Loyalty to Marriage Covenant Moves God to Mercy

“And I will engage you to me in righteousness and in justice and in loving-kindness [loyal love] and in mercies. And I will engage you to me in faithfulness; and you will certainly know Jehovah.”​—Hos. 2:19, 20, marginal reading.

1. In our twentieth century, what questions arise as to a husband’s action toward a wife guilty of acts of adultery?

AN UNFAITHFUL wife, guilty of acts of adultery, has little reason to expect mercy from her legal husband. She has no solid reason to feel secure by depending upon her extramarital lovers to provide for her all the time. After a lengthy period of sexual satisfaction, even passionate lovers can tire of such a whorish adulteress and seek other flesh. In such an event, where can she go? Loyalty to her marriage contract ought to lead her back to her legal husband. But will he show mercy and take his adulterous wife back? How often is it the case that such a thing occurs in this merciless world, in our twentieth century?

2. Whose thinking and acting are superior to those of us humans, and so what did He do for His covenant people in 537 B.C.E.?

² However, there is one who says to humans: “The thoughts of you people are not my thoughts, nor are my ways your ways . . . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Who is that one of such superior thinking and acting? It is the One who is heaven-high above us humans. This One, the speaker of the foregoing words, identifies himself as Jehovah, and he does so through his ancient prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. (Isa. 55:8, 9; 1:1) Jehovah spoke those words when foretelling the restoration of his exiled covenant people from the pagan land of Babylon back to their God-given land in the Middle East. Contrary to all human thought or reasoning, this God of mercy brought about such a restoration in the year 537 B.C.E.

3. This restoration occurred in connection with the handling of what kind of problem, and how was Mount Sinai in Arabia tied in with this?

³ This restoration of an exiled people to their distant homeland after it had lain uninhabited for seventy years occurred in connection with the handling of a marriage problem that Jehovah had on his hands. Almost a thousand years earlier he had engaged himself in marriage to that exiled people, the ancient nation of Israel. The location of the marriage was the neighborhood of Mount Sinai at the lower western end of the Arabian Peninsula. The man that officiated between the marriage parties was the prophet Moses, who acted as mediator between God and men. As the fundamental set of rules to govern the marriage relationship, God proclaimed the Ten Commandments, the first commandment of which says: “I am Jehovah your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. You must not have any other gods against my face.”​—Ex. 20:1-3.

4. To whom did those liberated twelve tribes of Israel really belong, and into what relationship did they choose to enter, and how?

⁴ By liberating the twelve tribes of Israel from unjust oppression and detention in ancient Egypt, Jehovah had really bought or redeemed this national “wife” for himself. (Isa. 63:7-9) Rightly she belonged to him. So he, as Husbandly Owner, chose to bring this wifelike nation into a marriage contract with himself. Such contract was the solemn contract based on God’s code of laws and it is generally spoken of as the Mosaic Law covenant. In order to get blessings and security due to having God as their Heavenly Owner, the Israelites entered the marriage relationship. They promised loyalty to their marriage contract, the Mosaic Law covenant. They became the only covenant people of God on earth. So Jehovah said: “I myself had husbandly ownership of them.”​—Jer. 31:31, 32.

5. In an immoral world, to what did the nation of Israel find it hard to be true, and whose course was Hosea’s wife Gomer used to illustrate?

⁵ In the midst of an immoral world that had attached itself to Baal and many other false gods, the nation of Israel found it very hard to hold true to its marriage covenant, its contract with Jehovah as God and Husbandly Owner. So the nation in general gave way to spiritual adultery toward Jehovah. (Jas. 4:4) In 997 B.C.E. a split took place within the twelve-tribe kingdom of Israel. The adulterous course of the section called the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel was illustrated by the wife of the prophet Hosea, named Gomer.

6, 7. (a) How did Jehovah come to have a legal case against the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel? (b) After whom did that Kingdom of Israel unsuccessfully chase, and to whom would she want to return?

