As is the case with Hosea’s purchase of Gomer, God will stop at nothing to win back his people. Since this story is a representation of God’s chosen people, Israel, and his unstoppable grace and mercy for them, then we, as Christ followers that are grafted into the branches of Israel read this story as a promise. Did you get that? All the words you read hear are a promise for you.
That means when God says in Hosea 2:14, “Behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her,” that he will do that for you. That when you have chased other idols, chosen other pleasures, sought out other lovers, God will win you back by wooing you. He will get you in a place where you are all alone and can only hear from him, then speak so gently to you that you are swept away by his love. You are never too rotten, or too far away from God for him to allure you back. This is a promise.
This also means when he says in Hosea 2:15, “And there I will give her vineyards and make the valley of Achor a door of hope,” that he will give you safety and hope. Achor represented a very troubled and evil place for the Israelites. God is now saying that when his people come home, he will take your trouble and turn it into hope for you.
He explains this paradise of hope in verse 18:
“I will make for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground, and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety.”
— Hosea 2:18
Just come home and live in the goodness of his hope. This is a promise. This also means when he says in verses 19 and 20, “And I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord,” that he will make new your relationship with him again. We will be engaged again to him through love, mercy, righteousness and justice. All things will be made new and right. You can and still have all of this through Christ. This is a promise.
God makes all of these promises to you, and all he asks in return is in Hosea 2:16:
“And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.”
— Hosea 2:16
When you no longer relate to God as an owner or task master, but can see him as a husband who promises to woo you, give you safety and hope, and give you a right standing with him, no matter how many times you have cheated on him, then and only then we will be given all of these promises. No matter how distant you have been from God, his yearning to have you back is not dependent on your goodness, but upon his extravagant mercy. All he wants is your heart. Give God your heart, and live freely in the promises of the perfect groom. This is the Gospel in the Old Testament.