“Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered.”
But what then of God's promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? They were not to be forgotten. Out of the gloom of the naming of the three children of Hosea comes a gleam of light. The promise given to Jacob that the children of Israel would be as the sand of the sea (Genesis 32:12; compare Genesis 22:17), which could neither be measured nor numbered, would still hold. But it would be carried forward to a future time. God's promises would not fail. But they no longer applied to Israel at the present time.
Israel would indeed one day be restored, and along with Judah would become a nation again, something which happened in the inter-testamental period, so that by the time of Jesus the land would again be well populated. And her numbers would expand beyond counting in the new ‘believing Israel', the true church of Jesus Christ (Revelation 7:9). Furthermore the gathering of unbelieving Israel to Palestine at the present time may well augur a time when large numbers in Israel will turn to Jesus Christ and thus once again be engrafted into ‘believing Israel'. But all that was still in the future. The measure of its importance, however, comes out in the fact that this declaration is central in the chiasmus of this passage (see above).
We should not over-exaggerate the significance of ‘as the sand of the sea'. Israel's army in the time of Saul could equally be described in those terms (2 Samuel 17:11), and they were no doubt seen as uncountable (but were not). It is hyperbole for a large number.
‘And it will come about that, in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people”, it will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”
Thus there was to come a time when in the very place where they had been declared ‘not My people' it would be said to them that ‘you are the sons of the living God'. As sons they would consequently be restored to the covenant (compare Deuteronomy 14:1; Deuteronomy 32:19).
This occurred literally in Palestine in the inter-testamental period, it occurred there again literally for the believing remnant in the preaching of Jesus and the Apostles (in the Gospels and Acts 1-12), when large numbers of Jews returned to God. being then expanded by the influx of Gentiles (Romans 9:24-26), and it may well be repeated literally at the end of the age (this last is in God's hands. It is not necessarily required by Scripture which can be seen as fulfilled in the church of Jesus Christ, the true Israel, but it is consonant with the mercy of God, and indicated by the way that the Jewish nation has been preserved and brought back to Palestine. It is possibly also to be seen as suggested in a number of New Testament Scriptures (e.g. Romans 11:26-28; Luke 21:24). But if it occurs, bringing rejoicing to all Christian hearts, it will only be by a work of the Spirit which turns them to Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Saviour. There is no salvation outside of Christ.
And to all who truly believe in Jesus Christ this privilege of being ‘the sons of the living God' is given (compare 2 Corinthians 6:16-18; Romans 9:24-26), for we are engrafted into believing Israel and are thus the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16), the true Vine (John 15:1-6), the elect race, the holy people (1 Peter 2:9), made one with believing Israel and built on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, with Jesus Christ being the chief corner-stone (Ephesians 2:11-22).
Note the reference to ‘the living God'. That was the difference between YHWH and Baal. Baal was but a part of nature, a nature god. He might theoretically help the crops to grow through being an essential part of the round of nature, but he offered nothing of true spiritual life and deliverance. He was not truly ‘alive'. When he ‘rose' and came to life (something demonstrated by the fact that everything began to blossom again in Spring) he rose only to die again.