⁶ Gomer turned out to be a “wife of fornication.” She came to have “children of fornication.” (Hos. 1:1-3) This illustrated how the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel entered into political alliances with the idol-worshiping nations. The wifelike nation of Israel began depending upon such pagan nations instead of on its Husbandly Owner, Jehovah. The economic well-being that she was enjoying was now attributed to those worldly nations instead of to Jehovah. She took up worshiping the gods of those nations and flagrantly violated her marriage covenant with her Redeemer and Husbandly Owner, Jehovah. For this reason He had a legal case against this spiritually adulterous kingdom of Israel. According to the terms of the marriage covenant, he had the legal right and obligation to take action against apostate Israel. Finally he did so. He said to her:

⁷ “Therefore here I am hedging your way about with thorns; and I will heap up a stone wall against her, so that her own roadways she will not find. And she will actually chase after her passionate lovers, but she will not overtake them; and she will certainly look for them, but she will not find them. And she will have to say, ‘I want to go and return to my husband, the first one, for I had it better at that time than now.’ But she herself did not recognize that it was I who had given to her the grain and the sweet wine and the oil, and that I had made silver itself abound for her, and gold, which they made use of for Baal [or, which they made into a Baal image].”​—Hos. 2:6-8, marginal reading.

8. Thus, whom did Jehovah purpose to discipline, but without reversing what decision of his?

⁸ According to those words, Jehovah purposed to discipline the people of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. Not that this would save the kingly rule of the nation, for Jehovah would not reverse what he said earlier in Hosea’s prophecy: “I must cause the royal rule of the house of Israel to cease. And it must occur in that day that I must break the bow of Israel in the low plain of Jezreel.”​—Hos. 1:4, 5.

9. (a) Who could benefit from the disciplinary action against the kingdom of Israel? (b) At what event did the marriage covenant between Israel and Jehovah terminate?

⁹ Still, there were individual Israelites who could benefit from the disciplinary treatment given to the apostate nation. Take, for instance, those seven thousand Israelites that had not bent the knee to Baal. (1 Ki. 19:18; Rom. 11:1-5) Let us not overlook this fact: When Jehovah caused the kingdom of Israel to cease and let the surviving Israelites be deported to Assyria in 740 B.C.E., he did not cancel his marriage covenant with the whole nation of Israel. When, in 607 B.C.E., Jehovah let Jerusalem be destroyed and the surviving Jews be carried into exile in Babylonia, he did not abolish the Mosaic Law covenant by which twelve-tribe Israel had entered into marriage relationship with him as Heavenly Husband. The legal marriage relationship between Jehovah and all Israel was not blotted out until Jewish leaders had Jesus Christ put to death in 33 C.E.​—Col. 2:14.

10. How did the “passionate lovers” of the kingdom of Israel fall her, but who could benefit from Jehovah’s disciplinary action?

¹⁰ Although the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel sought help from worldly nations that had been her passionate lovers, Jehovah’s time for holding an accounting with Israel came mercilessly upon her. She could find none of her eagerly sought “lovers” capable of helping her. As if by an impenetrable thornbush thicket, she was hedged off from procuring efficient help. The one-time lovers proved to be unable to get the needed aid to Israel, even though they wanted to do so. After three years of siege by the Assyrians, Israel’s capital city Samaria fell in 740 B.C.E. The surviving Israelites were deported to the land of their captors. That kingdom of ten Israelite tribes was never restored in its God-given land. Who, then, could benefit from Jehovah’s disciplinary action? Only individuals from among the deported exiles in Assyria. They would reflect on matters. They would recall how good things had been when their forefathers served Jehovah as Heavenly Husband and God. Realizing now what was the better state of affairs, they would turn away from Baal worship and seek renewed covenant relationship with Jehovah.

11, 12. When was the opportunity offered to the Israelite exiles in Assyria to return to Jehovah’s worship at Jerusalem, and how did this come about?

¹¹ When was the opportunity offered for those Israelite exiles in Assyria to return unitedly to Jehovah’s worship at his appointed place? First in 537 B.C.E., under a new world power. How so? Well, about the year 632 B.C.E., Assyria’s capital Nineveh fell to the Babylonians, and the Babylonian World Power gained the topmost position. So Assyria’s provinces with their Israelite exiles became provinces of the Babylonian Empire. About twenty-five years later Jehovah’s penal judgment was executed upon the now renegade kingdom of Judah. Thus, in 607 B.C.E., he let Jerusalem and her temple of worship be destroyed. Thousands of surviving Jews were deported to Babylonia, to join the Israelite exiles in the erstwhile Assyrian provinces.

¹² In the seventieth year afterward, Jehovah saw that sufficient discipline had been administered to his wayward wifelike organization on earth. In his mercy Jehovah had raised up the foretold Cyrus the Persian to overthrow Babylon in 539 B.C.E. Shortly thereafter, in 537 B.C.E., Jehovah moved this Cyrus the Great to declare a release for repentant Israelites to return to their beloved homeland.

13. Why, in the light of Deuteronomy 24:1-4, was this an exceptional mercy on God’s part toward his wifelike covenant people?

