​Introduction:
 
Verses 13-15 of the previous chapter speak of the sickness (wounds) of Ephraim and Judah and their tearing apart as prey to HaShem (likened to a Lion and a Young Llion). The chapter concludes with a redemptive promise concerning a state of distress, that results in genuine repentance before the LORD. As we continue, we see the counterpoints to wounding and tearing in the healing and binding (bandaging) of Ephraim and Judah described in the first verse of the current chapter.
 
1“Le’chu, let’s walk ve’nashuvah and return el YHVH (Mercy) to the Lord.
Kiy For Hu He has taraf torn, ve’yirpaeinu He will heal us; He has yach struck, veyachbesheinu He will bind (bandage) us.
 
1“Come, let’s return to the Lord.
For He has torn us, but He will heal us;
He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.
 
a.     “Let us return” is the repentant cry that activates the promised mercy.
b.     “LORD”, and the multiple repetitions of “He” establish for the reader (hearer) the Omnipotence of God.
c.     “He has torn” and “He has wounded” regard the practical discipline of the LORD which intends to provoke godly sorrow and repentance.
d.     “He will heal” and “He will bind” regard His healing work within the spirit and His touch of restoration in the physical.
 
This opening phrase is pretexted in the Targum Yonatan by the words, “They shall say” referring to those in distress (5:15) in the preceding verse. The Targum reads:
 
“They shall say ‘Let us return to the worship of the LORD.”
 
What is certain is that the voice is human and Israelite, a call from one or more of the people to the collective asking all to return to YHVH.
 
“Let’s walk” has both a physical application and a spiritual one. Halakhah (the way we walk) is the practical outworking of faith that is determined by the inner conviction of the soul.
 
The Hebrew does not say “Come let’s return” but “Let’s walk and return”. The text is enforcing the idea that mental assent to returning is not enough, part of faith in action is repentance in action. In fact, devoid of repentance in action faith is worthless.
 
Rashi says that the Hebrew “yach” is present tense and the text therefore reads, “He strikes us, He binds us up.”
 
It is YHVH Who both destroys and makes alive:
 
“See now that I, I am He, and no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither can any deliver out of My hand.” -Devarim (Deut.) 32:39
 
“Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.” -Yishayahu (Isaiah) 30:26
 
The Hebrew chabash (bind) is often used to refer to bandaging wounds and should not be presumed to refer to restraint. Misunderstanding this for example leads many to misinterpret Yeshua’s revelation to Peter and the disciples regarding their role as gatekeepers of the kingdom and the authority to bind and loose (Matt. 16:15-19).
 
Iben Ezra alludes to the fact that the ancient practice of binding wounds included softening the wound with oil prior to binding it. There is a significant link to the work of the Holy Spirit in the healing process.

2 Yechayeinu He will give us life mi-yomayim from two days; bayom in the day hashliyshiy the third yekimeinu He will raise us up, ve’nichyeh that we may live lepanayv before His face.
 
2 He will revive us after two days;
He will raise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him.
 
a.     “Two days” and “third day” refer to the progression of a grouping of days, and coupled with “revive” denote the temporal restoration of the people, and “raise” their resurrection.
b.     “That we may live before Him” reveals both the outcome and the One Who made the outcome possible.
 
As I have stated elsewhere in my commentary the repetition of terms in Hebrew poetic phrasing such as this intends synonymous or intrinsically linked ideas. This gives emphasis to the same concept by repeating it in multiples.
 
The progression of days from two to three denotes two points, the first referring to a revival (awareness) and the second, a final resurrection (life being the result). The revival refers to the first coming of Messiah which occurred following the two figurative (days) captivities of Israel (Egyptian captivity, and Babylonian exile) and the conclusion of the third day refers to that time yet future when Messiah will return and the revival of the entire Jewish people (Israel) will occur convergent with the resurrection of the latter days. This is consistent with the commentary of Kimchi who makes a correlation between these verses and the three captivities of Egypt, Babylon and the present diaspora. Kimchi notes that the Jewish people await Ben Melekh (Son of a king) the Messiah Who will raise us up and bring us comfort.
 
Therefore, the obvious implication is that the future revival of Israel is intrinsically connected to a resurrection that occurs after three days, and the result of that miraculous event will be that Israel is able to live before God’s face in intimate relationship. Put plainly, Messiah Yeshua will revive us in three (historical, figurative) days (through His death and resurrection) and make it possible for us to be forgiven and restored to intimate holy relationship with YHVH the God of Israel.
 
The Targum Yonatan reads:
 
"He will quicken us in the days of consolation which are to come, and in the day of the resurrection of the dead he will raise us up;''
 
Ultimately, what we are reading here is the promise of God to restore all chosen, ethnic, religious, empirical Israel (the modern Jewish people descended from Yaakov) to Himself through the death and resurrection of the Jewish King Messiah Yeshua (Romans 11:15-36)

3 Veneidah And learn to know nirdefah following after lada’at to know et-YHVH the particular Lord. Keshachar Like the dawn nachaon firmly established motzau is His going forth; veyavo And He will come chageshem like the rain lanu to us, kemalkosh as the latter rain, yoreh as spring rain aretz upon land.”
 
3 So let’s learn, let’s press on to know the Lord.
His appearance is as sure as the dawn;
And He will come to us like the rain,
As the spring rain waters the earth.”
 
a.     “Learn to know” and “press on to know” establish the need for repentant people to apply the knowledge of God.
b.     “The LORD”, “His appearance” and “He will come” are supported by the physical reality of the rising sun, the seasonal cycle, and the perpetual precipitation of the created order.
 
The Sefaria English translation renders the Hebrew “ve’neidah” (and learn to know) as “obedience”. The knowledge being spoken of here is applied knowledge.
 
In ancient times the seasons were understood to have an almost immutable quality. Therefore, when Hebrew poetic/prophetic language likens the appearance of God to the dawn and to the rains that provide living waters to the land, it is saying that God’s coming to His people with healing and revival is certain, firmly established. His love and intimate knowledge of His creation is, for the creation, as reliable as the rising sun, the seasonal cycle, and the perpetual precipitation of the created order.
 
Iben Ezra focuses on the fact that it is knowledge of the Holy Name YHVH that will bring about Israel’s truly holy state of being. He is in fact, without knowing it, referring to the revelation of Yeshua the King Messiah.
 
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among mankind by which we must be saved.” -Acts 4:12 NASB
 
"we shall know him, and it will be as clear to us as the light of the morning without clouds:'' -Yosef Kimchi
 
4 Mah What e’eseh-lecha shall I fashion with you, Efrayim (doubly fruitful)? Mah What e’eseh-lecha shall I fashion with you, Y’hudah (praise)? Vechasdechem And your kindness, faithfulness, practical love ka’anan-boker is like a morning cloud, vechatal night mist mashkiym that rises early and holeich goes away quickly.
 
4 What shall I do with you, Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, Judah?
For your loyalty is like a morning cloud,
And like the dew which goes away early.
 
a.     “Ephraim” the northern kingdom.
b.     “Judah” the southern kingdom.
c.     “Ephraim” and “Judah” are all the tribes of Israel combined.
d.     “Loyalty” as a single quality is in this case perpetually unreliable “morning cloud”, “dew”, and “goes away early”.
 
Sadly Israel’s good intentions did not last. HaShem’s response points out the hypocrisy of Israel’s claim to have understood her need to seek Him in true knowledge and thus be sure of His mercy. The response of God to His people is worded in such a way as to expose their hypocrisy as verbal assent to an idea rather than the application of true repentance. Whereas God’s coming in mercy is as reliable as the dawn, all Israel’s so called “loyalty” is as reliable as a quickly evaporating morning cloud/mist, like the dew which lasts only until the sun has risen.
 
God’s light exposes the brevity of Israel’s so called “repentance”.

5 Al-kein Therefore chatzavtiy I have quarried them baneviyiym by the prophets; haragtiym the slayings are be’imreiy-fiy in the speaking of My mouth; umishpateycha and the judgments on you or are a light yeitzei going forth.
 
5 Therefore I have cut them in pieces by the prophets;
I have slain them by the words of My mouth;
And the judgments on you are like the light that [b]shines.
 
a.     “Cut” and “slain” refer to established discipline following fair warning.
b.     “Prophets” and “Words of My mouth” are intrinsically linked.
c.     “Judgements” and “light shining forth” denote a clear and just revelation and manifest application of God’s discipline. Remembering that His Mercy precedes His judgement and is the fruit of it.
 
The prophets of God (Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Hosea) had been filled with and had publicly proclaimed the Word of YHVH as a means of quarrying out the righteous remnant from among the worthless rock of the wider community. The Word of YHVH will manifest in the physical, coming to pass with the slaying of the wicked and the revelation that His judgement is righteous, and is seen by all.

6 Kiy For chesed kindness, faithfulness, practical love chafatztiy I delight in, velo and not zavach sacrifice, ve’da’at And the knowledge of Elohiym (God, Judge) meiolot from whole burnt offerings.
 
6 For I [c]desire loyalty rather than sacrifice,
And the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.
 
a.     “Kindness, practical love” and “the knowledge (intimacy) of God the Judge” link intimate knowledge with relational love in their applied forms.
b.     “Sacrifice” and “burnt offerings” here refer to defiled sacrifice and apostate offerings.
 
As I understand the Hebrew text the best reading of it is: “For kindness, faithfulness, practical love I delight in, and not (defiled) sacrifice, and knowledge of God, the Judge from whole burnt offerings.”
 
In short, this is not saying that God desires faithfulness and knowledge of Him in place of sacrifice and offering but that faithful love for Him is better than defiled sacrifices, and knowledge of Him is evidenced in the right application of burnt offerings.
 
The sacrifices and burnt offerings being spoken of here are the defiled and syncretised sacrifices mixing worship of YHVH with other gods. This text is not contradicting the Torah sacrificial system, nor is it saying that properly offered sacrifices and offerings are unpleasing to God, to the contrary, loyalty to God and knowledge of Him result in appropriate sacrifice and offering. In Messiah we are instructed to offer our body’s as a living sacrifice to God, and in whatever we do, be it word or deed, to do it in the name, identity, and character of the Lord Yeshua our Messiah, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (Colossians 3:17).

7 Veheimah And in the same way ke’adam as Adam (the first man) averu they have missed the mark, violated the veriyt covenant; sham there bagedu they have acted deceitfully viy toward Me.
 
7 But like [d]Adam they have violated the covenant;
There they have dealt treacherously with Me.
 
a.     “Adam” and “dealt treacherously” are the couplet that reminds the reader/hearer of humanity’s decision to disobey God and allow sin to enter the world and death with it.
b.     “Violated the covenant” and “Me” show the connection between the covenant Maker God and those who enter into covenant (agreement) with Him.
 
“Like Adam” does not mean that Adam the first man violated a written or blood atoned covenant, no such covenant was made between God and Adam. Covenant is used here in the sense of the root meaning of “bara” (cutting, eating, agreement) and denoting agreement between two persons or groups of people. In Adam’s case he and Chavah ate of the fruit of garden in agreement with the Creator. Through relationship this agreement (covenant) was implied, thus by eating of the fruit which they had agreed (covenanted) not to eat, they broke covenant with God.
 
In the same way that the first man and subsequently mankind have chosen to act by missing the mark (which is what the Hebrew “averu” means), of The Covenant established by God’s all existing holiness (predates Exodus 19:5, Torah), Israel has despised the written covenant of Sinai.
 
We note that the covenant entered into at Sinai at the revealing of the Torah of HaShem was unanimously agreed to by the people of Israel (Exodus 24:3). We further observe that the Torah was given as the physical, written and lasting measure by which sin is exposed. The Torah is a legal document that is therefore used to indict sinners. God’s holiness is all existing and is the ultimate reference point for determining Good from Evil. Therefore, the measure by which we determine Good and Evil predates the written Torah and makes Adam (the first man, and humanity as a whole) culpable in regard to the choice to sin against God’s holiness (the mark).
 
“There” refers to the land of Israel and may infer a correlation between the sin of Ephraim and Judah to that sin which occurred in the valley of Achor (named after the sin of Achan who stole items dedicated to destruction from the ruins of Jericho; Joshua 7). We note that it is God’s intention to turn the valley of Achor (trouble) into a door of hope (Hosea 2:15).
 
God had brought the tribes of Israel, from Egypt, to Sinai (Covenant of Torah) and into ha-aretz (the Land). Therefore, having been delivered from captivity, given covenant law and carried into a land of abundance, Israel, once comfortable in the land had dealt treacherously with the One Who had given them all this.
 
“In a good land where I settled them, there they betrayed Me, like Adam, whom I brought into the Garden of Eden, and he transgressed My commandment. [from Gen. Rabbah]” -Rashi
 
"and in the good land, which I gave unto them to do my will, they have dealt falsely with my word.'' -Targum Yonatan

8 Gil’ad (witness heap) kiryat is a city po’aleiy of makers of aven iniquity, wickedness, idolatry. akubah insidious, slippery, polluted midam from blood.
 
8 Gilead is a city of wrongdoers,
Tracked with bloody footprints.
 
a.     “Gilead” meaning “witness heap” testifies as a witness against its own vile sin.
b.     “Iniquity” is linked to “slippery blood” an denotes a city in which murder and idolatrous sacrifices have resulted in the shedding of so much blood that the ground is slippery with it.
 
