Hosea 1:10-11

 SCRIPTURE

Hosea 1:10-11

Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

COMMENT

Does this contradict the idea where God just called Israel, "Not my people," and told them he is not their God?

I have to admit, I am not an Old Testament scholar, but also do not want to shy away from the Old Testament. But is is confusing. My best thinking at this point is this, Israel has left God. While God has called Israel His chosen people, not all Israel are Israel. By that I mean that not all who call themselves or a a part of the physical Israel and a part of the chosen Spiritual Israel. 

Israel had shunned God's mercy. God had favored them, and they drifted away from the source of their blessing and became enthralled with the gifts, forgetting about the giver. So God, in an act of mercy, withdrew his favor and mercy from them. Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary says this, "Mercy is remembered in the midst of wrath; the rejection, as it shall not be total, so it shall not be final. The same hand that wounded, is stretched forth to heal." I find that powerful. God is not interested in our prosperity, He wants our soul to be righteous. If we cannot handle that in prosperity, then to heal us spiritually, the only recourse is to remove the prosperity that we might see the mercy. 

We should note that in the end, God's mercy is restored. "And in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' it shall be said to them, 'Children of the living God.' And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head." (See Romans 9:25,26 and 1 Peter 2:10 also.) Some might take offense when God removes His mercy. But that is because they are only thinking of themselves, and not of God, His righteousness, or even their own righteousness. They are still focused on the gifts, and not the giver, who is the source of righteousness. But the gifts are not the answer. They do not offer absolution. They do not remove fear or anxiety or healing of any kind. They are just material items. Peace comes through trust. 

Even God's mercy is a gift. I don't know that I ever really truly thought about that. But is not a gift like a car, house, or cash. It is a gift like the air we breathe or the rain that waters the crops. So when God withholds that gift, even for a moment, it is then that we fully recognize the value of that gift.