Hosea 2:17

2:14-23 After these judgments the Lord would deal with Israel more gently. By the promise of rest in Christ we are invited to take his yoke upon us; and the work of conversion may be forwarded by comforts as well as by convictions. But usually the Lord drives us to despair of earthly joy, and help from ourselves, that, being shut from every other door, we may knock at Mercy's gate. From that time Israel would be more truly attached to the Lord; no longer calling him Baali, or My lord and master, alluding to authority, rather than love, but Ishi, an address of affection. This may foretell the restoration from the Babylonish captivity; and also be applied to the conversion of the Jews to Christ, in the days of the apostles, and the future general conversion of that nation; and believers are enabled to expect infinitely more tenderness and kindness from their holy God, than a beloved wife can expect from the kindest husband. When the people were weaned from idols, and loved the Lord, no creature should do them any harm. This may be understood of the blessings and privileges of the spiritual Israel, of every true believer, and their partaking of Christ's righteousness; also, of the conversion of the Jews to Christ. Here is an argument for us to walk so that God may not be dishonoured by us: Thou art my people. If a man's family walk disorderly, it is a dishonour to the master. If God call us children, we may say, Thou art our God.

For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth,.... Out of the mouth of Israel, as Saadiah; out of the mouth of the converted Jews, and even out of the mouth of the Gentiles, as Kimchi owns; the several Baals, as Baalpeor, Baalberith, and Baalzebub, and others: the names of them should be no more used, should not be spoken of, unless with detestation and abhorrence; not with honour and respect, with love and affection, or so as to yield worship and homage to them; or otherwise their names may be lawfully mentioned, as in Romans 11:4 , there seems to be some reference to the law in Exodus 23:13 , the sense is, that idolatry shall be utterly abolished, even of every kind; not the worship of Baalim only, but of all other idols: and so the Targum is, "and I will take away the name of the idols of the people out of their mouth;'' and may design the idolatry of the church of Rome; their worship of images of gold and silver, wood, brass, and stone in whose communion are many of the Jews at this time; but when the time of their conversion comes, all this will be abolished among them, and among the Gentiles also: and they shall no more be remembered by their name; or made mention of by name; the same thing as before, in other words, repeated for the confirmation of it.

For I will take away the names of Baalim; it is my purpose to abolish the memory of Baalim. This great idol for all others; God will cut off all the remains of idolatry from his church. Out of her mouth; so God required, of old, Exodus 23:13 . They shall no more be remembered by their name; these false gods and provoking idols shall be quite forgotten, their names perishing with them. When God shall so cut off all idolatry from his church in gospel days, it will be the final and fullest accomplishment of this prediction.

17 . I will take away the names of the Baalim ] Tenacious as the popular memory is, the unholy names shall be expunged from it. ‘Remembered’ should be mentioned; comp. Joshua 23:7 ; Psalm 16:4 , and especially the reminiscence of our passage in Zechariah 13:2 (where ‘the idols’ has taken the place of ‘the Baalim’). ‘Out of her mouth’, a change of person for the sake of variety. Hosea 2:17

For I will take array the names of Baalim out of her mouth - It is, then, of grace. He does not only promise the ceasing of idolatry, but that it shall be the fruit of His converting grace, the gift of Him from whom "is both to will and to do. I will take away, as God saith elsewhere, "I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall be no more remembered Zechariah 13:1-9 ; and, "the idols He shall utterly abolish" Isaiah 2:18 . In like way God foretells of Judah that the fruit of her captivity should be, that her idols should cease, that He would cleanse them from their idols, and renew them by His grace. "In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished" Ezekiel 6:6 . And, "Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. Neither shall they defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions" Ezekiel 36:25-26 ; Ezekiel 37:23 . And they shall be no more remembered, or, made mention of - The names of Baal and the idols, through which Israel sinned, are remembered now, only in the history of their sin.

"And I put away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they are no more remembered by their name." As soon as the nation ceases to call Jehovah Baal, the custom of taking the names of the Baals into its mouth ceases of itself. And when this also is mentioned here as the work of God, the thought is thereby expressed, that the abolition of polytheism and mixed religion is a work of that divine grace which renews the heart, and fills with such abhorrence of the coarser or more refined forms of idolatry, that men no longer dare to take the names of the idols into their lips. This divine promise rests upon the command in Exodus 23:13 , "Ye shall make no mention of the names of other gods," and is repeated almost word for word in Zechariah 13:2 .

