“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.
And there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.

“And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’  For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.

1) Who is the speaker, who is being “allured”, and why?
The speaker here is God Himself and He is speaking to Hosea regarding the nation of Israel, His chosen people. For the why, we travel back in time to when Israel was being freed from slavery in Egypt. God freed them, leading them into the wilderness, where he made a covenant with them at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 19:1-8). God declares that He is Israel’s inheritance, and she is His, all before Israel has done even one act of obedience. The wedding vows are the Ten Commandments, which is The Law given to Moses and written on tablets of stone by the hand of God. Of course, Israel breaks every law in the book (er, tablet) and the cycle of sin continues for generations. By the time of Hosea, Israel has been ignoring God for decades, choosing to live in sin by worshipping Baal (an idol) instead of the Lord, and countless other sins. For this reason, God is heartbroken over His Beloved’s waywardness, and is in pursuit to win her back.

2) What significance does the covenant of verse18 have?
God was letting Hosea know that there would come a day when Israel would once again turn back to the Lord, just as they had in the wilderness after being freed from Egypt. A time when they would enter into a covenant with Him, abandoning her sinful ways to follow Yahweh. The specifics of this covenant are about animals and land and signify peace on all sides, which would be part of Israel’s inheritance for being joined to the Lord.

3) What are all the betrothals about?
These betrothals can be considered God’s “wedding vows”. They are His declaration of how He will forever keep Israel as His bride. The word choices here are rich in theology and tell us much about God and salvation. He uses the words “forever” and “faithful” to show that regardless of Israel’s faithLESSness, God would still remain faithful to her. (2 Timothy 2:13) God betroths in “righteousness and justice”, which is exactly what happened hundreds of years later when Jesus, the perfectly righteous one, sacrificed Himself on the cross, to satisfy the justice of God on our behalf, thus making us His bride. God ends with the beautiful words, “and you shall know the Lord”, which describe an intimate knowing and unity like within marriage.

1) Who is the speaker, who is being “allured”, and why?
The Bible teaches that sin separates us from God, which is entirely true. Sin does separate us from a sweet, harmonious relationship with the Almighty. But often, what we forget in our everyday life is that our distance from the Lord, is exactly what caused God to set in motion His grand plan of redemption in the first place. Our separation meant His pursuit! His relentless love is chasing you today, despite your sin. Recognizing how sinful we are and how often we fail Him, should push us every closer to the heart of God, even though He is the one we have wronged because we can trust His pursuant love! Of course, this isn’t a license to sin! Paul addresses that in Romans 6:1-2. But it should comfort our hearts knowing that when we sin, we don’t need to run away, cower in fear, and think of all we must do to earn God’s favor, we simply remember that He is alluring us away from sin and into His arms of love!

2) What significance does the covenant of verse18 have?
The exciting part here is that this passage points even farther forward in time, having significance to every Christ-follower, including you and me! The Messianic prophecy (meaning a prophecy about Jesus) in Isaiah 11 speaks of the new heaven and new earth being a place of peace on all sides, even with animals. One day, we will be living in this very real inheritance of rich abundance without fear! What are your fears today in this moment? Be encouraged that if God cares enough to build a rich future for you without even a hint of fear, then He is supremely capable of bringing you peace right now!

3) What are all the betrothals about?
Feeling unloved? Abandoned? Alone? Afraid? These wedding vows are for you, if you’ve entered into that sweet covenant with the Lord, beloved Sister! Write them down, memorize them, allow these truths to wrap around your heart. You are freed from sin by righteousness, kept forever safe in God’s faithfulness, and you are being radically pursued by Christ’s extravagant love that you might know Him deeply! Sister, He longs for you! He wants your heart! He wants your devotion! He wants you to know Him and love Him, just as He knows and loves you!

*Want another peek at this passage? Dig Deeper with Brie Brown

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