he would attain to himself a much larger Church — from whom? From the children of Abraham, as it has been said, as well as from strangers.
And there is an important meaning in the verb, ‘It shall be said:’ It shall be where it had been said, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said, — The Prophet means, that our salvation appears not, before the Lord has begun to testify to us of his good-will. Hence the beginning of our salvation is God’s call, when he declares himself to be propitious to us: without his word, no hope shines on us. Hosea might have said, ‘It shall be in the place where it had been said, Ye are not my people, there they shall begin to be the sons of God:’ but he expresses more, ‘It shall be where it had been said, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said, Ye are the sons of the living God.’
As to the first clause, it must be referred to the threatenings which have been already explained; and in this way was also checked the contumacy of the people, who heedlessly despised all the Prophets. “What! God has bound himself to us: we are the race of Abraham; then we are a holy and elect nation.” But the Prophet here claims authority to himself as a teacher: “I am a herald of God’s vengeance, and seriously proclaim to you your rejection: there is then no reason why ye should now harden your hearts and close your ears; for now at length will follow the execution of that vengeance which I now declare to you.” The Prophet then declares here that he had not rashly pronounced what we before noticed, that it was not an empty bug bear, but that he had spoken in the Lord’s name; as Paul also says,
‘Vengeance is prepared by us against all them who extol themselves against Christ,’ (2 Corinthians 10:6.)
And we see also what was said to Ezekiel, ‘Go and besiege Jerusalem; turn thy face, and stand there until thou stormest it, until thou overthrowest it.’ The prophet was not certainly furnished with an army, so that he could make an attack upon Jerusalem: but God means there that there is power enough in his word to destroy all the ungodly. So also Hosea signifies the same here: “When by the word alone the Israelites shall be cast away it shall be said, Ye are the sons of the living God.” Let us then know, that God rises upon us with certain salvation, when we hear him speaking to us. It follows —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Because they thought that God could not have been…
Because they thought that God could not have been true in his promise except he had preserved them, he declareth though they were destroyed, yet the true Israelites, which are the sons of the promise, should be without number, which stand both of the Jews and the Gentiles, Rom. 9:26.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Hos 1:10 Yet the number of the children of…
Hos 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye [are] not my people, [there] it shall be said unto them, [Ye are] the sons of the living God.
Ver. 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel] i.e. of the Israel of God, those Jews inwardly, the circumcision indeed, which "worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, putting no confidence in the flesh," Php 3:3, but saying each for himself, as the good Father Bernard did, Horreo quicquid de meo est, ut sim meus; All my care is "to be found in Christ" (sc. when sought for by the justice of God), "not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith," Php 3:9. Lo, to such Israelites indeed, and of such, it is here promised (the Lord in judgment remembering mercy) that they shall be "the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered." This was first promised to Abraham; and afterwards confirmed with an oath, Gen 22:16. It began to be fulfilled, when, by the preaching of the apostles, so many of both Jews and Gentiles came in and were converted to the faith of the true Messiah, as St Paul expoundeth this text, Rom 9:24-25, and he had "the mind of Christ." It shall have its full accomplishment when the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in, and all Israel shall be saved, Rom 11:26. Then the Church shall be as the stone that smote the image, it shall become a great mountain, and fill the whole earth. Though the beginning of it be small, yet the latter end of it shall greatly increase, Job 8:7, for all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Christ: "he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth," Psa 72:8; Psa 72:11; Psa 72:17. Great is the paucity of God’s people for present: but let us, by the help of this promise, get above that stumbling block. Cosmographers tell us that if we divide all the known world into thirty parts, the heathens’ part is as nineteen of this thirty; the Mahometans as six, the Christians as five only: and of those five more than the one-half is held by idolatrous Papists. But let not this discourage us; it will be otherwise one day, for the "Scripture cannot be broken." And although God may seem utterly to have abandoned his ancient people the Jews (the ten tribes especially), yet they, as well as the rest, shall be vouchsafed this honour to be called to the participation of Christ, Eze 37:16; Eze 37:19 Jer 3:12-13 Isa 11:12-13 Oba 1:20 Zec 10:6 Rom 11:26. If God after so dreadful a threatening come in with his non obstante (as he doth likewise, Psa 106:8, and elsewhere) and say, Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be, &c., who shall gainsay him? Their interpretation is too narrow that understand this text of the increase of this people in all their dispersions, until the time of their conversion. And that of Rabbi Ezra is pretty, though not proper; that as the sand keeps the waves of the sea from breaking in and drowning the world, so doth Israel preserve mankind from perishing by the waves of God’s wrath. It should have been considered by him and the rest of those refractory Rabbis, that at that general conversion of the Jews (here plainly foretold) there shall be some stubborn spirits that will not even then stoop to Christ; but will be filled with envy, as those cankered Pharisees their forefathers were {Act 13:44-45} to see almost the whole city come together to hear Christ; yea, they will be ready to say, as Joh 12:19, "Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the whole world follows him." Now against these spiritual spirits, the wrath of God shall be revealed from heaven, Rev 21:8 Dan 12:2 Isa 65:11-17.
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And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them] As if God did now even repent, and would make them a full amends: make them glad according to the time, and in that very place when and where they had seen evil, Psa 90:15. Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in Jerusalem, Zec 12:6. The Jews (it is thought) shall dwell in their own country, Jer 3:18; Jer 23:8 Eze 37:11-12 Amo 9:14-15; and God have a very glorious Church in the land of Canaan. But that is not all; the Gentiles, who shall be made a spiritual Israel, though in time past they were not a people, yet now are they the people of God; and which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy, 1Pe 2:10, yea, such a signal mercy as St John cannot look on without an Ecce admirantis; " Behold," saith he, "what manner of love" ( qualem et quantum, as 2Pe 3:11) "the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God," 1Jn 3:1. Yes, the sons of [the living God] who as he lives, so he gives us all things richly to enjoy; and is therefore to be trusted, 1Ti 6:17. And that we should not only be God’s people, but his sons (reconciled, but adopted), and not only be so, but be called so, have the name and the note, the credit and the comfort. Well might the apostle say, that the grace of God herein had abounded even to an overflow, υπερεπλεονασε, 1Ti 1:14. Well may Oecolampadius say as he doth upon this very text, Vide ut maior gratia quam peccatum, See that greater grace than sin. Behold, how as sin abounded, grace superabounded. Well might Leo say, Omnia dona excedit hoc donum, &c., This is a gift of God, that exceedeth all gifts, that man should call God Father, and God call a man his son; this is a greater dignity than to be called an angel, archangel, cherubim, seraphim, &c. See more of this in my "Righteous Man’s Recompense," Part 2, doct. 5. Calvin upon this verse noteth, that there is an emphasis in these words, "It was said," and "It shall be said"; the latter showeth that till the Lord speak peace to his people, and say to their souls that he is their salvation, they cannot have the comfortable assurance of their adoption and acceptation into his favour: Eph 1:13, "After that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; ye believed and were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise." Again, if God by his prophets had said to any, "Ye are not my people," &c., he will effect it. God heweth men by his prophets, and slayeth them by the words of his mouth, Hos 6:5. Elisha hath his sword, as well as Jehu and Hazael, 1Ki 19:17. Ezekiel besiegeth Jerusalem, and overthroweth it. Jeremiah is "set over nations and kingdoms to root out and pull down," &c., Jer 1:10. St Paul hath "vengeance ready for the disobedient," 2Co 10:6. And what God’s ministers do on earth he ratifies in heaven, Mat 16:19; Mat 18:18.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Yet: this may anticipate the carnal Israel’s objection, that…
Yet: this may anticipate the carnal Israel’s objection, that thus God would fail of his word to Abraham, or he would lose his people. Nothing so, yet, though ten tribes be for ever captivated, God will have his Israel.
The number of the children of Israel; not Israel after the flesh, not those very persons, families that are carried captive, (though for aught I know, or any can tell to the contrary, these may be so increased for Abraham’s sake,) but the Israel of God according to the faith, the spiritual seed of Abraham, consisting both of Jews and Gentiles.
