Albert Barnes Commentary Hosea 2:16

"And it shall be at that day, saith Jehovah, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more Baali." — Hosea 2:16 (ASV)

And it shall be ... you shall call Me Ishi - (my Husband) and you shall call Me no more Baali (my Baal, Lord). “Baal,” originally Lord, was a title sometimes given to the husband. “The lord of the woman,” “her lord,” “the heart of her lord,” stand for “the husband,” “her husband” (Exodus 21:22; 2 Samuel 11:26; Proverbs 31:11). God says, “so wholly do I hate the name of idols, that on account of the likeness of the word Baal, ‘my Lord,’ I will not be so called even in a right meaning, lest, while she utters the one, she should think on the other, and calling Me her Husband, think on the idol.” Yet, nevertheless, God says that He will put into her mouth the tenderer name of love, אישׁ ('ı̂ysh) — literally, “my man.” In Christ, the returning soul, which would give herself wholly to God, however far she had wandered, should not call God so much her Lord, as her Husband:

“Every soul, although laden with sins, enmeshed in vices, snared by the devil, a captive in exile, imprisoned in the body, sticking fast in the mud, fixed in the mire, affixed to its earthly members, nailed down by cares, distracted by turmoils, narrowed by fears, prostrated by grief, wandering in errors, tossed by anxieties, restless through suspicions, finally, a captive in the land of the enemy, defiled with the dead, accounted with them who go down in the grave , although she is thus condemned, in a state so desperate, yet she may perceive that in herself, from which she may not only draw breath for hope of pardon and of mercy, but from which she may dare to aspire to the nuptials of the Word, not tremble to enter into alliance with God, not be abashed to take on her the sweet yoke of love with the Lord of Angels.

For what may she not safely dare with Him, with whose image she sees herself stamped, and glorious with His likeness?

To this end God Himself, the Author of our being, willed that the emblem of our divine nobleness of birth should ever be maintained in the soul, that she may ever have that in herself from the Word, by which she may ever be admonished, either to stand with the Word, or to return to Him, if she has been moved.

Moved, not as though removing in space, or walking on foot, but moved (as a spiritual substance is moved) with its affections, even its defections, it goes away from itself, so to speak, to a worse state, making itself unlike itself and degenerate from itself, through depravity of life and morals; which unlikeness, however, is the fault, not the destruction, of nature. On the contrary, the return of the soul is its conversion to the Word, to be re-formed by Him, conformed to Him. Wherein? In love.

For He says, Be you followers of me, as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also has loved us. Such conformity marries the soul to the Word, when she, having a likeness to Him by nature, also makes herself like Him in will, loving as she is loved. Therefore, if she loves perfectly, she is married. What is sweeter than this conformity? What is more desirable than this love? For by it, not content with human guidance, you approach, by yourself, O soul, confidently to the Word; to the Word you constantly cleave; of the Word you familiarly inquire, and consult as to all things, as capacious in understanding as you are emboldened in longing. This is a contract of marriage, truly spiritual and holy. Contract! I have said too little. It is an embrace. For it is an embrace, when to will the same and to not will the same, makes two one spirit.”