Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea which cannot be measured or numbered; and it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said unto them, Sons of the living God.
God has just called Israel Lo-ammi — "not my people." In the same chapter He promises a people beyond counting and a new name, given in the very place where that sentence fell — so who are these sons?
Lo-ammi describes how God deals with Israel, not what He has decided about them.
Because of the sin of Israel they are, for a time, outwardly not God's people. God has not changed His purpose concerning His ancient people, Romans 11:29; He has only changed His manner toward them. Hosea 2:23 adds, "I will say to those who were not my people, You are my people; and they shall say, You are my God." This will be when God's set time arrives for bringing them again into blessing.
Everything here turns on one word. God does not cancel Lo-ammi by saying "Ammi" — "my people." He says something else. (The ESV reads "children of the living God"; the writers quoted here use the older wording "sons," and the argument rests on that word.)
In a vague and general sense, compared with distant Gentile nations, Israel is called son, child, firstborn. But that is only as a nation, while "sons" is individual. The expression "in the place… you are the sons of the living God" is the faint allusion to the call of the Gentiles I mentioned earlier. It is so faint that many people swallow it up altogether and make it bear on Israel. If God had said, "Then they shall be Ammi," we could have read this of Israel. He does not, however, say this. He says "sons of the living God."
The promise does not hand Israel's old title to someone else. It gives a better one.
He would bring Gentiles not merely into the place of Israel, but into a better standing. Granted, they were the vilest of the vile. Even so, grace could and would raise them into the nearest relationship to God Himself. Then they should be, not a mere substitute for Israel, but "the sons of the living God" — a title never given in its full force to any but the Gentiles who are now being called.
Paul applies the verse to Gentiles, and the wording fixes where the new name is spoken.
Paul, writing to the saints in Rome — chiefly Gentiles — applies in Romans 9:25-26 not only Hosea 2:23, which predicts the future recall of Israel, but also Hosea 1:10, which reveals the actual call of Gentiles. They are not to be His people as Israel will be later, but to have the blessed title of Christians now, "sons of the living God." Notice the peculiarity of the phrase "in the place where it was said to them Lo-ammi, there it shall be said to them, 'sons'". It was among the nations while the Jews are not recognised as such.
That sentence puts Israel where the nations already stood.
The Gentiles were always "Lo-ammi," and He says to Israel, "Lo-ammi"; so all are "Lo-ammi." But now we get a new principle. "In the place where it was said to them, Lo-ammi, there they shall be called the children of the living God." And this is going on now. When Israel is restored, it is as "the people of God."
Peter and Paul both quote Hosea, but not the same lines. One writer makes that difference the strongest proof that this verse looks past Israel.
What confirms this as the true interpretation is that Peter also quotes from our prophet. Peter was writing to a remnant of Jews only, while the apostle Paul was writing in his own proper place to Gentiles. Peter does quote Hosea, but he leaves out the words "They shall be called the sons of the living God." See 1 Peter 2:10. For his purpose he quotes from Hosea 2, not from Hosea 1.
So does the verse speak of Israel or of the nations? One writer holds both together.
The first chapter shows more than the restoration of Israel. That restoration is perfectly true, and no one should argue against it. But in a mysterious way God also left room for bringing in the Gentiles. The form of the allusion is very easy to overlook. By it He proves His perfect knowledge beforehand, and tells us of the call of the Gentiles in their own proper distinctive relationship as sons of the living God, and not merely His people.
- Sentence. Lo-ammi changed God's manner toward Israel, not His purpose; the name has a set time to expire.
- Substitution. God does not answer "not my people" with "my people" — He says "sons," and that single word is where the wider promise hides.
- Standing. Sonship is individual, and it lifts those who had no claim at all above the place Israel held as a nation.
- Spot. God speaks the new name in the very place He spoke the rejection — among the nations, while Israel goes unrecognised.
