“Therefore, I will soon fence her in with thorns;
Hosea 2:6-7 NET
I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch them;
she will seek them, but she will not find them.
Then she will say,
‘I will go back to my husband,
because I was better off then than I am now.’
God had instructed Hosea to marry a prostitute and have children with her. God then used Hosea’s unfaithful wife and children to illustrate the unfaithfulness of Israel. Israel had abandoned her husband, God, and turned to prostitution, the worship of the gods of the nations around them.
In this passage, God told his unfaithful wife, Israel, that he would fence her in with thorns and put a wall around her so that she could not escape. There was a time of discipline coming her way—when she would not have the freedom to act as she wanted.
When that time came, she would call out to her lovers, the false gods, but they would not answer her. She would seek them but would be unable to find them. Israel would be unable to break through the wall God had put around her.
Finally, amid her abandonment, Israel would recognize that she was better off with her husband than with her unresponsive lovers. And she would turn away from her idolatry and back to the Lord God.
And this was at least partially effective. When the southern kingdom of Judah returned from her exile in Babylon, idolatry was no longer much of an issue. They had other problems, but that was not one of them.
What is expressed in this passage has a broader application than Israel and its idolatry. When we experience the Lord’s discipline in our own lives, it is redemptive in nature. He is working to mold and shape us into the image of Christ. That is sometimes painful. But it is always worthwhile.