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Shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; innumerable, expressed by an elegant proverbial speech, alluding to the immenseness of the sands, Isa 10:22,23; Ro 9:27.
It shall come to pass; the time is fixed, and the thing shall certainly be, God will bring it about in his time. In the place: as we read it, it is plain that in those places or countries where a people dwelt who knew not God, were not his people, there should be a people that should both be called and be his people; the heathen should be called into the church, and in every place God should have his people. Or else thus: Instead of being called the people of God, you shall be called the children; so blessed a change, that who were once far off, and not a people, shall now be more than people, they shall be children. Where it was said unto them, the Gentiles and Jews unconverted.
Ye are not my people; in the state of unconverted ones, are far from God, without his covenant, and no people.
There it shall be said; known, declared, men shall confess it, God will own it himself, and make it known to others.
Ye are the sons; grace shall be enlarged, your relation nearer and sweeter, you shall be sons, not servants, have communion with God as with your father; and this shall be the common or equal privilege of this whole Israel of God. This is fulfilled in the kingdom of the Messiah under the gospel, as the apostle argueth it, Rom 9:25,26.
Of the living God, who is the fountain of life to all his children, and who giveth them lively affections to serve him, to offer living sacrifices to the living God. So are we called, Rom 12:1,2; 1Th 1:9.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Yet the number of the children of Israel shall…
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered,.... Though called Loammi, and rejected from being the people of God; yet there is a time when their number, according to the promise made to Abraham, shall be as the sand of the sea, and the stars of heaven; which, as the one cannot be measured, the other cannot be numbered; which was to be not at the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, when some of the ten tribes of Israel returned with them, as Theodoret and others think; for they were but few that then returned: but rather at the first times of the Gospel, when multitudes that came from various parts of the world were converted at the day of Pentecost, and greater numbers; who were met with in the ministry of the word, in the various parts of the world, where they were dispersed, and the Gospel came, to whom Peter and James wrote their epistles; and not these only are meant, but the vast numbers of Gentiles, who were effectually called by grace everywhere, and were true Israelites, the spiritual seed of Abraham; and to whom the Apostle Paul applies these words, producing them as a testimony of the election and calling, not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also, Rom 9:24, and which will have a further accomplishment in the latter day, when the fulness of the Gentiles will be brought in, the Jews will be converted, and all Israel saved, Rom 11:25, then the numbers of the Israel of God, both of Jews and Gentiles, will be as the sand of the sea indeed!
and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God; that is, in such places where it used to be said, here live Pagans, Turks, or Jews, who worship not the true God, or at lease not aright, nor believe in Christ, and profess his name; "there it shall be said to them", by the Lord himself, by his Spirit witnessing their relation to them, and by all good men, and even by the world in general; not only that they are "the people of God", but have a superior privilege, a greater character, and a higher relation, the sons of the living God; the sons of God, not by nature, as Christ; nor by creation, as angels; nor by office, as civil magistrates; or by profession merely, as nominal Christians; but by adopting grace; which exceeds all other blessings, even of sanctification and justification; makes men honourable; is attended with various privileges, and always continues. The epithet "of the living God" is not without cause put; it stands in opposition to dead idols before worshipped by some who will now be the children of God; and who, as he has life in himself, gives it to others; to all natural life and breath, and to his children spiritual and eternal life; and, as he lives forever, so shall they his sons likewise. The Targum is,
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"and it shall be in the place where they have been carried captive, when they transgressed the law; and it was said to them, ye are not my people; there they shall be converted and increased (or made great); and it shall be said to them, O ye people of the living God.''
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The children of Israel - Not Israel after the…
The children of Israel - Not Israel after the flesh, not those very families that are carried captive. In the place - In those places, were a people dwelt who were not his people, there shall be a people of God. The living God - Who is the fountain of life to all his children, and who enables them to offer living sacrifices to the living God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. Yet the number of the children of…
Verse 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel] God had promised that the children of Israel should be as the sand of the sea. See Ge 32:12; Ro 9:25-26. And though for their iniquities he had thinned and scattered them, yet the spirit and design of his promise and covenant shall be fulfilled. An Israel there shall be. In the place of the reprobated people, who were now no longer his people, there shall be found an Israel that shall be the children of the living God. See the above scriptures, and 1Pe 2:10. This must mean either the Israelites after their conversion to Christianity, or even the Gentiles themselves converted to God, and now become the true Israel.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Hos 1:10. Yet the number of the children of…
Hos 1:10. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea — Though God casts off the ten tribes, yet he will, in due time, supply their loss, by bringing in great numbers of true Israelites into the church, not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles, and making them, who before were strangers to the covenants of promise, fellow-heirs with the Jews, Rom 9:25-26; 1Pe 2:10. “I think,” says Bishop Horsley, “this is to be understood of the mystical Israel; their numbers, consisting of myriads of converts, both of the natural Israel, and their adopted brethren of the Gentiles, shall be immeasurably great.” And in the place where it was said, Ye are not my people, &c. — “That is, at Jerusalem, or at least in Judea, where this prophecy was delivered, and where the execution of the sentence took place: there, in that very place, they, to whom it was said, Ye are no people of mine, shall be called, the sons of the living God. This must relate, at least principally, to the natural Israel of the house of Judah; for to them it was said, Ye are no people of mine. And since they are to be acknowledged again as the children of the living God, in the same place where this sentence was pronounced and executed, the prophecy clearly promises their restoration to their own land.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Yet - (literally, and) the number of the children…
Yet - (literally, and) the number of the children of Israel ... Light springeth out of darkness; joy out of sorrow; mercy out of chastisement; life out of death. And so Holy Scripture commonly, upon the threat of punishment, promises blessings to the penitent “Very nigh to the severest displeasure is the dispersion of sorrows and the promised close of darkness.” What God takes away, He replaces with usury; things of time by things eternal; outward goods and gifts and privileges by inward; an earthly kingdom by heaven. Both Peter 1Pe 2:10 and Paul Rom 9:25-26 tell us that this prophecy is already, in Christ, fulfilled in those of Israel, who were the true Israel, or of the Gentiles, to whom the promise was made Gen 22:18, “In thy Seed shall all the nations be blessed,” and who, whether Jews or Gentiles, believed in Him. The Gentiles were adopted into the Church, which, at the Day of Pentecost, was formed of the Jews, and in which Jews and Gentiles became one in Christ Gal 3:28. Yet of the Jews alone, not only did “many tens of thousands in Jerusalem believe” Act 21:20, but Peter and James both write “to the dispersed of the ten tribes” Jam 1:1; 1Pe 1:1; and the Apostles themselves were Jews. Although, then, those Jews who believed in Christ were few in comparison of those who rejected Him, yet they were, in themselves, many, and, through those who, in Christ Jesus, were “begotten by them through the Gospel” 1Co 4:15, they were numberless. Yet this prophecy, although accomplished in part, will, according to Paul Rom 11:25-26, be yet more completely fulfilled in the end.
In the place where it was said - (or where it shall be said, i. e., at the first) unto them, ye are not My people, there it shall, in after-time, be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God Both the times here spoken of by the prophet were yet future, for Israel, although they had apostatised from God, had not yet been disowned by God, who was still sending to them prophets, to reclaim them. They ceased to be owned as God’s people, when, being dispersed abroad, they had no share in the sacrifices, no temple-worship, no prophets, no typical reconciliation for sin. God took no more notice of them than the pagan. The prophet then speaks of two futures; one, when it shall be said to them, “ye are not My people;” and a yet further future, in which it should he said, “ye are the sons of the living God.” The place of both was to be the same. The place of their rejection, the dispersion, was to be the place of their restoration. And so Peter says that this Scripture was fulfilled in them, while still “scattered abroad through Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.” The place, then, where they shall be called the “sons of the living God,” is, wheresoever they should believe in Christ. Although separated in body, they were united by faith. And so it shall be unto the end. “Nothing now constraineth to go up to Jerusalem, and still to seek for the temple of stones, for neither will they worship God, as aforetime, by sacrifices of sheep or oxen; but their worship will be faith in Christ and in His commandments, and the sanctification in the Spirit, and the regeneration through Holy Baptism, making the glory of sonship their’s, who are worthy thereof and are called thereto by the Lord” .