[Bible] 2:17. And I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and she shall no more remember their name. Baalim... It is the plural number of Baal: for there were divers idols of Baal. 2:18. And in that day I will make a covenant with them, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of the air, and with the creeping things of the earth: and I will destroy the bow, and the sword, and war out of the land: and I will make them sleep secure. 2:19. And I will espouse thee to me for ever: and I will espouse thee to me in justice, and judgment, and in mercy, and in commiserations. I will espouse thee, etc... This relates to the happy espousals of Christ with his church: which shall never be dissolved. 2:20. And I will espouse thee to me in faith: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord. 2:21. And it shall come to pass in that day: I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth. Hear the heavens, etc... All shall conspire in favour of the church, which in the following verse is called Jezrahel, that is, the seed of God. 2:22. And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and these shall hear Jezrahel. 2:23. And I will sow her unto me in the earth, and I will have mercy on her that was without mercy. 2:24. And I will say to that which is not my people: Thou art my people: and they shall say: Thou art my God. That which was not my people, etc... This relates to the conversion of the Gentiles. Osee Chapter 3 The prophet is commanded again to love an adulteress; to signify God's love to the synagogue. The wretched state of the Jews for a long time, till at last they shall be converted. 3:1. And the Lord said to me: Go yet again, and love a woman beloved of her friend, and an adulteress: as the Lord loveth the children of Israel, and they look to strange gods, and love the husks of the grapes. 3:2. And I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for a core of barley, and for half a core of barley.

[Bible] Osee Chapter 2 Israel is justly punished for leaving God. The abundance of grace in the church of Christ. 2:1. Say ye to your brethren: You are my people: and to your sister: Thou hast obtained mercy. Say to your brethren, etc... or, Call your brethren, My people: and your sister, Her that hath obtained mercy. This is connected with the latter end of the foregoing chapter, and relates to the converts of Israel. 2:2. Judge your mother, judge her: because she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her put away her fornications from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts. Your mother... The synagogue. 2:3. Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born: and I will make her as a wilderness, and will set her as a land that none can pass through and will kill her with drought. 2:4. And I will not have mercy on her children, for they are the children of fornications. 2:5. For their mother hath committed fornication, she that conceived them is covered with shame: for she said: I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread, and my water, my wool, and my flax, my oil, and my drink. 2:6. Wherefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will stop it up with a wall, and she shall not find her paths. 2:7. And she shall follow after her lovers, and shall not overtake them: and she shall seek them, and shall not find, and she shall say: I will go, and return to my first husband: because it was better with me then than now. 2:8. And she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver, and gold, which they have used in the service of Baal. 2:9. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in its season, and my wine in its season, and I will set at liberty my wool, and my flax, which covered her disgrace. 2:10. And now I will lay open her folly in the eyes of her lovers: and no man shall deliver her out of my hand:

Manasseh seems to have introduced it into Judah ( 2 Kings 21:3 ; 2 Kings 23:5, 11 ). Such knowledge as we have of the Western Asiatic religions seems to indicate that astral worship, strictly so called, was a peculiarity of the Assyro-Babylonian and Arabian systems only, and did not belong to the Syrian, or the Phoenician, or the Canaanite. It may be suspected that the present passage is somewhat rhetorical, and assigns to the Israelites the "worship of the host of heaven," simply because an astral character attached to Baal and Ashtoreth, who were associated in the religion of the Phoenicians with the sun and moon. On the ether hand, it is just possible that the Assyro-Babylonian star-worship had been introduced into Israel under Menahem, Pekah, or Hoshea. And served Baal. The Baal-worship, introduced by Ahab ( 1 Kings 16:31 ), was not finally abolished by Jehu ( 2 Kings 10:28 ). Like other popular religions, it had a revival Hosea, writing under the later kings from Jeroboam II. to Hoshea, alludes to the Baal-worship ( Hosea 2:8, 17 ) as continuing. 2 Kings 17:16