¹³ Was that not an exceptional act of mercy on the part of the Heavenly Husband toward his covenant people, the twelve tribes of Israel? Yes; for according to the Mosaic Law covenant this was not to be expected. In the Law, we read: “In case a man takes a woman and does make her his possession as a wife, it must also occur that if she should find no favor in his eyes because he has found something indecent on her part, he must also write out a certificate of divorce for her and put it in her hand and dismiss her from his house. And she must go out of his house and go and become another man’s. If the latter man has come to hate her and has written out a certificate of divorce for her and put it in her hand and dismissed her from his house, or in case the latter man who took her as his wife should die, the first owner of her who dismissed her will not be allowed to take her back again to become his wife after she has been defiled; for that is something detestable before Jehovah, and you must not lead the land that Jehovah your God is giving you as an inheritance into sin.”​—Deut. 24:1-4.

14. In Jeremiah 3:1, how did Jehovah say that he had grounds for a permanent divorce from Israel?

¹⁴ In the prophet Jeremiah’s day, Jehovah emphasized that law to the covenant-breaking Jews in the kingdom of Judah. Stressing the fact that he had grounds for a permanent divorce from Israel, Jehovah inspired Jeremiah to say: “There is a saying: ‘If a man should send away his wife and she should actually go away from him and become another man’s, should he return to her anymore?’ Has that land [of Judah] not positively been polluted? ‘And you yourself have committed prostitution with many companions; and should there be a returning to me?’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”​—Jer. 3:1.

15. When and how did the break in marriage relationship come, and how was Jehovah’s mercy expressed toward individual Jews?

¹⁵ In the face of that, only Jehovah’s all-excelling mercy permitted his marriage covenant with all Israel to continue on for centuries after Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C.E. But the breaking point came in 33 C.E., when the nation rejected the Messiah Jesus and had him slain outside Jerusalem’s walls. Then the nation was divorced from marriage relationship with Jehovah God. Does Jewish history since then prove that? Yes. Mercifully, though, Jehovah let individual Jews who believed in the Messiah Jesus renew their relationship with him in a new covenant, the covenant mediated by the Messiah Jesus.

16. Why does the remnant of spiritual Israelites escape destruction with Christendom, and who else avail themselves of Jehovah’s mercy?

¹⁶ Today Christendom claims to be in that new covenant. Yet, despite her claim, despite the 1975 Holy Year of the Roman Catholic Church, despite other religious revivals, Christendom is doomed to destruction during the impending “great tribulation” upon this ungodly world. Yet, in his loving mercy, Jehovah has called forth a repentant remnant of spiritual Israelites out from Babylonish Christendom. In this way they escape destruction with her. (Rev. 18:4) But not just a remnant of spiritual Israelites has come out of her. A “great crowd” of other sheeplike persons has taken advantage of Jehovah’s expanded mercy since the year 1935 C.E. They have gotten out of all parts of Babylon the Great and have joined the remnant in giving exclusive devotion to Jehovah.​—Rev. 7:9-17; John 10:16.

PENALTIES FOR SPIRITUAL ADULTERY

17, 18. (a) Why is Christendom obliged to suffer God’s curses? (b) In a warning of this, what did Jehovah say in Hosea 2:9-13?

¹⁷ Because of claiming to be in covenant relationship with the God of the Bible, Christendom’s religious organizations must suffer the penalties for prostituting themselves by friendship with politicians and militarists. Let them remember that ancient Israel was bound to suffer God’s curses as penalties for violating the Mosaic Law covenant between itself and Jehovah as Heavenly Husband of his wifelike organization. As a warning of this, Jehovah said further by Hosea:

¹⁸ “‘Therefore I shall turn back and certainly take away my grain in its time and my sweet wine in its season, and I will snatch away my wool and my linen [or, flax] for covering her nakedness. And now I shall uncover her private parts to the eyes of her passionate lovers, and there will be no man to snatch her out of my hand. And I shall certainly cause all her exultation, her festival, her new moon and her sabbath and her every festal season to cease. And I will lay desolate her vine and her fig tree, of which she has said: “They are a gift to me, which my passionate lovers have given to me”; and I will set them as a forest, and the wild beast of the field will certainly devour them. And I will hold an accounting against her for all the days of the Baal images to which she kept making sacrificial smoke, when she kept decking herself with her ring and her ornament and kept going after her passionate lovers, and I was the one that she forgot,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”​—Hos. 2:9-13.