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It shall be said, ye are the sons of the living God - It was the special sin of Israel, the source of all his other sins, that he had left the “living God,” to serve dead idols. In the times of the Gospel, not only should he own God as his God, but he should have the greatest of all gifts, that the living God, the fountain of all life, of the life of nature, of grace, of glory, should be his Father, and as being his Father, should communicate to him that life, which he has and is. For He who is life, imparts life. God doth not only pour into the souls of His elect, grace and faith, hope and love, or all the manifold gifts of His Spirit, but He, the living God, maketh them to he His living sons, by His Spirit dwelling in them, by whom He adopteth them as His sons, through whom He giveth them grace. For by His Spirit He adopteth them as sons. “We have received the spirit of adoption of sows, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. And if sons, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs of Christ” Rom 8:15.
God not only giveth us grace, but adopteth us as sons. He not only accounteth us, but He maketh us sons; He maketh us sons, not outwardly, but inwardly; not by inward grace only, but by His Spirit: not only by the birth from the Spirit, but in the Only-Begotten Son; sons of God, because members of Christ, the Son of God; sons of God, by adoption, as Christ is by Nature; but actual sons of God, as Christ is actually and eternally the Son of God. God is our Father, not by nature, but by grace; yet He is really our Father, since we are born of Him, “sons of the living God,” born of the Spirit. He giveth us of His Substance, His Nature, although not by nature; not united with us, (as it is, personally, with His Son,) but dwelling in us, and making us “partakers of the Divine Nature.” “Sons of the living God” must be living by Him and to Him, by His life, yea, through Himself living in them, as our Saviour saith, “If any man love Me, he will keep My words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him” Joh 14:23.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The number, &c., viz., of the true Israelites, the…
The number, &c., viz., of the true Israelites, the children of the Church of Christ. (Challoner) --- This is the primary sense, Romans ix. 25. Yet the Israelites are here also assured of their return from captivity. (Calmet) --- God. Among many sinners, some are chosen. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Literally fulfilled in part at the return from Babylon,…
Literally fulfilled in part at the return from Babylon, in which many Israelites joined with Judah. Spiritually, the believing seed of Jacob or Israel, Gentiles as well as Jews, numerous "as the sand" (Gen 32:12); the Gentiles, once not God's people, becoming His "sons" (Joh 1:12; Rom 9:25-26; Pe1 2:10; Jo1 3:1). To be fulfilled in its literal fulness hereafter in Israel's restoration (Rom 11:26).
the living God--opposed to their dead idols.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. Yet — In Hebrew the simple conjunction and.
10. Yet — In Hebrew the simple conjunction and.
As the sand of the sea — All the prophets are convinced that from the judgment a remnant will escape, out of which shall rise the new people of God (Isa_6:13). In this new nation the promise to the patriarchs (Gen_22:17; Gen_32:12), realized in a very small degree under Solomon (1Ki_4:20), will be completely fulfilled.
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Israel — Not the whole nation, but the northern kingdom only, as in 4, 5, 6, 11.
In the place where it was said — So LXX. and Rom_9:26. But, since the important thing is the fact and not the place of the restoration, the marginal reading, “instead of that which was said,” a possible translation of the Hebrew, is to be preferred.
Not my people — Lo-ammi (Hos_1:9).
Sons — The representation of the relation of the deity to his worshipers as fatherhood is a common idea in Semitic religions. Chemosh has sons and daughters (Num_21:29); the expression is used even of idols of wood and stone (Jer_2:27); outside of Israel the expression seems to imply, in the beginning at least, physical relationship; never so in Israel. There the basis is an act of mercy on the part of Jehovah; adoption, not generation (Hos_11:1; compare Exo_4:22). The former intimate relation, severed through Israel’s rebellion (Isa_1:2), is to be restored.
Living God — In contrast with the dead idols, which are unable to do anything for their worshipers. “One of the earliest appearances of prophetic monotheism” (compare Isa_37:4; Deu_5:23). Restoration to son-ship will mean a renewal of the divine grace and favor to Israel. 11.
Shall… be gathered together — The common prophetic anticipation that in the new era North and South will be reunited (Isa_11:13; Eze_37:22; Zec_9:13, etc.). While the tenth century prophets favored the schism (1Ki_11:29; 1Ki_12:22 ff.), later prophets looked upon it as a serious disaster (Isa_7:17).
One head — One common leader (Num_14:4; 1Sa_15:17). Who he will be, whence he will come, is not stated, he is possibly to be identified with “David their king” (Hos_3:5).
Shall come up out of [“go up from”] the land — If the verses are allowed to retain their present position the words cannot refer to a return from exile; nor can they be interpreted primarily in the sense suggested by Cheyne, “The reconciled people, too numerous for the land to bear them, shall seek to enlarge their territory” (Amo_9:12; Mic_2:12-13); for before they can enter upon a career of conquest they must regain their former standing. To do this is the purpose of the going up, that is, to battle (Nab. Hos_2:1; Joe_1:6).
The day of Jezreel — Not identical with the day of disaster (Hos_1:4), though this verse looks back to it, as Hos_2:1, looks back to Hos_1:6; Hos_1:9. It is the very opposite, a day of victory to be won on the old battlefield of Jezreel. If the three verses are placed after Hos_3:5, go up might refer to a return from exile (Hos_3:4), though not necessarily. Then Jezreel would better be interpreted in connection with Hos_2:22-23, as pointing to the permanent settlement of Israel in the promised land, which will be followed by the transformation indicated in Hos_2:1.
Great — Glorious; marked by manifestations of the divine power.
PROMISE OF A GLORIOUS RESTORATION, Hos_1:10 to Hos_2:1.