The city Gilead in Gad (territory of the tribe of Gad) was the capital of the wider region of Gilead. The wider region covered area near and beyond the Jordan river, and was inhabited by Gad, Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh; and thus belonged to the ten tribes of the north.
 
The city of Gilead is thought to be Ramot-Gilead, a city of refuge inhabited by priests, both apostate and Levite. This made the sin of the city even more deplorable given that the priests and Levites had knowledge of the Torah but had clearly not properly conveyed that knowledge to the wider community.
 
While the polluting of blood can refer to murder and idolatrous sacrifices, it can also denote bloodguilt brought on the city by the misapplication of the law of refuge. It may be that murderers guilty of premeditated murder were being given refuge contrary to the law, or that those guilty of accidental killing were being given over to the avenger of blood rather than being protected by the city of refuge in accordance with Torah law*.
 
*The Bible names the six cities as being cities of refuge: Golan, Ramot-Gilead and Bosor, on the east of the Jordan river (Left bank) [Deut. 4:43; Josh. 20:8], and Kedesh, Shechem, and Hebron on the west bank of the Jordan river [Joshua 20:7].
 

9 Uchechakeiy And like robbers lying in wait for iysh a man gedudiym as a group, chever a company kohaniym of priests yeratztzechu commit murder on the way to Shechmah (Shechem, shoulder/back); kiy Surely zimah (premeditation) they have planned asu to fashion evil.
 
9 And as a band of robbers lie in wait for a person,
So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem;
Certainly they have committed an act of infamy.
 
a.     “robbers” and “priests” are seen as synonymous.
b.     “lie in wait” and “way to Shechem” are considered synonymous.
 
This verse describes priests who acting like robbers not only murder others on their way to make sacrifices (perform religious acts), but do so with premeditation. Therefore, they have exceeded even the depravity of the godless nations that surrounded Israel. They have not stumbled upon evil, they have planned it.
 
“On the way to Shechem” can be understood to refer to those who are murdered. They are those who are passing through Shechem on their way to Jerusalem to worship the LORD at one of the Regaliym/Aliyot (going up festivals: Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot).
 
Some understand the verse to read “As a band of robbers wait to pounce on a person, so priests are murdered on the way to Shechem, certainly they have planned to do this evil.”
 
*We note that Shechem was also a city of refuge and that the blood guilt on the city of Ramot-Gilead is extended to Shechem and the priests associated with that city.
 
Shechem rests in the valley between Mt Ebal (bald) and Mt Gerizim (Cuttings off) where the Curses (Ebal) and Blessings (Gerizim) were pronounced over Israel as she entered the land (Deut. 11:29; 27; 28; Joshua 8:30-35).

10 Be’beiyt In the house Yisrael (overcome in God) raiytiy I have seen sha’aruriyah an opening to horror, dread, storm; sham there zenut fornication, harlotry le’Efrayim to Ephraim, nitma uncleanness, defilement in Yisrael.
 
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
Ephraim’s infidelity is there, Israel has defiled itself.
 
a.     “House of Israel” and “Ephraim” join the northern tribes to the house from which their kingship had originated.
b.     “Horrible thing”, “Infidelity (sexual sin)” and “defiled herself” link the abhorrent sight of sexual sin to its repercussions. Thus, as mentioned in my commentary prior to this, sexual sin is self-harm.
 
The horror in Israel resulting from her infidelity, mixes idolatry and sexual sin. The calves set up at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:25-33) mirrored the calf worshipped at the foot of Sinai (Exodus 32) and represented the ultimate affront to the covenant of YHVH. The spiritual fornication of the worship of false gods overflowed into physical sexual immorality and was mingled with the blood of the innocent in orgies of vile apostate religion. All this Israel had chosen while wilfully turning her back on HaShem.

11 Gam Also, Y’hudah, shat there is set katziyr a harvest lach for you, beshuviy in My returning you shevut from captivity Amiy My people.
 
11 Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you,
When I restore the fortunes of My people.
 
a.“Judah” is not immune to sin, there is a judgement coming upon the southern kingdom also (Babylonian exile). However, “Harvest” represents both judgement outworked and redemption made full.
b.“Return” the LORD will return Judah from exile.
 
The meaning of this verse is beautifully complex and denotes both judgement (Harvest: Joel 3:13; Matt. 13:30-39) and salvation (Harvest: Isaiah 9:3; Luke 10:2; Matt.9:38) through returning (repentance).
 
The English translation “When I restore the fortunes of My people” is ineffective. The Hebrew text literally reads “In My returning you from captivity My people”. The Hebrew is saying, “When I personally return you through judgement and harvest from captivity, you My people.”
 
We note that both the harvest of judgement and the harvest of returning are associated to Judah specifically and will benefit all Israel. In other words, the judgement and restoration will come through Judah. This initially refers to the Babylonian exile and the subsequent return of all the tribes of Israel to Judea where they collectively become known as Y’hudim (Jews). However, it ultimately refers to the deliverance of Israel from sin through the King Messiah born of Judah, and the fullness of the redemption of all ethnic, chosen, religious, empirical Israel through Yeshua at the end of days (Romans 11:15-36).
 
Copyright 2021 Yaakov Brown

​1Shimu-zot Hear, listen, receive, understand this, ha-kohaniym you the priests!
Ve’hakshiyvu and pay attention, be attentive, heed, incline your ears beiyt Yisrael house of Israel! Uveiyt ha-melekh And house of the king ha’azinu give ear, listen, harken, be obedient! Kiy For lachem upon you hamishpat is the judgment, kiy because you have been a pach bird trap le’Mitzpah at Mizpah (look out, watch point, watchtower), vereshet and a net perusah spread out, breaking in pieces al-Tavor (mound, breaking) on Tabor (Mt Tabor).
 
1Hear this, you priests!
Pay attention, house of Israel!
Listen, you of the house of the king!
For the judgment applies to you,
Because you have been a trap at Mizpah,
And a net spread out on Tabor.
 
a.     “Hear… Pay attention… Listen” are a trifold admonishment in response to Israel’s wilful decision to block her ears, ignore and refuse to listen to God.
b.     “You priests” is spoken to the illegitimate priests of the north but also regards Israel being a nation of priests called by God (Exodus 19:6) and finds its triplet in the “house of Israel” and the “house of the king”. Each of the three were responsible for maintaining justice: a. Priest [Godly, spiritual justice] b. Israel [social justice] c. King [justice of governance].
c.     “House of the king” could refer to HaShem as King [the King], or to the king of Judah, linking to the reference to Judah in verse 5, it could also be a reference to Menachem [the then king of the north] or a symbolic reference to Jeroboam: of Ephraim, as first king of the north).
d.     “Judgement” corresponds to “a trap” and “a net”.
e.     The two locations of “Mizpah” and “Tabor” are mentioned as locations relating to Israel’s idolatrous sin against God. They mark two places where idolatry was being practiced, a reference to high places of occult worship. They may also have been look out stations intended to prevent members of the northern tribes from going up to Jerusalem to worship (Rashi).
 
“Hear this you priests”
 
God had called all Israel a “priesthood”:
 
“and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” -Exodus 19:6 NASB
 
It’s important to note that the priests of the northern kingdom appointed by Jeroboam were not Levites and therefore were illegitimate priests.
 
“And he (Jeroboam) made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.” -1 Kings 12:31 KJV
 
We could read “Hear this you illegitimate priests!”
 
“incline your ears house of Israel! And house of the king give ear”
 
The distinction made by admonishing the “house of Israel” and the “house of the king” could mean that God is addressing both the northern tribes and Judah (Benjamin). The remaining verses and the greater context makes this the most likely interpretation. However, as stated in the points above regarding the poetic mechanisms, there are at least two other possible interpretations.
 
“For upon you is the judgment, because you have been a bird trap at Mizpah (look out, watch point, watchtower), and a net spread out, breaking in pieces (mound, breaking) on Tabor.”
 
Bird traps and the like are used in Scripture as a metaphor of the practices of the wicked in entrapping innocent people (Job 18:8-10; Psalm 140:5; Proverbs 29:5; Lamentations 1:13). This adds weight to Rashi’s assertion that Mizpah and Tabor were look outs intended to prevent members of the northern tribes from going up to worship in Jerusalem.
 
Mizpah could be one of two places: 1. Mizpah in Gilead east of the Jordan (Genesis 31:43-49) 2. Mizpah in Benjamin (1 Samuel 7:5-6; 10:17). Given the historical context it seems more likely that Mizpah in Benjamin is being alluded to, making the indictment equally against the northern and southern kingdoms. However, Rashi infers that both locations were in the northern kingdom and were high points where look outs were placed to prevent members of the northern tribes from going up to Jerusalem to worship.
 
“On these two mountains they stationed sentries so that Israel would not make the pilgrimage to the Temple.” -Rashi
 
Regardless, as a result of her occult and idolatrous practices on the high places of Mizpah and Tabor, the northern kingdom and perhaps Benjamin (Mizpah: 1 Samuel 7:5-6; 10:17) have set a trap for all residents of Israel (and Judah) and have caused a breaking out of violence and debauchery that has permeated through the entire northern region and as a result has overflowed into Judah.
 
Mizpah means “look out” and Tabor “breaking”. Thus, both Israel (northern kingdom) and Judah have invited demonic false deities to have access to the north (Tabor) and south (Mizpah). They have done this by a. preventing those who wish to come to worship at the God appointed location of the temple mount and b. by worshipping other deities in syncretism with their worship of HaShem.
 
There is a warning here for all who believe. When we compromise the clear instruction of God and in turn allow other forms of worship to converge with our faith practice, we too invite demonic influence, and if we leave these things unaddressed, that influence becomes a stronghold with the potential to lead us to destruction.

2 Veshachatah And the slaughter seitiym of the rebels he’miyku has gone deep,
va’aniy And I musar will discipline lechulam all of them. 3 Aniy yadatiy I know Efrayim (doubly fruitful), veYisrael and Israel (Overcome in El) lo-nichchad is not hidden/cut off mimeniy from Me; kiy for now nitma unclean, impure Efrayim (doubly fruitful), has been, as has Israel.
 
2 And the rebels have gone deep in [a]depravity,
But I will discipline all of them.
3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;
Because now, Ephraim, you have been unfaithful,
Israel has defiled itself.
 
a.     “Depravity” is the fruit of “Rebellion”, and a loving God disciplines the ones He loves.
b.     “Ephraim” and “Israel” (northern tribes) are synonymous terms. The northern tribes are neither hidden nor cut off from HaShem YHVH (Mercy).
c.     “Unfaithfulness (in particular, sexual unfaithfulness)” is “Self-defilement”.
 
“the slaughter of the rebels has gone deep”
 
Iben Ezra calls them “those idolaters, revolters, or worshippers of Baal.”
 
This refers to the fruit of idolatrous blood sacrifices. Both the spiritual and physical implications have found their way into the depths of societal and individual consciousness.
 
“The extent of their straying they have deepened. I said that anyone who does not go up to Jerusalem on the Pilgrimage festivals transgresses a positive commandment, and they decreed that anyone who does go up to Jerusalem shall be put to death. Hence, they went deeper than I. I.e., they were more stringent than I (Sanhedrin 102a).” -Rashi
 
“I will discipline all of them”
 
“All of them” refers to all who have sinned. God is just, those who are part of the righteous remnant will go into exile along with the wicked but will be kept set apart from the punishment of the wicked.
 
“I know Efrayim, and Israel is not hidden/cut off from Me;”
 
“I know” is an intimate phrase denoting God’s relationship to Ephraim. “Not hidden” is an affirmation of God’s intimate knowledge of Israel and is a reminder of His All Knowing (omniscient) nature.
 
“Until Hosea son of Elah, they blamed their sins on their kings, who prevented them from going on the pilgrimages. This one arose and abolished the sentries; yet they did not go up. Therefore, they were exiled. For now you have committed harlotry, O Ephraim, and they cannot blame the king. I learned this in Seder Olam [Order of the world] (ch. 22).” -Rashi

4 Lo yitnu Nothing will be given them ma’aleiyhem from their deeds, lashuv to return el-Eloheiyhem to their God. Kiy For ruach a spirit, wind, breath of zenuniym prostitution, adultery, fornication bekirbam is within them, ve’et-YHVH and the particular YHVH (Mercy) lo yadau they do not know.
 
4 Their deeds will not allow them
To return to their God.
For a spirit of [b]infidelity is within them,
And they do not know the Lord.
 
a.     “Their deeds” and “infidelity” are connected to a spirit (demonic) of infidelity which has gained access through the perpetual nature of their sin.
b.     Their ability to “return to” is corrupted by the fact that they “do not know”.
 
“Nothing will be given them from their deeds, to return to their God.”
 
The fruit of idolatry does not lead to repentance. To the contrary, an awareness of God’s holiness exposes sin and leads to godly sorrow and returning. It’s not true to say only that “All things work together for good”, a part truth is a lie. What is true is that “God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28; cf. Eph. 1:11). Neither “things” nor “works” themselves are the cause, rather, they are the substance moulded by the cause, and the cause proceeds from God.
 
