AS A BIRD OUT OF EGYPT, AND AS A DOVE OUT OF THE LAND OF ASSYRIA

The bitter experience of Hosea in his marriage relationship pro­vides a graphic illustration of Israel’s unfaithfulness to a God who loved them and who desired only the best for them. Hosea, having taken Gomer to be his wife in accordance with divine instruction, then suffered the anguish of her adultery. Yet, still his love reached out to her and, in chapter 3, Hosea pays the price required to purchase her back to himself from the degrad­ing bondage into which her sin had brought her.

The clear indictment by Jehovah of His wayward people is developed throughout chapters 4-10 of Hosea’s prophecy. In chapter 11, however, the tone changes and the voice of the Lord is heard. With tender affection He reminds Israel of His care for them when, as a nation in infancy, he brought them out of Egypt. He supported them like a loving Father as they learned to walk, healed them when they fell and fed them that they might grow strong. Yet, after all this, the Lord has to say, ‘My people are bent to backsliding from me’, v. 7, and, as a result, warning is given of the impending Assyrian invasion, v. 5, for which they have only themselves to blame, v. 6.

In verses 8-9 we are privileged, once more in this prophecy, to be given a glimpse into the heart of God as He agonizes over His chosen people, ‘How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel?’ The decision, consistent with the divine and eternal counsel, is given in verse 9, ‘I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim’. The nation will not be utterly and permanently destroyed! They will yet be regathered in a future day, and ‘they shall walk after the Lord’, v. 10.

In spite of all their intransigence and their backsliding, the Lord will yet call them to Himself. Before the kingdom reign of righteousness, ‘He shall roar like a lion’, then, like homing doves and migrating birds, a restored nation will flock to Him not only from Egypt and Assyria, their former captors, but ‘from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south’, Ps. 107. 3, to be placed ‘in their houses’, v. 11.