- Split. Peter quotes Hosea 2:23 to believing Jews and stops. Paul adds this verse for the Gentiles — one prophet, two reaches of the same mercy.
And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up out of the land for great is the day of Jizreel.
Hosea's first chapter is heavy with judgment. Then the last verse turns it all around: a divided nation gathers, picks one head, and the name that once meant ruin becomes the title of its greatest day.
Was the verse fulfilled when a small group of exiles came home from Babylon? One writer says no.
The eleventh verse is a great prophecy and remains still unfulfilled. Some expositors claim that it was fulfilled in the return of the remnant of Jews under Zerubbabel. But the Babylonian captivity is not in view here at all. The great day of Jezreel will come, when King Messiah, our Lord, returns. Then shall Judah and Israel be gathered together under one head, and gather once more to their national feasts in the land.
Another writer pins the timing to a scene the world has not yet seen:
Note the time is stated when this happy event will take place. It is when Judah and Israel will be joined together in the land with one King, even the Lord Jesus Christ, their Messiah.
The wording is unusual: they appoint for themselves one head. The head is God's gift, yet the people's own choice, and a changed heart is what makes them willing.
He is first spoken of in Hosea as the one Head under which the divided nations of Judah and Israel will be reunited in that day. He will be their Head not only by God's appointment, but by the choice of the people themselves. They will appoint for themselves one Head. They will have turned in true repentance to the God of their fathers, and their stony heart will have been exchanged for a "heart of flesh." So they will gladly fall in with God's gracious plans. With one voice they will acclaim Him, whom God has given them, as their Head.
The split between Israel and Judah was old and deep. One writer names both the moment it was cut and the day it will heal.
The union of Israel and Judah was to be in His hand... that unity depended upon David their king, their one head. His rejection broke all this... and they will surely not be united again until the King is acknowledged again. Then indeed these things will be according to the sure mercies of David. Until then, even if in their land, they will be a divided and weakened people.
What does "they shall go up from the land" mean? One commentator rules out a march out of exile.
Gathered together, Israel and Judah will appoint themselves one head, and will come (or go) up out of the land. I do not think this means out of Babylon or Assyria, or even out of the earth at large. It expresses instead their union in worship, in the same solemn assemblies and feasts, as we have already seen them one people under one head. It was accomplished neither after the captivity nor when Christ came, but the very reverse happened. It remains to be fulfilled when He comes to reign over the earth. "For," then indeed, "great shall be the day of Jezreel." God shall sow His people in His land, not scatter them out of it. It is the day not of humiliation but of manifested glory.
The name Jezreel carries two senses, and the chapter uses both.
Symbolic name both of the son of Hosea and of Israel. Hosea 1:4, 11. Jezreel is interpreted both 'God scatters' and 'God sows.' Hosea 1:4 refers to judgment upon the house of Jehu and the house of Israel; and Hosea 1:11 to blessing, when of both Israel and Judah it will be said, "Children of the living God." Then "great shall be the day of Jezreel."
Sowing is never for the seed's sake alone. The harvest reaches past Israel to the whole earth.
There is an unbroken chain of blessings. It runs from the Lord Himself down to the earthly blessings poured out in abundance upon Israel, who is the seed of God (this is the force of the word 'Jezreel'). For this reason it says, "I will sow her for myself in the land." For Israel will become the instrument of blessing to the earth, as life from among the dead.
- One reversal — the name that announced scattering now promises sowing. The same word carries judgment in verse 4 and blessing here.
- One Head — Christ is God's appointment, and the people gladly acclaim Him, once their heart of stone has become a heart of flesh.
- One people — the old split between Judah and Israel holds until they welcome the King again. Without Him they stay divided and weak, even in their own land.
- One land — restored Israel goes up together to its feasts. Commentators say the return under Zerubbabel did not fulfil this.
- One harvest — God sows His people in His land. Restored Israel becomes the channel of blessing to the whole earth: the great day of Jezreel.