With Hos_1:9 chapter 1 closes in the common editions of the Hebrew Bible. The division of the English Bible — found also in some Hebrew texts, in LXX., Luther, Calvin, etc. — is certainly unfortunate, for Hos_1:10 to Hos_2:1, belong close together. But scholars have long disagreed as to the exact relation of these verses to Hos_1:2-9, and Hos_2:2 ff., since the transition from Hos_1:9-10, and also from Hos_2:1-2, is exceedingly abrupt. Some make Hos_1:10 to Hos_2:1, the continuation of Hos_1:2-9, regarding Hos_2:1, as the close of the first section; others feeling that the promises of Hos_1:10 to Hos_2:1, following immediately upon the threats in Hos_1:2-9, would take from the latter much of their force, regard the verses as the beginning of the second oracle, which would then begin with a promise (compare Isa_2:2-4, a promise followed by threats in Hos_2:5 ff.). But this does not relieve the situation, for the transition from Hos_2:1-2, is at least equally abrupt. As a result, some scholars, seeing in the verses nothing that would militate against the authorship of Hosea and yet recognizing their loose connection with the context, think that the verses have been misplaced. Steiner, Cheyne, and others would place them after Hos_2:23, A.B. Davidson after Hos_3:5. The former find some support in Rom_9:25-26, where part of Hos_1:10, is quoted immediately after Hos_2:23. This, however, is not conclusive, since Paul might quote verses in any order he chose. The objections to the transposition theory, raised by Nowack, Marti, and others, rest, in part at least, upon misinterpretation of Hos_1:10-11, and are of little weight. The transition from Hos_2:23, or Hos_3:5, would undoubtedly be smoother; but, if the verses were transposed, how, why, and when did it happen? The reply that a later age sought to break the sting of the prophetic denunciations by rearranging the prophecies so that each would end with a promise of a brighter future rests upon mere assumption, and cannot be considered satisfactory. The most recent commentators, Wellhausen, Nowack, Marti, and Harper, take Hos_1:10 to Hos_2:1, to be a later exilic or postexilic addition, made for the purpose just suggested. If so, the later writer must have followed and imitated Hosea very closely, for the verses are clearly dependent in thought and mode of expression on Hos_1:2-9. All one can do is to state the case and the views held; which is the correct one it is impossible to say with any degree of certainty, since the data, indecisive themselves, will appeal with varying force to different readers. So far as the contents are concerned, Hosea might be the author; abrupt transitions are not infrequent in the book; indeed, they are one of its chief characteristics. On the other hand, we know very little about the collection of prophetic oracles into books, and it is not unlikely that later additions were made to separate oracles, as well as to whole books, though one may not be ready to go in this matter to the extent to which some modern commentators are inclined.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10, 11. There is a great difference among authorities…
10, 11. There is a great difference among authorities as to the way in which these verses and Hos_2:1 should be connected with the context. (a) Those who consult a Hebrew Bible will most probably find the first chapter of Hosea closed at Hos_1:9, and the second opened with v’hâyâh ‘and it shall come to pass’. Thus Hosea’s (like Isaiah’s) first prophetic discourse is made to begin with a promise. The objection is that the transition from Hos_1:3 to Hos_1:4 of the chapter thus produced is unique for its abruptness even in the Book of Hosea. (‘Say ye to your brethren, My people’, and directly after, ‘Plead with your mother, plead’.) (b) Still more objectionable is the arrangement of A. V., derived from one form of the Hebrew text, and followed by the Septuagint, Luther, and Calvin. Its only justification lies in the accidental circumstance that two successive verses in the Hebrew text begin with an imperative. Hos_1:1 chap. 2 in A. V. is utterly unintelligible by itself, and the transition from the first to the second imperative becomes even more strikingly abrupt than in the Hebrew Bible. (c) Feeling these objections, Ewald and Pusey propose to begin the second chapter of the book with the verse which stands fourth in order in our Hebrew Bibles. But most readers cannot help seeing that the transition from threatening to promise, from Lo-ammi, to Ammi, is singularly abrupt, and not to be admitted except from dire necessity, (d) The transposition of lines or sentences is well known to be a fruitful source of error in ancient texts. Hence it has been suggested that Hos_1:1-3 of chap. 2 in the common Hebrew Bible (i.e. the last two verses of chap. 1 and the first of chap. 2 in A. V.) originally stood at the end of chap. 2 The plausibility of this suggestion of Heilprin’s and Steiner’s would be seen to most advantage, if these verses could be explained at the end of chap. 2 This would be only following the precedent of St Paul, who adopts a very similar arragement in Rom_9:25-26. (Hos_1:9 therefore should be taken as the close of chap. 1, and Hos_2:1 as the close of chap. 2)
10–2:1. Predicted alteration of Names
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Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be] However sad the present prospects of Israel may be, a glorious future is in store for him. So our translators mean us to interpret the passage, confounding the province of the translator with that of the expositor. The Hebrew merely says, And it shall come to pass that the number of the children of Israel shall be, &c. In all probability, this verse should have come after Hos_2:23, to the opening statement of which it gives a further development. ‘I will sow her for myself in the land,’ were the words of Jehovah in reversing the prophetic import of the name Jezreel. Now the Divine speaker assures us that the ‘sowing’ shall be followed by a rich harvest of inhabitants. An increase in population is elsewhere also a leading feature in the promised prosperity of Israel; e.g. (not to quote the disputed passage, Isa_9:3), Mic_2:12, where the restored remnant is said to be ‘tumultuous for the multitude of men’. Observe that the blessing is at first limited in its scope (as it is again in chap. 14). ‘Children of Israel’ means evidently, not all Israel, but the northern kingdom, for in the next verse (comp. Hos_1:6-7) ‘the children of Israel’ are clearly distinguished from ‘the children of Judah’. The limitation was natural, because the prophet belonged to the northern and larger section of the nation; the horizon is widened immediately after, so as to include Judah.
as the sand of the sea] Comp. Gen_22:17; Gen_32:12.
in the place where it was said unto them] This may mean either Palestine, or, more plausibly, the land of captivity. But surely the fact, and not the place, of restoration is the thought which fills the mind of the prophet. The sense is much improved by adopting the alternative version, instead of its being said, &c. It is true that an indisputable parallel for the sense ‘instead of’ is wanting, neither Isa_33:21 nor 2Ki_21:19 being decisive. But grammatical theory raises no objection to the proposed rendering, and where this is the case the Hebrew concordance must not override the exercise of exegetical tact.
Ye are not my people] Or, Ye are Lo-ammi.
the sons of the living God] ‘The living God’, as 1Sa_17:26, Deu_5:26, in contrast to the idol-gods (’elîlîm, or ‘nothings’, as Isaiah delights to call them): one of the earliest appearances of prophetic monotheism (see on Hos_2:10). Notice the bold expression ‘sons’. At the foundation of popular Semitic religion (the religion of the group of nations to which the Assyrians and the Syrians, the Israelites and the Arabs equally belonged) lay the materialistic idea that the worshipping nation was the offspring of the patron-divinity. Hosea allows and adopts the expression, but signifies by it a moral kinship rather than a physical one. Compare the remarkable passages in Num_21:29, Mal_2:11, and see note on Hos_11:1.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) An abrupt transition from dark presage to bright…
(10) An abrupt transition from dark presage to bright anticipation. The covenant-blessings promised to Abraham shall yet be realised.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Yet the number of the children of Israel shall…
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured nor numbered. The division of the verses at this place is faulty both in our common Hebrew Bibles and in the Authorized Version. The former connects vers. 10 and 11 with the second chapter, and the latter closes the first chapter with these verses, and thus detaches them from the first verse of the second chapter. The correct arrangement combines vers. 10 and 11 of Hosea 1 with ver. 1 of Hosea 2, and concludes the first chapter with these three verses which are so closely joined together in sense. Here is the usual cycle of events human sinfulness, deserved punishment, and Divine mercy. Had the last element been wanting, the promise of a countless posterity made to Abraham, renewed to Isaac, and confirmed to Jacob, might appear abolished. Yet, notwithstanding the rejection of Israel, the Word of God remaineth sure. But who are the children of Israel, whose multitude, like sea-saint, defies numeration and measurement? The whole posterity of Jacob or Israel might seem included, as the words of the promise made to that patriarch and those of the present prediction so closely correspond; and Israel is occasionally taken in this wide and general sense. The context is opposed to this; especially does the distinction so sharply marked in the succeeding verse militate against this. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. The place where this great change takes place is either the place where their rejection was foretold, or that where its fulfillment became an accomplished fact. The former was, as is obvious, Palestine; the latter, the place of their exile, and so the lands of their dispersion. Thus the Chaldee, adopting the latter, renders freely as follows: "And it shall come to pass in the place where they lived in exile among the peoples, when they transgressed my Law and it was said to them, Ye are not my people, they will turn and be magnified, and called the people of God." Once this change takes place, their true mission shall be attained and their relations to the living God shall be readjusted. The dumb, dead idols, to which they had bowed down in the days of their apostasy and unbelief shall be cast aside and away for ever. Jehovah the Living One alone shall be the object of their adoration in that day.
Vers. 10, 11. There is salvation in store for both Israel and Judah.
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1. We must here premise our belief that the two divisions of the Hebrew people the ten tribes and the two have been long amalgamated. Even during the Captivity a considerable amalgamation of tribes may have taken place. Though we have the list of families that accompanied Zerubbabel and Ezra from Assyria and Media to Jerusalem, yet the tribal heads of those families are not given, as though their genealogy had been already lost. It has been conjectured, with some degree of probability, that the somewhat indefinite phrases, "Judah and Benjamin" are used by Ezra to denote "the more prominent actors;" while "Israel" designates "the whole nation collectively," including persons belonging to all the tribes. It is certainly remarkable that in the Book of Esther the Hebrews belonging to all the tribes are no longer called "children of Israel" or "children of Judah," but simply "Jews." But besides this fusion of tribes during the Captivity, there would be a considerable admixture of such Hebrews as remained behind with their heathen neighbors; this might be expected from their readiness to contract heathenish intermarriages even in Ezra"s time. Many of the original stock of Israel may thus be found in Chaldea and the adjacent countries whither they had been carried captives, while others migrated into regions more remote. The so-called leer tribes may thus comprehend, not only those Israelites that were at so early a period as that of the Captivity incorporated with the children of Judah, but also those that intermingled with or were absorbed among the inhabitants of the Chaldean provinces, and whose descendants are represented by the Nestorians, Yezidees, and other tribes; and in case of those who had removed to greater distances, by the inhabitants of Afghanistan, the Jews of Malabar and elsewhere in India, the black Jews of Cochin China, the Jews of Tartary, and even the North American Indians.