Persistent intentional sin, the decision to make sin a lifestyle, eventually leads a person to a place where repentance is impossible (Jeremiah 13:23; Hebrews 6:4-6).
 
“For a spirit, wind, breath of prostitution, adultery, fornication is within them,”
 
Israel, through perpetual and intentional sin has opened the door of her inner self to the demonic and the demonic has taken up residence “within” her. All of this is a result of her wilful ignorance of God:
 
“They do not know the LORD”
 
This is because they have refused to know Him. In one sense this is consistent with the sexual sin metaphor, in that they have rejected intimacy with their Husband and have “known” (in the Biblical sense: sexually) other husbands (false gods, foreigners, strangers).
 
They have sinned both corporeally and spiritually by practicing orgies of worship before false deities, on the high places that God had commanded them not to worship at.

5 Ve’anah and testifies, geon-Yisrael the pride of Israel befanayv in his face,
ve’yisraeil and Israel ve’Efrayim (doubly fruitful) and Ephraim yikashelu have stumbled, staggered ba’avonam in their depravity, iniquity, perversity; kashal stumbling gam-Y’hudah also Judah (praise) imam with them.
 
5 Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him,
And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their wrongdoing;
Judah also has stumbled with them.
 
a.     The “pride of Israel”, “their wrong doing”, and the “stumbling” of Judah are a trifold indictment.
b.     The sin itself (pride) is testifying against the sinner (Israel).
 
“and testifies, the pride of Israel in his face,”
 
The outworking of Israel’s pride is staring her in the face. Her sin is obvious to her. The use of the Hebrew befanayv denotes intimacy and affirms the idea of the previous verse that notes Israel’s intimacy with other lovers. One of her other lovers is her own pride.
 
“Israel and Ephraim have stumbled in their perversity…”
 
The Hebrew avon denotes vile perversity, the English (NASB) “wrong doing” is a benign translation. The imagery is of one who is caught in the quagmire of his own debasement, sin and death being both cause and effect.
 
“also Judah with them”
 
As evidenced by the repeated references to Judah, Israel (northern kingdom) are not alone in idolatrous practice (1:7; 3:5; 4:15; 5:5, 10, 12, 14; 6:11; 12:3). Judah has, of her own freewill chosen to adopt the idolatrous practices of Israel.

6 Betzonam With their flocks uvivkaram and herds yelechu they will walk (go out)
levakeish to seek et-YHVH (Mercy) the particular Lord, velo yimtzau and they will not find Him; chalatz He has withdrawn meihem from them.
 
6 They will go with their flocks and herds
To seek the Lord, but they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn from them.
 
a.     “Flocks and herds” and “seek the LORD” qualify the flocks and herds as sacrificial animals intended for the covering of sin before YHVH.
b.     “Will not find Him” and “withdrawn from them”, establish the fact that Israel’s intentional and perpetual idolatry has made it impossible, at this juncture, for her to find Him. They intend to defile the sacrifices commanded by God and as a result the sin sacrifices will be ineffective, leaving them incapable of reconciliation to YHVH, at this point in time.
 
“With their flocks and herds they will walk out”
 
Sacrificial animals.
 
“To seek the particular Lord, and they will not find Him; He has withdrawn from them.”
 
They intend to seek the LORD with syncretized worship practices. Therefore, He will not be found by them. It will be as if He has withdrawn from them. Grace and mercy are offered to all through blood covering but only the truly repentant can receive God’s free gift.
 
To seek to offer compromised sacrifices to YHVH in their situation was abhorrent (Isaiah 1:10-14; Amos 5:21-25; Micah 6:6-8). Note that when the prophets speak of God not wanting sacrifices and festivals they are not speaking of the proper observance of the LORD’s appointed times or the proper offering of sacrifices according to His Torah, but the syncretized, compromised observance of festivals and the offering of defiled sacrifices.
 
Rashi interprets “withdrawn” as “slipped off” and infers that God as Husband has removed Israel’s marital covering like the removal of a garment. This is consistent with the marriage metaphor.
 
“Heb. חָלַץ, slipped away. Comp. (2 Samuel 2:21) “and take to yourself his clothing (חֲלִצָתוֹ),” the clothing that you will slip off them.” -Rashi
 
This verse is not saying that Israel will never return to the LORD, but that she was unable to at that time. Elsewhere we are told that Israel will return to the LORD when she repents in the true integrity of her inner being (3:5; 5:15; Dt. 4:29—31; Jer. 29:13).

7 Ba-YHVH Against the LORD they have dealt bagadu treacherously,
Kiy For vaniym children zariym strangers yaladu they have given birth to.
Now yochlem chodesh the new moon/new month is devouring them et-chelkeiyhem with their portion, share, territory, possession.
 
7 They have dealt treacherously with the Lord,
For they have given birth to [c]illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them with their [d]land.
 
a.     “Dealt treacherously” finds its correlation in “given birth”.
b.     “The LORD” and “illegitimate children” are connected phrases because a point is being made that Israel has birthed children of idolatrous practices and the children are therefore worshipping false gods because they are not the legitimate children of YHVH. In some cases the children in question are literally children born of the sexual union of Israelites and foreigners (idolaters).
 
“For children strangers they have given birth to…”
 
Israel had attributed the successful birth of her children to the Canaanite fertility god Ba’al and therefore have made Ba’al the father, making them legitimate children of Satan illegitimate children of Israel.
 
“the new moon/new month is devouring them with their portion, share, territory, possession.”
 
The desecration of the God appointed new moon celebration will become a sign of the punishment coming against Israel. The punishment will happen over a metaphorical month and she will be removed from her tribal territories and taken into captivity. Why, because the reason for the removal of the inhabitants of the land given to Israel, was their idolatrous behaviour (Lev. 20:23). Therefore, being a just God and Father, YHVH removes (temporarily) Israel for the same reason. However, being Israel’s Father YHVH intends this removal as temporal discipline and not permanent banishment (as some fools teach).
 
8 Tiku Blow shofar a ram’s horn ba-Givah in Gibeah (bowl, in the mountain district of Judea), And chatzotzerah the trumpet in ba-Ramah (high place, near to Gibeah).
Hariyu Shout, raise an alarm at Beit Aven (Beth-aven, House of vanity, wickedness, sorrow, iniquity): “Behind you, Benyamiyn (son of the right hand [strength])!”
 
8 Blow the horn in Gibeah,
And the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:
“Behind you, Benjamin!”
 
a.     “Ram’s horn” and “Trumpet” are both instruments for calling the people. However, they serve different purposes in calling. The Ram’s horn is associated with the binding of Isaac (Gen. 22), the giving of the Torah (Ex. 19:16), the jubilee (Lev. 25:9), war & miracles (Jos. 6:4; Jdg. 6:34; 7:8) etc., whereas the silver trumpets were associated with the movement of the camp in the desert (Num. 10:2), the priesthood (Num. 10:8; 1 Ch. 15:24), worship (1 Ch. 13:8; 2 Ch. 5:12), and the coronation of kings (2 Ch. 23:11-13).
b.     “Gibeah”, “Ramah”, and “Beth Aven” are all locations of idolatrous worship, two of which are in the territory of Benjamin (Gibeah and Ramah), and one on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin (Beth Aven), or, if Beth Aven and Bethel are the same place, then it is located in the territory of Benjamin just east of the border.
 
“Ram’s horn” (shofar) As stated, the ram’s horn is associated with the giving of the Torah (Ex. 19:16), the jubilee (Lev. 25:9), war & miracles (Jos. 6:4; Jdg. 6:34; 7:8) etc. And finds its true origin in the “binding of Isaac” (Gen. 22). Meaning that at its root it is the sound of redemption.
 
“Trumpet” (chatzotzerah, silver trumpet) As stated, is associated with the movement of the camp in the desert (Num. 10:2), the priesthood (Num. 10:8; 1 Ch. 15:24), worship (1 Ch. 13:8; 2 Ch. 5:12), and the coronation of kings (2 Ch. 23:11-13).
 
Therefore, all aspects of meaning associated with both instruments are denoted in the naming of them:
 
1.     The Torah has found you wanting (Ex. 19:16).
2.     You will not be in the land to celebrate the jubilee (Lev. 25:9).
3.     War is at hand, but the power of God is levelled against you by way of punishment at the hand of the Assyrian Empire (Jos. 6:4; Jdg. 6:34; 7:8).
4.     The camp is about to move, into exile (Num. 10:2).
5.     Your compromised priesthood will fall (Num. 10:8; 1 Ch. 15:24).
6.     There will be an end to your apostate worship (1 Ch. 13:8; 2 Ch. 5:12).
7.     The north will see no more kings (2 Ch. 23:11-13).
 
“Gibeah” and “Ramah” are situated in the territory of Benjamin. This means that the alarm being sounded is a warning to Judah and in particular to Benjamin. The Assyrian invasion is immanent.
 
“Beit-Aven” (House of vanity, wickedness, sorrow, iniquity) is a sarcastic way of referring to Bethel (House of God)[Talmud], and or a place very close to Bethel (Joshua 7:2), it was a main centre of northern apostate worship located in the territory of Ephraim/Benjamin. A place that has a strong connection to both the physical and spiritual journeys of the Patriarchs and in particularly to Jacob, who became Israel. It was on the border of the territories of Ephraim and Benjamin (according to the interpretation that equates it to Bethel it is technically located in the territory of Benjamin to the east of the border between the two territories).
 
It seems likely, given Hosea 4:15, that Beth Aven was considered to be part of the territory of Ephraim (northern tribes):
 
“Judah must not become an offender in the Gilgal; and don’t go into Beth-Aven” -Hosea 4:15
 
Proximity is important. Benjamin had absorbed the practices of the northern tribes. “Bad company corrupts good character” (Proverbs 1:8-19; 1 Corinthians 15:33).
 
“Sound a shofar: [O prophets, raise your voices like a shofar.] The news of the sword which is coming as retribution for the iniquity of crowning Saul, who was in Gibeah, and for disobeying Samuel, who was from Ramah. And their kings caused them to turn away from following Me, such as Jeroboam and his ilk. Shout over them, ‘Violence and great destruction!’” -Targum Yonatan
 
Some claim that this warning refers to the Aramean/Syrian and Ephraimite war 734-733 BCE recorded in 2 Kings 16:5-9 and alluded to in Isaiah 7:1-9. This cannot be determined definitively.

9 Efrayim (doubly fruitful) le’shamah will become a horror bayom in the day tocheichah of correction; beshivteiy Among the tribes of Yisrael I make known what is ne’emanah to be established.
 
9 Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is trustworthy.
 
a.     “Ephraim” and “Israel” are in one sense synonymous, however, Ephraim is mentioned as a symbol of the kings of the north (Jeroboam of Ephraim being the first king of the north), whereas Israel encompasses all the tribes. Thus, all are culpable.
b.     “made known” and “firmly established” are phrases denoting the obvious outcomes of Israel’s sin and the just indictment made against her to her face by YHVH.
 
The plain meaning denotes the exile of the northern tribes at the hand of the Assyrians. Their exile will be a horror to both the northern tribes, who endure it, and the southern tribes who observe it. Nonetheless, the southern tribes failed to heed the warning and were taken into exile in Babylon approximately a hundred years later.
 
“Said Rabbi Abahu in the name of Rabbi Yose bar Chanina. On the day that the Holy One, blessed be He, debates with them in judgment, they will not be able to open their mouths, for among their tribes I made known that the judgment is a true judgment. You find that, when the ten tribes were exiled, Benjamin and Judah were not exiled, and the ten tribes were saying, Because they are the dwellers of His palace, He did not exile them. There is favouritism in this matter. God forbid, there is no favouritism, but their measure of sin was not yet full. As soon as they sinned, they were exiled. Then the ten tribes were bewildered, without an answer in their mouths, and they said, “Behold God! Behold the Mighty One! Behold the Just One! For even to those who dwell in His house He shows no favouritism.” This is to fulfil what is stated: Among the tribes of Israel I made known a true judgment. [from Lam. Rabbah, Proem 6]” -Rashi

10 The sareiy princes of Y’udah have become kemasigeiy like those who remove gevul a boundary (territory) marker; aleiyhem on them eshpoch I will pour out kamayim evratiy My fury like water.
 
10 The leaders of Judah have become like those who displace a boundary marker;
On them I will pour out My anger like water.
 
Idolatry is also present in Judah, perhaps not yet to the same extent but it is nonetheless growing. The exile of the northern tribes is to be an unheeded warning and the sins of Judah are being called out. The indictment against Judah addresses a sin against all the tribes. The moving of territory markers which secure the tribal allotments assigned by HaShem.
 
The Torah forbids the moving of boundary stones because it is an act of stealing from another tribe and a desecration against Israel as a whole.
 
“You shall not displace your neighbor’s boundary marker, which the ancestors have set, in your inheritance which you will inherit in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to [q]possess.” -Deuteronomy 19:14 NASB
 
“Cursed is the one who moves his neighbor’s landmark.” - Deuteronomy 27:17 NKJV
 
This sin is abhorrent to HaShem because it is in direct opposition to His provision of an inheritance for all Israel. It would be a king of Judah who would one day rule over all the tribes in the Messianic age, therefore, for the then kings and princes of Judah to be likened to those who remove boundary markers is to say they have dishonoured their role as protectors of the inheritance of Israel.

