Hosea 2
Joel 2 is a passage centered on the great calamity that will come upon Israel, the repentance in response to it, and God’s promises of restoration and blessing. This chapter can be read structurally in four parts: a warning of disaster (verses 1-11), an exhortation to repentance (verses 12-17), God’s compassion and the promise of restoration (verses 18-27), and the promise of the Holy Spirit (verses 28-32).
1verse“Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’ and to your sisters, ‘My loved one!’
2verseContend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
3verselest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.
4verseIndeed, on her children I will have no mercy, for they are children of unfaithfulness.
5verseFor their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
6verseTherefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way.
7verseShe will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for then it was better with me than now.’
8verseFor she didn’t know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
9verseTherefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.
10verseNow I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.
11verseI will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.
12verseI will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me,’ and I will make them a forest, and the animals of the field shall eat them.
13verseI will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers and forgot me,” says the LORD.
14verse“Therefore behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.
15verseI will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
16verseIt will be in that day,” says the LORD, “that you will call me ‘my husband,’ and no longer call me ‘my master.’
17verseFor I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.
18verseIn that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.
19verseI will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.
20verseI will even betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.
21verseIt will happen in that day, that I will respond,” says the LORD. “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;
22verseand the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.
23verseI will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘You are My God!’”
Warning of Calamity and Judgment (Verses 1-11)
Blow the trumpet! It begins by commanding that Israel’s people should be told by the sound of the trumpet that a great calamity is about to come upon them. Here, calamity is described with the image of a “locust swarm,” but it reveals symbolically that God’s judgment has come, rather than being merely a natural disaster. The destructive power of the locust swarm is orderly like an army, impossible to escape, and leaves the entire land of Israel desolate.
Exhortation to Repentance (Verses 12-17)
God urges the people to true repentance. They should tear not their garments but their hearts, humbling themselves with fasting and sorrow. Total repentance—where everyone participates, from leaders to the people, from the elderly to children—is emphasized. God’s compassion is abundant, and it becomes clear that when people repent, He responds with forgiveness rather than judgment.
The Promise of Restoration and Blessing (Verses 18-27)
After the people’s repentance, God’s answer follows. God promises to restore the land with compassion, giving back abundant food and joy. Soon, the damage caused by the locust swarm will be made up, and glory will come instead of the shame of the past. As in the words, “You will know that I am with Israel,” the center of restoration is God’s presence.
The Promise of the Coming of the Holy Spirit (Verses 28-32)
The final part is a prophecy about the “coming of the Holy Spirit” that will come in the future, declaring that God’s Spirit will be poured out on everyone, regardless of age or gender, or distinctions of status. This is a passage showing in advance that, beyond the circumstances of the time, the work of God’s salvation will be extended to all humanity. This promise was fulfilled in the New Testament (Acts 2) through the events of Pentecost.
Meditation Points
- In situations of calamity and crisis, we can think about what we should first turn back to and consider.
- Joel 2 emphasizes that true repentance is not change in outward actions, but a transformation that happens within.
- Remembering that God’s judgment is not the end, we can keep our eyes on restoration and new hope.
- We can receive God’s promise (the outpouring of the Holy Spirit) as something that is effective not only for us now, but also for our community, by faith.
Applying It to Me
- In the face of life’s difficulties and crises, we check our attitude toward immediately turning our hearts back to God.
- We renew our hope by trusting in God’s compassion and forgiveness.
- As we seek God’s presence through the Holy Spirit, we can pray that a new work of life will begin within me.
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