19. According to the Law covenant, what were Jehovah’s obligations toward an adulterous nation?

¹⁹ Let us note that Israel forgot Jehovah. What treatment did she deserve for this? According to his plain warnings in his marriage covenant with Israel, he was obliged to withdraw his material blessings because of infidelity to Him as Heavenly Husband. He was not obliged to provide for an adulteress, a nation that broke its covenant and turned to worshiping Baal images and having adulterous relations with worldly lovers. Jehovah could properly lay bare to public gaze the nation’s moral unreliableness and looseness, so that even its worldly allies would turn against it in disdain.

20. How would Jehovah set the adulterous nation as a forest, and in what way could no man snatch her out of Jehovah’s executional hand?

²⁰ Jehovah would make it like a wild forest that offered no protection to anyone from wild beasts, no security. The nation could not claim exemption from being punished just because it had descended from the faithful patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) and the twelve tribal heads who were the sons of Jacob. Fleshly connections with such men will be of no power or merit for snatching the nation out of Jehovah’s hand when he executes adverse judgment.

21. Despite its line of natural descent, what earlier covenant of Jehovah did Israel prove unfit to share in fulfilling?

²¹ This did not mean that Jehovah did not remember and stick to the covenant that he had made with his friend Abraham away back in 1943 B.C.E. Jehovah swore by himself to that covenant and will never break it, but adulterous Israel did not prove worthy to have a part in the fulfillment of that covenant even though it had natural descent from Abraham. To Abraham their forefather, Jehovah said: “Prove yourself a blessing. And I will bless those who bless you, and him that calls down evil upon you I shall curse, and all the families of the ground will certainly bless themselves by means of you.” (Gen. 12:2, 3) “I shall surely bless you and I shall surely multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and like the grains of sand that are on the seashore; and your seed will take possession of the gate of his enemies. And by means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves.”​—Gen. 22:17, 18.

22. In spite of letting the kingdoms of Israel and of Judah be overthrown, why did Jehovah preserve Abraham’s seed, and what did He do to a remnant thereof?

²² The principal one of Abraham’s seed, namely, the Messiah, had not come by the time of Samaria’s destruction in 740 B.C.E. nor by the time of Jerusalem’s destruction in 607 B.C.E. And yet the Messianic Descendant of Abraham had to come through his natural, fleshly line. True, Jehovah did let the enemies overturn the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah, but, still, he had to preserve the natural seed of Abraham. Why? Because out of that line the Messiah for blessing all nations of the earth had to come. (Matt. 1:1-3; Gal. 3:8-29) To that end Jehovah mercifully preserved a remnant of repentant Israelites clear through the seventy years of exile that followed the overturning of the kingdom of Judah at Jerusalem. He loyally held to his marriage covenant with the faithful remnant. Then he raised up the one who prefigured the Messiah, namely, Cyrus the conqueror of Babylon. Through this liberator Jehovah restored the remnant of the seed of Abraham to the land of Judah.

23. To foretell the coming reconciliation of himself with his wifelike covenant people, what did Jehovah say in Hosea 2:14-16?

²³ So, to foretell this reconciliation of Himself with his wifelike covenant people, Jehovah inspired his prophet Hosea to say further: “‘Therefore here I am prevailing upon her, and I will cause her to go into the wilderness, and I will speak to her heart. And I will give her her vineyards from then onward, and the low plain of Achor as an entrance to hope; and she will certainly answer there as in the days of her youth and as in the day of her coming up out of the land of Egypt. And it must occur in that day,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘that you will call me My husband [Hebrew: ishi], and you will no longer call me My owner [baali].’” (Hos. 2:14-16) Or, to quote Leeser’s translation of verse sixteen: “And it shall happen at that day, saith the Lord, that thou shalt call me Ishi [my husband], and shalt not call me any more Baʼali [my lord].”​—Hos. 2:18; Leeser; Rotherham.

24. How did Jehovah speak to his wifelike organization in “the wilderness,” and what did his giving her “her vineyards” mean?

²⁴ While the Israelites were exiles in the land of Babylon, they were as in “the wilderness.” There Jehovah mercifully ‘prevailed upon’ the repentant remnant and ‘spoke to their heart.’ He did so by means of the loving discipline and by means of the prophets Ezekiel and Daniel. Jehovah had promised to give his wifelike disciplined organization “her vineyards from then onward.” This meant that he would take her out of the Babylonian “wilderness,” and restore her to the long-desolate land of Judah and Jerusalem.

