Hosea 2: God Turns the Valley of Trouble into a Door of Hope

Introduction

The week before, Holy Trinity Doncaster, in Australia, opened a series on the book of Hosea with "one of the strangest marriages in the Bible." God asks the prophet Hosea to marry Gomer, an unfaithful woman, and this marriage becomes a living picture of the relationship between God and his people. Israel belonged to God and was "married" to him, but chose other gods.

With Hosea 2 and 3, the preacher looks at this relationship "in more detail": Israel's unfaithfulness in more detail, but also God's faithful grace in more detail. The text speaks of judgment, of the wilderness, of idols that fail to keep their promises. Above all, it speaks of a God who allures his bride, speaks to her heart, and turns the valley of trouble into a door of hope.

The message closes with a simple question: what are your idols? And with an even greater piece of good news: the good news of Hosea is not that God's people were faithful, but that God was faithful.

Message Outline

1. A Call to Return Before Judgment

"Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband" (Hosea 2:2). The mother represents Israel as a people, and the children represent the individuals within Israel.
God does not speak directly to the mother, because she is no longer his wife: she betrayed him. But he calls the children to invite her to come back, which shows that he still cares for her.
He asks her to put away her prostitution from her face: Israel must stop presenting herself as available to other gods. She belongs to the Lord, she is "not available." Yet since chapter 1, Israel has been selling her love.
Israel is therefore called to repent.

2. The Wilderness, Where Judgment and Grace Meet

Otherwise, says God, "lest I strip her naked, and make her as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness" (Hosea 2:3). Israel behaved like a prostitute, and she will be exposed as one.
That sounds harsh to modern ears. But the image also recalls the innocence of a baby: "as in the day that she was born."
The wilderness is where Israel began its covenant with God after leaving Egypt. The people were like a baby, with no food or water, completely dependent on God. God is going to bring them back to the beginning.
"Often, God's judgment and grace meet in the wilderness." This is true for us too: God sometimes allows us to be "stripped," allows the idols we depend on to be taken away.
It is painful. But when we discover that we are naked, we discover our need for God to clothe us. When we discover that we are thirsty, we discover our need for God to quench our thirst. And he does.

3. Lovers Who Give Nothing, and a Transactional Love

Israel says: "I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink" (Hosea 2:5). These lovers are the Baals, the fertility gods worshiped by the neighboring nations, supposed to give harvests and prosperity.
Yet it was God who gave the grain, the new wine and the oil, the silver and the gold, which Israel used for Baal (Hosea 2:8). The people credited God's blessings to Baal and offered them to him.
God is going to block her path with thorns (Hosea 2:6). Is that a forced love? "I don't think so," says the preacher: in verse 7, she can still pursue her lovers. She is free. Blocking the path means taking away the blessings, through drought or invasion, as when the Assyrian Empire attacks. The land will stop producing, the feasts will stop (Hosea 2:9-13).
Israel will then look for her idols, but will not find them: when the true God withdraws his blessings, the fertility gods have no power.
Then she will say: "I will go and return to my first husband; for then it was better with me than now" (Hosea 2:7). She comes back, but for what she gets out of the relationship. "Her love is transactional."
We can be like her. First, by crediting good things to our modern idols: "My career gave me this," "The Australian economy gave me this." Our jobs and our businesses give us money, but they are only means, "the pipes the water flows through." They are not the source. The ultimate giver is the God of heaven and earth.
Then, by coming back to God only for his blessings. When we need him, we gladly come to church. But when career, money or even family demand more, God moves to the background: less time for church, Bible reading or prayer.
"Does our devotion to God come from self-interest or from love? Is our love for sale to the god who can give us the most, or is it faithful, as God's love is faithful?"

4. The Most Astonishing "Therefore" in the Bible

Verse 13 ends like this: she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and "went after her lovers, and forgot me," says Yahweh. We expect: "Therefore I will punish her."
God says the opposite: "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her" (Hosea 2:14). This may be one of the most astonishing "therefores" in the whole Bible.
God's judgment is real: the Assyrian Empire will come. But when he deals with his people, judgment is not his last word. He is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness (Exodus 34:6).
Where Israel used to return out of self-interest, now God takes the initiative to awaken love in her heart. He brings her back to the same wilderness as in verse 3, for the same reason: that he may be her only provider, her only love.
"I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope" (Hosea 2:15). Achor means "trouble." It points back to Joshua 7 and to Achan, who took things devoted to the Lord. The valley was associated with sin, judgment and trouble.
The place of judgment becomes a door of hope. "As Christians, we know what that means." It leads us to the cross, a symbol of judgment and punishment, which Christ turned into a door of hope.
"This is how God speaks to the heart of his people: not by giving them the law, but by coming to find them and dying for them."