11 Efrayim (doubly fruitful) ashuk is oppressed, retzutz crushed mishpat by judgment,
Kiy Because hoiyl he was determined halakh to walk achareiy after tzav a command.
12 Va’aniy And I am cha’ash like a moth to Efrayim, ve’charakav and like decay leveiyt Y’hudah to the house of Judah.
 
11 Ephraim is oppressed, broken by judgment,
Because he was determined to follow [e]man’s command.
12 Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim,
And like rottenness to the house of Judah.
 
a.     Ephraim’s oppression is the result of following a command of men, or of Ba’al (as opposed to the commands of God).
b.     Oppression is the fruit of human sin, whereas judgement (in this case) is of God, Elohiym (the Judge).
c.     “Moth” and “Rottenness” progressively destroy and are the result of neglect. In Israel’s case they have neglected the Torah of YHVH and have instead followed the doctrines of men.
 
“Now why does he suffer with all this? Because he wished and desired and followed the new commands of the prophets of Baal.” -Rashi

13 When Efrayim saw chalyo his sickness, and Y’udah his et-mezoro particular wound,
Efrayim then went to Ashur (Assyria, a step) vayishlach And sent to Melekh Yarev a king of Jareb (Contender). But he is unable lirpo to heal lachem you, or to yigheh take away mikem from you mazior your wound.
 
13 When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah his [f]sore,
Ephraim then went to Assyria
And sent word to [g]King Jareb.
But he is unable to heal you,
Or to cure you of your [h]sore.
 
a.     “Sickness” and “wound” are the result of idolatry.
b.     “Ephraim (northern tribes)” and “Judah (including Benjamin)”
c.     The northern kings went to Tiglath Pileser II for help.
 
Despite the protests of revisionist liberal scholars both Jewish and Christian, there is clear evidence here of the Assyrian threat.
 
“King Jareb” or “king of Jareb” appears to be another name for Tiglath Pileser II whom Assyrian records say received a tribute paid by the Israelite (northern tribes) kings Menachem and Hoshea (2 Kings 15:19-20; 17:2). The reading “Of Jareb” would mean that he was a king of a province called Jareb rather than a king named Jareb. This is consistent with the correlation to Tiglath Pileser II.
 
“This is Hosea son of Elah, who was his vassal and then rebelled against him (II Kings 17:4).” -Rashi
 
"and sent to the king that shall come to avenge them;'' -Targum Yonatan

14 Kiy For Anochiy I will be chashachal like a lion to Efrayim, vechakefiyr and like a young lion leveiyt to the house of Y’hudah. Aniy Aniy I, indeed I, etrof will tear to pieces ve’elech and go away, esa carrying away, ve’eiyn matziyl and there will be no one to rescue.
 
14 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, yes I, will tear to pieces and go away,
I will carry away, and there will be no one to rescue.
 
The metaphor “like a lion” used of YHVH is consistent with similar usage elsewhere in prophetic literature. The King Messiah is known as the “Lion of Judah” (Rev. 5:5).
 
The Assyrian Empire will take away the northern tribes, however, God is in control of what takes place, therefore, He is the One who carries Israel away as prey.

15 I eilech will go ashuvah and return el-makumiy to My place, ad until asher-yeshemu they acknowledge their guilt uvikshu and seek panay My face; batzar In their distress lahem yeshacharuniy they will earnestly search for Me.
 
15 I will go away and return to My place
Until they [i]acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their distress they will search for Me.
 
“I will go and return to My place,”
 
While the plain meaning indicates that God will withdraw His protection over Israel. It is worth noting that the Hebrew el-makumiy can be understood to refer to the temple mount in Jerusalem ha-makum.
 
“Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face”
 
According to the redemptive rhythm of the prophetic work an opportunity for repentance is given along with hope for reconciliation.
 
The acknowledgement of sin is necessary and to seek intimate knowledge of God is essential in order for reconciliation to take place.
 
“In their distress they will search for Me.”
 
The discipline that will result in Israel’s distress is intended to bring her to godly sorrow unto repentance and to deliver her from her self-harming lifestyle of idolatry.
 
“29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things happen to you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.” - Deuteronomy 4:29-30 NASB
 
Copyright 2021 Yaakov Brown

CHAPTER 3
 
3 1Vayomer And said YHVH (Mercy) the Lord to me (Hosea), “Eilay od leicha Walk continually toward and, ehav-ishah love a woman ahuvat who is beloved by/as an reia intimate friend, umena’afet and yet continues to commit adultery, ke’ahavat because of the love YHVH (Mercy) the Lord bestows on et-beneiy Yisrael the children of Israel, ve’hem and they poniym look/turn (continually) el-elohiym acheiriym toward other gods veohaveiy and love ashiysheiy fire pressed anaveiym fruit/grapes (raisin cakes, wine libation).”
 
“go, deliver a prophecy against the house of Israel, who are like a woman dear to her husband; and though she commits fornication against him, yet he so loves her that he will not put her away:” -Hosea 3:1 Targum Yonatan Ben Uzziel (2nd Centruy CE Aramaic paraphrase translation)
 
We note that in the previous chapter HaShem has promised to show compassion upon Israel and to seed righteousness in them through His sacrificial love. Their future is belonging and right relationship but their present was the antithesis of these things. The stark contrast between the faithfulness of God and the unfaithfulness of Israel is illuminated in the living mashal (parable) of Hosea’s life.
 
Hosea (Salvation) is tasked with physically showing the northern tribes and by extension all Israel (including Judah and Benjamin) the abhorrent nature of her condition. Consider the gut wrenching heartbreak the prophet must suffer in order to act out these instructions, the self-sacrificing obedience to God, the forsaking of an opportunity for marriage to a faithful bride of the remnant in order to continue to offer grace to the wayward wife Gomer (Perfect, beautiful), who has wilfully chosen to seek her own pleasure over the secure love of her husband. Are we willing to be obedient in the face of suffering? To forgo just outcomes in this temporary world in order to expose wickedness and offer redemption to the wicked? What would that look like in our lives?
 
“And Mercy said to me, ‘Walk continually toward and love a woman who is loved by/as an intimate friend, and yet continues to commit adultery…”
 
There are two ways to understand this verse. First, the intimate friend is the wayward women and second, the intimate friend is a friend of the prophet who has cheated with the wayward woman (Gomer). If the latter is the intended meaning the weight of Hosea’s task becomes exponentially greater. Regardless, the woman is intentionally and flamboyantly adulterous and thus her actions both break her husband’s heart privately and humiliate her husband publicly. The fact that she is clearly (according to the social norms that had developed through sin practices and in opposition to the Torah) not being held accountable by society at large, places the righteous prophet in an extremely vulnerable position.
 
“for the love the Lord bestows on the children of Israel, and they look/turn (continually) toward other gods and love fire-pressed grapes.”
 
The plain meaning shows that HaShem’s relationship with Israel is being reflected in what Hosea has been instructed to do.
 
The last phrase (description) is difficult to translate into English. The Hebrew ashiysheiy essential means “to press down” and appears to come from the root ish (fire) and the plural anaveiym refers to fruit and in particular grapes. Therefore the phrase may refer to raisin cakes offered to Ba’al [Husband, Master, Lord] (Canaanite deity of the harvest and fruitfulness in general), but could just as easily refer to libation offerings of wine made on a fiery altar to any number of other false deities (Ba’al is not mentioned specifically here, though is mentioned in the surrounding text along with the many ba’aliym). The Talmud Bavliy (Babylonian Talmud) contains a dispute between two rabbis, one of whom explains the Hebrew “ashiysheiy” to mean “a cake prepared from one-sixth of an eipha of flour” and the other as “a jug of grapes”, or “excessive wine” (Pesachim 36b:15).
 
2 Va’ekereah And I purchased her liy to me bachamishah asar for fifteen pieces kasef of silver, vechomer and a portion of se’oriym barley veleitech and a half portion of  se’oriym barley. 
 
It is highly unlikely that the purchase of Gomer was a transaction related to her price as a prostitute for two reasons: first, the price was too high (being half the worth of a servant/bond servant Ex.21:23), and secondly, being a figure for God’s relationship with Israel it would impugn God’s character were His proxy (Hosea) to validate the price of prostitution. Therefore, this “purchase, trade” is most likely the result of a discounted sale of a slave/bondservant (Ex.21:23).
 
Due to her lifestyle Gomer had apparently been left with no other option but to sell herself into slavery to an Israelite household. They seem to have placed little value on her and were thus willing to sell her for half the accepted price (Ex.21:23) along with a portion and a half of barley to compensate them for the remainder (15 shekelim).
 
It’s impossible to accurately equate the value of ancient Biblical silver to modern silver values. Therefore, it is far better to qualify our understanding of the value being placed based on the relevant Biblical texts.
 
The Targum Yonatan suggests a figurative connection between the purchase of Gomer and the feast of unleavened bread which is convergent with Passover and lasts seven days. The Targum paraphrases this verse as follows:
 
“And I redeemed them at My command on the fifteenth day of the month of Nisan, and I made shekalim of silver an atonement for their souls, and I declared that they offer before me an ‘omer’ as heave-offering from the barley harvest; that is to say, I did not weary you with difficult duties.” -Hosea 3:2 Targum Yonatan Ben Uzziel (2nd Centruy CE Aramaic paraphrase translation)
 
This is consistent with the fact that barley is the first grain crop and its first appearance when coming up from the ground coincides with yom habikkurim (the day of first fruit), not to be confused with the later “first fruits” offering associated with Shavuot (Pentecost). At very least the price being partially paid in barley gives seasonal context, and seasonal context allows for the connection to the Biblical moedim (appointed times), the one most closely associated with barley being Pesach (Passover). Additionally the Hebrew denotes a portion of grain alluding to the counting of the “omer”(portion) for the 50 days between Passover and Shavuot (Pentecost).
 
A “chomer” of barley is thought to be approximately 6.5 bushels and is equivalent to 230 litres.
 
Barley being the early crop, was generally eaten by the poor and or lower middle class, who had no means of either purchasing or storing large amounts of wheat from the previous year’s latter harvest: whereas wheat was the latter crop and was consumed by the upper class due to their wealth and ability to store wheat from the previous year’s harvest to be enjoyed in the subsequent year. Bread made from barley being rougher and bread made from wheat being more refined and at that time preferred by the upper class. In short, Gomer was purchased cheaply based on the price she set upon her body when selling herself to other men. This is figurative of the cheap price Israel (the northern kingdom) sold herself for to her false gods and foreign political “friends”.
 
The price paid in these verses is a price of redemption intended to return wayward Israel to her true Husband YHVH.
 
3 Vayomer And I said to her, “Yamiym rabiym For many days teisheviy liy sit, abide, dwell with me. Lo don’t tizniy sell your body (practice prostitution), velo and don’t have le’ish another man; Vegam-aniy and also eilaych I will be toward you.”
 
“Many days” denotes a temporary period. (v.5) Rashi understands this phrase to refer to a period of 5 days in total:
 
“The plural “days” refers to (a minimum) of two, “many” to (a minimum of) three, making a total of five. This (the forty-five of the previous verse added to the five of this verse) alludes to the fifty days between Passover and Pentecost. On that day I offered her the Torah, admonishing her:” -Rashi
 
“and don’t have le’ish another man” is a figurative way of saying “You shall have no other gods before Me” -Exodus 20:3
 
Gomer, and therefore Israel is being asked not to continue to worship false gods (practice prostitution). Rashi interprets the pretext “many days” to be a promise of the longevity of the children of Israel in the land provided they do as HaShem asks.
 
God will be as He has always been toward Israel, and she is being asked to use her opportunity of redemption to change her behaviour and dwell with her Husband in purity.
 
“I will be toward you” is a continued offer of fidelity from God to Israel (from Hosea to Gomer). Essentially it means, “I will not replace you with another woman, I will continue to be faithful to you despite having every reason to divorce you.”
 
4 Kiy For yamiym rabiym many days yeishevu beneiy Yisrael the children of Israel will be without melekh a king ve’eiyn and without sar a prince, ve’eiyn and without zevach a slaughter (sacrifice) matzeivah a memorial stone (pillar, idol, stump), ve’eiyn and without an eiphod (seamless priestly garment) uterafiym or household idols/healers.
 
Once again and by means of firmly establishing the fact, “Many days” denotes a temporary period. (v.5).
 
“the children of Israel will be without a king and without a prince”
 
It’s important to remember that in the context of Hosea this refers to the northern kingdom seeing an end to her kings. To be without both king and prince means to be without the hope of an heir coming into power. It means an end to the line of a king. In this case it means an end to the kingship of a divided kingdom and points to a return to the kingship of a united kingdom [all 12 tribes under David’s greater Son (the King Messiah) of Judah].
 
“without a slaughter (sacrifice), a memorial stone (pillar, idol, stump), and without an (seamless priestly garment) or household idols/healers.”
 
Each of these is associated with Israel’s idolatry. Either because the godly forms are missing or because the ungodly forms are present. However. The last descriptor “household idols (teraphim)” indicates that God will remove all worship tools including both those divinely appointed and those associated to false gods.
 