25. Jehovah’s giving his wifelike organization “the low plain of Achor as an entrance to hope” meant what for her?

²⁵ When Jehovah spoke of “the low plain of Achor,” this is what it called to mind: After the invading Israelites destroyed the Canaanite city of Jericho, the greedy Achan was stoned to death, together with his family, because of his violating Jehovah’s command. Thus Achan caused trouble to Israel by his selfish disobedience in taking spoil. Appropriately the valley where Achan was stoned was called “the Low Plain of Achor,” the name Achor meaning “Trouble.” (Josh. 7:10-26) Accordingly Jehovah’s promise to give his wifelike organization the “low plain of Achor as an entrance to hope” meant her being restored to her homeland where the low plain was located.

26. How did the wifelike organization in “the wilderness” respond to Jehovah, and how did He give proof of the renewal of the marriage relationship?

²⁶ What, now, about the repentant remnant of Jehovah’s wifelike organization? Did they “answer” or respond appreciatively to His persuasive dealing and his speaking “to her heart”? Bible history replies, Yes! Away back in the days of her “youth” as the nation of Israel, she had ‘answered’ or reacted in a heartfelt way. She accepted Jehovah’s invitation to become his wifelike organization by entering into the Mosaic Law covenant with Him. Similarly to this, the repentant remnant in ancient Babylon responded in favor of renewing the marriage ties between Israel and her Heavenly Husband, Jehovah. In proof of renewal of this marriage relationship, Jehovah used the typical Messiah, Cyrus the Great, and returned the faithful Israelite remnant to the land of Judah and Jerusalem.

27. What course did the remnant now take toward Baal worship, and what did the wifelike organization evidence by calling Jehovah “My husband”?

²⁷ Never again did the restored covenant people of Jehovah turn back to the worship of Baal or other forms of idol worship. The reinstated remnant zealously restored the worship of Israel’s Heavenly Husband as their God in the land that he had given to them. They felt deep gratitude and appreciation just as did their forefathers when these were delivered from Egypt and its military hosts. Israel’s Heavenly Husband seemed closer, more intimate, to them. Spontaneously the wifelike organization addressed Jehovah in more intimate and affectionate terms. So the organization called him, spiritually speaking, “My husband,” rather than “My owner.” No longer did she want to feel just “owned,” as belonging to a slave-master. She wanted to feel like a helper to him, just as the first woman Eve was meant to be to her husband, Adam. (Gen. 2:19-24) How beautiful all that was!

28. What like that ancient display of divine mercy is just as beautiful today?

²⁸ Beautiful, too, is the modern-day parallel of that in our twentieth century. What marvelous effects are produced even today by Jehovah’s mercy to which his loyalty to his spiritual marriage covenant moves him! Happy are those who now experience his mercy!

Reconciliation Through God’s Mercy Before Har–Magedon

1. How can the results of Jehovah’s reconciliation with the remnant of spiritual Israelites since 1919 C.E. be illustrated?

WHEN a wayward and estranged wife is mercifully taken back by her legal husband, what kind of attitude ought she to have toward him? And when, after he takes her back, he bestows all sorts of loving expressions upon her, how ought she to view him, to feel toward him? There ought to be high esteem of him for his undeserved kindness. She has reason to draw closer to him than ever before. There is a basis for respecting him more highly and for her to make the renewed marriage ties with him inviolate, unbreakable. Wifelike responses just like those did result from Jehovah’s reconciliation with his covenant people on earth. And now since the year 1919 C.E., the results have been the same with respect to the reconciled remnant of spiritual Israelites.

2. The change from calling her husband “Ba’ali” to “Ishi” would indicate what regarding the wife, and how did this become true with respect to the Israelite remnant after 537 B.C.E.?

² For a wife during ancient Bible times to call her marriage mate “My husband” instead of “My owner,” it certainly required a change of attitude, a deepening of appreciation on her part. In Hebrew she would call him “Ishi” instead of “Ba’ali.” (Hos. 2:18, Leeser) In early times Sarah showed respect for the patriarch Abraham by calling him “My lord,” or, in Hebrew, A·do·niʹ. She was his legal wife, and she honored Abraham as her husband. She did not consider herself his slave, a slave like her bought Egyptian servant girl Hagar, who had to be dismissed from Abraham’s household. (Gen. 18:12; 1 Pet. 3:6) For Sarah’s devoted cooperation with her God-fearing husband, Jehovah rewarded her miraculously with her one and only son when she was ninety years old. (Gen. 21:1-7) Respect like that of Sarah toward Abraham was what the reconciled remnant of Israelites showed toward Jehovah after he released them from Babylon in 537 B.C.E. The remnant felt again like a real organizational wife to Jehovah. His mercy moved the remnant to call him Ishi, “My husband.”

