Hosea 2:19-23 - I will answer

2:19,20

The marriage analogy is used again in terms of betrothal. So we see again the relationship aspect of God and His people. Note also “I will betroth you”. God is the instigator of all this. This does not mean we are mere puppets, but God is the instigator, He is sovereign. Then see that He does this in “righteousness and justice” and in “love and compassion”. So often we think of these things as somehow opposed to each other. They are not and they go together. We see this supremely in the cross, indeed one might say that this is where the betrothal took place. The cross is both a matter of “righteousness and justice” and “love and compassion”. If we take just one of these two sides, as people often do, then we have missed it completely, we have no idea what the cross is about. On the cross Jesus paid for our sins, through His sacrifice we are justified, the righteous demands of the Law (God’s Law) are met in full. It is also an act of “love and compassion”. God sent His Son because He loves us, He took pity on our situation, and but He also did this because of the joy set before Him. he wants us to live in eternal relationship with Him.

2:21-23

We all go through times when God seems far off, or the answer seems to be an awful long time coming. But a day will come when He will respond. Indeed, answered prayers is often used as one of the signs or fruits of God’s blessing. And nature will respond. The earth will yield its grain, wine and oil.

“I will plant her”, again the sovereign act of God. There will be relationship again between God and His people.

So in these first two chapters we have the picture of an unfaithful wife, representing the sinfulness of Israel, living in total and willful rebellion against God. Then we have God chasing after this wayward wife and bringing her back into faithful relationship with Himself.