‘Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.’ There she will respond[b] as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. - Hosea 2:14,15
These are the words of God through the prophet Hosea to the people of Israel.
Background
God raised up Hosea during the darkest days in the history of Israel. Hosea began his prophetic work in 750 BC, during the last years of Jeroboam’s reign. During the reign of King Jeroboam, Israel had expanded its borders and was enormously prosperous. Despite its outward prosperity, the nation was spiritually dead.
Jeroboam did evil in the sight of God. (2 Kings 14:16 – “And he will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam has committed and has caused Israel to commit.”). He was succeeded by his son, Zechariah, who reigned for only six months and was then assassinated. Zechariah was succeeded by Shallum, who reigned only a month before he was assassinated.
Hosea served as a prophet for almost thirty years and during his prophetic ministry, he saw a total of seven kings. Unfortunately, all these kings did evil in the sight of God.
Hosea as a prophet was very different from the other prophets. The other prophets spoke the message of God, but for Hosea, he was to show in action the message of God. In other words, God used Hosea’s life to declare his message to his people.
Even though judgement is a main theme of Hosea’s message, the book is full of God’s love and grace. Someone said like this ‘There is nothing of divine grace that is not found in the book of Hosea.’
Hosea 1:2,3
2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
Notice the problems in Hosea’s marriage.
No prophet preached a more painful action sermon than Hosea. He was instructed to marry a prostitute named Gomer. Three children were born to him. All of them were given prophetic names.
Jezreel – meaning God will sow or God will scatter.
The daughter Lo-ruhamah meant - not loved
The second son Lo-ammi meant - not my people
And then Gomer leaves Hosea for another man.
But again, God tells Hosea, go and love your wife although she is unfaithful to you. (Hosea 3:1 -The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”)
The next verse says, Hosea goes and buys his own wife. (So I bought her for fifteen shekels[a] of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.)
What a humiliation for Hosea to purchase his own wife?
But through his life, God was giving a very powerful message to the people of Israel. Israel was acting like that woman Gomer. The people of Israel were unfaithful to God, again and again. Israel was a miserable slave in Egypt. God sought after Israel. He was faithful to a promise he had made hundreds of years before to the forefathers.
God did supernatural things to recuse the people of Israel. God destroyed the powers of Egypt with His outstretched arm and mighty power. He drove out the nations in the land of Canaan and gave Israel a land flowing with milk and honey.
God was like Israel’s husband, who remained absolutely faithful, unchanging in his promises to her. He over and over again proved that he was a merciful and good God. Yet Israel proved herself again and again unfaithful. She showed herself unfaithful before she even entered the land. She danced about a golden calf, they worshipped other gods.
And for hundreds of years, during Hosea’s time, the same thing was happening. The people of Israel went after other idols. While her Maker, her Creator and her Husband remained good and faithful.
Many times, we too are unfaithful to God. We forget how God so miraculously redeemed us from our sinful life and from the powers of darkness. We go after other things in life. May not be other gods, but we begin to love other things in life more than God and we quickly forget this God who called us and loved us eternally.
But the good news is that God doesn’t give up on us. His love towards us knows no bounds. He keeps reaching out to us. He constantly keeps looking out for us.
And just like Hosea purchased his own wife, God purchased us too. Hosea paid ‘fifteen shekels[a] of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley’ to buy his wife back. That wasn’t much. But our Lord Jesus paid a tremendous price.
1 Peter 1:18-19 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
1 Corinthians 6:20 says ‘you were bought at a price’.
With this background, let’s meditate on Hosea 2:14,15
‘Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.’
The first word ‘Therefore’ connects to vs 13 - I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot,” declares the LORD.
You see a transition between vs 13 and 14. There is no connection between 13 and 14.
Vs. 13 talks about punishment and in vs 14, we obviously expect God to punish Israel. After all that Israel did to God, we obviously expect God to pronounce a harsh judgement.
Instead, God says that he will allure Israel. He says, I will allure her. This is the only occurrence where the word allure is used in relationship of God with his people.
will allure her. Which means, God is saying, I’ll keep courting her. I’ll speak comfortably with her. I cannot give up so easily on the one I love.