2. This passage of Hoses before us, and that in the second chapter towards the end, which refer to the natural posterity of Abraham, consisting of Israel and Judah, and composing one nationality, are applied in the New Testament to Gentile believers. Hengstenberg draws attention to the paradoxical fact, that, notwithstanding the disinheritance of the natural Israel and in spite of their vast excision, yet "the number of the children of Israel should be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; who, from being not God"s people, should be called sons of the living God; that the children of Judah and the children of Israel should be gathered together and appoint themselves one Head, and come up out of the land of their captivity; and that great should be this day of Jezreel or sowing." He then proceeds to explain this as "first fulfilled in the Messianic time, and as in part still to be fulfilled, when the family of Abraham receives, and will yet more fully receive, an innumerable increase, partly by the reception of an innumerable multitude of adopted sons Gentiles, and partly by the exaltation of Israelitish sons in an inferior, to sons in the highest relation," in other words, by the incorporation of the multitudinous believing Gentries with the faithful remnant of Israel, thus constituting one sublime Israel of God; one family of Abraham, now the father of many nations, the heir of the world.
3. But the sense of the passage is not thus exhausted; more is to be expected. At present Gentiles supply the place of the rejected portion of the natural seed; the ultimate recovery, however, of this rejected and disinherited, because still unbelieving, portion itself is also included, as we believe, in this passage. But whether, with their conversion to God and submission to Messiah, they shall be restored to the "covenant land" from which their sin expelled them, is another question, and one not so easily answered. Indeed, there has been much conflict of opinion in regard to that answer. There is, at least, a presumption that with the pardon of their sin they shall be favored with the "ancient token of reconciliation their return to the delightsome land.
4. In an able work on "The Future of the Jewish Nation," we find the following statement: "The connection uniformly held forth in Scripture, in the case of the Jews, between defection and dispersion, and between reconciliation and restoration, constitutes strong ground for expecting that the final conversion of the Jews will be accompanied by a final restoration to their fatherland." It is also added in the same work that the restoration advocated is "no voluntary return in a state of unbelief," but "a restoration regarded as God"s public token of reconciliation to his ancient and now believing people... neither are we contending for such a restoration as involves separation and seclusion from other nations in the little nook of Palestine... but while the head-quarters, the proper home of the nation, will be in Palestine, there may be an abundant representation of the roving race in all the places of their present dispersion.
Ver. 10 Gen_22:17 Gen_32:12) The prophet replies that these will be in no wise canceled by the rejection of the ten tribes. The people of the northern kingdom are to be dispersed among the nations; but God"s purpose is to gather his Church from the Gentile world as well as from the Jewish. The promises given to Abraham were not so much national as spiritual. While, therefore, the symbolic one hundred and forty-four thousand shall be "sealed," there shall stand with them before the throne the "great multitude, which no man could number". (Rev_7:4, Rev_7:9)
II RECOVERY OF THE NATIONAL UNITY. (Ver. 11) In the past there had always been more or less of enmity between Judah and Israel. Long before the disruption of the kingdom, Ephraim "envied" Judah. And for two hundred years now these tribes had also been sundered politically. But, in the good time coming, the twelve tribes shall again become one rod in the hand of the Lord. (Eze_37:16, Eze_37:17) The oracle before us implies, further, that prior to this reunion Judah also shall have been rejected and carried into exile for its sins. To whom are we to refer this notable prophecy of the "one head"?
1. It refers typically to Zerubbabel, the head of the tribe of Judah at the return from the exile. Among those who went up with him were, at least, a few belonging to the ten tribes; so that a partial miniature of this union was presented in the return from Babylon.
2. It refers anti-typically to Jesus Christ, the "One Head" of redeemed humanity. The literal Judah and Israel shall be reunited in him, along with the spiritual Israel of the whole Gentile Church. He receives the appointment, of course, from his Father; but also from his people, in the sense that they accept and rejoice in it. The lesson here is that only in the gospel of Christ is to be found the true basis of the brotherhood of the human race. The name of Jesus is the one adequate symbol of life and liberty. Only his body, the Church, can communicate to the world the blessings of the ideal republic liberty, equality, fraternity. Union among men can only spring from their common union with God.
III RESTORATION TO THE DIVINE FAVOR. In the names of Hosea"s three children God had denounced woe upon Israel. But these very names may also be understood so that they shall convey an assurance of mercy and redemption. It may be, indeed, that after following for a season in the evil ways of their mother Goner, the three young people were themselves converted, and thus became qualified in character to illustrate their father"s prophetic message on its side of promise.
1. "Jezreel" will mean "God sows." (Ver. 11) This name shall be purified from its baser associations, and be understood again in accordance with its richest meaning. Originally suggestive of the beauty and fertility of the plain of Esdraelon, its application shall be extended, in the spiritual sense, to the whole of Palestine and of the world. (Isa_35:1, Isa_35:2) When God sows there is sure to be a glorious harvest; hence the Messianic promise, "Great shall be the day of Jezreel.
2. Not-my-people" will become My people." (Ver. 10 and Hos_2:1) In the good time coming, the men of Israel are to salute one another no longer as "Lo-ammi;" but, joyfully dropping the negative, as "Ammi," i.e. those whom the Lord has again called to be his people. This name anticipates "the adoption of sons" under the New Testament. Hence we find the Apostle Peter applying this passage to the Jews of the dispersion; (1Pe_2:10) and the Apostle Paul to the reception of the Gentiles, in opposition to the Jews. (Rom_9:25, Rom_9:26) The words of the latter are not merely an ingenious adaptation of the prophecy to the heathen nations; they are an argument based upon the fundamental thought of it. Israel, through its apostasy, had fallen from the covenant of grace, and had taken its place spiritually as part of the Gentile world, which served dead idols. So the re-adoption of Israel carried with it the adoption also of the Gentiles as the spiritual children of God.
3. Not-pitied" will become "Pitied." (Ver. 1) The word "Ruhamah" will be applied to the daughters of the people, to express the climax of the Divine love. Israel is again to be the object of the Lord"s tender and yearning affection. On the other side of all the sin and doom Hosea discerns the sovereignty of Jehovah"s compassion and loving-kindness, and he calls upon the people rapturously to celebrate it.
CONCLUSION. How great the encouragement which these three verses afford to any of us who feel that we have, in our own lives, grievously departed from the living God l We, in this age, should understand more clearly than even Hosea did the unspeakable mercy of Jehovah. The prophet says nothing, for example, about the ground or method of the Divine forgiveness. But God has unfolded this "in these last days" in speaking "unto us by his Son". (Heb_1:2) The Lord Jesus Christ has come as the Prophet of the Church to emphasize and carry forward Hosea"s message" Jezreel," "Ammi," "Ruhamah. C.J.
"Sons of the living God.
It is both singular and instructive to observe that this expression, which is one of the richest and sweetest in revelation, is found in closest connection with language of severity, rebuke, and threatening. The contrast enhances the preciousness of the doctrine. Children of wrath become members of the Divine family, rejoice in a Father"s love, and inherit a Father"s home.
I THE LIGHT HERE CAST UPON THE NATURE AND CHARACTER OF THE SUPREME. It is a gospel needed by our age as much as by any that has ever existed the tidings that the living God is the Father of the sons of men.
1. He is the living God; neither an abstraction nor a law, nor a Being uninterested in his works or indifferent to the fate of his spiritual creation.
2. He is the Father; which is something more, for it denotes his personal regard, his affectionate disposition, his benignant and bountiful care. To take any lower view than this of the Divine Being is to go back from the enlightened teaching of revelation to the effete and degraded paganism of the past.
II THE LIGHT HERE CAST UPON THE CALLING AND DESTINY OF MAN.