Iben Ezra understands this to refer to the lack of godly representations:
 
“without a king of the house of David, and without a ruler over Israel; without sacrifice for acceptance in Jerusalem; and without a high place in Samaria; and without an ephod, and him that shows;” -Iben Ezra
 
Whereas Rashi combines the two ideas, seeing this as representing both the absence of godly forms and the introduction of idolatrous alternatives.
 
“In the Temple in Judah. nor pillar The pillar of Baal in Samaria of the kings of Israel. nor ephod of the Urim and Tummim, which discloses to them hidden things. teraphim They are images constructed, having in mind a particular hour established, at which time they speak of their own accord and tell of hidden things. So does Jonathan translate: and there shall be no ephod or oracle.” -Rashi
 
Modern readers often ask “What exactly are these teraphim?” Jewish tradition answers:
 
“what are the ‘teraphim?’ they slay the firstborn of a man, cut off his head, and pickle it with salt and oil, and inscribe on a plate of gold the name of an unclean spirit, and put that under his tongue; then they place it in a wall, and light candles before it, and pray unto it, and it talks with them.’” - Pirke Eliezer, c. 36. fol. 40. 1.
 
This combines the occult practice of speaking with the dead to demonic spirits and in some cases ancestral idolatry, where the idol itself is an ancestor under whose tongue the name of a demon is placed. Based on this understanding the teraphim therefore, are the ultimate convergence of self-deification and witchcraft. An abhorrent form of idolatry.
 
5 Achar  Afterward yashuvu he will return beneiy Yisrael the sons of Israel uvikshu and they will seek, desire et the particular YHVH (Mercy) Lord Eloheiyhem their God/Judge ve’et-daveed and David malkam their king; ufachadu and they will fear, tremble, be in awe  el before YHVH (Mercy) the Lord ve’el-tovu and before His goodness be’acharit hayamiym in the latter days.
 
“and seek the worship of the Lord their God, and obey Messiah the Son of David their King;” -Hosea 3:5 Targum Yonatan Ben Uzziel (2nd Centruy CE Aramaic paraphrase translation)
 
The return of Israel (the northern tribes) to the LORD will be marked by their return to the greater heir to David’s throne. The kings of Israel (northern kingdom) were never going to endure because to deny the God appointed succession of David’s throne was to deny the greater Son of David, the King Messiah, Who was to be a descendant of David by blood and to rule on David’s throne forever over all Israel (12 tribes).
 
Therefore, the King of Judah was to be King of the Jews and all the remaining tribes would come under His authority and be known as Y’hudim. This began in a practical historical sense upon the return of the 12 tribes to dwell in Judea as Judeans (Jews) following the Babylonian exile, joining the remnant of Judah that had remained in the land.
 
“The latter days” refers to the olam haba (world to come). We note that it is in the goodness of God that all Israel will tremble. Terror and security united in love through the redemptive work of God in Messiah Yeshua the greater Son of David.
 
“the Rabbis say this is the King Messiah; if of the living, David is his name; if of the dead, David is his name.” - T. Hieros. Beracot, fol. 5. 1.
 
“it is said, when Jerusalem is built, David comes; that is, the Son of David, the Messiah; which is proved by this passage, ‘afterwards the children of Israel shall return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their King’” - Talmud Bavliy Megillah, fol. 18. 1.
 
“the holy blessed God is well pleased with him in this world, and in the world to come; in this world, as it is written, ‘and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake’, 2 Kings 20:6, and in the world to come, as it is written, ‘they shall seek the Lord their God, and David their King,’” - Zohar in Exod. fol. 93. 3.
 
“It was taught in the name of R. Shimon the son of Yochai: The children of Israel rejected three things during the reign of Rehoboam; the Kingdom of Heaven, the kingdom of the House of David, and the Holy Temple, as it is written: “What portion have we in David” (1 Kings 12:16) which may be understood literally; “to your tents O’ Israel” (ibid.), do not read, “to your tents” (Heb. לְאֹהָלֶךָ) but “to your gods” (Heb.לֵאלֹהֶך) “now see your own house, David” (ibid.), refers to the Holy Temple (see Rashi 1 Kings 12:16). R. Shimon the son of Menassiah said: Israel shall not be shown any omen of good until they repent by seeking out all three; “Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek their Lord their God,” which refers to the Kingdom of Heaven; “and David their king” is self-explanatory; “and shall come trembling to the Lord and to His goodness,” which refers to the Holy Temple, as it is written “that good mount” (Deut. 3:7) (a reference to the Temple Mount. [from Midrash Samuel 13:4]” -Rashi
 
Introduction to Chapter 4:
 
Throughout my commentary of chapter 4 I will give a secondary rendering of the text with the poetic couplets and mechanisms highlighted for emphasis.
 
CHAPTER 4
 
Once again the poetic couplets, word play and synonymous terms of Hebrew poetry are employed in this chapter. Take note of the emphasis on connected attributes, practices, ideas, and principles.
 
This chapter essentially addresses the spiritual prostitution of Israel, her idolatry (worship of Canaanite deities) and her political adultery (courting the aid of foreign powers and their gods).
 
4 1Shimu Hear, listen, receive, understand, comprehend devar a word of YHVH (Mercy) the Lord, beneiy Yisrael you children of Israel, for YHVH (Mercy) the Lord has riyv a case, dispute im with yosheveiy those who dwell in ha-aretz the land/earth (Land of Israel), kiy For eiyn there is no emet truth, ve’eiyn and no chesed goodness, kindness, mercy, practical love, ve’eiyn and no da’at knowledge Elohiym of God/the Judge ba-aretz in the land/earth (Land of Israel).
 
4 1Listen to a word of the Lord, you children of Israel,
Because the Lord has a case against the inhabitants of the land of Israel,
For there is no truth, nor practical love,
Nor knowledge of God in the land of Israel.
 
a.     The Word of the LORD and the LORD are echad (One)
b.     Israel (northern tribes) must “listen” to “the case”
c.     Truth, practical love (mercy), and knowledge of God are connected in unity
 
The LORD has a legitimate case against Israel according to Torah (moral law). His case is not (in this instance) against all inhabitants of the earth but against the inhabitants of the land of the northern tribes.
 
While it’s true that haaretz can be translated “the earth”, it is not contextually true in this case. Here haaretz refers specifically to the land of Israel. God’s indictment against Israel begins by explaining that by ignoring God and His attributes the people of the land have lost their knowledge of God, a knowledge given by Him for their good.
 
“For there is no truth, and no goodness, kindness, mercy, practical love, and no knowledge of God/the Judge in the Land of Israel.”
 
The popular English translation “there is no faithfulness” does not reflect the Hebrew text. The Hebrew word emet means “truth”. Faithfulness is born of truth but it does not convey the fullness of truth.
 
Each of the attributes listed as missing from among the people of the land are manifestations of God’s character. Therefore, the fact that these attributes are not present among the people means that the people have wilfully rejected God and as a result have no knowledge of His role as Judge (Elohiym). The word Elohiym (the Judge) is used because the situation regards judgement of a crime.

2 Aloh oath-taking, vechacheish and deception, veratzoach and murder, veganov and stealing, venaof and adultery. Paratzu They break out (in violence), vedamiym and bloodshed bedamiym follows bloodshed nagau (at their) touch.
 
2 Oath-taking, and deception, and murder, and stealing, and adultery.
They break out (in violence), and bloodshed follows bloodshed (at their) touch.
 
a.     Deceptive oath taking, murder, stealing, adultery, are all sins against fellow human beings. Therefore, because they have forsaken their God and lack knowledge of His right judgement they have also forsaken the second of the greatest commandments “love thy neighbour as thyself” (Lev.19:18). One cannot love one’s self if one does not recognize the fact that human worth is defined by the Creator and His love, and without true love for self it is impossible to love someone else.
b.     Sinful violence, and bloodshed upon bloodshed, denotes an intrinsic murderous nature (Cain).
c.     All of these actions ultimately lead to death.
 
“Oath taking” is not the problem. “Oath taking and deception” together are the problem.
 
Rashi notes:
 
“blood touches blood They multiply transgression upon transgression (Targum Jonathan). Now according to its more apparent meaning: they broke down all bounds and increased bloodshed until the blood of one murdered person touches the blood of another.” -Rashi

3 Al-kein Therefore upon this te’eval ha-aretz the land mourns,
Veumlal kol-yosheiv And all who dwell in it languish
Bah b’chayat It’s in the animals hasadeh of the field uve’of and in the birds hashamayim of the sky, ve’gam and also degeiy the fish of hayam the waters ye’asefu which are gathered.
 
3 Therefore upon this the land mourns,
And all who dwell in it languish
Mourning is in the animals of the field, and in the birds of the sky,
And also the fish of the waters, which are gathered.
 
a.     As a result of the sinful practices of human beings, in particular the northern tribes of Israel, the land of Israel (ha-aretz) mourns. Humanity were tasked from the beginning of creation with being caretakers of creation (the earth), through humanity’s choice to sin death entered the world and in the perpetuation of sin death reigned over creation.
b.     The mention of land animals, birds, and water life reflects the creation narrative (Gen.1).
 
4 Yet let no iysh man (person) yarev complain, and let no one rebuke another iysh man (person); ve’amecha for your people kimriyveiy are like those who argue with kohein a priest.
 
4 Yet let no one complain, and let no one rebuke another person; for your people are like those who argue with a priest.
 
a.     Complaining about the repercussions of one’s sin is ludicrous, like those who know God’s Torah but argue with a priest about how it should be observed
 
In a greater sense the northern kingdom “argues against the true priesthood” which has remained true to the Temple cult instructed by Torah (Mt Zion, Jerusalem).
 
The opening clause is quite simply an admonishment against hypocrisy.
 
“‘let no man strive’ You forewarn the true prophets not to strive with you nor to reprove you, as it is written concerning Amos 7:16, that Amaziah the priest of Bethel said to him (i.e. to Amos): “Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.” This transpired in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash in whose time Hosea prophesied.” -Rashi
 
“‘them who strive with the priest’ They strive with their instructors, for the priests were the instructors, as it is written [concerning the priestly tribe of Levi]: “They shall teach Your judgments to Jacob, etc.” (Deut. 33:10).

5 Vechashalta And you will stagger hayom during the day,
vechashal And staggering gam also, naviy will be a prophet imecha (with ayin) with you Laylah at night; vedamiytiy and I will put a stop to imecha (with aleph) your mother.
 
5  And you will stagger during the day,
And staggering also, will be a prophet along with you at night;
And I will put a stop to your mother.
 
a.     Staggering is the couplet to destruction. Thus staggering from sin leads to being cut off.
b.     The “mother” here is generally speaking Israel (the northern kingdom) as allegorised in the living parable of Gomer, Hosea’s wife. However “mother” may refer to Shomron (Samaria) one of the main cities of the northern tribes, and a hotbed of idolatry and sexual immorality.
c.     “Put a stop to” is the better translation of the Hebrew text. It means that God will “put a stop to” her sinful behaviour.
 
Staggering is associated with drunkenness, a self-imposed state of disorder. Staggering during the day is a sign of an extreme state of perpetual drunkenness given that even those given to drunkenness tend to limit their behaviour to the cover of darkness. Such is the extent of the people’s pride and haughty outlook that they brazenly flaunt their sinful chaos in the daylight.
 
The result of the common people staggering during the day is that they eventually lure in the priest. Alternatively, the priests in question are priests of Ba’al and are staggering at night due to the drunken worship of the false god.

6 Nidmu Cut off, destroyed are amiy My people mibeliy from lack of hada’at the knowledge. Kiy For atah you (singular) hada’at ma’asta have refused the knowledge,
Ve’emasecha And I refuse you mikahein liy from being My priest.
vatishkach Since you have ignored Torah the Instruction Eloheycha of your God,
Eshkach baneycha gam-Aniy I also will ignore your children.
 
6 Cut off, destroyed are My people from lack of the knowledge.
For you (singular) have refused the knowledge,
And I refuse you from being My priest.
Since you have ignored the Instruction of your God,
I also will ignore your children.
 
a.     Destruction is the result of a lack of the knowledge and the lack of the knowledge is the result of wilful ignorance.
b.     Lack of the knowledge is disobedience to Torah.
c.     God ignores the children of sin in order to bring about repentance. To prosper the children of sin would be to enable their sinful lifestyle.
 
Notice, not just “knowledge” but “the knowledge”. The people are not cut off for lack of knowledge but for the lack of “the knowledge” of God. “Knowledge (human) puffs up, Love (of God) builds up” (1 Cor. 8:1).
 
The word “forgotten” used in some English versions is a poor translation. Israel had not “forgotten” Torah, to the contrary, they had intentionally “ignored” Torah. Or, more precisely, had neglected the remembrance of Torah.
 
God speaks through Hosea using the singular to refer to Israel (northern kingdom) as a priest who has neglected to pass on the Instruction of God and will therefore produce offspring that do not know the truth about the God of Israel or of the judgement and mercy He offers.
 
God had called all Israel a “priesthood”:
 
“and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the sons of Israel.” -Exodus 19:6 NASB
 
It’s important to note that the priests of the northern kingdom appointed by Jeroboam were not Levites and therefore were illegitimate priests.
 
