Hosea Speaks for YaHWeH
By Your servant, Dan Baxley
email: dan@servantsofyahshua.com
(Hos 3:1) And
YAHWEH said to me, Go again, love a woman loved by a friend, yet an adulteress,
according to the love of YAHWEH toward the sons of Israel, who turn to other
gods, and love raisin cakes of grapes. HRB (Hebrew Roots Bible)
Comment: Hosea
is to live a life with an “adulteress” as his wife and the God of Israel,
YaHWeH, makes this a comparison of himself with the “sons of Israel”. The children of Israel are pictured as a wife
to YaHWeH, an adulteress wife, always chasing after other gods, other husbands.
Here is a difference, however, we do not
read that Hosea ever married this woman and other versions identify this woman
as a prostitute.
(Hos 3:2) So I
bought her for myself with fifteen pieces of silver, and for a homer of barley,
and a half of barley.
Comment: Our
Savior was given up for 15 pieces of silver, whereas
Hosea bought his wife with the same price our Savior was sold. Again, this may not be a “wife” but a harlot
whom Hosea hired. Hosea may have only
paid a price to keep her for a certain number of days, or if he did buy her,
for a price, we do not read of a marriage. This can be seen as a relationship between
Hosea and this woman as a relationship mirroring YaHWeH’s relationship with the
unfaithful people of Israel.
(Hos 3:3) And I
said to her, You shall remain with me many days. You
shall not be a harlot, and not be to a man, and I also will be for you.
Comment:
Notice Hosea does not say they are married – you know, once married
always married – but he tells the harlot, or adulteress that she will be with
him and he with her, not forever but for “many days”. There
is a kind of agreement Hosea makes with the harlot – stay with me, stay true to
me and will be true to you. Again, the
comparison with the God of Israel is clear.
Did Israel, the harlot, stay true for many days? No, they did not, they broke the agreement
(Hos 3:4) For
the sons of Israel shall remain many days with no king and no ruler, and with
no sacrifice, and no pillars, and no ephod or teraphim.
Comment: Talk
about jumping ahead, wow! This is a
prophetic statement delivered to Hosea to pass on. Hosea’s life becomes a prophetic outline for
Israel’s future. When the term, “sons of
Israel” is used it means all of Israel, men, women, and children, just like we
use terms like, mankind. This is a description
that fits Israel’s condition perfectly since our Savior’s sacrifice and the
destruction of the Temple and dispersion of the “sons of Israel”. Look at the historical evidence. Israel, as a nation ceased to exist until
modern times. The magic date, among men,
was May, 1948, when Israel became a nation once again. Israel was only a foot note in history but
the people remained separate from other people for hundreds of years (many
days).
While we are reading about Israel’s current condition for the last 2,000
years (approximately) – no king, no ruler and nothing having
to do with the old Covenant religion. They
do have a ruler now, but that had be happen so the
other prophecies concerning Israel would take place. Imagine, if you can, how all of the prophetic
words concerning Israel’s restoration and future banner to the world in the
Name of YaHWeH, a changed people a repentant people. None of these prophetic words could happen,
proving once and for all just who the True God is unless Israel were restored to the land.
Imagine, only a couple of hundred years ago if someone had said Israel
would return and be established as a nation again? You would have been laughed at. Seeing this truth today we all take it for
granted.
For the prophetic word of the New Covenant and to finish the Old Covenant
Israel had to return. Before this
return, hundreds of years before Israel was taken out
of the land in what seemed to be the final end of Israel Hosea was used as a
speaker phone to the world what would happen.
This message is directed at Israel and we have to wonder, are they
listening?
Oh, that funny word, teraphim, can
mean, “family idols” or “healer”. A lot
of people argue over what everything in this verse means. It is simple really; Israel will go through
a period of denial – denied a king, and all other religious things they chased
after besides YaHWeH. It could be taken
to mean that they would be removed from the worship of YaHWeH, all of the
trappings of the Old Covenant.
(Hos 3:5) Afterward
the sons of Israel shall return and seek YAHWEH their Elohim and David their
king. And they shall fear YAHWEH and His goodness in the ends of the days. HRB
(Hos 3:5) Afterward
shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD (YHWH) their God, and
David their king; and shall fear the LORD (YHWH) and His goodness in the
latter days.
Comment: See how this is all dated? Read the last part, “…in the ends of the days”
as the Hebrew Roots Bible has it while the KJV says, “…in the latter days.” This
is also how The Scriptures 1998 version has it along with other translations pointing
to the “end days” and we can be sure of this translation because of the
mention of King David. When YaHshua
returns, this verse will come to mean exactly what it is saying. Consider the following in the spirit of
prophecy –
(Act 15:15-18) And to this agree the words of the prophets;
as it is written, “ After this I will return, and will
build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build
again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might
seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, says
the Lord, who does all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the
beginning of the world.
