John Calvin Commentary Hosea 2:23

"And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them that were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, [Thou art] my God." — Hosea 2:23 (ASV)

The Prophet here takes the occasion to speak of the increase of the people. He had promised a fruitful and large increase of corn, wine, and oil; but for what purpose would this be, unless the land had numerous inhabitants? It was therefore necessary to make this addition. Besides, the Prophet had said before, ‘Though you are immense in number, yet a remnant only shall be preserved.’ He now sets God’s new favor in opposition to His vengeance, and says that God will again sow the people.

From this sentence we learn that the allusion in the word Jezreel has been rightly noticed by some; that is, those who had previously been a degenerate people and not true Israelites shall then be the seed of God. Yet the words admit of two senses, for זרע saro, applies to the earth as well as to seed.

The Hebrews say, ‘The earth is sown,’ and also, ‘The wheat is sown,’ or any other grain. If then the Prophet compares the people to the earth, the sense will be: I will sow the people as I do the earth; that is, I will make them fruitful as the earth when it is productive.

It must then be rendered this way, I will sow her for me as the earth; that is, as though she were my earth. Or it may be rendered thus: I will sow her for myself in the earth, so that the earth, which was for a time waste and desolate, might have many inhabitants, as we know was the case.

But the relative pronoun in the feminine gender ought not to embarrass us, for the Prophet always speaks as of a woman. The people, we know, have until now been described to us under the person of a woman.

And he afterwards adds, לא-רוחמה, La-ruchamae. He speaks here either of La-ruchamae, an adulterous daughter, or an adulterous woman whom a husband takes to himself.

As to the matter itself, it is easy to learn what the Prophet means: that God would multiply their descendants far and wide, when the people had been reduced not only to a small number, but almost to nothing.

For how little short of entire ruin was the desolation of the people when scattered into banishment? They were then, as has been stated, like a body torn apart; the land in the meantime enjoyed its Sabbaths. God had disburdened it of its inhabitants.

We then understand the meaning of the Prophet to be that God would multiply the people, so that the small remnant would increase to a great and almost innumerable offspring.

I will then sow her in the earth, that is, throughout the whole land; and I will have mercy on La-ruchamae, that is, I will in mercy embrace her who had not obtained mercy; and I will say to the no-people, You are now my people.

We see that the Prophet insists on this: that the people would not only seek the outward advantages of the present life, but would make a beginning at the very fountain by regaining the favor of God and knowing Him as their propitious Father. For this is the meaning of the Prophet, about which more will be said tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we are in this life subject to so many miseries, and in the meantime grow insensible to our sins, O grant that we may learn to search ourselves and consider our sins, that we may be truly humbled before You, and ascribe to ourselves the blame for all our evils; that we may thus be led to a genuine feeling of repentance, and so strive to be reconciled to You in Christ; that we may wholly depend on Your paternal love, and thus always aspire to the fullness of eternal felicity, through Your goodness and that immeasurable kindness which You testify is ready and offered to all those who with a sincere heart worship You, call upon You, and flee to You, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We said in our lecture yesterday that the Prophet does not bear testimony again in vain to God’s paternal favor to His people, for it is our chief happiness when God acknowledges us as His own, and when we also can come to His presence with sure confidence.

Hence, the order of the Prophet’s words ought to be noticed: I will have mercy, he says, on Lo-ruchama; which means, I will be propitious to the Israelites whom I have until now deprived of My favor. And I will say to the no-people, My people are you. Then it follows, And they will say to me, You are our God.

The Prophet indeed means that God anticipates us with His favor, for we are otherwise restrained from access to Him. Then God, of His own good will, precedes us and extends His hand to us, and then follows the consent of our faith. Hence, God first speaks to the Israelites, so that they might know that they are now counted His people; and then, after God has testified of His favor, they answer, ‘You begin now to be our God henceforth.’ We therefore see that the beginning of all good is from God, when He makes friends of strangers and adopts as His sons those who were previously His enemies.

The third chapter follows.