“And he (Jeroboam) made a house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.” -1 Kings 12:31 KJV
 
7 Kerubam Because of abundance, kein so chateu-liy they sinned (missed the mark) against Me; kevodam their glory, honour bekalon amiyr I will change into shame, dishonour.8 Chatat The sin (missing the mark) Amiy of My people, yocheilu they eat up, devour, burn up ve’el-avonam And perversity, depravity, iniquity yisu they set nafsho their souls (entire functioning being) on.
 
7 Because of abundance, so they sinned (missed the mark) against Me;
Their glory, honour I will change into shame, dishonour.
8 The sin (missing the mark) of My people, they eat up, devour, burn up
And perversity, depravity, iniquity they set their souls (entire functioning being) on.
 
a.     Abundance (material) has resulted in sin born of false comfort.
b.     The glory (idolatry) of abundance will bear the fruit of shame.
c.     Sin is delighted in, consumed with passion.
d.     The soul being of the people respectively seeks out depravity. “The heart (lev, inner being) of man deceitful and desperately wicked above all things” (Jeremiah 17:9).
 
With the exception of Abraham very few Biblical characters remained faithful during times of abundance. It seems that the nature of human beings causes us to be prone to wander when we are comfortable (in material things). Our faith undergoes its greatest refining, not in the furnace of poverty but in the trial of abundance.
 
False comfort is found in temporal things and bears the fruit of selfish dissatisfaction. The comfort of God is everlasting, eternally present in those who have turned to Him, and overflows into the lives of others.
 
“The sin of My people, they eat up, devour, burn up And perversity, depravity, iniquity they set their souls (entire functioning being) on.”
 
This refers to the illegitimate priests of the former verse. Those priests who were not Levites but were appointed by Jeroboam from other tribes. The sin offerings were meant as a means of symbolic propitiation and were to be offered properly before God in order to cover the sins of the people. The illegitimate priests of the northern kingdom were desecrating these offerings with syncretised idolatry and drunkenness and as a result the sin of the northern tribes remained upon them before God’s judgement.

9 Vehayah And it will be, cha’am like people, kakohein like priest;
Ufakadtiy And I will punish them alayv according to derachayv their ways
Uma’alalayv ashiyv lo And repay them for their practices.
 
9 And it will be, like people, like priest;
And I will punish them according to their ways
And repay them for their practices.
 
a.     Both the priests and common people of the northern kingdom were apostate. The fact that Levites were worshipping at altars outside of Jerusalem and non-Levites were being appointed priests (1 Kings 12:31) was abominable by Torah standards.
b.     The punishment of the LORD is just and is according to the sinful actions of the people. It is repeated because it is firmly established.

10 Ve’achelo And they will eat, velo yisba’u and not have enough;
Hiznu They practice prostitution, velo and don’t yifrotzu break out (give birth, prosper), kiy-et-YHVH because YHVH (Mercy) the Lord azevu they have forsaken, lishmor and have ceased watching for Him, alt. guarding, observing the things of Him.
 
10 And they will eat, and not have enough;
They practice prostitution, and not break out (give birth, prosper),
Because YHVH (Mercy) the Lord they have forsaken,
And have ceased watching for Him,
 
a.     To eat and not have enough is a figure of excess rather than want. Gluttony eventually lessens the effectiveness of the palate and causes all food to seem common (familiarity breeds contempt), meaning that one is always seeking something more even while being full to overflowing. Thus obesity gives way to want for more, an insatiable appetite. This is also reflected in the prostitution metaphor which sees the practice become fruitless due to its proliferation (disease, infertility etc.)
b.     This is happening not because God has forsaken Israel (northern kingdom) but because she has intentionally and consistently forsaken Him and has ceased looking for Him or observing His Word.
 
We are all potentially guilty of these same practices in spiritual form if not physical. When we neglect the reading and observance of God’s Word on a daily basis we become less and less interested in the things of God and thus, perhaps at first in small ways, forsake Him Who has redeemed us. What might it mean for the modern believer who is otherwise chased in their behaviour to ask, “Have I ceased to watch for Him?”
 
11 Zenut Prostitution, veyayin and wine, vetiyrish and new wine yikach-leiv take away the heart (inner being, core being). 12 Amiy My people be’eitzo yishal seek counsel from their wooden idol, umaklo and their magic wand yagid speaks to them;
Kiy For ruach a spirit zenuniym of prostitutions hit’ah has caused them to err, stagger, wander, go astray, vayiznu and they prostitute themselves, mitachat coming out from under Eloheiyhem their God.
 
11  Prostitution,  and wine, and new wine take away the heart (inner being, core being).
12  My people  seek counsel from their wooden idol, and their magic wand speaks to them; for a spirit of prostitutions has caused them to err, stagger, wander, go astray, and they prostitute themselves,  coming out from under their God.
 
"there shall not be found among you any that use divination" -Deuteronomy 18:10
 
a.     Prostitution and excessive alcohol are vehicles for the destruction of the inner being of a person. Sexual immorality being a sin that one sins against one’s self (1 Cor. 6:18), and drunkenness (stoned, high etc. Eph. 5:18) causing one to become out of control and therefore lacking self-control, which gives way sins a sober mind is able to withstand. Inevitably intoxication leads a person into a spiral of self-destructive behaviour.
b.     Demonic spirits are involved in the tempting of the people but it is people who are responsible for giving in to temptation. Israel have chosen to come out from under the covering of God their Husband.
 
The NASB translation “understanding” in place of “heart” albeit possibly a choice which follows the Septuagint, is nonetheless extremely poor. “Understanding” in a Greco-Roman or modern English sense is an insufficient representation of what is meant. Mental acuity is not what’s being spoken of here, but the complete breakdown of the core person.
 
The heart of the people is taken away by the false comfort of material things. The wine in this context is from the abundance of the previous harvest and the new wine reflects the belief that Ba’al the Canaanite deity of fertility is at work.
 
Verse 12 describes the occult practices of the northern tribes and reveals that through their intentional and repeated sin choices they have given access to a demonic spirit of prostitution because they have come out (of their own free will) from under the covering of their Husband HaShem and have made themselves fair game for the powers of darkness. The modern “Church” is in no position to pass judgement. We are guilty of the same. We have allowed access to the demonic through perpetual sin practices, small compromises that when proliferated open wide the gates of destruction.
 
“14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death.” -Yaakov (James) 1:14-15 NASB

13 Al Upon rasheiy the summits of hehariym mountains yezabechu they slaughter/kill (offer sacrifices) ve’al and upon hagevaot the hills they yekateru burn incense, tachat under alon oaks, velivneh and poplars, ve’eilah and terebinth, kiy because tov tzilah their shade is good. Al-kein Therefore tizneynah benoteiychem your daughters practice prostitution, vechaloteiychem And your brides/daughter’s in law tena’afnah commit adultery.
 
13  Upon the summits of mountains they slaughter/kill (offer sacrifices) and upon the hills, they burn incense, under oaks, and poplars, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore your daughters practice prostitution, And your brides/daughter’s in law commit adultery.
 
a.     Here the worship of false gods and the practice of divination are linked to prostitution and adultery. The repetitions affirm the prolific and deep seeded nature of the sin being practiced among the people.
 
It was not just certain woman but the majority of women who were practicing sexual immorality.

14 I will lo-efkod not punish benoteiychem your daughters kiy when they tizneiynah practice prostitution, or your kaloteiychem brides/daughters in law when they commit tena’afnah adultery, kiy because the men hem themselves hazonot yefareidu separate, divide (themselves) with the prostitutes, veim-hakedeishot and with shrine prostitutes yezabeichu slaughter/kill (offer sacrifices); ve’am lo-yaviyn and the people don’t understand yilaveit and are cast down, ruined.
 
14 I will not punish your daughters when they practice prostitution, or your brides/daughters in law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves separate, divide (themselves) with the prostitutes, and with shrine prostitutes slaughter/kill (offer sacrifices); and the people don’t understand and are cast down, ruined.
 
a.     Punishment or lack thereof is mitigated equitably. God does not hold the misplaced patriarchal view that men should be allowed to keep mistresses but women should be punished for having lovers. To the contrary, inevitably the fruit of sexual immorality and idolatry will be poison to both sexes.
b.     Sexual sin separates, which is the opposite of godly unity.
c.     Sexual sin is intrinsically connected to idolatry.
d.     Sexual sin and idolatry numb the consciousness and result in self destruction. Sexual sin itself being a form of self-harm (1 Cor. 6:18).
 
The punishment concerning “bitter waters” (Numbers 5:11-29) will not be enforced because the men are as guilty as the women.
 
“‘I will not punish your daughters’ anymore, to test them with the ‘bitter waters’ should they commit adultery. Why? Because their husbands join with harlots; for once the man is not free of sin, the waters do not test his wife.” [based on Sifrei Num. 5:82 and Sotah 47a] -Rashi
 
15 Im-zoneh With a prostitute atah Yisrael you Israel are al upon
Yesham Y’hudah (Judah, Praise) must not become an offender in HaGilgal The Gilgal (rolling wheel); ve’al-ta’alu And don’t go into to Beit Aven (Beth-aven, House of vanity, wickedness, sorrow, iniquity), ve’al-tishave’u and don’t take an oath saying, “Chay-YHVH (Mercy) Life is in YHVH alt. As the Lord lives!”
 
15  With a prostitute you Israel are upon
 Judah (Praise) must not become an offender in the Gilgal (rolling wheel);
And don’t go into to Beth-Aven (House of vanity, wickedness, sorrow, iniquity),
And don’t take an oath saying, “As the Lord lives!”
 
a.     Israel are in the midst of the act of idolatry (sexual immorality). That is, it has become a perpetual practice.
b.     Judah is warned not to do as the northern tribes are doing: “Don’t become offenders like them, don’t desecrate the righteous heritage of Samuel by participating in the idolatry practiced at Gilgal, don’t go to the house of vanity and wickedness, and don’t swear oaths as hypocrites who, while worshipping other gods, say ‘As YHVH lives!’” “for if they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ they, nevertheless, swear falsely” (Jer. 5:2).
 
Giglal is the first site of the Israelite camp west of the Jordan and east of Jericho. It is where Samuel the prophet was judge and Saul was made king. It was also a main centre for Israel’s (the northern kingdom) idolatrous worship practices (Hosea 9:15; Amos 4:4).

“Beit-Aven” (House of vanity, wickedness, sorrow, iniquity) is a sarcastic way of referring to Bethel (House of God)[Talmud], and or a place very close to Bethel (Joshua 7:2), it was a main centre of northern apostate worship located in the territory of Ephraim/Benjamin. A place that has a strong connection to both the physical and spiritual journeys of the Patriarchs and in particularly to Jacob, who became Israel. It was on the border of the territories of Ephraim and Benjamin (according to the interpretation that equates it to Bethel it is technically located in the territory of Benjamin to the east of the border between the two territories).

It seems likely, given Hosea 4:15, that Beth Aven was considered to be part of the territory of Ephraim (northern tribes):

“Judah must not become an offender in the Gilgal; and don’t go into to Beth-Aven” -Hosea 4:15
​
16 Kiy For kefarah like a cow soreiram that rebels, pulls away, slides back, is stubborn sarar with stubbornness, rebellion, pulling away, is Yisrael (Israel)[northern kingdom]
Atah (Ayin not Aleph) Now yireim YHVH (Mercy) will the Lord feed them kecheves like a lamb bamerchav in a large field?
 
16 For like a cow that rebels, with rebellion, is Israel (northern kingdom)
Now will the Lord feed them like a lamb in a large field?
 
a.     The rebellion of the northern kingdom is firmly established (rebels with rebellion). Therefore, the LORD cannot feed them because rather than being like a gentle, vulnerable lamb that is entirely reliant on the shepherd (and or its mother) for milk, Israel is like a hyper stubborn cow that will not receive food from the herdsman’s hand.
 
The figurative reference to God as Shepherd (herdsman) is well established in Scripture.

17 Chavur Joined, bound together, coupled atzabiym to idols is Efrayim (Doubly fruitful, Ephraim); hanach-lo rest him (leave him to it).
18 Sar Sour saveam is their liquor, fortified drink, strong drink,
Hazneh They prostitute themselves hiznu in the act of prostitution;
Ahavu heivu Loving to love kalon shame, disgrace, dishonour magineyah is her shield.
 
17 Coupled to idols is Ephraim; leave him to it.
18 Sour is their liquor,
They prostitute themselves in the act of prostitution;
Loving to love shame, is her shield.
 
a.     The quadruple ideas of coupling to idols, strengthened liquor, doubled prostitution, and loving to love a shame shield, are an horrific indictment against the wilful unrepentant nature of the northern kingdom. By extension, these are an horrific indictment against the modern body of believers, given that these same things are ratified and practiced prolifically throughout the modern “Church” under the guise of syncretism.
 
Ephraim is an alternative name for the northern kingdom (Israel). This is because Jeroboam (1 Kings 11:26) the northern kingdom’s first king and founder was from Ephraim.

19 Tzarar Bind her ruach otah with a miraculous sign of wind, spirit, breath bichnafeyah that wraps them in her wings, ve’yeivoshu And they will be ashamed mizivchotam because of their sacrifices.
 
