The LORD’s Constant Love

KEY VERSE: “I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.” —Hosea 2:19

SELECTED SCRIPTURE: Hosea 1:2-9; 3:1-5

HOSEA’S prophecy concerning Israel is allegorically woven around his personal experience with a wife, who, after bearing him children, became unfaithful, was cut off, and went into slavery. Later Hosea’s sympathy went out to her, and he redeemed her again for his wife, as recorded in chapter three. God’s dealings with Israel were thus expressed—his tender compassion toward them as his espoused, who so frequently and persistently went after other gods, their cutting off into long centuries of slavery, and his eventual sympathetic redemption of them.

Under the typical environment in which these ancient scriptures were written, Israel’s covenant with the Lord was used as a prototype of a future worldwide covenant. Therefore the prophecies directed to Israel, in the larger scope of their meaning, relate to the future of the entire world of mankind. This becomes quite evident in Hosea’s prophecy, when we consider the verse preceding our text. “In that day [the day of Israel’s redemption] will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground.” How similar are these words to those which were used to express man’s original dominion over the earth, as it was represented in Adam, the father of the human race, before he fell. “God blessed them [Adam and Eve] and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”—Gen. 1:28

The deep import of this rather simplistic expression becomes evident when we realize the utter inability of Adam’s children, because of the fall, to fulfill God’s purposes in the earth. Nowhere is that more evident than in the sad plight of the lower animal kingdom. God’s commission to our first parents implied that as their descendants—the human race—multiplied and spread out over the earth, they would have a responsibility for the survival, care, and maintenance of the other forms of life God had previously created on our planet. This has not happened to any great extent. Many hundreds of species that then existed are extinct today, through the subsequent ravages of humans, and many hundreds more are severely threatened by the rapidly expanding technology of our times which is destroying both their habitat and the balance of nature required for their survival. And this continues unabated, notwithstanding the existence of very aroused and active conservation efforts worldwide.

God speaks through the Prophet Hosea, saying that man’s lost dominion will be restored by Jehovah himself. “In that day will I make a covenant for them.” (vs. 18) The involvement of the animal kingdom in the expression of this covenant tells us in simple language that by God’s arrangement man will be brought back to the necessary perfection which Adam possessed when God gave him dominion originally. It also implies that this authority to rule was not to be exercised over fellow man.

The scripture of our lesson uses a symbolic expression which is substantiated throughout the Bible as illustrating a covenant—that of marriage. (The wives of Abraham are a case in point. Gal. 4:24) How beautifully this symbolism shows the love, honor, respect, and tender feelings that are inculcated in God’s relationships with man. The word used in our text is betroth. “I will betroth thee unto me forever.” In this is expressed God’s great love for the world, and his intention of restoring them to a place of everlasting favor.

“Yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment, and in lovingkindness and in mercies.” These words are beautiful expressions of our Heavenly Father himself. When he said, “Let us make man in our image,” it implied that all of these wonderful, godlike qualities were imparted to man in his creation. These were the attributes which made him a true reflection of God in the exercise of his dominion. What sad but important lessons have been learned with their loss, and how cherished they will be when restored.

“I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord.”—Hos. 2:20

| Home Page | Table of Contents |