1. Here is witness to our spiritual nature. This language could not be applied to the irrational and, unmoral brutes. Only man, among the inhabitants of earth, is capable of the dignity and blessedness involved in Divine sonship.
2. Here is witness to the transforming power of religion. The context shows that sinners have forfeited all claim to a hallowed relationship such as is here described, with its privileges and immunities. The grace of God, especially as revealed in the gospel of Christ, secures adoption. Christians are "children of God by faith in Christ Jesus;" they have "received the Spirit of adoption.
3. Here is witness to the duties of the new and spiritual life. What dignity clothes the sons of the living God! What relationships, what prospects, what services, are theirs! Surely it is obvious that those so honored are summoned, and are bound, to cherish filial sentiments, to render filial obedience, to offer filial devotion. A holy Father looks for holy sons. T.
Vers. 10, 11. The destiny of the race.
"Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall he the day of Jezreel." Biblical critics of all schools use the natural Israel as the emblem of the spiritual. Paul does so, and therefore it is just and right. We shall take Israel for mankind, and use the text to illustrate the destiny of the race.
I The race is destined to an INDEFINITE INCREASE in the number of good men. "The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered or measured." The good, the spiritual Israel, have been comparatively few in all ages, though perhaps there is a larger number now than in any preceding period. But the time will come when they shall be innumerable. What mean such passages as these? shall have dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the end of the earth." Again, "All kings shall fall down before him." Again, "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ." Numerous as the sand on the sea-shore! A Jewish rabbi regards the good as the sand, not only in relation to number, but to usefulness. As the sand keeps the sea from breaking in and drowning the world, so the saints keep the world from being drowned by the waves of eternal retribution. This is true. Were it not for the good the world would not stand long. But it is to represent number, not protection, that the figure is employed. Who can count the sand which is upon the shore? Do you say that to all appearances such an increase is impossible? When God promised to Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of heaven and the sand upon the shore, what could seem more improbable than the fulfillment? It was twenty years after the promise that he had any child, and that only child he was commanded to destroy, and though Isaac was preserved, he had no offspring until twenty years after his marriage. How improbable the fulfillment of such a promise; but nevertheless it was fulfilled. How numerous the descendants of Abraham became! Do not judge from appearance. Trust God"s Word; it will come to pass. There is a glorious future for the world.
II The race is destined to a TRANSCENDENT PRIVILEGE. "And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
1. They are destined to a general conversion to God. From not being his people they are to become his people. The places el the earth now populated with the enemies of God will one day be crowded with his friends; places where idolatry, superstition, worldliness, and infidelity prevail shall in the bright future be consecrated to Heaven.
2. They are destined to a general adoption into the family of God. "Ye are the sons of the living God." They shall be endowed and animated with the true Spirit, the spirit of reverence and adoring love. They shall "worship the Father in spirit and in truth." "The living God." The world has abounded with dead gods; there is but one living God. He is the Living One. He is Life, the primal Fount of all existence. Christ calls him the living Father. "As the living Father sent me... I live in the Father, so he that eateth with me shall live by me.
III The race is destined to a COMMON LEADERSHIP. "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
1. This leadership shall unite the most hostile. "Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together." Great and long-enduring was the hostility existing between these people. The time will come when all antitathies existing amongst peoples shall be destroyed. "Ephraim shall not envy Judah: they shall be of one heart and one mind.
2. This leadership shall be by common appointment. They shall "appoint themselves one Head." Their Leader will not be forced upon them contrary to their consent, nor will he force himself. Who is the Leader? Christ. He is the Leader of the people. He is the Commander-in-chief, he is the Captain of our salvation. All shall unite in him. He is the Head of the Church.
3. This leadership will be glorious. "They shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel." As Moses led the Jews out of the wilderness, as Cyrus delivered them from Babylon, Christ will lead them out of Egyptian darkness and Babylonian corruption. "Israel is here called Jezreel," says Matthew Henry, "the seed of God. This seed is now sown in the earth, and buried in the clods, but great shall be its day whoa the harvest comes." For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw the vision of the world, and all the wonders that would be; Saw the heavens fill with commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots of the purple twilight, drooping down with costly bales; Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew From the nations" airy navies grappling in the center blue; Far along the world-wide whisper of the south wind rushing warm, With the standards of the peoples plunging thro" the thunderstorm; Till the war-drum throbb"d no longer, and the battle-flags were furl"d In the parliament of man, the federation of the world. There the common sense of most shall hold a fretful realm in awe, And the kindly earth shall slumber, lapt in universal law. (Tennyson.) D.T.
Ver. 10-Deu_4:25-28 Deu_31:16-19) But the same word which had predicted the rejection, predicted also the recovery. (Deu_30:1-16) Hosea, in this new word from God, repeats and confirms the promise. The blessings predicted are
I NUMERICAL INCREASE. "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea," etc. This was the original promise to Abraham. (Gen_15:5) Israel"s unfaithfulness could not make it void. (Rom_3:3) Neither did it.
1. God has made up for the rejection of Israel by giving Abraham a spiritual seed vastly outstripping in numbers the natural seed. The spiritual seed was included in the promise:" And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed". (Gen_12:3) God has given Abraham this seed. Even now, while Israel"s rejection lasts, a vast seed has been raised from the Gentiles, "which in time past were not a people". (1Pe_2:10) God has, as it were, from the stones raised up children to Abraham. (Mat_3:9) This seed will go on increasing till it embraces all peoples of the earth.
2. Mercy waits even for the natural Israel, who will yet, in great numbers, enter the kingdom of God (Romans 11).
II RESTORATION TO SPIRITUAL HONOR. "In the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
1. The privilege. "Sons of the living God." Formerly they were called God"s "people;" now they are called his "sons." The last honor is greater than the first. Sonship, which formerly was predicated of the nation, is now predicated of the individuals composing it.
2. The heirs of the privilege. Gentiles as well as Jews. (Rom_9:26 1Pe_2:10) For Gentiles are now admitted to Israel"s privileges, they are part of the spiritual seed. Israel, in its state of rejection, stands towards God on no higher a footing than the Gentiles. "Not my people." Conversely, the scheme of grace through which it is recovered has a range wider than the natural Israel; it applies to the whole class of "Not-my-people," and includes Gentiles as well as Jews. The middle wall of partition is broken down; (Eph_2:14) there is no more any difference. (Rom_3:22, Rom_3:29)
3. Greatness of the privilege.
(1) Great, in contrast with former condition. "Once," not the people of God; "now," not his people only, but his sons.
(2) Great in its own nature. "Sons of the living God." What honor, what dignity, what favor, is implied in this! We have this sonship in Christ, the beloved Son. Angels do not possess this honor. It is reserved for sinful but redeemed man. "Behold, what manner of love," etc. (1Jn_3:1)
III REMOVAL OF DISUNION. "Then shall the children of Israel and the children of Judah be gathered together," etc. The words imply:
1. That Judah, like Israel, would be found at length in exile.
2. That mercy was in reserve for both.
3. That a new Head a King would be given, under whom both would return from captivity. The return will certainly take place, in a spiritual sense, in Israel"s conversion; whether also in a literal sense remains to be seen.
4. That the leadership of the new King would be voluntarily accepted themselves one Head". (cf. Psa_110:2)
5. That in the restored kingdom of God no place would be found for existing divisions. The old enmities would disappear. Enmity has already disappeared between Judah and Israel. The present Jews have in them the blood of all the twelve tribes. We may learn
(1) that in the kingdom of God there ought to be no disunion;
(2) that in the perfected kingdom of God there will be no disunion;
(3) that in the kingdom of God the Center of unity is Christ "One Lord, one faith, one baptism". (Eph_4:5)
IV GLADNESS AND REJOICING. "Say ye unto your brethren, Amlni; and to your sisters, Ruhamah". (Hos_2:1)
1. Because of God"s great goodness in the extension of his Church. "Great shall be the day of Jezreel," this time in the sense, "God will sow.