19 Bind her with a miraculous sign of wind that wraps them in her wings,
And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.
 
The traditional Jewish and Christian scholarship interpretations of this verse see the wind as likened to the sifting of wheat on a threshing floor. That wind being the invading Assyrian Empire and the resulting shame brought upon Israel as she’s dragged into exile. However, the Hebrew text indicates something quite different and in a plain sense presents the wind as a redemptive sign which convicts unto godly sorrow rather than a punishing wind that forces shame upon the people.
 
I have researched this extensively and find that my interpretation is unique. However, as I read the Hebrew text I find it difficult to conclude otherwise (it is of course quite possible that I’ve misunderstood what is meant, given that so many others have concluded a contrary interpretation).
 
“Bind her” is reminiscent of the binding of Torah and of tefillin in order to remember and act righteously. This is a binding that produces freedom.
 
“With a miraculous sin of spirit that wraps them in her wings” How could this refer to the threshing floor or to a destructive wind, except by way of refining. The wind “wraps them” it does not agitate them or thresh them.
 
“And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices” This is a godly repentant response to a manifest garment of God’s Spirit. The sacrifices are the defiled, syncretised and idolatrous sacrifices of the northern kingdom. As a result of the coming of this miraculous sign of “Ruach” (Spirit, Wind, Breath) Israel becomes ashamed, seeing the wickedness of her idolatry for what it really is.
 
To follow this rhythm of redemptive hope after stern rebuke fits the pattern of Hosea and indeed of Isaiah and numerous other prophetic voices of the Tanakh.
 

1. The Comforter, Who is called the Ruach Ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit), the Spirit of the Father and of the Son (Galatians 4:6; 1 Peter 1:10-12), is given as a miraculous sign of God to enwrap Israel and bring her into a godly state of sorrow. This Breath, Spirit, Wind says “While we were yet sinners Messiah died for us (Romans 5:8)”. Therefore, the coming of the Spirit births godly shame which leads to repentance/reconciliation.

 
“Put to shame” is a poor translation that infers shame forced upon them. This is not what the Hebrew is saying. It literally reads “and they will be ashamed”. This is a response born of sober self-reflection and not one forced upon them. It is to be a genuine form of shame leading to repentance and not forced shame leading to a return to shame. Artificial shame is a satanic separation, whereas godly shame (sorrow over a sin act) leads to reconciliation.
 
“For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance [a]without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” -2 Corinthians 7:10 NASB
 
Copyright 2021 Yaakov Brown

Introduction:
 
This chapter reads as prose and employs the couplets, triplets and word play of Hebrew poetic literature in order to emphasise the firmly established nature of the fallen condition of the people and the immutable redemptive purposes of God for His wayward bride Israel.
 
Biblical Hebrew poetic couplets and repetitions often use synonymous terms to reinforce concepts, practices, motivations, principles, outcomes etc. The use of this poetic mechanism strengthens the emotion and application of the text, which was to be proclaimed to the wayward children of Israel (northern tribes) and Judah (including Benjamin [the southern kingdom]).
 
Within the Hebrew text of Hosea 2 numerous word plays are employed to create juxtaposition that conveys the redemptive purposes of God in restoring that which has been defiled by idolatry (adultery).
 
As is so often the case in the rhythm of Biblical prophetic literature, this proclamation of God shows us yet again that Mercy (YHVH) precedes judgement, and is the result of it. This portion of Hosea begins (v.3 [1]) and ends (v.25 [23]) in right relationship.
 
2:3 Say to your brothers, “Amiy My people,” and to your sisters, “Ruchamah mercy, love, compassion, tenderness.”
 
1 Say to your brothers, “Amiy (My people),”
And to your sisters, “Ruchamah (Mercy).”
 
These couplets convey equity between the sexes (brother and sister) and link Belonging and identity (My people) to mercy (YHVH). This correlates to the hope of redemption of all Israel from her fallen state, as alluded to in chapter 1:6 (Lo-Ruchamah) and 1:9 (Lo-Amiy). The outcome of Israel’s self-imposed separation from the LORD will be her future reconciliation to Him purchased by the actions of His sacrificial love.
 
The opening instruction is to be spoken to Hosea’s brothers and sisters. Not merely blood related but spiritually kindred. God is affirming through Hosea those who like him are part of the remnant of the righteous of his generation, including but not limited to Amos, Micah and Isaiah. Therefore, those who belong to God through their acceptance of His mercy are contrasted against the adulterous mother (Israel as a whole), those who have rejected God and have followed after false gods (other husbands, masters, rulers).
 
Both Hosea and his righteous brothers and sisters are then instructed to bring an indictment based on Torah, against their mother (Israel, northern kingdoms), and proclaim to her that indictment and call her to repentance by saying “she must remove her whoredoms from her face, countenance, and her adultery from between her breasts”.
 
4 “Riyvu strive, wrestle, contend, quarrel, bring a law suit ve’imchem with/in your (plural) mother, Riyvu strive, wrestle, contend, quarrel, bring a law suit, because hiy she is lo ishtiy not My wife (woman), and I am lo ishah not her husband; and she must ve’taseir turn aside from, depart from zenuneiha her whoredoms, adulteries, fornications, infidelities, remove them mipaneyah from her face, sight, presence, intimate person ve’na’afupeyah and her adultery mibeiyn from between shadeyah her breasts,
 
2 “Quarrel with your mother, 
Bring a law suit against her,
 
These couplets emphasise the weight of Law [Torah] (law suit) as an indictment carried in the mouth of the prophet (quarrel) at the instruction of God.

Because she is not My wife (woman),
And I am not her husband (man);
 
These couplets emphasise the disconnect between husband (God) and wife (Israel, northern kingdom) and reveal the order in which the separation was manifest. In short, the wife first rejected the husband. “I am not her husband because she has first chosen not to be my wife.”

But she must remove her whoredoms from her face, countenance,
And her adultery from between her breasts,
 
These couplets emphasise the diverse sexual immorality (whoredoms [paid], adulteries[wanton]) participated in by the wife (Israel, northern kingdom) and the intimate exposure (face, breasts) of her person to lovers other than her husband.
 
This intimate connection with her lovers must be severed entirely in order for the wife to be able to begin her journey of redemption and purification. In short, holding on to even the smallest aspects of intimacy with her illegitimate lovers (false husbands, gods) will prevent her from being restored to her true husband (YHVH).
 
Although God has every right to divorce His wayward wife Israel due to her adultery, He none the less seeks to reconcile her to Himself.

3 Or else, afshiytenah I will strip her arumah naked And expose her kiy’yom for the day hivaldah of her birth, ve’samtiyha and will appoint her chamidbar (cha [from], mi [from], d’bar [word]) for a wilderness, veshatiha and set her ke’eretz for a land tziyah of drought, vahamitiyha And put her to death batzama in thirst.
 
3 Otherwise, I will strip her naked
And expose her for the day she was born

The couplets denoting complete vulnerability (naked, exposed) are followed by a sign pointing to the recollection of Israel’s past [desert wandering through disobedience] (the day she was born [out of Egypt]).
 
Ancient Biblical Jewish (Israelite) wedding custom places the responsibility for clothing a “faithful” wife entirely upon the husband (Exodus 21:10; Ezekiel 16:10). This is still practiced today by certain Orthodox and Haredi communities. In traditional ancient custom the ketubah (written marriage agreement) is signed only by the husband and is given to the wife as assurance of provision, providing she does not break the blood covenant (breaking of the hymen) of the marriage.
 
The faithful husband has the Biblical moral right to take back clothing and provision from an unfaithful wife (Jeremiah 13:26; Ezekiel 16:39).
 
“The day she was born” refers to God’s delivering her as a people from her naked vulnerable state as a slave in Egypt. This is affirmed by the following allusions to Israel’s wandering in the desert through disobedience.
 
I will also make her like a wilderness,
Make her like desert land,
And put her to death with thirst.

This triplet emphasises the fruit of Israel’s past disobedience (desert wandering through a refusal to obey God’s instruction to enter the land of Israel) as a figure for what is about to happen (exile at the hand of the Assyrian empire).
 
Death resulting from dehydration “thirst” refers to both physical and spiritual death. Elsewhere, through a contemporary of Hosea, the LORD speaks of thirst for His Word:
 
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“When I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
But rather for hearing the words of the Lord.” -Amos 8:11 (NASB)
 
The Targum Yonatan on Hosea affirms this understanding:
 
"lest I remove my Shechinah from her, and take away her glory, and set her forsaken, as in the days of old, before she came to my worship; and my fury shall remain upon her, as it remained upon the people of that generation that transgressed my law in the wilderness; and I will set the land desolate, and kill her with thirst.'' -Hosea 2:5 Targum Yonatan Ben Uzziel (2nd Centruy CE Aramaic paraphrase translation)

4 Ve’et-baneyah And her children, will experience lo aracheim no mercy kiy-veneiy for the children zenuniym of whoredoms, fornications, prostitutions, heimah are they.
 
4 Also, I will take no pity on her children,
Because they are children of infidelity.
 
The children are known as the fruit of their mother’s sin and by their fruit (infidelity). Therefore, this refers to those who are not of the righteous remnant.
 
The Targum affirms the interpretation that understands the children of Israel (northern kingdom) as practisers of idolatry (adultery) and not merely the fruit of it.
 
"for they are children that commit idolatry;'' -Hosea 2:6 Targum Yonatan Ben Uzziel (2nd Centruy CE Aramaic paraphrase translation)
 
5 Kiy For zanetah a fornicator, harlot is imam their mother; hoviyshah dried up (acted shamefully) horatam She who conceived them. Kiy For amerah she said, ‘Eilechah I will walk achareiy after (become a follower of) me’ahavay my lovers, noteneiy who give lachmiy my bread umeiymay and my water, tzamriy my wool ufishtiy and my linen, shamniy my oil veshikuyay and my drink, irrigation, moisture.’

5 For their mother has committed prostitution;
She who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers,
Who give me my bread and my water,
My wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’
 
Israel (northern kingdom) a sinful mother of sinful children, has not just committed an act of prostitution but is committed to a lifestyle of prostitution. There is a distinction to be made here between someone who has sinned and is repentant and someone who has sinned, pretended repentance but is committed to continue to sin. The former is forgiven, the latter has refused forgiveness.
 
“My lovers” (Ba’aliym, husbands, masters, false gods) are those to whom I look for my sustenance, clothing, shelter and luxury items. In practical terms these lovers were the Canaanite deities and other nations, empires and their gods.
 
This is a haughty and rebellious statement by Israel (northern kingdom) because it spits on the ketubah (written marriage agreement) given to her by HaShem and says that she doesn’t need His provision, clothing etc. because she has plenty of other lovers who she can get provisions and luxuries from. This is of course a delusion, given that the provisions given to all peoples are given by God, we are caretakers, owning nothing of ourselves.

6 lachen Therefore, hin’niy behold, pay attention, now, I make sach a hedge, fence et-dar’keikh a way to you basiyriym in thorns, hooks, vegadartiy And I will close her off gederah with a double wall against her, unetiyvoteyha her paths she lo will not timtza find, attain.
 
6 Therefore, behold, I will obstruct her way with thorns,
And I will build a stone wall against her so that she cannot find her paths.
 
Her way (derekh), both physical and spiritual, will be obstructed by God. In fact, obstruction will become her way. Thorns and a wall are synonymous obstacles that will both imprison her and scare her.
 
Her way will become a hidden path. This will happen based on her own actions. Those she looks to and follows after will become thorns and a wall to her. In short, by giving her over to her own sinful lifestyle God allows her to become blind to His way for a period of time unto repentance.
 
Remember, all of this is pretext. This is a warning that is heard by all Israel (both northern kingdom and Judah) prior to their respective captivities, and yet, God has already witnessed Israel’s (collective) disobedience outside of time and space, seeing the end from the beginning He speaks her future into time and space through the prophet.
 
7 Veridefah And she will pursue, follow after et that me’ahaveiyha which is from her lovers, v’lo and not tasiyg take hold of them; Uvikshatam And she will seek, desire them, v’lo and will not timtza find, attain them. And she will say, ‘Eilechah I will walk veashuvah and return to ishiy my husband hariyshon the first, head, kiy for (it was) tov good (morally perfect) liy for me az then meiatah (better) than now!’

7 And she will pursue her lovers, but she will not reach them;
And she will seek them, but will not find them.
Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband,
Because it was better for me then than now!’
 
Like a common man lusting after a naked movie star, Israel will long for sexual gratification (idolatry) but will not be satiated. When she needs the support of the ones she has chased after she will not receive it from them, nor will they be found by her because they only ever sought to use and discard her, as all wanton hedonists do.
 
Seeing that she has been left vulnerable and without help she will long to “shuvah” return (repent) to her first husband (YHVH), she will remember how good her days in His care were.
 
