2:1 Then you will call your brother, “My People” (Ammi)! You will call your sister, “Pity” (Ruhamah)! 

 

Even though Israel was “not the people” of God at this time, they would become God’s believing remnant once again during the Millennial Kingdom.

 

2:2 Plead earnestly with your mother (for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband), so that she might put an end to her adulterous lifestyle, and turn away from her sexually immoral behavior. 

 

The nation of Israel was called Hosea’s mother, because Israel gave birth to Hosea. Jehovah asked Hosea to speak with his mother Israel, because Jehovah was no longer Israel’s husband. Hoses was to plead with his mother to give up her adultery.

 

2:3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked, and expose her like she was when she was born. I will turn her land into a wilderness and make her country a parched land, so that I might kill her with thirst. 

 

When a woman was caught in adultery, she was stripped naked in front of the community and exposed as an adulteress. Jehovah was going to strip his wife Israel naked and expose her as an adulteress to the nations of the world. He would strip her of her agricultural abundance. He would leave her as a dry and barren land.

 

2:4 I will have no pity on her children, because they are children conceived in adultery. 

 

The children of Israel were the individuals who were committing adultery against God by worshiping idols.

 

2:5 For their mother has committed adultery; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, “I will seek out my lovers; they are the ones who give me my bread and my water, my wool, my flax, my olive oil, and my wine.

 

Israel believed that she was receiving her agricultural wealth from demonic gods.

 

2:6 Therefore, I will soon fence her in with thorns; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. 

 

God placed a hedge around Job to protect him from Satan. He also placed a hedge around Israel to protect her from the Gentile nations.

 

2:7 Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch them; she will seek them, but she will not find them. Then she will say, “I will go back to my husband, because I was better off then than I am now.” 

 

This hedge will protect Israel from falling back into spiritual adultery. She will eventually find the need to return back to her husband.

 

2:8 Yet until now she has refused to acknowledge that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and that it was I who lavished on her the silver and gold— which they used in worshiping Baal!

 

The reason for the hedge was that Israel refused to recognize that it was Jehovah, and not the Baali gods, who gave Israel her agricultural wealth. God made Israel wealthy, but Israel used the wealth to worship Baal.

 

2:9 Therefore, I will take back my grain during the harvest time and my new wine when it ripens; I will take away my wool and my flax which I had provided in order to clothe her. 

 

Throwing up the hedge to protect Israel meant that Jehovah would have to strip her of all agricultural wealth. The agricultural wealth was the clothing of Israel.

 

2:10 Soon I will expose her lewd nakedness in front of her lovers, and no one will be able to rescue her from me!

 

Jehovah the husband will strip his wife Israel naked of her agricultural products and expose her as an adulteress to the Gentile nations.

 

2:11 I will put an end to all her celebration: her annual religious festivals, monthly new moon celebrations, and weekly Sabbath festivities— all her appointed festivals.

 

Instead of worshiping Jehovah at the Levitical feasts and Sabbaths, Israel was using those God-given holidays to worship Baal.

 

2:12 I will destroy her vines and fig trees, about which she said, “These are my wages for prostitution that my lovers gave to me!” I will turn her cultivated vines and fig trees into an uncultivated thicket, so that wild animals will devour them.

 

Israel assumed that the vines and fig trees were gifts from her demonic lovers. Therefore, God will take the agricultural wealth of Israel away.

 

2:13 “I will punish her for the festival days when she burned incense to the Baal idols; she adorned herself with earrings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but she forgot me!” says the Lord.

 

God will punish Israel for worshiping Baal on the Levitical festivals.

 

2:14 However, in the future I will allure her; I will lead her back into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.

 

During the Great Tribulation, Jehovah the husband will once again woo His wife back to Him. According to Revelation 12 and Micah 2, the wilderness is the Land of Edom (specifically Bozrah or Petra).

 

2:15 From there I will give back her vineyards to her, and turn the “Valley of Trouble” into an “Opportunity for Hope.”  There she will sing as she did when she was young, when she came up from the land of Egypt.

 

From Petra, Jehovah will return Israel back to her land. During the Millennial Kingdom, Israel will no longer be a barren desert. Israel will be agriculturally wealthy once more, full of lush vineyards.

 

The Valley of Trouble was the place where Achan committed his sin, causing Israel’s defeat in Ai. It became known as the Valley of Trouble. During the Millennial Kingdom, this valley will no longer be trouble for Israel. It will be hope to Israel. This is also taught in Isaiah 65:9–10.

 

2:16 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “you will call, ‘My husband’; you will never again call me, ‘My master.’

 

Israel will no longer address God as Baali, but as Ishi. Baali means “my master.” Ishi means “my husband.” Baal was master over Israel the slave. Jehovah will be husband of Israel His wife.

 

2:17 For I will remove the names of the Baal idols from your lips, so that you will never again utter their names!” 

 

There will be a change in Israel’s vocabulary. During the Millennial Kingdom, Baali will be dropped from Hebrew vocabulary.

 

2:18 “At that time I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish the warrior’s bow and sword —that is, every weapon of warfare—from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.”

 

During the Millennial Kingdom, the land of Israel will never be ravished by animals or war.

 

2:19 I will commit myself to you forever; I will commit myself to you in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and tender compassion. 

 

During the Millennial Kingdom, Jehovah will be a loving husband to Israel.

 

2:20 I will commit myself to you in faithfulness; then you will acknowledge the Lord.”

 

During the Millennial Kingdom, all of Israel will acknowledge Jehovah as the promise-keeping-covenant-keeping God.

 

2:21 “At that time, I will willingly respond,” declares the Lord. “I will respond to the sky, and the sky will respond to the ground;

 

Jehovah will respond to Israel by bringing abundant rain to the earth.

 

2:22 then the ground will respond to the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil; and they will respond to ‘God Plants’ (Jezreel)!

 

God scattered the seed all throughout the Gentile fields of the world. Now, the crops will be gathered and stored in the Millennial Kingdom. The Great Harvest will begin.

 

2:23 Then I will plant her as my own in the land. I will have pity on ‘No Pity’ (Lo-Ruhamah). I will say to ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), ‘You are my people!’ And he will say, ‘You are my God!’ ”

 

During the Millennial Kingdom, Israel will be planted in her land. She will no longer be called “not my people.”  Instead, she will be called “my people.”