2. Because of reversal of former rejection. No longer Lo-ammi, but Ammi people;" no longer Lo-ruhamah, but Ruhamah This joy will be universal. Will fill all hearts, will occupy all lips. Each will greet, rejoice with, and congratulate the other. J.O.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain There it shall be said unto them, Ye are…
Hos_1:10
There it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
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A promise of mercy
I. A promise of mercy to israel.
1. The Lord in judgment remembers mercy. When God threatens most dreadfully, yet He promises most graciously.
2. It is usual when we are in prosperity to forget all threatenings, and when we are in adversity to forget all promises.
3. God in the midst of His auger, knows those that trust in Him.
4. Not only when God threatens judgments, but when judgments are actually upon us, let us sanctify Gods name in looking up to the promises.
II. To whom did this promise refer? It was not a promise to any that then lived, it was to be fulfilled in future ages; yet it is introduced by the prophet as a comfort to the people of God then living. Gracious hearts are comforted with the promises of God made to the Church, though not to be fulfilled in their days.
III. What was this promise? That Israel-should be a multitude. The Lord remembers His promises, though made a long time since, so long ago as the time of Abraham. Observe--
1. There is nothing lost in being willing, as Abraham was, to lose for God.
2. When we are willing to lose for God, then is the time when God will renew and confirm His covenant with us. Note--
(1) God has a time to bring in abundance of people to the profession of the faith.
(2) Although God defers fulfilling His promise for a time, yet at last He does it gloriously.
(3) We should greatly rejoice in multitudes joining the Church. (Jeremiah Burroughs.)
The destiny of the race
We shall take Israel for mankind, and use the text to illustrate the destiny of the race.
I. The race is destined to an indefinite increase in the number of good men. The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered or measured. The good, the spiritual Israel, have been comparatively few in all ages, though perhaps there is a larger number now than in any preceding period. But the time will come when they shall be innumerable. What mean such passages as these? He shall have dominion item sea to sea, from the rivers to the end of the earth. Again, All kings shall fall down before Him. Again, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ. Numerous as the sand on the sea shore! A Jewish Rabbi regards the good as the sand, not only in relation to number, but for usefulness. As the sand keeps the sea from breaking in and drowning the world, so the saints keep the world from being drowned by the waves of eternal retribution. This is true. Were it not for the good the world would not stand long. But it is to represent number not protection, that the figure is employed. Do you say that to all appearances such an increase is impossible? When God promised to Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of heaven and the sand upon the shore, what could seem more improbable than the fulfilment? Do not judge from appearances. Trust Gods Word; it will come to pass. There is a glorious future for the world.
II. The race is destined to a transcendent privilege. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, there shall it be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
1. They are destined to a general conversion to God. From not being His people they are to become His people. The places of the earth now populated with the enemies of God will one day be crowded with His friends.
2. They are destined to a general adoption into the family of God. Ye are the sons of the living God. They shall be endowed and animated with the true Spirit, the spirit of reverence and adoring love. The living God. The world has abounded with dead gods; there is but one living God.
III. The race is destined to a common leadership.
1. This leadership shall unite the most hostile. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together. Great and long enduring was the hostility existing between these people. The time will come when all antipathies existing amongst peoples shall be destroyed. Ephraim shall not envy Judah: they shall be of one heart and one mind.
2. This leadership shall be by common appointment. They shall appoint themselves one head. Their leader will not be forced upon them contrary to their consent, nor will He force Himself. Who is the leader? Christ. He is the Leader of the people. He is the Commander-in-Chief, the Captain of our salvation. All shall unite in Him.
3. This leadership will be glorious. As Moses led the Jews out of the wilderness, as Cyrus delivered them from Babylon, Christ will lead them out of Egyptian darkness and Babylonian corruption. (Homilist.)
Sons of the living God
It was the special sin of Israel, the source of all his other sins, that he had left the living God, to serve idols. In the times of the Gospel, not only should he own God as his God, but he should have the greatest of all gifts, that the living God, the Fountain of all life, of the life of nature, of grace, of glory, should be his Father, should communicate to him that life, which He has and is. For He who is Life, imparts life. God doth not only pour into the souls of His elect, grace and faith, hope and love, or all the manifold gifts of His Spirit, but He, the living God, maketh them to be His living sons, by His Spirit dwelling in them, by whom He adopteth them as His sons, through whom He giveth them grace. For by His Spirit He adopteth them as sons God not only accounteth us, but maketh us His sons. He maketh us sons, not outwardly, but inwardly; not by inward grace alone, but by His Spirit. God is our Father, not by nature, but by grace. He giveth us of His substance, of His nature, although not by nature; not united with us (as it is personally, with His Son), but dwelling in us, and making us partakers of the Divine nature. Sons of the living God must be living by Him and to Him, by His life, yea, through Himself living in them. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Old Testament prediction
Fossil sunlight, is what Herschel named anthracite coal. The vast stores of sunlight poured out upon the globe during the old geological ages were consolidated and packed away in the bowels of the earth because this busy twentieth century, with its myriads of railways and ocean steamers and manufactories, would need it. And have you thought how large a proportion of the Old Testament is prediction? And is it, therefore, of no use to the practical working Church of to-day? Nay. This vast profusion of prophetic light falling upon the minds of Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah and David, and the minor prophets, and treasured up in their inspired pages, may soon be needed. And they who are delving in these mines of eschatology, instead of being engaged in an aimless and profitless toil, may be providing the Church with the needed warmth for that predicted time when iniquity shall abound, and the love of many wax cold. (A. J. Gordon, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Hos_1:11. Gathered together] in one body. One head] Zerubbabel…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Hos_1:11. Gathered together] in one body. One head] Zerubbabel typically, Christ really (Jer_3:18; Eze_34:23). Go up] from Babylon, from whence God restored the two tribes; typ. = deliverance from sin and moral dignity; go up from sinful life, join the Christian Church and march to the land of promise. Great, &c.] Not as Hos_1:4. God will increase in mercy, not scatter in displeasure. Where Israel was overthrown, victory shall be achieved. Instead of no mercy and not my people, we have mercy and my people. Great and glorious the day when the fortunes of Israel shall be reversed and the fulness of the Gentiles come in.
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HOMILETICS
THE GOOD TIME COMING.—Hos_1:10-11; ch. Hos_2:1
Though excluded from the love of God, Israel was not always to be so. The hand which wounds will heal, and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. The spiritual Israel, the Gentiles as well as Jews, shall be restored to God and become numerous as the sand (Gen_32:12; Rom_9:25-26). Light springs out of darkness, and life out of death. Promise of blessings follows threat of punishments, and a glorious future opens out to the penitent believer.
I. Israel shall be increased in number.
1. This increase from God. God the source of all increase in families, churches, and nations. Health, favourable circumstances, do not account for increase. Modern calculations must not be applied. God who multiplied Israel in Egypt by special miracle increases the number of his people. “I will increase them with men like a flock.”
2. This increase is innumerable “as the sand of the sea.” It is a law of nature, a rule of providence, to promote growth from small beginnings. The oak from an acorn. A Syrian ready to perish became a great and populous nation, Deu_26:5. God’s people, few in number at present, shall be increased to “a multitude which no man can number.” “A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation; I the Lord will hasten it in his time.”
3. This increase notwithstanding persecution and sorrow. God’s people often severely persecuted and oppressed; their number diminished; but God replaces things temporal by things spiritual, outward gifts by inward graces, and restores fourfold what he takes away. The Church can never be crushed by force. Omnipotence defends her, and the purpose of God will never be frustrated. “Israel shall be as the sand,” “it shall come to pass.”
II. Israel shall be restored to spiritual dignity.
1. They shall be restored to right relation to God. “The sons of the living God.” This the goal of their Divine calling, but from this relation they had fallen. The external relation only a faint emblem of the spiritual. Not merely a people, but the people, the subjects, the sons of the living God. God owns his people, they are reconciled to him, and possess the spirit of adoption, whereby they say, Abba, Father. This is their unspeakable joy now, but is only a foretaste of what they shall be (1Jn_3:2).
