Restoration

Book of Hosea, Chapters 1 through 3

Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel.

Hosea was the only prophet who lived in the area of the Northern Tribes whose writings were preserved by the Holy Spirit and became part of the Bible we have today.

All the other prophets who prophesied against the Northern Tribes lived in the area of the Southern Tribes.

The Book of Amos was also of the Northern Kingdom, but Amos lived in the Southern Kingdom, along with Isaiah and Micah, who also prophesied against the Northern Kingdom.

The Book of Hosea gives us a picture of just how far God will go in trying to save His chosen people.

Our direct knowledge of Hosea comes entirely from the book which bears his name.

He is mentioned nowhere else in the Old Testament.

It is believed that Hosea prophesied for about 70 years.

The words of Hosea were written mostly to the Northern Tribes, but the fact remains that he was writing to all God’s people, including Judah, and to us who are alive today, because this is a work of the Holy Spirit.

The clearest lesson we can get from the Book of Hosea is that God loves His people and His greatest request is for His people to repent and return to Him.

God told Hosea to choose Gomer as his wife with the intention of showing us what it means to be unfaithful, as both Israel and Judah were in that day.

Once Hosea married Gomer, she would become involved in the sins of infidelity and unfaithfulness.

Israel and Judah had betrayed God and been disloyal and adulterous in their relationship with God.

They had committed act after act of Spiritual Adultery.

Many of God’s people are doing the same today. God must be first in our lives!

Hosea gives us a clear picture of God’s demanding call to us is for us to remain faithful.

Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

We sometimes forget that God requires us to be obedient to Him and the Lord Jesus is the greatest example of obedience to our Heavenly Father, but we can learn from Hosea also.

Hosea would write from the heart because he would understand how God felt about unfaithfulness because of Gomer’s relationship with him.

Of course, we know that the Holy Spirit would still guide and approve what was written.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Following the Lord will require us to make some sacrifices, and we are never guaranteed a pain-free life, as many of us have already experienced.

We must be clear as we serve the Lord: Jesus Christ is the only Savior of God’s people and the only One who redeems His people from death!

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

This message is clear and unchangeable!

We should be able to picture our Savior through the relationship of Hosea to his wife, Gomer.

The Book of Hosea stands as one of the most straightforward and passionate declarations of God’s great love for us.

We will also see that even as great as His love is for us, there is a coming judgment on those who refuse to repent and return to Him.

Spiritual Adultery is a serious matter, and much of the Church is involved in Spiritual Adultery today and needs to repent.

*Hos 1:1 The word of the LORD that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

The Book of Hosea is the first of the books that are called the Books of the Minor Prophets.

We need to understand that the message of these books is just as important as all the other books of the Bible.

They are minor in that they are short books as compared to the books of the other prophets, such as Isaiah, Daniel, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel.

They would not be part of the canon of the Bible if they were not important enough for us to study God’s message that they have for us.

Remember, it is the Holy Spirit who has chosen what we need to know of the message of God.

2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

There are no unimportant words in the Bible, but many so-called modern versions leave out so many of them and change many others.

The prophets Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, and Nahum prophesied in the time of the Assyrian world empire.

The name Hosea means “savior”, “deliverer”.

God wants to deliver His people from the power of sin, and this is still His will even now in the Church Age, which is soon coming to its end.

Mat 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

The prophets of God were not very popular among the people because they would usually appear when something was not right with God’s people, and many of them were murdered to keep them forever quiet, but the Holy Spirit made sure we of today get to know their message, which came straight from the lips of our Heavenly Father.

The first thing we notice is that the LORD Himself called out to Hosea. This would be Jehovah in the Old Testament, but the Lord Jesus in the New Testament.

We will also notice that God’s people as a whole are not open to hearing the voice of God, and not much has changed today, certainly not in the time of Jesus.

Mat 23:37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
Mat 23:38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.

People then and people of today just do not want anyone to point out their sin to them.

To be real, everyone knows that they are sinners. People know they do not do everything righteously.

Everyone knows right from wrong except for the very young, but even they are not innocent of sin.

Idolatry had become the national religion of the Northern tribes of Israel, and idolatry was making its way into the Southern Tribes, and idolatry has made its way into the America we love today.

Their king, Jeroboam I, had established a new religion that he had created himself. His son Jeroboam II now ruled the Northern Tribes, and he was no different from his father.

He did this to keep the Northern Tribes from going to the Temple on feast days to worship.

Now, don’t get me wrong, but these people knew the truth, and they should have rebelled against this false worship, but they just obeyed their new king because they hated the King of Judah.

