1:4,5
“Jezreel” can mean both “God scatters” and “God sows”, and that is indeed what God often does. There can be a scattering, as there was a dispersion of the Jews throughout the world. And in Acts the disciples were sometimes scattered, but they were scattered in order to sow the word. For the Israelites here the scattering would be a disaster, but the purpose was that the truth of God’s word might take hold in them and so produce good fruit. The same principle can apply in our lives at times as well. In the town of Jezreel there was a very bloody coup. God would avenge that bloodshed. Indeed, it is a common theme in the Bible that God takes the shedding of blood very seriously. If we shed innocent blood we can expect judgement to come. So the nation of Israel (as in the northern kingdom) would come to an end.
1:6,7
Then Gomer had another child, a daughter who was to be called Lo-Ruhamah, which means “no mercy”. For a long time God had had mercy upon the land of Israel, He had not allowed her to experience what her guilt deserved, but now the mercy would be withdrawn. Nations of the West could suffer a similar fate.
At the same time God would have mercy on Judah (though later on she too would suffer). In the light of Assyria, the northern kingdom was conquered completely, Judah was saved miraculously. Jerusalem was not saved by natural means, but by direct intervention from God (see Isaiah 36-38).
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