Hosea 1:10-11—“Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together …”

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. Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together, and appoint themselves one head, and they shall come up out of the land: for great shall be the day of Jezreel (Hos. 1:10-11)

NOTE:

Dispensationalists appeal to this text as referring to a literal future restoration of the Jewish nation in the land of Palestine.

(I)

Prof. Herman C. Hanko

[Source: We and Our Children: The Reformed Doctrine of Infant Baptism (RFPA, 2004), pp. 27-28]

It would appear from a reading of the text that Hosea prophesies of something that God will do for the nation of Israel itself. Specific mention is made of “the children of Judah and the children of Israel.” In fact, there is even a specific mention of God’s promise to Abraham which, according to Reformed Baptists, is supposed to refer to the nation only: “The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea” (see also Gen. 22:17; 32:12). Taking the text by itself, it would appear that the premillennialists are correct when they say that God made specific promises to the nation of Israel which can be fulfilled only when God deals with the nation in some special way. It would appear that Reformed Baptists are right in speaking of “national and material” characteristics of the promises of God.

However, Paul makes the names children of Judah and children of Israel in the Hosea passage refer to the New Testament church composed of Jews and Gentiles:

Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles[.] As he saith also in Osee [Hosea]. I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God (Rom. 9:24-26).

It is clear that Paul is speaking here of the salvation of the Gentiles. He emphatically states that God calls not Jews only, but also Gentiles. As proof of that contention, he calls attention to this prophecy of Hosea and quotes it. His argument is, therefore, that Scripture refers to the whole church in both the old and new dispensations as Israel and Judah. Thus, he establishes his argument by saying that Hosea was not referring to national Israel, but was referring to the church of Christ gathered from every nation under heaven: “I will call them my people, which were not my people” (see also 1 Peter 2:10). The apparent material blessings to which Hosea referred are actually spiritual blessings.

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(II)

More to come! (DV)