Context No. 3530 of 4322 · Hosea

Hosea 2:17-23: in context

17For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name. 18In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely. 19I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion. 20I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD. 21It will happen in that day, that I will respond,” says the LORD. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth; 22and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel. 23I 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, ‘You are My God!’”

After all of Israel's unfaithfulness, God speaks words of astonishing tenderness and commitment. I will betroth you to me forever, he says, in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy; I will betroth you to me in faithfulness, and you shall know the LORD.

The relationship God offers is not a grudging tolerance of a wayward people but a marriage covenant, entered freely and forever, grounded in his own faithfulness and love rather than in ours. And then comes the great reversal: I will say to Not-My-People, you are my people, and they will say, you are my God. The very ones who had become not my people through their unfaithfulness are drawn back and claimed again as his own. This is the heart of the gospel, taken up by both Paul and Peter: God takes those who had forfeited every claim on him and betroths them to himself forever. His love does not merely forgive the unfaithful; it re-marries them and makes them wholly his own again.

Do I receive the astonishing love of God, who betroths his once-unfaithful people to himself forever and says even to "not my people," you are mine?

Sources

Hosea 2:19: "I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion."
Hosea 2:23: "I will tell those who were not my people, You are my people; and they will say, You are My God!"
1 Peter 2:10: "Who in time past were no people, but now are God's people."