During the reign of King Solomon, many of the lower classes were not treated fairly.

Some others just worshipped the false gods of the surrounding nations, but either way, they turned away from Jehovah and the truth of God.

Rom_1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

God used His Prophet Hosea to be an example of wicked Israel in a way we may not understand, but we should be able to see it clearly.

We should understand that it is often the case that God calls a preacher or a missionary who is sent to specific places where they labor long hours, but do not see much fruit because God made a promise to all people.

2Pe_3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

1Ti 2:4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

Mrk_13:10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations.

God asked Hosea to do something that many of us would certainly not want to do.

Hosea would experience a whole lot of what we call drama today in his marriage to a harlot.

The Northern Tribes of Israel would never be at rest but would face one crisis after another.

The Northern Tribes of Israel did not have one decent king.

They all were after power and riches.

It is getting the same in America today and in much of the world.

When God’s way of righteousness is rejected, and His Holy commandments are ignored, this world will suffer in turmoil that could have been avoided.

*Hos 1:2 The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.

The wife of Hosea would be an adulteress, and God told Hosea to marry her and be faithful to her.

No matter what we do in this life, God is always faithful to His Word!

In reality, Hosea did not know Gomer would be an adulteress when he married her until God told him, but God did not cause Gomer to sin.

God will never lead us into temptation.

These marriages happen often, and divorce is rampant in America today, even in the Church.

People struggle with faithfulness!

Being faithful to God, Hosea obeyed and married a woman named Gomer.

The message God was sending to the Northern Tribes was a message of unfaithfulness.

Hosea would completely understand unfaithfulness to God by his own marriage to Gomer.

Hosea did not get to know Gomer through normal ways, as we would think, but Hosea purchased his wife.

Hos 3:1 Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
Hos 3:2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:

We will understand as we go through this lesson that Gomer will be a picture of unfaithfulness representing Israel, and Hosea will be a picture of God’s faithfulness and God’s unlimited “Grace”.

Rom_5:20 Moreover, the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

For the Prophet Hosea to prophesy in the right manner, he needed to understand and feel how God feels about unfaithfulness.

Hosea would write with a greater understanding of how God feels about His spiritually adulterous children.

Through the tragedy of his own marriage, Hosea will come to feel how unfaithfulness affects the heart of God.

Unfaithfulness will destroy love in most people, but Jehovah God has a love that we do not really understand until we get to know Him as our Savior.

Now, we do not really know if Gomer was immoral before her marriage to Hosea, but for her to be an example of Israel, then she would have to begin her marriage to Hosea with faithfulness, but with a faithfulness that did not last very long.

Israel began with the faithfulness of Abraham.

Gomer’s children had names given to them that had special meaning.

It seems that the first son of Gomer would be Jezreel.

Hos 1:4 And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
Hos 1:5 And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.

You know if God broke the bow of Israel, then He allowed them to be defeated. The bow was their greatest weapon against the enemy.

The first daughter was named Loruhamah.

Hos 1:6 And she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take them away.
Hos 1:7 But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.

Then another son named Loammi.

Hos 1:9 Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God.

It appears that maybe these children may not have been fathered by Hosea because our verse says, “children of whoredoms”.

It could also mean that all of these children would follow in the ways of their mother and were fathered by Hosea, which would make more sense.

Hos 2:4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.

We should not doubt that Gomer was an adulterous woman!

Adultery is also a picture of people turning away from God and giving themselves to false gods.

When the parents do not follow the Word of God, how can the children know what God expects?

We are to be godly examples to our children and train them in the way that they should go in life, God’s way.

If we look at the people of the entire world belonging to God because He is the Creator, then we see a world that is given over to the worship of false gods today

*Hos 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.

We should understand that it was not just unfaithfulness in a few of these people; it was unfaithfulness, but that all the land of Israel had surrendered itself to adultery and unfaithfulness, ignoring the Word of God and the God who loved them.

It is estimated that there are around 20 million Jews in the world today.

Remember that Hitler slaughtered over 6 million.

God promised His people would be very numerous, and the pure fact is that God will keep His promise to Abraham.

Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
Gen 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Some say this would include the Muslim, and it could, because the seed of Israel would be from the line of Sarah, which would be Isaac and not Hagar, who is the mother of Ishmael, which includes the Muslim.

Muslims are not part of the Church unless they accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, and not just as some prophet.

To be a son of the Living God is to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior!

God promised there would be only one ruler, and that ruler would be the Son of David.

On the Day of Jezreel, in all of Israel, there will be a reunion of all the tribes of Israel.

Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

God promised that they would be restored to the land given to Abraham. Now, this does not include the Muslims because this land was passed on to Isaac and from Isaac to Jacob, who is Israel.

Gen 12:1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Gen 12:2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
Gen 12:3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

What do we know? God has never broken a promise, and He never will!

The Valley of Jezreel is located in the eastern extension of the plain of Esdraelon. (Jos_17:16; Jdg_6:33; Hos_1:5)

Jdg 6:33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.

This place has been called the battlefield of Palestine. It has been a chosen place for encampment for every enemy of Israel and in every battle carried on in this country.

This is the same place of another prophecy that has not taken place as of yet.

Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

This is the same place where most of the armies of the world will gather against Israel, and the Lord Jesus will slaughter them there.

God will show us how He acts to get us back on the right path.

God will use chastisement to purify His people, but then God will love them back into the family.

In Hosea, we read that God denied His people, but through the work of Jesus Christ, God will redeem them.

They just do not realize it yet.

*Hos 2:6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.

We know that adultery runs rampant in our societies of today.

Many couples do not even get married because marriage requires commitment, and these unions are full of fornication.

Look how many babies could be saved if fornication were not the lifestyle of the USA and the world.

It is the same as it was in the Book of Judges: Jdg 21:25 In those days “every man did that which was right in his own eyes”.

This includes the women of today.

Many a marriage has ended because of adultery, and this is the message God gives to Israel and that God gives to the Church.

Even if Gomer would not stay faithful to Hosea, she should have been faithful to her children, but we find that this is not the case.

This is another case of Israel not even training its children to follow God.

God is teaching us that if you travel the road with painful barriers on the left and the right, you can only go one way or select a path with painful injuries.

We should ask ourselves, why do so many try to break through those painful barriers, just to go against a loving God?

Those painful barriers represent the Holy Spirit trying to keep us on the right path to victory.

People today do not even think about their health when they get on that road to sin.

Listen to Job: Job 19:8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

God will not put anything in our path to stop us from reaching Him, but He will put obstacles in our path to try to get us to change directions and return to Him.

The message of God is still repentance.

*Hos 2:7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
Hos 2:8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
Hos 2:9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
Hos 2:10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.

Israel was chasing hard after false gods, but they could not find one that could help them.

Gomer was guilty of lust and adultery, and it was the same for Israel.

Gomer became enslaved by her desire for sexual pleasure, unable to break free from her passion.

This is what being enslaved to the Devil means. The Devil chains us to our sins and does not allow us to break free.

2Ti_2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

We talk about how we should not waste the things God gives to us, but Israel would melt down gold and silver and make idols to worship.

How smart is that, by the way? That made those idols valuable to a thief who is the Devil.

It is a sad day when we forget that it is our Creator who has provided our needs all our days, and we begin to worship some false god who cannot give us anything but death.

It is even worse when we give credit to idols for the things we have.

When we seek the world seeking some benefit that appears to be good and supposed riches and prosperity that the world hoards for itself, instead of God, who is in control, we will find that there is no advantage to be gained in the world.

We find that in war or in bad times, the Church is filled with prayerful people, but as soon as these things are over, those same people return to doing what they were doing before.

They should ask themselves, would God answer their prayers, and why would He? No, God will not listen to them lest they repent and return to Him.

Job 35:12 There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men.
Job 35:13 Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.

Only because God had placed obstacles in her path to keep her from finding her lovers did Gomer decide to go back to her husband, Hosea.

This will be the path of Israel!

When Israel is face-to-face with the results of her rebellion and sees no way out, will she ever return to the Lord?

We should be amazed at the “GRACE” of God and His “FORGIVENESS” of our sins.

No false god in this world can provide for our needs because they are only figments of the imagination.

We will never gain satisfaction from false gods or from this world!

Israel will one day realize that they were much better when they followed the LORD than when they followed the world.

This will be a while because they will be going through the Seven-Year Tribulation Period.

When we become spiritually blind to the truth of God, we become blind to the benefits of serving Him.

Psa_68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.

This world and its politicians make promise after promise, and when they are elected and run again for the same office, they make the same old promises that they cannot fulfill.

Why do we tolerate such people and not vote them out?

God keeps every promise He has ever made.

God provided for Israel while they were in captivity, but they gave their offerings to idols of this world.

What did Israel lose?

They lost God’s care and His provision.
They were publicly exposed and shamed before the eyes of the world.
They could not escape God’s judgment.

There is no place for the sinner to hide from God’s judgment!

God began by taking His provision away from them.

These are the same lessons Gomer learned. Her bad reputation took her lovers away from her.

