Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ru-hamah.
Hosea, whose name means salvation, was the last of the great prophets to the northern kingdom in the eighth century B.C., prophesying about 750 B.C. His painful and pathetic personal history symbolized Jehovah's separation from His people. The verse stands within a strong prediction of the coming captivity of the tribes, a warning against alliance with Egypt and other wicked alliances, and an exposure of the nation's sad moral degeneration and decay, including the gross iniquity of priests and princes. Yet alongside warning, his message is full of hopeful remonstrance, tender exhortation and appeals, with rich promises of blessing from God as the result of repentance and with prophecy of the future.
The verse shows God rightly names backsliding from Himself and transgression of His holy law adultery, because the Maker, the Lord of hosts, the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth is husband to His people. Hosea 2 presents Israel's conformity to the world, idolatry, and all departures from God as adultery, showing that any attempt to mix heaven with earth and righteousness with sin, to mix good and evil, is dangerous adulteration and spiritual adultery.
Hosea, whose name means salvation, was the last of the great prophets to the northern kingdom in the eighth century B.C., prophesying about 750 B.C. His painful and pathetic personal history symbolized Jehovah's separation from His people. The verse stands within a strong prediction of the coming captivity of the tribes, a warning against alliance with Egypt and other wicked alliances, and an exposure of the nation's sad moral degeneration and decay, including the gross iniquity of priests and princes. Yet alongside warning, his message is full of hopeful remonstrance, tender exhortation and appeals, with rich promises of blessing from God as the result of repentance and with prophecy of the future.
The verse shows God rightly names backsliding from Himself and transgression of His holy law adultery, because the Maker, the Lord of hosts, the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth is husband to His people. Hosea 2 presents Israel's conformity to the world, idolatry, and all departures from God as adultery, showing that any attempt to mix heaven with earth and righteousness with sin, to mix good and evil, is dangerous adulteration and spiritual adultery.