Comment: That the “residue of men”,
suggests a time when our Lord returns and there will be a “residue of men”, a “remnant”
having survived the calamities to come – all you have to do is read the Book of
Revelation to see there is going to be some world shaking events. But notice first, “…the tabernacle of David…”
which is to say, the “house of David”.
Some will say this means Israel, and if that is the case then why not
just say, “sons of Israel”? No, it means the restoration of David and his
whole house –
(Zec 12:10) And I will pour upon the house of David, and
upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications:
and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns
for his only son, and shall be
in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
(Zec 12:12-14) And the land shall mourn, every family apart;
the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of
the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; The family of the house of Levi apart, and their
wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their
wives apart; All the families
that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.
Comment: You
need to read all of Zechariah 12 to see how this is all coming about and
when. When this prophecy says, “… they
will look on me whom they have pierced…” who do you this prophecy is talking
about? From the context of this chapter
we see our Lord is returning and there is a “residue” of men, suggesting large
scale war of some kind, and then we are told about David and not only David but
Levi and all their wives. This is
literal language, not symbolic. Our
Lord returns and what do we believers expect to happen? The Resurrection of the
dead, right? Next read Zechariah chapter
14 and you will see the end of man’s rule and the establishment of the Kingdom
and the King on Earth.
Hosea’s life is a picture of the relationship YaHWeH, God of Israel and
all Creation has had with Israel. They
entered the Covenant with him, as a wife to a husband and almost immediately
chased after to other gods, playing the harlot, but YaHWeH kept up His end of
the Covenant while they did not. When
offered a way to reconcile they refused, denying YaHshua as Messiah and Savior
and have paid for this rejection ever since.
They, at the present time, are too stiff-necked and stubborn to see this,
even today. Some have, of course, and
down through the centuries there have been Jewish men of renown that have
turned to YaHshua, but not on a national scale or by any numbers. There were Jewish religious leaders that had
become believers – after all, our New Covenant began with the message of
Salvation going first to the Jew. Acts
15:1-2 and –
(Mat 15:24) But He answered and said, I am not sent but
unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
(Mat 10:5-7) These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded
them, saying, Go
not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter you not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of
heaven is at hand.
Comment: Bet you never heard that
before, or maybe you have? But not as a sermon from the Christian pulpit as a message to
follow. When someone tell you we are to follow in the footsteps of YaHshua and become
Jews in service to Torah, then remember these instructions as well, not to go
to any Gentiles. And
if you are a Gentile? Guess you
are lost. This is proof, however, that
what our Lord meant then was all applicable to the Old Covenant, not a Covenant
meant for Gentile Nations. Our Lord
upheld the Old Covenant, to the letter, until He spilled His own blood for us
and all Gentiles – not making us Jews but making us Children of God and given
the right to the inheritance under the Covenant made with Abraham, not
Israel. We see later that the Church was
to go to the Gentiles but this was only opened up after YaHshua died for us and
for Israel on the cross. In Matthew 28:19-20
the Disciples were then commanded to go into all the
world, which they eventually did but it was Paul that really went to the
Gentiles while the Apostles continued to go to the people of Israel, wherever they
were.
With the rejection of YaHshua by the mass majority of Israel and Judah our
Lord and their God moved to remove all of the trappings they had become
accustomed to. First they lost their
King and were ruled then by usurpers of the throne and foreign powers, but they
continued in the Law of Moses concerning the rituals of sacrifice for the forgiveness
of sins. After the rejection of the
Messiah isn’t it ironic that on the 70th year after our Lord’s birth
the Temple is destroyed effectively bringing down the system of sacrifice. This would mean no more forgiveness of sin
for the people of Israel. Then after
another 70 years around 140 AD all of Jerusalem is flattened, literally
flattened and all inhabitants removed.
The Jerusalem we see today is built upon the old Jerusalem. Some of the original streets, streets that
YaHshua walked in are some 70 feet beneath the stone structures today. Much of what is around the Temple mount is
what has been recovered from extensive archeology digs. The Romans left only one wall up as a
testimony to what they had accomplished in the destruction – according to Josephus,
a Jewish historian, the wall was left so the world could see how much work it
took to do such a thing, to brag, if you will, over what they had done and
wonder how they could have done it.
So, in so few words as those of Hosea, we find a prophecy in the process
of fulfillment and from this we must know we are in the last of those “many day”, to the “last” or “latter days”.
(Luke 21:28) When
these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your
redemption is drawing near."
Email: dan@servantsofyahshua.com