2:16
In appreciating the significance of this verse it is important that we remember that the basic meaning of “Baal” is “Master”. A sign that we are going astray is that we start to look on God as our master. Now this is not to be confused with seeing Him as Lord, and it also gives us some understanding of what it means to say that He is Lord. The Israelites were viewing God as if He was just another “Baal”. God must be obeyed, but He is much more than that, He is our Father, He is the One who cares for us, who created us, who has good plans for us. There is an intimacy in the relationship, as shown here by God saying you will call me “my husband”. We are meant to have close relationship with God.
2:17,18
God would take away the name of the Baals from her mouth. No longer would she call upon these idols. All of us are prone to trust in things other than God, to have ways of coping other than faith in Christ. When the Spirit is at work in our lives He weans us off these things, so that we remember them no more, so that we no more think of turning to these things for help.
Then life changes. Here God says that He will make a covenant for them with the beast of the field and the birds of the air. Nature will react differently when we are in relationship with the Lord. We shall lie down in safety. Our relationship to God affects our relationship to everything.
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