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.
And I will sow her unto me in the land; and I will have mercy upon Lo-ruhamah; and I will say to Lo-ammi, Thou art my people; and they shall say, My God.
The closing verse of Hosea 2 turns the language of judgment inside out. God plants the nation, pities the child named "No Mercy," and calls "Not My People" His own people again. The question it raises is who this promise belongs to — the nation of Israel in a future day, or those who believe now.
Hosea's children were given names that acted as sentences on the nation. The word "Lo-ammi" means "not my people," and the last verse cancels it.
Because of the sin of Israel they are for a time openly 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 Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'" That will happen when God's set time comes to bring them back into blessing.
"I will sow her" picks up the name Jezreel. That name tells you what God plans to do with this nation.
There is an unbroken chain of blessings from the Lord Himself down to the earthly blessings poured out in abundance on Israel, who is the seed of God (for this is the force of the word "Jezreel"). This is why the verse 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.
The verse before it describes God answering the heavens, the heavens the earth, and the earth the grain, wine and oil. Verse 23 is the end of that line, and nothing along it is left broken.
What an uninterrupted line of blessing, from the heavens down to every earthly blessing in the land of Israel! Every creature of God will then reap in full enjoyment the fruits of the restored and completed union of the Lord with His ancient people.
Israel earns none of this.
Because of their wickedness and sin, God had said that Israel should not get mercy, and were not His people (Hosea 1:6). The nation has lost the blessing through their disobedience. In the second chapter, the Lord promises to give it back. Despite their sin, their disobedience, their unfaithfulness, and My judgment too, I will bring them into blessing later on, God says. In the very spot where they were judged, there they will be blessed (Hosea 2:23). Judgment has gone by, and mercy rejoices against judgment, for even disobedience cannot frustrate the purposes of God in grace.
The promise is to be planted in the land, and commentators insist that the plain subject of the sentence stands.
You would think it impossible to twist this in the way that has been so common — reading "the Church" in place of "Israel." This is how the Old Testament speaks throughout. So Isaiah says (chapter 27:6): "He will cause those who come from Jacob to take root. Israel will blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit."
Peter quotes this verse of believers in his own day (1 Peter 2:10) — yet what they receive is the mercy, not the settled place in the land.
Paul, writing to the saints in Rome — mostly Gentiles — applies not only Hosea 2:23, which predicts the future recall of Israel, but also Hosea 1:10, which reveals the actual call of Gentiles (Romans 9:25-26). They are not to be His people as Israel will be later on, but to have the blessed title of Christians now, "sons of the living God." Peter, writing to the Christian Jews scattered in Asia Minor (1 Peter 2:10), applies only Hosea 2:23. Those who now believe anticipate that blessing, along with much more that belongs to Christianity alone: "who were once not a people, but now God's people; who were not objects of mercy, but now have obtained mercy." The verses that follow then show something else with care. Believers now are not sown in the earth, never to be uprooted, flourishing forever in the bright kingdom of Messiah here below. They are called to follow Him in present rejection, reproach and patience, "as pilgrims and strangers" until He appears.
Paul quotes both this verse and Hosea 1:10 in Romans 9, and the logic of the pairing rests on how far Israel had fallen.
The prophecies clearly apply only to Israel. Yet it is Israel at the same distance from God as though they had been Gentiles — "not My people." God could have mercy on Israel after declaring them to be "not My people." It plainly follows that He could be merciful to Gentiles too, for they were in exactly the same class. What admirable wisdom! What blessed grace!
- Named — The names spelled out the sentence: "No Mercy," "Not My People." Verse 23 cancels both in one breath.
- Sown — Jezreel marks Israel as the seed of God. He plants that nation to make the whole earth fruitful.
- Pitied — God pities the very people He said would get no mercy, on the ground where He judged them. They earn none of it.
- Widened — Israel sank to "not My people." So the same mercy can reach the nations, who stood in the same class.
- Answered — The verse ends in two voices. He says, "You are my people." The people reply, "You are my God." The relationship is restored, not just the fortunes.