‘And the children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.”
This promise would be literally fulfilled in the inter-testamental period. The two nations would come together as one, and would appoint over themselves ‘one head' (significantly not ‘one king', giving wider scope to the prophecy; compare Psalms 18:43 where the Davidic king is to be ‘the head of the nations', and Numbers 14:4 for the Hebrew). What might be seen as lacking would be the large numbers comparable with the stars of Heaven, although Israel might well have seen it in that way, for by the time of Christ Israel would have greatly multiplied. It would find even greater fulfilment in the coming of the King when Jesus Christ came on earth (in 1st century AD), and all who came to Him out of the land would be united in Him, and would become a multitude which could not be numbered (Revelation 7:9). This also ties in with the application of Hosea 1:10 to the whole church in 1 Peter 2:9-10; compare Romans 9:24-27. While it may not appear so to us the early church saw themselves very much as the true Israel, not simply as just a ‘spiritual Israel'. They were the believing remnant, the continuation of believing Israel. It was the unbelieving Jews who had been cast off from Israel (Romans 11:16-24). See Acts 4:25-26 where ‘the peoples' have become ‘unbelieving Israel'; Romans 11:17; Matthew 21:43. It may well find its culmination in the conversion to Christ of unbelieving Jews in large numbers at the end of the age, when they are once again incorporated into the true Israel by becoming members of His true church (congregation).
‘Go up from the land' has a number of possible interpretations.
· While we have no historical record of it, they may well at some stage have ‘gone up from the land' to the valley of Jezreel for great celebrations together, as pictured here.
· On the other hand the idea may not be of going to the Valley of Jezreel, but of ‘going up out of the land' to Jerusalem, ‘the day of Jezreel' indicating the day when what the name Jezreel (‘God sows') finally signifies, deliverance and fruitfulness (Hosea 2:22), will finally be accomplished (note that it is paralleled in the chiasm with reference to the birth of Jezreel, Hosea's firstborn).
A third possibility is that ‘out of the land' has in mind escape from the land of Exile, for the same phrase is found in Exodus 1:10 of escaping from Egypt. To Hosea escape ‘from Egypt' symbolised God's hope for Israel, whom he sees as never having found release from Egypt's ensnaring (Hosea 11:11).
Jezreel had been the place of death of the tainted monarchy. The day of Jezreel (‘God sows') might well signify the day when, the bloodshed at Jezreel having been avenged, Jezreel, Hosea's son, would as it were prophetically see ‘God sowing' (Jezreel), causing the appointment of an untainted ‘head' in Jerusalem. This was something which took place to some extent under the governor and son of David Zerubabbel (Haggai 2:4-9; Haggai 2:21-23; Zechariah 4:6-10), and would finally be accomplished in much greater measure when the Son of David was named ‘both Lord and Christ' in Jerusalem (Acts 2:36). That would be a great day indeed.
The rapid movement from YHWH's judgment of His people to their restoration is a feature of the Law of Moses. In both Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28-29 we have the same movement. Curse must be followed by blessing. Hosea is therefore simply following the usual prophetic pattern. It was important that YHWH's Name and faithfulness be preserved so that all might realise that despite the failure of His people, He Himself would not fail.