Read Hosea 3 at Bible Gateway.
The children of Israel shall return, and seek YHVH their God, and David their king; and shall come trembling to YHVH and to His goodness in the end of days. Hos 3:5
The unified kingdom of Israel under David and Solomon was divided when Solomon’s son Rehoboam ascended the throne (1 Kin 12). Ten tribes withdrew from the house of David, forming the Northern Kingdom (or simply, Israel, or Ephraim, after its principal tribe).
At the same time that they withdrew from David, they also withdrew from YHVH. Their first king, Jeroboam, feared that going up to Jerusalem to celebrate YHVH’s feasts at the Temple might rekindle loyalty to David their former king. He set up idols (golden calves, hello!) to replace YHVH, in two of their cities to replace Jerusalem. He established different feast days to replace YHVH’s feast days, and appointed different priests to replace the Levites (as most of them had left for Judah after these events).
And from first to last, the Northern Kingdom clung to idolatry. Even when YHVH raised up deliverers like Jehu to free Israel from the Baals, they swiftly returned to “the sins of Jeroboam.” The Northern Kingdom was conquered by the Assyrians, scattering the people like seed sown to the four corners, becoming thoroughly assimilated into the Gentile nations.
And yet, after “many days” without their own king or national identity, they will return to YHVH their God and to David their king in the end of days.
Why This Matters: For the past 2000 years, Gentiles have been coming under the kingship of David, so to speak, in his descendant, Yeshua the Messiah. How many began their family tree as Ephraimites? No one knows but God. And now God has fulfilled His promise to Abraham’s biological seed, and his spiritual seed, being also the father of all who believe (Rom 4:16). Today, in the end of days, God is waking them up to their Hebrew roots. They are departing Rome for Jerusalem; He is reuniting Israel and Judah, Gentile and Jew, under Messiah of the house of David, their king.
The Hosea 1:2b-3:5 Chiastic Structure
The Hebrew paragraphs for this chapter:
3:1-5 {p} Hosea takes his adulterous wife back as YHVH will take adulterous Israel back, when she seeks Him
If there are questions, this is a good resource:
The One House (formerly The Two Houses) – Christine Miller
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