5. "My Husband," No Longer "My Master": A Promise

"It will be in that day," says Yahweh, "that you will call me ‘My husband,’ and will no longer call me ‘My Baal.’ For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name" (Hosea 2:16-17).
In Hebrew, "my master" is literally "my baal." The word is neutral in itself, but because of the worship of Baal, God no longer wants to be called that. He wants to be called "husband": this is an exclusive covenant love.
The text is not a command. God does not say: "I forbid you to speak the name of the Baals." He says: "I will take away." It is a promise that empowers.
It is fulfilled in Jesus: in him, we receive the Holy Spirit who writes the law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). We become faithful from the inside, not just by obeying a law.
Grace goes on: a covenant with the animals of the field, the bow, the sword and war broken, rest in safety (Hosea 2:18). It is the picture of a world set right, at peace with creation and with one another.
The names of Hosea's children, which announced judgment, are reversed (Hosea 2:21-23). Jezreel, which in chapter 1 announced judgment on violence and idolatry, becomes a promise: "God sows." God will replant his people. The heavens will respond to the earth, the earth will give the grain, the new wine and the oil. Israel will not remain a wilderness forever.

6. "I Will Betroth You to Me": The Price Paid at the Cross

At the center of this restored world is the promise of a restored marriage: "I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion. I will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know Yahweh" (Hosea 2:19-20).
Three times, "I will betroth you to me." This is not God saying reluctantly: "Well, if you want to come back, I suppose I'll take you back." The repetition gives weight and certainty. God is eager to take his bride back, like the father of the prodigal son who runs to embrace his son (Luke 15:20). "We see God running to take his people back."
First, forever: the relationship will never be broken again.
Second, in righteousness and justice, loving kindness and compassion. In ancient times, a betrothal required a bride price, a payment that sealed the union. The price God pays is justice and love meeting perfectly at the cross. "It is a high price: the death of the Son of God."
This betrothal will be fully realized when Christ returns. Revelation 19 shows the bride ready for the wedding of the Lamb, clothed in fine linen, bright and pure (Revelation 19:7-8), our garments having been washed by his blood.
Hosea acts it out in chapter 3: Gomer is with her lover, and Hosea is called to go and redeem her (Hosea 3:1-2), because God promised to redeem Israel. "Jesus bought us at a price, with his blood. We no longer belong to our idols. We belong to Jesus" (1 Corinthians 6:20).
Third, in faithfulness: no more betrayal. This is the new covenant, where the Holy Spirit lives in us and enables us to be faithful.

7. What Are Your Idols?

Hosea 1 to 3 is a journey. We see the unfaithfulness of God's people, and therefore our own: even redeemed, we still tend to run after our idols, then repent, then start again.
But we also see God's faithfulness, pursuing us.
The questions remain: "What are our idols? Who are the lovers we pursue because we think they can give us the life we want? Where do we look for life, happiness, meaning and hope? What is that thing that, if we had it, would make our life more complete?"
We may be disappointed in ourselves when we discover that the answer is not God but another idol. "Let's not despair."
"The good news of Hosea 2 and 3 is not that God's people were faithful. The good news is that God was faithful." He came in person, in Jesus, to pursue his wayward bride and to die to pay for her redemption.
In the face of this goodness, the response comes: "Yes, Lord, you are our God, and we want to be your people."

Key Takeaways

God sometimes allows our idols to be taken away: in the wilderness, judgment and grace meet.
Our jobs and our resources are only pipes. The ultimate giver is God.
A love that returns to God only for his blessings is a transactional love. God seeks our heart.
God turns the valley of trouble into a door of hope: this is what Christ did at the cross.
The good news is not our faithfulness but God's, who betrothed us to himself forever at the price of his Son.

Personal Application

What idols are you pursuing because you think they can give you the life you want?
Whom do you credit for the good things in your life: your career, the economy, or God, the ultimate giver?
Does your devotion to God come from self-interest or from love? When life gets busy, what place is left for him?
Are you going through a wilderness? What does God want to say to your heart in that place?
How can God's faithfulness, rather than yours, lift you up when you are disappointed in yourself?

Verses Cited

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the valley of Achor becoming a "door of hope" mean in Hosea 2?

Achor means "trouble." Since the story of Achan in Joshua 7, this valley was associated with sin and judgment. God promises to make it a door of hope. For the preacher, this leads to the cross: a place of judgment that Christ turned into a door of hope.

Why does God lead Israel into the wilderness in Hosea 2?

The wilderness is where Israel began its covenant with God after leaving Egypt, when the people, like a baby, depended entirely on him. In the wilderness there are no other idols: God becomes the only provider and speaks to the heart of his people. Judgment and grace meet there.

What does "I will betroth you to me" mean, repeated three times in Hosea 2?

The repetition gives weight and certainty to the promise: God does not take his bride back reluctantly, he runs to her. The betrothal is forever, paid for by righteousness, justice, loving kindness and compassion, which meet at the cross, and lived out in the faithfulness the Holy Spirit gives.