And appoint themselves one head— The Lord Jesus Christ shall become the chief and the king of his church, composed of Judah and Israel, of Jews and Gentiles. This is the primary intention of the prophesy; which, however, (as we observed above,) secondarily may refer to the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, and their reunion under one head. We have seen on the fourth verse the meaning of the Word Jezreel. There was a still farther prediction comprehended under it, which regarded the future and remote state of the Jews. The two Hebrew words זרה zerah, to disperse, and זרע zerang. to sow, in order to multiply and gather, are in found nearly the same; and either of them may compound the word Israel or Jezreel. As therefore the prophet declared the dispersion of Israel, when their bow or strength was broken in the valley of Jezreel, so here he comforts them with a promise, implied in another sense of the same name, of their being gathered from the captivity, and increasing like the seed of God. The latter words of this verse, For great, &c. are rendered in the Chaldee, For great is the day of the gathering of Israel: Jarchi, to render the allusion plainer, translates them, Great is the day of gathering the seed of Israel; which Kimchi explains thus: "Israel was typified in the child Jezreel, because God scattered them in his anger, as זרע zerang—seed, among the Gentiles; and again, he called Jezreel the seed of God, because in the time of salvation they shall be sown in their own land." This is similar to the prophet's own explanation, chap. Hosea 2:22-23. See Chandler's Defence, and Houbigant.
And they shall come up out of the land— And come up from the earth. That is, from all parts of the earth to Jerusalem. Jerusalem being situated upon an eminence, and in the heart of a mountainous region, which rose greatly above the general level of the country to a great distance on all sides, the sacred writers always speak of persons going to Jerusalem, as going up.
Great shall be the day of Jezreel— Great and happy shall be the day, when the holy seed of both branches of the natural Israel shall be publicly acknowledged of their God; united under one head, their king Messiah; and restored to the possession of the promised land, and to a situation of high pre-eminence among the kingdoms of the earth. Bishop Horsley.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The prophet opens his book with an account of his name and parentage. He was called Hosea, the same as Jesus or Joshua, a Saviour, the great business of his ministry being to promote the salvation of his people. His father's name is mentioned; but of what tribe or place he was is not said.
He prophesied during the reigns of four kings of Judah, and their cotemporaries who ruled in Israel, though but one of them is mentioned. Perhaps their lives were so bad, that their very names were odious.
2nd, The first revelation of God's will to Hosea, was a fearful threatening against a rebellious people, under the figure of a man taking a wife of whoredoms. In the names of the children born of this marriage, the prophet is commissioned to foretel the approaching ruin of that devoted people.
1. In the name of the first son, who is called Jezreel, God shews Jeroboam the destruction determined against his family, and the cause of it. Jezreel signifies the seed of God, or scattered of God; and this is explained, for yet a little while, in a few years, under his son Jeconiah, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu; the blood of Ahab, and his sons and relations, which Jehu shed; for though the action was right, and God commended it, Exodus 10:30 yet the temper with which Jehu did it was evil, intending not God's glory, but the gratification of his own pride, ambition, and cruelty, as afterwards evidently appeared; for though he pretended zeal for God when he seized the throne, he still kept the calves in Dan and Bethel. Thus many of the good works of pride and self-righteousness become evil from the temper with which they are done, and bring down a curse instead of a blessing. And I will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel, in the family of Jehu, as was soon fulfilled, 2 Kings 15:8-10. Or this may relate to the destruction of the ten tribes by Salmaneser, 2 Kings 17:6-23. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel; which may refer to Menahem's slaughter of Shallum, Exodus 15:14-16 or to some battle fought there with Salmaneser, before he subdued the country, 2 Kings 17:6. See the Annotations. Note; They who depart from God weaken their own arms; and sin brings certain ruin in its train.
2. In the name of the second child, Lo-ruhamah, God foretels his entire rejection of the whole nation. The word signifies without mercy; intimating, as the prophet from God explains it, that God would have no more mercy on the Israelites, but would utterly take them away, as was done by the king of Assyria, 2 Kings 17. Woe to the sinner with whom God's mercies are at an end!
3. A promise of mercy is made to the house of Judah, which had preserved the true worship of God. I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God, not by any human power or weapons; which may refer to the deliverance of the Jews from Sennacherib's army, Exodus 19:35 or rather to the greater salvation which the Lord Jesus should accomplish, subduing all the spiritual foes of his faithful people, and by his own arm making them more than conquerors. Note; (1.) All our salvation comes not from any merit in us, but the mere mercy of our God. (2.) They who cleave to God as their God, shall find that he will own them in the day of trouble, and interpose for their rescue.
3rdly, The decree gone forth against this wicked nation is confirmed in the name of a son, the third child, called Lo-ammi, after Lo-ruhamah was weaned; which may signify the patience of God for a while bearing with them; or that first captivity, when many of Gilead and Galilee were carried away by Tiglath-pileser, 2 Kings 15:29.
1. God rejects Israel from being his people, as the name Lo-ammi signifies, Ye are no longer my people; have cast off my government and worship: and I will not be your God, to bless, protect, and save you. Note; (1.) They who revolt from God, are justly rejected by him. (2.) Many claim a relation to God in name, whose works deny him, and whom he will therefore disown.
2. In wrath God remembers mercy; and a gracious promise is made of their restoration. He that wounds, is willing to heal. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; which prophesy, whatever primary respect it might have to the return of the Israelites from their captivity with their brethren; or whatever ground of comfort it might afford to the pious captives there; yet we are assured, Romans 9:24-26 was to have its glorious accomplishment when Jews and Gentiles should be converted to the faith of Christ; as was eminently the case, when, by the preaching of the gospel at the first, multitudes were added to the church; and daily we observe the innumerable host increasing, till the fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in at the last day, and so all Israel shall be saved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God; adopted into the family, and admitted to all the great and distinguished privileges of the children of God. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together; which some interpret of the union of these divided kingdoms, on their return from Babylon; but it rather respects the times of the gospel, when Galileans, Samaritans, and Jews, converted by the preaching of Christ and his apostles, were joined in one Christian church, and the Gentiles afterwards incorporated therein. But particular respect is had to the times when the Jews shall be collected from their present dispersion, and be universally turned to the Lord, and appoint themselves one head, the Divine Messiah, to whom they shall be gathered at the last, willingly submitting themselves to his blessed government: and they shall come up out of the land, or the earth, collected from all parts of it; or as experiencing a kind of resurrection from the state of misery, like death, in which they lay, for great shall be the day of Jezreel; after all the afflictions that they have endured, their latter end shall be full of glory. Note; (1.) Every believer is distinguished with the eminent dignity of being a child of the living God; and, however he may be despised of men, is glorious in the eyes of the Most High and Most Holy, and, persevering in faith and love and holy obedience, shall be acknowledged by him in the last great day. (2.) The people of God have Christ for their living head, deriving from him all vital influence; yielding themselves up to him, to be directed and governed; and through him maintaining mutual communion with each other, being all one in Christ Jesus. (3.) They who have Christ for their head, must come up from the earth, and set their affections on things above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.