Although the Israelites have been unfaithful to the Lord by forsaking their covenants with Him and worshipping false gods, He promises He will not forsake them if they will return to Him with repentance, faithfulness, and full purpose of heart.
Hosea 2:19–23
19 And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
20 I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.
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;
22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
23 And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God.
President Henry B. Eyring said:
“The book of Hosea, like the writings of Isaiah, uses what seem to me almost poetic images. The symbols in Hosea are a husband, his bride, her betrayal, and a test of marriage covenants almost beyond comprehension. . . . Here are the fierce words of the husband, spoken after his wife has betrayed him in adultery:
“‘Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
“‘And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now’ (Hosea 2:6–7).
“He goes on (through verse 13) to describe the punishment she deserves, and then comes a remarkable change in the verse that follows. . . . :
“‘Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
“‘And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. . . .
“‘And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
“‘I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord.
“‘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;
“‘And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
“‘And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, Thou art my people; and they shall say, Thou art my God’ (Hosea 2:14–15, 19–23).
“At that early point in the story, in just two chapters, even my youngest students knew that the husband was a metaphor for Jehovah, Jesus Christ. And they knew that the wife represented His covenant people, Israel, who had gone after strange gods. They understood that the Lord was teaching them, through this metaphor, an important principle. Even though those with whom He has covenanted may be horribly unfaithful to Him, He would not divorce them if they would only turn back to Him with full purpose of heart.
“I knew that too, but even more than that, I felt something. I had a new feeling about what it means to make a covenant with the Lord. All my life I had heard explanations of covenants as being like a contract, an agreement where one person agrees to do something and the other agrees to do something else in return.
“For more reasons than I can explain, during those days teaching Hosea, I felt something new, something more powerful. This was not a story about a business deal between partners, nor about business law. . . . This was a love story. This was a story of a marriage covenant bound by love, by steadfast love. What I felt then, and it has increased over the years, was that the Lord, with whom I am blessed to have made covenants, loves me, and you, . . . with a steadfastness about which I continually marvel and which I want with all my heart to emulate.”
(Covenants and Sacrifice [address to religious educators, Aug. 15, 1995], pp. 1–2.)