Just as Yahweh commanded Hosea to go after an unfaithful woman, so also Yahweh will seek after an unfaithful Israel.
How does God allure us?
1. He shows us his grace and power. There is no better way God can allure us other than showing us His grace. His grace covers our sinful past and emboldens us to enter into His righteousness. His grace has a magnetic power strong enough to have an attractive influence over any of us.
2. Secondly, God allures us with the power of His word. All of us would have experienced this in our life. When we feel discouraged, when we feel drawn away from God, the days when we feel God is not close to us, God uses His word to allure us.
3. Sometimes, God allures us through His awesome presence. He gives us glimpse of his glory and grace. When we sit down to pray, we feel the warmth of his presence and that is so encouraging.
After God allures us, the next thing He does is to lead ‘her into the desert’. Not what anyone would expect! Why wilderness?
Wilderness is dry and barren. It is unproductive and desolate. It’s a place of trials and temptations. What’s a blessing in being led to the wilderness? There is nothing enticing about a desert life.
Interestingly, throughout the Bible, throughout the ages, God has victoriously used wilderness to prepare our hearts and mold our character
Sometimes, God intentionally brings us into a wilderness, where there is nothing and nobody who could possibly offer us any help. That’s a place where we let go off our pride, our self-confidence and our ears and heart become tuned to listen to God.
God took Elijah through some dark period, and then He could listen to God’s still small voice. Sometimes, it is in the dark and lonely times that we truly understand our need for God.
In the desert, God wouldn’t forsake us. He is about to do something marvellous. The verse continues:
I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.’
Once God leads His people into the wilderness, He speaks tenderly. He speaks words of comfort and encourages Her.
Notice that in same chapter vs 3, desert was represented to be a place of punishment (2:3 - I will make her like a desert, turn her into a parched land, and slay her with thirst).
But now the same wilderness is a place of comfort. God is no longer condemning His people, but rather He is courting her. He is speaking comfortably.
What an amazing God we serve! In the place where the people of God should receive punishment, they are receiving the love of God. That is God’s grace. The people of Israel did not deserve this grace at all. And we don’t deserve it either. They deserved punishment. And so do we. But in the place where they should be punished, God shows his grace. Isn’t it marvellous?
Instead of a word of rebuke, we receive words of comfort.
There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.’
There I will give her back her vineyards… Where? in the wilderness. In the area where you think nothing good can ever happen, nothing can bear fruit, it is in that place, God says I will give her back her vineyards. A sign of restoration in the most unexpected place. And that’s what God does. In the most unexpected moment, at most unexpected place, God restores what we’ve lost. Instead of barrenness, we will experience vineyards.
Can we expect to find vineyards in a wilderness? Does the vine grow there naturally? No! Which means, God will do a supernatural miracle in your life, that will transform the wilderness into vineyards.
There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.’
We read about Valley of Achor in Joshua 7:24-26
24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor. 25 Joshua said, “Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today.”
Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them. 26 Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.
Achor means “confusion,” and signifies “destruction.”
Valley of Achor will become a valley of hope
This means that God not only forgives us our wrongdoings, but he also promises us a new beginning.
And God wants to tell you today, "I’ll turn your valley of defeat and trouble into a door of hope. I’ll turn your place of failure and stumbling into a place of rejoicing and honour. I’ll turn your situation around!
God promises to do the same thing in our life as well. Not just blessings are restored, but our relationship with God is being restored.
Vs 16 – In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.'
Verse 16 says that they will call God husband and not Master. This is an excellent picture of God renewing the intimate relationship with us that we once had. We can be secure in Him and depend on Him.
Conclusion
No one ever earns or deserves God’s love; it is always a free gift, a free gift to those who are unworthy. There is no better picture of God’s love than the cross.
God loves you so much, so he constantly seeks you. He is a jealous God. He wouldn’t want you to share His glory with anything else. But He is a loving God. He constantly is seeking you. He comforts you during your desert experiences. And he promises to restore everything that you have lost. In unexpected moment, in the midst of your wilderness, in unexpected places, God will restore your blessings.
Is there any area of your life where you feel broke, you feel discouraged, you just don’t feel good - just commit those areas of your life into God’s hand? He will comfort you and restore all that you’ve lost.