3, 4. (a) Since 1919 C.E., the remnant of spiritual Israel showed more appreciation for what relationship, and what covenant had they long misunderstood? (b) What article did The Watchtower publish in 1934?

³ In the twentieth-century parallel of this, the repentant remnant of spiritual Israelites was released from Babylon the Great in 1919 C.E. Down till then, these spiritual Israelites had given overbalanced importance to the Messiah Jesus and his Bride, the Christian congregation. But now they began showing more appreciation for Messiah’s heavenly Father, Jehovah God. His relationship as Heavenly Husband to spiritual Israel had been left out of the picture, particularly since 1892 C.E. His new covenant was misunderstood!

⁴ “Who Will Honor Jehovah?” That was the title of the leading article published in the Watch Tower issue of January 1, 1926. From then on, interest in the God of spiritual Israel intensified. Came the year 1934 and, with it, the publication in the columns of The Watchtower of a serial article entitled “His Covenants.” From April 1 through July 15, 1934, the eight parts of this article were served to Watchtower readers. Strikingly this serial article recalled to the remnant of spiritual Israel that Jehovah’s new covenant as mediated by the Messiah Jesus applied to them.

5. (a) Later in 1934, what book was published reproducing the material of the article “His Covenants”? (b) Jehovah’s mercy moved the recipients thereof to call him what with respect to his organization?

⁵ Shortly thereafter, on November 15, 1934, the book entitled “Jehovah” came off the printing press of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society at Brooklyn, New York. Its chapters 4 through 11 reproduced the article “His Covenants,” which had been published earlier in the year in The Watchtower. Yes, the remnant of spiritual Israel was in the new covenant with Jehovah! Gradually thereafter the husbandly relationship of Jehovah to spiritual Israel kept claiming attention. In response to all the merciful treatment that he had given to the liberated, reconciled remnant of spiritual Israel the wifelike organization was moved to call him Ishi, “My husband.” His organization, not Satan’s organization, was the only rightful organization to which to belong. Exclusive devotion belonged to Jehovah as the Universal Sovereign. This the remnant recognized.

SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY AND SECURITY

6. The remnant’s devoted attachment to Jehovah as the Heavenly Husband resulted in what blessings, as detailed in Hosea 2:17-20?

⁶ The reconciled remnant’s devoted attachment to Jehovah the Heavenly Husband led to grand blessings. The further words of Jehovah through his prophet Hosea foretold this: “And I will remove the names of the Baal images from her mouth, and they [the recovered Israelites] will no longer remember them by their name. And for them I shall certainly conclude a covenant in that day in connection with the wild beast of the field and with the flying creature of the heavens and the creeping thing of the ground, and the bow and the sword and war I shall break out of the land, and I will make them lie down in security. And I will engage you to me for time indefinite, and I will engage you to me in righteousness and in justice and in loving-kindness and in mercies. And I will engage you to me in faithfulness; and you will certainly know Jehovah.”​—Hos. 2:17-20.

7. Why did the restored remnant no longer choose to call the Heavenly Husband of Israel “Ba’ali,” and to what worship did they never return?

⁷ If the restored remnant, after their return from exile in Babylon, were to continue calling Jehovah Ba’ali, “My owner,” it would remind them of their own sin or that of their forefathers in worshiping the Baal images. Jehovah’s dealings with the repentant remnant created in them a disgust for the Baals, and thus he removed the names of the Baal images from their mouths. They no longer chose to remember them by their foul names. Logically they chose not to call the Heavenly Husband of the Israelite nation by the designation “My Baal,” or Ba’ali. (Hos. 2:16, New English Bible; Jerusalem; Leeser) In keeping with that aversion to Baal, they never did return to the adoration of man-made, materialistic images.

8. How did the Jewish remnant that accepted the Messiah show opposition to Baal worship, and how today does the remnant of spiritual Israel avoid sharing with Christendom in God’s accounting against her?