2. This restoration is by a method least expected. “In the place where it was said, Ye are not my people,” &c. Mercy when judgment is expected, love beyond description and degree. Love without a parallel and example. Love to the sinful, restoration to the fallen. The place of rejection, the place of redemption; in the place where there was nothing good and encouraging, there shall be a change for the better—a people shall be formed, increase given, and a nation gathered together under the benediction and protection of God.
III. Israel shall be united under one government. “The children of Israel shall be gathered together and appoint themselves one head.”
1. United under one head. This head not the pope, nor Zerubbabel as chief, nor Joshua as priest. Christ, the head of the Church, shall be the head of every man. He, “the one King, shall be the King to them all” (Eze_34:23). Men may gather together into societies and creeds, but no true unity, no real allegiance, except in Christ. He gathers together by his word and love the children of God which are scattered abroad (Joh_11:52).
2. United by Divine influence. “They shall be gathered.” God only knows where, and how, to find his people. He follows them in their wanderings, restores them when fallen, and leads them into green pastures, and beside the still waters. Men are drawn to Christ, disposed to join together, and made willing in the day of his power.
3. United by voluntary consent. We have first the act of God, without whom we can do nothing, and then follows their own act. “They appoint themselves one head.” No outward force can constrain. If we do not act willingly, there can be no friendship and loyalty. God’s service is a choice, a free service, “Choose you this day.” “Will ye be my disciples?”
4. United in true love. “The children of Judah and the children of Israel,” who lived apart and at enmity. In the gospel only we have a basis for a common brotherhood and fraternity; in Christ only have we bonds to cement and preserve it. In him Jew and Gentile, bond and free, live at peace; “no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms.” “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel” (Jer_3:18). “Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim” (Isa_11:12-13).
5. United in great joy. Taking Hos_1:1 in chap. 2 in connection with these, we have a declaration of joy. Those who called the children of the prophet not my people, and unfavoured, are now to call them the opposite names, the son to his brethren, the daughter to her sisters: or the people who have obtained mercy are summoned to salute one another with the new name and new dignity. Those who have obtained mercy may rejoice, and rejoice in God. This privilege is insured to them. They must cherish mutual love among themselves, encourage one another in trouble, and rejoice together in hope. God’s blessings must be commended to others. God’s family is the only happy family. They “sing unto him a new song.”
6. United in great glory. “They shall come up out of the land.” They shall be delivered from captivity, and led into the land of promise; rise up and march forth to victory, and be re-instated in splendour and power. Egypt is a type of heathen lands into which Israel is driven; Canaan a type of the land of the Lord; the guidance of Israel through the wilderness, and their deliverance from captivity, a figurative representation of re-union with God, and restoration to full enjoyment of salvation. “Great shall be the day of Jezreel.” This grand picture has not yet been realized; but under the leadership of the Messiah the destiny of the human race shall be accomplished. “This seed is now sown,” says Matt. Henry, “in the earth and buried in the clods, but great shall be its day when the harvest comes.” Look joyfully, pray continually, and labour earnestly for that day when God shall sow and give the full increase of the Redeemer’s work (Joh_12:24).
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Hos_1:10. Places of sorrow, places of joy. Where the fathers are cast off for unbelief, the children shall there be restored in mercy—places of death, places of resurrection.
The living God. “The world has abounded with dead gods; there is but one living God. He is the living one. He is life, the primal fount of all existence. Christ calls him the living Father. As the living Father sent me, I live in the Father, so he that eateth with me shall live by me” [Dr Thomas]. If we expect God to be a living God to us, it becomes us not to have dead hearts in his service. If God be active for our good, let us be active for his honour [Burroughs].
Sons of the living God.
1. A unique relation.
2. A distinguished privilege.
3. A blessed prospect.
One Head, Hos_1:11. Saints are said to appoint Christ their head, and indeed to set the crown upon his head (Son_3:11), when they choose him and embrace him for their sovereign, when with highest estimations, most vigorous affections, and utmost endeavours of unfeigned obedience, they set him up in their hearts, and serve him in their lives [Trapp].
The Headship of Christ is:
1. The fulfilment of ancient prophecy.
2. The bond of connection with God.
3. The unity of all ranks.
4. The centre and support of all virtues. He is King of the Jews, Head of the human race, and Lord of all creation. When mankind depart from God, they lose the bond of unity and of peace. They are divided then into parties, which contend with and exterminate each other. But when these have again united themselves with the Lord, the unity of the members is restored. Therefore there is liberty, equality, and fraternity only in the Lord [Lange].
Great days of the Church. The Sabbath—the resurrection of Christ—the day of Pentecost—the day of revivals, and the gathering together of all nations.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1
Future increase, Hos_1:10-11. Prophecy predicts a bright and blessed future. Everything in the conditions of the human mind and of universal society indicates a coming change, a glorious transformation. The nations are looking and yearning for their redemption. The world must be subject to Christ. Every knee must bow to him, and every tongue confess that he is Lord. His name is the only perfect symbol of freedom and life. Under his love and reign every fetter of mind shall be broken; the heart shall be purified, social happiness will be diffused, order and harmony will be restored, and the whole race be again bound in one grand unity. Heaven will be reflected on earth, and earth will be wedded to heaven. God shall descend and dwell with men, and men shall become the sons, and rise into the life of God.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain "Israel" in Hosea means the ten tribes forming the…
Israel
"Israel" in Hosea means the ten tribes forming the northern kingdom as distinguished from "Judah" (the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) forming the southern kingdom which adhered to the Davidic family. (See) 1Ki 12:1-21. The promise of Hos 1:10 awaits fulfilment. See "Israel"; Gen 12:2; Gen 12:3; Rom 11:26.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Acceptance of the True Israel
The Acceptance of the True Israel
v. 10. Yet the number of the children of Israel, the spiritual Israel in Messianic times, shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered, Cf Gen 22:17; Gen 32:13; and it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not My people, namely, in the center of the Lord’s worship in the midst of His visible Church, wherever He would establish His congregations in the Messianic era, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God, this being the message which is proclaimed wherever the Gospel is preached.
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v. 11. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel, all the true members of the Church of the Lord, all those who have acknowledged Him in faith as their Father, be gathered together, in the communion of saints, and appoint themselves one Head, accepting the Messiah as the one Master in the Church, and they shall come up out of the land, being removed from the unbelievers in whose midst they live; for great shall be the day of Jezreel, the day of Israel’s overthrow being at the same time the day of its deliverance; for only such as are conquered by the forces of the Messiah may become partakers of His grace and mercy. Cf Luk 2:34.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh is speaking to Hosea.
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like the sand of the seashore
This emphasizes the great number of Israelites. (See: Simile)
which cannot be measured or counted
This can be stated in active form. AT: "which no one can measure or count" (See: Active or Passive)
It will be that where it was said to them
This can be stated in active form. AT: "Where God said to them" (See: Active or Passive)
where it was said to them
This expression probably refers to Jezreel, the city where crimes had been committed by kings of Israel, and which was a symbol of God's punishment of them.
it will be said to them
This can be stated in active form. AT: "God will say to them" (See: Active or Passive)
will be gathered together
This can be stated in active form. AT: "God will gather them together" (See: Active or Passive)
go up from the land
This expression might refer to the land where the people of Israel were in captivity.
the day of Jezreel
This refers to the time when God will put his people back in the land of Israel. The full meaning of this statement can be made explicit. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
people of God
Israel
life
God
Judah
appoint
Jezreel
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:10-11 These verses mark an abrupt shift in Hosea’s…
1:10-11 These verses mark an abrupt shift in Hosea’s prophecy from judgment to hope. In the next three verses, Hosea transforms the names of Gomer’s three children from names of divine punishment on Israel into names of blessing and hope. This dramatically demonstrates God’s sovereign power of reversal from darkness to light, judgment to hope, and even death to life.
1:10 sands of the seashore: This promise of future population growth for God’s people echoes the promise given to the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob (Gen 22:17; 32:12). • You are children of the living God: This expression is found nowhere else in the Old Testament, but Paul quoted this verse (Rom 9:26) to establish that God had also called the Gentiles to salvation.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.