"I will go and return to the service of my first master, for it was well with me when I served him; henceforth I will not serve idols:'' -Hosea 2:9 Targum Yonatan Ben Uzziel (2nd Centruy CE Aramaic paraphrase translation)
 
8 “Ve’hiy And she lo does not yadeah know, perceive, understand kiy for Anochiy I Myself natatiy I gave lah her hadagan the grain, ve’hatiyrosh the new wine, vehayitzhar and the fresh oil, vekesef And silver, hirbeiytiy and multiplied it lah to her, vezahav and  gold, Which they asu fashioned laba’al into a husband, master, false god. 9 Lachen Therefore, ashuv I will return velakachtiy and take back deganiy My grain beito in the time (of harvest) vetiyroshiy and My new wine bemoado in its appointed time (season), vehitzaltiy and snatch away, rescue, take tzamriy My wool ufishtiy and My linen given lechasot to cover et-ervatah her nakedness, shame, undefended condition.
 
8 “Yet she does not know that it was I myself who gave her the grain,
the new wine, and the oil,
And lavished on her silver and gold,
Which they used for Baal.
9 Therefore, I will take back My grain at harvest time
And My new wine in its season.
I will also take away My wool and My linen
That I gave to cover her nakedness.
 
This stanza begins with Israel’s lack of knowledge of God which points to her resulting nakedness (vulnerability) at the end of the stanza.
 
“I myself” is the counterpoint to “Ba’al” (a false husband, a Canaanite deity believed to control the weather and fertility of crops, animals and human beings), both the provisions given for the sustaining of life and the luxuries of comfort are to be taken back at a prime time in season when the loss of them will be felt most. Why? Because Israel has given to gods of stone where demons gather, that which God had given to her for her good. Like a woman who, having received a beautiful necklace from her husband, proceeds to melt it down and turn it into a ring for her illegitimate lover.

10 Veatah And now agaleh I will uncover et-navlutah her genitals, immodesty, shame le’eiyneiy before the eyes me’ahaveyha of her lovers, veiysh and a man lo will not yatziylenah rescue, snatch, strip her miyadiy from My hand. 11 Vehishbatiy And I will put an end to kol-mesosah all her joy, chagah her festivals, chadeshah her new moons, veshabatah and her sabbaths, vekhol moadah and all her appointed times.
 
10 So now I will uncover her lewdness
Before the eyes of her lovers,
And no one will rescue her from My hand.
11 I will also put an end to all her joy,
Her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths,
And all her festivals.

Her lewdness is the compound of her nakedness in the previous verse and it will be looked upon with distain by her lovers who have used her and tossed her aside.
 
Her joy was false joy found in temporal things. Her festivals were hers and not HaShem’s. Therefore, God will put an end to them.
 
Note, “her festivals” and not “My festivals” or “the festivals of the Lord”. Further notice, “her new moons”, “her sabbaths”. The qualifier “her” denotes a desecration and therefore misapplication of the holy festivals of YHVH as commanded to Israel. These celebrations were defiled, syncretised versions of the holy convocations and not the convocations as practiced by the righteous remnant with godly integrity. An end will be put to the misapplication of HaShem’s festivals when Israel (northern kingdom) is sent into exile at the hand of the Assyrian Empire.
 
It is important to note that the northern kingdom, being separated from the Temple mount by proximity, and being in rebellion against the line of David (the line of the King Messiah), had developed alternative practices in association with the moedim (sacred times) commanded by God. God had commanded that the sacrifices of Israel be made at the Temple mount where He had placed His Name. The northern tribes acted in disobedience to this commandment for years before God brought judgement upon them.

12 Va’hashimotiy And I will make desolate gafnah her vines ute’einatah and fig trees, Of which she said, ‘They are my etnah reward which natenu-liy given to me meahavay by my lovers.’ And I will make them into a forest, and the animals of the field will devour them.
 
12 And I will destroy her vines and fig trees,
Of which she said, ‘They are my wages for prostitution
Which my lovers have given me.’
And I will turn them into a forest,
And the animals of the field will devour them.

The vines and fig trees are both literal and figurative. They are a payment from Israel’s political friends (fake friends) and are figurative of the false teaching of the apostate priests and teachers of the northern kingdom. Therefore, God will allow both the literal plants and the seat of false teaching to be consumed.

13 I will punish her for the days of ha-baaliym the masters, husbands, gods when she taktiyr burned incense to them vata’ad and removed nizmah her nose ring vecheyatah and jewellery, vateilekh and walked achareiy after meahaveyha from her lovers, ve’otiy and being with Me was something shachechah she forgot,” ne’um YHVH declares the Lord.
 
13 I will punish her for the days of the Baaliym
When she used to offer sacrifices to them
And removed from herself with her nose ring and jewellery,
And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me,” declares the Lord.
 
Punishment comes in established terms because the sin of Israel is twofold. She has gone after other lovers and she has worshipped them with sacrifices made of provisions given by her true Husband HaShem.
 
“Ba’aliym” is plural and denotes numerous false gods, idols, shrines etc.
 
The common English mistranslation of the second clause is unfortunate. The text does not say she “adorns” herself, rather the Hebrew describes the wife (Israel) removing her nose ring (a sign of betrothal) and following after lovers, rejecting her true husband.
 
Using the metaphor of marriage God speaks to Israel elsewhere saying:
 
“I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.” -Ezekiel 16:12
 
The use of a nose ring as a sign of betrothal continues today among certain Mizrachi (eastern) Jewish communities.
 
14 “Lachen Therefore, hineih behold, now, pay attention, I am going to persuade her, veholachtiyha and walk her into ha-midbar (ha, the, mi, from, d’bar, word) the wilderness, vedibartiy and I will speak al upon her comfort for her libah heart, inner being. 15 Venatatiy And I will give her, kerameyah her vineyards misham from there,
 ve’et-eimek and the valley of Achor (trouble, disturbance) lepetach to be a door tikvah of hope. Veanetah And she will respond, shouting there kiymeiy for the days of her youth, vichyom and for the day alotah when she went up mei’eretz-mitzrayim from the land of Egypt (Mitzrayim, double distress). 
 
14 “Therefore, behold, I am going to persuade her,
Bring her into the wilderness,
And speak kindly to her.
15 Then I will give her, her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope.
And she will respond there as in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she went up from the land of Egypt.
 
Here there are couplets of corresponding experiences past and future. God will persuade Israel by returning her to the thirst of a desert experience like that of her wandering after leaving Egypt, and there He will speak redemption to her and provide her with streams in the desert. In the valley of trouble (Achor) He will open a door of Hope (Tikvah).
 
"and I will do for her wonders and great things, as I did for her in the wilderness; and by the hand of my servants the prophets I will speak comforts to her heart.'' -Hosea 2:16 Targum Yonatan Ben Uzziel (2nd Centruy CE Aramaic paraphrase translation)
 
Some of our sages interpret these verses as referring to the King Messiah. They ask “Will he (Messiah) lead them (Redeemed Israel)?” One of their answers is “Into the desert of Sihon and Og (the wilderness passed through on Israel’s escape from Egypt) [Shirhashhirim Rabba, fol. 11. 2. Midrash Ruth, fol. 33. 2.].

16 Vehayah And it has come about vayom in the day,” declares YHVH (Mercy) the Lord, “That you will tikreiy proclaim Me ‘Ishiy, my Man (Husband)’ velo and no longer tikreiy proclaim Me ‘my Baaliy (master, husband, god)’. 17 For I will remove the shemot names of ha-baaliym the masters, husbands, gods from her mouth, So that they will od never again, be yizacheru mentioned, remembered by their names.
 
16 And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord,
“That you will call Me my husband
And no longer call Me my Baal.
17 For I will remove the names of the Baaliym from her mouth,
So that they will no longer be mentioned by their names.
 
YHVH (Mercy) the true Husband of Israel will be her Man (as it were) and will not put up with being called by the title Ba’al (master, husband, god), as if He were one of many masters. Therefore, He will remove the many names of the false gods and place One Name on the tongue of Israel, “Ishiy” my Man (Husband) YHVH alone!
 
It is important to note that Ba’al is used by king David to describe YHVH elsewhere in Scripture (2 Samuel 5:20; 1 Chronicles 14:11), in and of itself it is simply a title, what’s important is the qualifying factors associated with its use. Therefore, it is foolish to say that one shouldn’t use the word in modern Hebrew to describe one’s husband. On the other hand, nowhere in Scripture does God instruct Israel to call Him Ba’al, though He is her true Master.

18 Vecharatiy And I will cut lahem with them berit a covenant bayom in the day hahu the he im-chayat with the creatures hasadeh of the field veim and with the fowls hashamayim of the heavens veremez and creeping things haadamah of the ground. Vekeshet And the bow vecherev and sword umilchamah and battle eshbor I will break min-haaretz from the land, And will cause them to lie down lavetach in safety, security.
 
18 On that day I will also cut a covenant for them
With the animals of the field,
The birds of the sky,
And the crawling things of the ground.
And I will eliminate the bow, the sword, and war from the land,
And will let them lie down in safety.
 
This speaks of a time when war will cease. Therefore, it has yet to find its fullness. This covenant which God cuts will make it possible for death to be conquered. It is a reference to the sacrificial death of the King Messiah.
 
We note that the language correlates to the first creation and denotes a new creation unaffected by sin and death.

19 Ve’erastiykh And I will betroth you liy to Me le’olam forever; Ve’erastiykh And I will betroth you liy to Me betzedek in righteousness uvemishpat and in justice, uvechesed and in kindness, goodness, unmerited favour uverachamiym and in compassion (womb), 20 Ve’erastiykh And I will betroth you liy to Me be’emunah in faith, trust, fidelity, firmness. Veyada’at And you will know Et – YHVH (The Mercy) the Lord.
 
19 I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,
In favor and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will know the Lord.
 
Here the couplet becomes a triplet and convey the eternal nature of God’s betrothal to Israel through the covenant He will cut, as mentioned in the previous verses.
 
The threefold repetition of betrothal denotes more than just firmly established temporal reality. It denotes everlasting transcendent reality.
 
The betrothal will be forever, as will righteousness and justice, favour and compassion, fidelity and the knowledge of YHVH (Mercy). Thus, the couplets within the triplet are afforded eternal emphasis by the Hebrew poetic voice of Hosea in the Spirit of YHVH.
 
Contrary to the popular Christian scholarship interpretation the threefold betrothal phrasing does not denote a “bride price”, that price has been noted as paid by cutting a covenant in the previous verses. To the contrary, the text says “in righteousness and justice”, “in favour and compassion”, “in faithfulness”. This is an expression of the security and space created within the betrothal and not a reference to the price paid in order for the betrothal to take place.
 
These words are recited by Jewish men while wrapping the strap of the Tefillin Shel Yad (Prayer boxes of the hand) around the middle (wedding fingers connecting blood flow to the heart) fingers of the left hand (for right handed people). They are a reminder of Israel’s betrothal to God and His connection to our inner being (heart, lev).
 
21 “Vehayah And it has come about bayom in the day e’eneh that I will answer,” neum declares YHVH (Mercy) the Lord. “E’eneh I will answer et-hashamayim the heavens, vehem and they ya’anu will answer et ha-aretz to the earth/land, 22 Veha-aretz And the earth/land ta’aneh answers et ha-dagan to the grain, ve’et hatiyrosh and to the new wine, ve’et ha-yitzhar and to the oil, vehem and they ya’anu will answer to Yizre’el (the sowing of God).
 
21 “And it will come about on that day that I will answer,” declares the Lord.
“I will answer to the heavens, and they will answer to the earth,
22 And the earth will answer to the grain, to the new wine, and to the oil,
And they will answer to Jezreel.
 
Ultimately in the day everlasting God will answer the fallen world with a new creation through Yizre’el (the One seeded by God) and Yizre’el (the King Messiah) will answer in kind back to the Father crying “Abba” (Romans 8:15). This answer will resonate in the inner being of all who believe and in that day wayward Israel (all 12 tribes) will answer in, from and to the Lord (Mercy) through Yeshua (Yizre’el), from the renewed earth and below the renewed heavens. God will dwell with His creation as Husband (Ish) and all Ba’aliym (masters of subjugation) will be heard of no more.
 
“18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the eagerly awaiting creation waits for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, [a]in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only that, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons and daughters, the redemption of our body.” -Romans 8:18-23 (NASB)

23 Vezeratiyha And I will sow her liy for Myself ba’aretz in the land/earth. Verichamtiy And I will have compassion, deep love, mercy on she who et-lo ruchamah had not obtained compassion, deep love, mercy, ve’amartiy and I will say lelio-amiy to those called ‘Not My people’, ‘Amiy atah You are My people!’ Vehu And he yomeir will say, ‘Elohay my God!’”
 
23 I will sow her for Myself in the land.
I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion,
And I will say to those who were not My people,
‘You are My people!’
And they will say, ‘My God!’”
 
This stanza employs the sowing metaphor to bring the redemptive purposes of God in full circle, made whole through Yizre’el the seeded One.
 
The Targum translates:
 
“I will establish you before me in the land of my Shechinah (manifest feminine light presence of God)” -Hosea 2:25 Targum Yonatan Ben Uzziel (2nd Centruy CE Aramaic paraphrase translation)
 
God will have compassion on those, who by their own choice had previously rejected His compassion and suffered greatly as a result. He will say to those who determined not to be His people, “You are My people!” And they will repent of denying Him and say, “My God!”
 
Copyright 2021 Yaakov Brown