Hosea 1

— and they shall come up out of the land.] Jerusalem being situated on an eminence, and in the heart of a mountainous region, which rose greatly above the general level of the country to a great distance on all sides, the sacred writers always speak of persons going to Jerusalem, as “going up” Bp. Horsley.

This mountain being a type of the Church of Christ, it is very proper and significant language to say of those, who should come into the Church, that they should “come up out of the land.” Dr. Pocock.

— for great shall be the day of Jezreel.] Great and happy shall be the day, when the holy seed of both branches of the natural Israel shall be publicly acknowledged of their God; united under one head, their King Messiah; and restored to the possession of the promised land, and to a situation of high pre-eminence among the kingdoms of the earth. Bp. Horsley. Or, taking the words in a spiritual sense, we may understand “the day of Jezreel” as comprehending the whole time of grace and salvation; all the time since the appearance of Christ, that “one head,” in whom they, of whom it is said “ye are not my people,” are called “the sons of the living God,” and are all gathered together, and ascend out of the world. Dr. Pocock.

Chap. II. ver. 1. Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. Although the Israelites, in the days of Hosea, were in general corrupt and addicted to idolatry, yet there were among them in the worst times some who had not bowed the knee to Baal, These were always Ammi, and Ruhamah; God’s own people, and a darling daughter. It is probable that God here commissions these faithful few to admonish the inhabitants of the land in general, of the dreadful judgments that would be brought upon them by the gross idolatry of the Jewish Church and nation. Speak to your brethren, O Ammi, (O my people,) and to your sisters, O Ruhamah (O darling daughter). Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 1:9

9. — for ye are not my people.] That is, “Ye, O men of Judah, are not my people.” Bp. Horsley.

Hosea 1:10

10. Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, &c.] We learn from St. Paul, that Israel is a name, not only belonging to those, who are so according to the flesh, but comprehending all that rightly believe in God, all the seed of Israel and Abraham, as well that which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all believers, as that which is of the flesh and of the law, Rom. iv. 11. 16; Gal. iii. 7. So that by the multitude of believers, as well of the Gentiles as of the Jews, is this to be made good, that “the number of the children of Israel should be as the sand of the sea.” Dr. Pocock.

— and it shall come to pass, that in the place &c.] That is, at Jerusalem, or at least in Judea, where this prophecy was delivered, and where the execution of the sentence took place. This prophecy appears to promise the restoration of the natural Israel of the house of Judah to their own land. Bp. Horsley.

Or, the promise may extend to others, as well as to them, even to as many of other nations, who had ever been looked on as “not God’s people,” as the whole Gentile world were; and that any where, in any place: even to “as many as the Lord our God should call,” Acts ii. 39. Dr. Pocock.

Hosea 1:11

11. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, &c.] When “the fulness of the Gentiles is come in,” this will be a means of converting the Jews, and bringing them into the Church: see Rom. ix. 25, 26. Either the prediction signifies, that upon this will follow the restoration of the Jewish nation, when they shall return into their own country from the several dispersions, where they were scattered, and become one nation or kingdom under the Messiah, their Head and King. Compare Ezek. xxxvii. 21, 22; Mic. ii. 13. W. Louth. Or, the being “gathered together” denotes not so much their coming together into one place, as consent and agreement of mind, the effect of which shall be, that they shall with one accord submit to one government. Dr. Pocock.

— and appoint themselves one head.] The title of # CHAP. II.