⁸ Similar opposition to idolatry of all kinds was expressed by the Jewish remnant that accepted Jesus as the Messiah. That remnant was taken into the new covenant mediated by Jesus Christ. In modern times, opposition to worshiping anything idolatrous was demonstrated by the remnant of spiritual Israelites, whom Jehovah used his Messiah Jesus to release from Babylon the Great in 1919 C.E. They have striven to render exclusive devotion to Jehovah as their God, even to the extent of refusing to salute the flag of any nation. (Ex. 20:1-6; 2 Cor. 6:15 through 7:1) They just will not contaminate themselves with anything that looks like Baal worship. They tolerate no rivalry of idolatrous gods against Jehovah. Thus they avoid sharing in the accounting that Jehovah will hold against Christendom. Says he: “I will hold an accounting against her for all the days of the Baal images to which she kept making sacrificial smoke, when she kept decking herself with her ring and her ornament and kept going after her passionate lovers, and I was the one that she forgot.”​—Hos. 2:13, also Ho 2 vs. 8.

9. Like what ancient kingdom will God treat Christendom in the “great tribulation,” but, according to Hosea 2:18, what does He promise for the remnant that abolishes Baalism?

⁹ “Great tribulation” lies just ahead for Christendom, the modern-day antitype of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. (Matt. 24:21, 22) God has an accounting against her and will do to her just as he did to Israel: “I must cause the royal rule of the house of Israel to cease. And it must occur in that day that I must break the [battle] bow of Israel in the low plain of Jezreel.” (Hos. 1:4, 5) She shares in no reconciliation with God. What, though, about the repentant remnant that abolishes Baal worship? To them Jehovah’s words in Hosea 2:18 apply: “For them I shall certainly conclude a covenant in that day in connection with the wild beast of the field and with the flying creature of the heavens and the creeping thing of the ground, and the bow and the sword and war I shall break out of the land, and I will make them lie down in security.” What a promise of security!

GOD’S COVENANT IN CONNECTION WITH THE ANIMALS

10. How has it been true that Jehovah has broken the battle bow, sword and war out of the “land” of spiritual Isarel since 1919 C.E., as well as in the first century?

¹⁰ About eight centuries after that promise was given, a remnant of natural Israel accepted Jesus as the Messiah. They entered into the realization of that divine promise. They had been drawn from the twelve tribes of Israel, such as Judah, Benjamin, Levi and Asher. And yet no intertribal warfare broke out between those Israelite disciples of Jesus Christ. The same has been true of the remnant of spiritual Israelites whom Jehovah has liberated from Babylon the Great since 1919 C.E. Even though this modern remnant has been drawn from people of all the nations, never has there been any international warfare among them in this war-mad world. (Matt. 28:19) For a fact, Jehovah has broken out of their “land” or spiritual estate on earth “the bow and the sword and war.” (Hos. 2:18) As members of spiritual Israel of whom Jehovah is the Heavenly Husband, they persist in keeping peace among themselves.​—Mark 9:50.

11. How has it been possible for God to break the bow, sword and war out of the spiritual estate on earth of his covenant people?

¹¹ How has this been possible? It is because they have changed their personalities to be like that of their Messianic Leader, the Prince of Peace. (Isa. 9:6, 7) By his holy spirit and his written Word, Jehovah has transformed their personalities and removed ferocious, harmful tendencies like those of wild animals of the earth. (Rom. 12:1, 2) In a figurative sense Jehovah has fulfilled what he said regarding his reconciled remnant: “For them I shall certainly conclude a covenant in that day in connection with the wild beast of the field and with the flying creature of the heavens and the creeping thing of the ground, . . . and I will make them lie down in security.” (Hos. 2:18) Since World War I of 1914-1918 C.E., the world in general has gone more and more animalistic, worse than wild beasts. But Jehovah has brought his reconciled remnant into a spiritual paradise of approved relationship with him. To assure himself of that fact, any doubter merely has to go to a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses and observe God’s spirit of peace there.

12. How does the religious earthly estate of Christendom stand out in contrast with that of the reconciled remnant?

¹² In sharp contrast with that paradise of spiritual prosperity and security is the religious earthly estate of Christendom, which claims to be in covenant relationship with Jehovah God. Upon her are being fulfilled his devastating words of Hosea 2:12: “I will set them as a forest, and the wild beast of the field will certainly devour them.” Spiritually adulterous Christendom has become like a wild forest that offers no sense of security, no protection from spiritual dangers or from beastlike nations that profess to be Christian. Her church members are left victims of the worldly wisdom that “is the earthly, animal, demonic.” (Jas. 3:15) They are devoured spiritually. For Christendom Jehovah has given no covenant promise in connection with wild beasts and birds. He does not make her “lie down in security.”

A RENEWED MARRIAGE ENGAGEMENT ON LASTING GROUNDS

13. With a regard for what noble qualities did Jehovah say that he would engage his organizational “wife” again to himself?

