Hosea 2:23

"You who were once not a people but now are the people of God, who did not seek after mercy but now have received mercy." By these verses he indicates clearly that he has written this letter to those who had come from the Gentiles …

I will sow - I will bless them with a wonderful increase of people, exprest with allusion to seed sown in the earth. So the Jews multiplied after the Babylonish captivity, but much more are the numbers increased since the preaching of the gospel.

The Sinfulness of Israel. 1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah. 2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:92%@v1-3

And I will sow her unto Me in the earth - She whom God sows, is the Church, of whom God speaks as her, because she is the Mother of the faithful. After the example of her Lord, and by virtue of His Death, every suffering is to increase her. “The blood of Christians was their harvest-seed” . “The Church was not diminished by persecutions, but increased and the field of the Lord was even clothed with the richer harvest, in that the seeds, which fell singly, arose multiplied” .

To my mind, it is very instructive to notice how Paul quotes from the Prophets. The Revelation of the mind of God in the Old Testament helps us to understand the Gospel revealed in the New Testament. There is no authority that is so powerful over the minds of Christian men as that of the Word of God. Has God made known any Truth in His Word? Then it is invested with Divine authority!

To my mind, it is very instructive to notice how Paul quotes from the Prophets. The Revelation of the mind of God in the Old Testament helps us to understand the Gospel revealed in the New Testament. There is no authority that is so powerful over the minds of Christian men as that of the Word of God. Has God made known any Truth in His Word? Then it is invested with Divine authority! Paul, being himself Inspired by the Holy Spirit and, therefore, able to write fresh Revelations of the mind of God, here brings the authority of God's Word in the olden times to back up and support what he says—"As he says also in Hosea." Beloved Friend, if you are seeking salvation, or if you need comfort, never rest satisfied with the mere word of man. Be not content unless you get the Truth from the mouth of God. Say in your spirit, "I will not be comforted unless God, Himself, shall comfort me. I want chapter and verse for that which I receive as Gospel." Our Lord's reply to Satan was, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Give me, then, but a Word out of God's mouth, and I can live upon it! But all the words out of man's mouth, apart from Divine Inspiration, must be as unsatisfying food as if men tried to live on stones. Notice, again, how Paul teaches that the very essence of the authority of the Scriptures lies in this, that God speaks through His revealed Word—"As HE says also in Hosea." It is God speaking in the Bible whom we ought to hear. The mere letter of the Word, alone, will kill, but when we hear God's voice speaking in it, then it has power which it could not possess otherwise. It is a blessed thing to put your ear down to the promises of Scripture till you hear God speaking through them to your soul.

I will sow her - Alluding to the import of the name Jezreel, the seed of God. Then shall it appear that God has shown mercy to them that had not obtained mercy. Then the covenant of God will be renewed; for he will call them his people who were not his people; and they shall call Jehovah their God, who before had him not for the object of their worship. It does not appear that these promises have had their fulfillment among the Jews. They must either be understood of the blessings experienced by the Gentiles on their conversion to God by the preaching Of the Gospel, or are yet to be fulfilled to the Jews on their embracing the Gospel, and being brought back to their own land. The sentences in the latter part of this verse are very abrupt, but exceedingly expressive; leaving out those words supplied by the translators, and which unnerve the passage, it stands thus: I will say to Not My People, Thou My People; and they shall say, My God.