And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith Jehovah, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
Hosea 2 closes with God speaking to a nation He had once named "not My people." He promises to bind her to Himself for ever. This verse shows what follows: answers running from God, through the heavens, down to the land and its harvest. Older translations read "I will hear" where the ESV has "I will answer." The commentators use that older wording. The picture is the same: a call goes up, and supply comes down.
The verse lists the links in order: God, the heavens, the earth, then the harvest. Nothing in between is blocked.
What an uninterrupted line of blessing, from the heavens down to every earthly blessing in the land of Israel! Every creature of God shall then reap in full enjoyment the fruits of the restored and consummated union of Jehovah with His ancient people.
Read from the bottom up, the chain is a series of calls going up to God. The answer comes back down. One writer traces what broke the links, and what repaired them:
Sin had interfered with the flow of blessing to the earth. Redemption reconnects the broken links, and the chain is complete — most clearly when the Lord Jesus reigns in glory over the earth… The corn, the wine, and the oil call upon the earth to bring forth, and the earth calls to the heaven, for the first and the latter rain, and the heavens call to Jehovah. God, the source and giver of all, hears and gives in the appointed order and way.
If God must "answer the heavens," something had stopped them answering before. The reason given is a hostile presence above, and corrupt worship below.
The sin of man had cut the heavens off from the earth, and had done so of necessity and for a long time. Satan had gained power not only on the earth. Above it, he could claim a seeming title of righteousness as accuser before God. So the heavens were turned into brass against His people… For man did not look up to God in adoration. He made the heavens and their host of stars, not God, the highest object of his worship. This was the earliest form of idolatry.
Another writer looks ahead to the reverse. What is silent now will be in direct touch then.
The heavens will be new, for they will be in direct touch with earth, as Hosea 2:21 describes, instead of standing cut off and silent as they do now. As a result the earth will be blessed.
The last link in the chain is a name, and the name carries the meaning of the whole promise.
There is an unbroken chain of blessings from Jehovah Himself down to the earthly blessings poured out in abundance on Israel. Israel is the seed of God, for this is the force of the word 'Jezreel.' That is why He adds (v. 23), "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.
Jezreel was also a real place with a bloody past:
In the prophet's day the crimes that made Jezreel notorious in the days of Ahab marked the whole land, and in judgment Jehovah takes away His blessings… But in "that day," the day when judgment is reversed, He will cleanse the place where the heaviest judgment fell from its iniquity.
Some read this promise as fulfilled when the exiles came back from Babylon. One writer rejects that, and warns where it leads:
It is folly to think that all this was fully accomplished when Israel came back from the captivity in Babylon. This miserable error misleads even Christians. It draws them into the irreverent, rationalist habit of treating God's word here as mere exaggeration for effect… No; it is a brighter day, when the power of God will sweep the world clean of disorder, misrule, and man's violence and corruption.
Most of the Old Testament promises about the coming age describe an earthly scene. One writer names this verse as one of the few that lift the eye higher.
This coming age is the theme of many a glowing Old Testament Scripture… still, such Scriptures view the age as the age of Messiah's glory. Israel is gathered under Him as the head of the nations, and the other nations are set in order and blessed in a place under Israel. Only in very rare cases — as Hosea 2:21 — do they mention the heavenly side at all.
- Chain. The verse is one unbroken line of supply — God, heavens, earth, harvest, Jezreel — with no link blocked.
- Break. Sin severed heaven from earth and left the sky like brass; that is why God must first answer the heavens.
- Repair. Redemption reconnects the severed links, and the chain is complete when Christ reigns.
- Seed. Jezreel means the seed of God — the very place of bloodshed becomes the sown field God blesses.
- Reach. The promise is still future, and it is one of the rare Old Testament glimpses of the heavenly side of that day.
and the earth shall hear the corn, and the new wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jizreel.
Hosea 2:22 closes a chain of answers running from God down to the soil, and it ends on a name — Jezreel — that once meant bloodshed and judgment. Why does blessing travel in this order, and how does a name of ruin become the name of a harvest?
The quotes below follow an older translation: it says "hear" where the ESV says "answer", "corn" where the ESV says "grain", and "the earth" where the ESV says "the land" in verse 23.
Verses 21 and 22 are not separate promises. They are one movement, running from heaven down to the crops of the ground.
What an unbroken line of blessing, from the heavens down to every earthly blessing in the land of Israel! Every creature of God will then reap and fully enjoy the fruits of the restored and completed union of Jehovah with His ancient people.
Read the chain from the bottom, and each level asks the one above for what it needs. But why did the chain ever need repair?
Sin had cut off the flow of blessing to the earth. Redemption reconnects the broken links, and the chain is complete. This shows most clearly when the Lord Jesus reigns in glory over the earth. Jezreel — the place once of sin and judgment, now of mercy — calls to the corn and the wine and the oil. They are the evidence of God's favour, and this call agrees with His promise at the beginning. That promise was forfeited then, because it was conditional on obedience; it is secure now through restoring grace. These call on the earth to bring forth. The earth calls to the heaven for the first and the latter rain. The heavens call to Jehovah. And God, the source and giver of all, hears and gives in the appointed order and way. But the land of Israel can no more be the limit of this blessing than the Jews could be the only objects of grace after the cross. Both the grace and the glory must overflow.
Why corn, then wine, then oil?
That order seems to hold throughout the Old Testament, right on to Hosea. The reason for this order is clear: the corn is the result of the harvest, the wine is the result of the vintage, and last of all comes the oil. In God's dealings through the ages there will be a "harvest judgment", a judgment between good and evil. Then comes the "vintage" — the removal of every opposing element. This leads to the outpouring of the Spirit of God. So the blessing of God will be enjoyed in the power of the Spirit in the world to come.
One writer traces all three back to their source.
"The corn, the wine, and the oil" are so often linked together in Deuteronomy and other scriptures. They take in the produce of the field, the vineyard and the orchard. All are made to yield their increase in blessing from Him of whom it is said, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof."
The chain ends at a name, and that name explains what God is doing with Israel.
There is an unbroken chain of blessings from Jehovah Himself down to the earthly blessings poured out in abundance upon Israel. Israel is the seed of God — that is the force of the word "Jezreel". For this reason He adds in verse 23, "I will sow her for Myself in the earth." Israel will become the instrument of blessing to the earth, as life from among the dead.
Jezreel was a place of innocent blood and heavy judgment. That is where God plants.
Here Jezreel is the name given to the whole land, which had all become polluted with blood and oppression. But in "that day," the day when judgment is reversed, God will cleanse the place where the heaviest judgment fell. He will take away the curse of innocent blood... In "that day" He will not only free the earth from bondage. Mercy will rejoice against judgment, and Jezreel too, the defiled and forsaken, will flourish again even more richly than before.
The passage keeps saying "in that day." One writer dates it plainly.
"That day" is still future, and awaits the appearing and the kingdom of the Lord Jesus.
- Chain — The verse is one link in an unbroken line from God down to the harvest. Every creature shares in the restored union between Him and His people.
- Answer — Sin cut the links, and redemption reconnects them. Each level calls on the one above, until the call reaches God, who gives in the appointed order.
- Harvest — Corn, wine and oil cover field, vineyard and orchard. Their fixed order traces harvest, then vintage, then the outpouring of the Spirit.
- Seed — Jezreel means the seed of God. He sows Israel for Himself, to make them the channel of blessing to the whole earth.
- Mercy — The ground stained by the heaviest judgment is the ground that flourishes most. It waits on the appearing and kingdom of the Lord Jesus.