God’s Love for Israelনমুনা

Day 4 -God is the God of Israel

Hosea also uses the image of Israel as a bride and the time in the wilderness as a honeymoon. Israel turned her back on God and followed after other lovers. As said, this is a representation of idol worship. But God doesn’t leave it at that and goes after Israel Himself as a Lover! Just as at the beginning, He invites Israel back to the wilderness, the place where the first love began. God will speak to Israel’s heart to reawaken the first love. This is followed by wonderful promises about the restoration of Israel: the return to the Promised Land, the Promised Land blooming again – just as we see before our eyes today.

“Then you will call me, ‘My Husband.’”This is wordplay in Hebrew. The word ‘Baal’ means ‘Lord’, but it is also the word for ‘spouse’. ‘My Baal’ means ‘my spouse.’ But instead of this, Israel will say, ‘My Husband’! That is much more intimate. Besides this, Israel has this intimate relationship not with Baal - the false god, the tyrannical spouse – but with the LORD God.

Something to think about: Do you appreciate that God is still the God of Israel? How wonderful it is that through the Lord Jesus, we belong to Him too!