Hosea Speaks Part 2
PROPHECY > Prophets Speak
Hosea Speaks
Part 2
By Your servant, Dan L Baxley
www.servantsofyahshua.com
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. KJV
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 YaHshua 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? Not until AFTER He had gone to the Cross as the Lamb of God, slaughtered for our sins, were the Apostles released to go to the Gentiles, and this Covenant, would be a New Covenant offered up to everyone. There still remains a New Covenant to be made with a saved and restored Israel/Judah. Now that, I am pretty sure you have never heard. This is certainly not a sermon from the Christian pulpit.
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, but only to Israel". And if you are a Gentile teacher, claiming to be following in the footsteps of YaHshua? Guess you are lost. This is proof, however, that what our Lord meant then was only applicable to the Old Covenant, not a Covenant meant for Gentile Nations, a different Covenant, fit for all people.
Our Lord upheld the Old Covenant, to the letter, until He spilled His own blood for us and all Gentiles on the cross as our Passover Lamb. He did not go to the Cross to make us Jews but making us Children of God and given the right to the inheritance under the Covenant made with Abraham, not Israel -- besides, Israel broke their Covenant. 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."