Hosea 1:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Hosea 1:10
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
a number · noun, common masculine singular construct
children
בְּנֵֽיbe.nei-
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵל֙Yis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
sand
כְּח֣וֹלke.Chol
H2344
sand (as round or whirling particles) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
sea
הַיָּ֔םhai.Yam
H3220
a sea (as breaking in noisy surf) or large body of water · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
measured
יִמַּ֖דyi.Mad
H4058
properly · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
numbered
יִסָּפֵ֑רyi.sa.Fer
H5608
properly · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
place
בִּמְק֞וֹםbim.Kom
H4725
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
said
יֵאָמֵ֤רye.'a.Mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
people
עַמִּ֣י'a.Mi
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
said
יֵאָמֵ֥רye.'a.Mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, niphal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sons
בְּנֵ֥יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
living
חָֽיChai
H2416
alive · adjective, masculine singular absolute
God
אֵֽל'el-
H410
strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Corinthians 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Galatians 4:6-7 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
Romans 9:25-28 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
1 Peter 2:9-10 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath…
1 John 3:1-2 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not,…
Romans 8:14-17 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Isaiah 43:6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Hosea 1:8–end
We have here a prediction,
I. Of the rejection of Israel for a time, which is signified by the name of another child that Hosea had by his adulterous spouse, Hos 1:8, Hos 1:9. And still we must observe that those children whose names carried these direful omens in them to Israel were all children of whoredoms (Hos 1:2), all born of the harlot that Hosea married, to intimate that the ruin of Israel was the natural product of the sin of Israel. If they had not first revolted from God, they would never have been rejected by him; God never leaves any till they first leave him. Here is, 1. The birth of this child: When she had weaned her daughter, she conceived and bore a son. Notice is taken of…
Literally fulfilled in part at the return from Babylon, in which many Israelites joined with Judah. Spiritually, the believing seed of Jacob or Israel, Gentiles as well as Jews, numerous "as the sand" (Gen 32:12); the Gentiles, once not God's people, becoming His "sons" (Joh 1:12; Rom 9:25-26; Pe1 2:10; Jo1 3:1). To be fulfilled in its literal fulness hereafter in Israel's restoration (Rom 11:26).
the living God--opposed to their dead idols.
John Gill on Hosea 1:10
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered,.... Though called Loammi, and rejected from being the people of God; yet there is a time when their number, according to the promise made to Abraham, shall be as the sand of the sea, and the stars of heaven; which, as the one cannot be measured, the other cannot be numbered; which was to be not at the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, when some of the ten tribes of Israel returned with them, as Theodoret and others think; for they were but few that then returned: but rather at the first times of the Gospel, when multitudes that came from various parts of the world…
Because Hosea is such a profound prophet, it is no easy matter to get at his meaning. Still, I must keep my promise and quote something from him at this point. He says, "And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people'; it shall be said to them, 'You are sons of the living God.' " The apostles themselves understood this text as a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles, who were previously not God's people. And because the Gentiles are spiritually sons of Abraham and correctly therefore alluded to as Israel, Hosea goes on to say, "And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the earth." Now to add one word of explanation to this text would be to lose the savor of Hosea's prophetic style.
"And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, that cannot be measured, nor numbered: and it shall be in the place where it shall be said unto them, Ye are not my people: there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God. And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel." We read of the rejection of the ten tribes, and of the unmeasurable Israel, no longer the people of God, subject to perpetual indignation. Now we learn how the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel are equally gathered together, and place themselves under one head or principality ("Al." beginning), and ascend from the earth, and in the place where previously it was said, "Not my people," they shall be called the sons of the living God, and this will happen because the day of Jezreel is great. To the doubting and wavering in various opinions, the statement of the Apostle Paul writing to the Romans occurs: "And if God, wishing to show his wrath and make his power known, endured with much patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory in the vessels of mercy he prepared for glory, whom he also called us, not only from among the Jews, but also from the Gentiles." As Hosea says, "I will call those not my people, my people, and those not beloved, beloved." And they will be called the sons of the living God in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people." But Isaiah cries out for Israel: "If the number of the sons of Israel were like the sand of the sea, the remainder will be saved." Because the word is ending and shortening in righteousness, "for the Lord will shorten the word upon the earth, as Isaiah foretold" (Cap. I, 9): "Unless the Lord Sabaoth had kept us a seed, we would have been as Sodom and Gomorrah. What then shall we say: That the Gentiles who did not follow righteousness have attained righteousness?" But righteousness which is of faith: but Israel, following the law of righteousness, did not come to the law of righteousness" (Rom. IX, 22 seqq.). Therefore, the blessed Apostle, taking testimony from the prophet Hosea and expounding upon the calling of the Gentiles, and the faith of those from the Jews who wished to…
Dictionary and topics
Hosea, Prophecies of — This book stands first in order among the “Minor Prophets.” “The probable cause of the location of Hosea may be the thoroughly national character of his oracles, their length, their earnest tone, and…
Lo-ammi — Not my people, a symbolical name given by God’s command to Hosea’s second son in token of Jehovah’s rejection of his people (Hos. 1:9, 10), his treatment of them as a foreign people. This Hebrew word…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Hosea 1:10
10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
10. Et erit numerus filiorum Israel tanquam arena maris, quae non mensuratur et non numeratur, (non mensurabitur nec numeratur, ad verbum sed significant haec verba actum continuum, et est indefinita etiam locutio;) et erit in loco ubi dicetur, (hoc est, ubi dictum fuerit eis,) Non populus meus vos; et dicetur (hoc est, illic dicetur) Filii Dei vivi.
Now follows consolation, yet not unmixed. God seems…
(Heb. Bib. Hos 2:1-3). To the symbolical action, which depicts the judgment that falls blow after blow upon the ten tribes, issuing in the destruction of the kingdom, and the banishment of its inhabitants, there is now appended, quite abruptly, the saving announcement of the final restoration of those who turn to the Lord.
(Note: The division adopted in the Hebrew text, where these verses are separated from the preceding ones, and joined to the next verse, is opposed to the general arrangement of the prophetic proclamations, which always begin with reproving the sins, then describe the punishment or judgment, and close with the announcement of salvation. The division adopted by the lxx and V…
These verses mark an abrupt shift in Hosea’s prophecy from judgment to hope. In the next three verses, Hosea transforms the names of Gomer’s three children from names of divine punishment on Israel into names of blessing and hope. This dramatically demonstrates God’s sovereign power of reversal from darkness to light, judgment to hope, and even death to life.
1:10 sands of the seashore: This promise of future population growth for God’s people echoes the promise given to the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob (Gen 22:17; 32:12). • You are children of the living God: This expression is found nowhere else in the Old Testament, but Paul quoted this verse (Rom 9:26) to establish that God had also cal…
And she weaned Lo ruhamah According to the Targum, we explain: And that generation shall perish among the nations where they were exiled.
and she conceived and bore a son According to the Targum: And they continued and committed evil deeds. But according to its simple meaning, we explain it as it apparently means.