We cannot pretend we love the LORD and then go against His Word.

*Hos 2:13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the LORD.

The days of Baalim were the days consecrated to Baal, and on which the worship of Jehovah was transferred to that idol.

In the days of Ahab, Baal worship was elevated to the status of a “state religion” while service to Jehovah was set aside.

1Ki 16:31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.
1Ki 16:32 And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.
1Ki 16:33 And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

2Ki 11:18 And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.

The name Baalim, Baals in plural, means the various forms of Baal-idolatry or any modification of Baal-worship.

Some say Baal is the god of the elites of society, and in many places, we find this to be true.

They worship what their riches have bought them.

Baal is also mentioned in the Quran.

To be clear, when you give anything that God has given to you to some idol, some Baal, you have committed a terrible sin.

God provides our needs; they are intended for our use in life or in a ministry of the Church.

Gomer celebrated her marriage with Hosea, but she was deceptive and insincere, a wife of whoredoms.

She turned her love away from Hosea and gave that love to other men.

Israel and many others have turned their love away from the LORD and given that love to a god that does not exist, for they have rejected the Son of God, their one true God, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, we meet the God of the second chance.

*Hos 2:14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
Hos 2:15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
Hos 2:16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
Hos 2:17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.

People say Grace is a New Testament thing, but we can see God’s Grace all through the Old Testament.

Hosea decided to renew his romance with his adulterous wife.

He would give her assurance that their marriage was safe, speak tenderly to her, and take her to places away from the temptation of her former worldly life.

This was a place where they could be alone and focus on each other and rekindle their original love for one another.

God would also do this for Israel.

Isa 65:8 Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all.
Isa 65:9 And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
Isa 65:10 And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in, for my people that have sought me.

God says, “My servants will dwell there”. This would be the land of Israel.
God says, “My chosen ones shall inherit it”. This would be God’s people after the Tribulation. Israel and the Church.

The heir of Judah will be the Messiah, and that remnant will be unified with Him.

This is the seed that grows into a great nation, and the world will be at peace.

It is believed that the name “Ishi” should be “my husband” and no longer be referred to as Baali, which means “my lord”.

We could say that this passage is spoken by the Messiah Himself, our Lord Jesus.

Isa 52:6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I.
Isa 52:7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

We know this is the Lord speaking because we know that after the Great Tribulation, our Lord will remake this world as it was in the Garden of Eden when He said His creation was “very good”.

Gen 1:31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

This is the same earth that our Lord Jesus will make again, a New Earth.

*Hos 2:18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
Hos 2:19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
Hos 2:20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.

All those who want to know about the animals that God created on day five and day six, they were all at peace with mankind.

Adam and Eve and all the animals ate from the grassland and the fruit trees. No animal ate another animal. No insect caused harm to another insect. No fish ate another fish. No dinosaur ate meat.

What is the truth of God?

All those who have committed Spiritual adultery and rejected the Lord can still have a wonderful future if they return to the Lord.

It is still called repentance today!

No one could say these things if they did not know the future!

God seeks a personal relationship, and He will have it with those who repent and join Him in sincerity and truth.

There would be no divorce, only an eternal union that could never be broken.

This relationship would be built on love and mercy, and no one has as much love and mercy as the LORD.
This relationship would be built on faithfulness, and no one is as faithful as the LORD.
This relationship would be built upon knowing and acknowledging the LORD.

*Hos 2:22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
Hos 2:23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.

Jezreel (‘whom God soweth’) is a title symbolically applied to Israel.

Once Israel returns to the LORD, many things will happen.

We should remember this is also the time that the Earth will be destroyed by fire.

The LORD will restore the earth:

1) The LORD will meet the needs of the heavens.
2) The heavens will meet the needs of the earth.
3) The earth will meet the needs of the harvest, including grains, vineyards, and olive oil.
4) This great harvest will meet the needs of Jezreel as it is applied to Israel at this time and all those who are alive during the thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ.

*Hos 3:4 For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim:
Hos 3:5 Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.

There should not be even one Israelite who can deny the truth of verse four.

God has a purpose for this time period.

Certainly, God has sent missionaries to Israel to tell them the truth of Jesus Christ, but in reality, God has not sent them a prophet since the time of John the Baptist and then His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

What did Jesus tell them? Mat_17:11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

We know even at this time David the King had been dead and buried for many years, so God is not talking about David, and not a resurrected David.

God is speaking of the Messiah, the Son of God, the One called the Son of David.

Mat_1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

This will be the second coming of Jesus Christ.

The example given to us from the Book of Hosea should teach us about the enduring love God has for His people.

Joh 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Amen