¹³ Jehovah, as Heavenly Husband of spiritual Israel, has shown extraordinary mercies to the remnant of spiritual Israelites. He continues to exhibit loyal love and faithfulness to that remnant. In such a noble spirit he said prophetically to his organizational “wife” of which the remnant is the representative: “And I will engage you to me for time indefinite, and I will engage you to me in righteousness and in justice and in loving-kindness [or, loyal love] and in mercies. And I will engage you to me in faithfulness; and you will certainly know Jehovah.”​—Hos. 2:19, 20, and marginal reading.

14. (a) What is indicated by the fact that three times Jehovah says, “I will engage you to me”? (b) How is Jehovah’s renewal of the marriage relationship with spiritual Israel not only merciful but also righteous and just, and not in vain?

¹⁴ Three times Jehovah says to the repentant remnant, “I will engage you to me.” This makes his statement very emphatic. This shows his love to be so intense as to lead him to display divine mercies in an outstanding way. His renewal of the marriage covenant relationship is not only merciful but also righteous and just. How so? It is because he renews the engagement on the basis of the propitiatory sacrifice offered by the Messiah Jesus, a sacrifice that meets the requirements of justice. (1 John 1:7 through 2:1) So the reinstatement of the remnant of spiritual Israelites in an approved relationship with Jehovah proves the realness of his faithfulness and loyal love. Also, when he engages the remnant to himself in righteousness, justice, loving-kindness, mercies and faithfulness, it does not turn out in vain. All loyal ones will respond in faithfulness and exclusive devotion to such a merciful and loyal God, even to time indefinite, forever! This means clear through the coming “great tribulation” that winds up at Har–Magedon.​—Rev. 16:14, 16.

15, 16. (a) The knowing of Jehovah on the part of the reconciled remnant is because of what factors? (b) In Hosea 2:21-23, what does Jehovah say to show that He is the Supplier of all our needs for living?

¹⁵ To the repentant remnant whom Jehovah now engages to himself, he says: “And you will certainly know Jehovah.” (Hos. 2:20) This meant their knowing him not only because of the merciful reconciliation that he has brought about but also because of what he purposed to do thereafter. The remnant’s being made to know him as never before sharpened their discernment of him as the Source of all the blessings that descend upon them continually. So let us take note of how Jehovah, as the Supplier of all our needs for living, lovingly and joyfully adds these poetic words:

¹⁶ “‘And it must occur in that day that I shall answer,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘I shall answer the heavens, and they, for their part, will answer the earth; and the earth, for its part, will answer the grain and the sweet wine and the oil; and they, for their part, will answer Jezreel [=God will sow seed]. And I shall certainly sow her like seed for me in the earth, and I will show mercy to her who was not shown mercy [Hebrew: to Loruhamah], and I will say to those not my people [Hebrew: to Lo-ammi]: “You are my people”; and they, for their part, will say: “You are my God.”’”​—Hos. 2:21-23, and marginal reading; The New English Bible; Jerusalem.

17. How does this chain of answers or responses work out, finally ending up with Jehovah the Creator?

¹⁷ Let us consider how this connected chain of answers or responses works out: In ancient times, the reconciled remnant whom Jehovah sowed like seed in their homeland, the land of Judah, needed grain, sweet wine and oil. These good things of life have their direct source in the earth. In behalf of the needy remnant, the grain and sweet wine and oil request the earth to release its minerals to the grain stalks and to the vines bearing grapes and to the olive trees furnishing oil. For the sake of that the earth depends upon the heavens for rainfall to prevent the growing plants from drying up due to drought. So now the earth appeals to the heavens for their rainfall in due season. The heavens do not shut themselves up but respond to the request of the earth. But what can the heavens do of themselves? They depend upon the Creator for him to produce rain clouds able to drop down moisture upon the earth. He is the great Rainmaker.​—Jer. 10:12, 13.

18. So what principal answer or response starts off the whole cycle of operations that end up with an answer to Jezreel?

¹⁸ So, finally, the heavens request Jehovah to form the rain clouds and to empty these of their water content. In behalf of his reconciled wifelike people now on the soil of their homeland, Jehovah answers the heavens. At once the whole cycle of operations starts off and results in grain, sweet wine and oil for His people. Thus these products of the earth give their answer to Jezreel, the remnant whom Jehovah sows on their homeland.

19. Thus the restored remnant get to know Jehovah in what respect, so as to give no further credit to Baalism?

¹⁹ In this way Jehovah’s restored remnant gets to know that all the beneficial operations in their natural environment are by His arrangement. They are not due to an imagined Baal or to some Baals who are annually worshiped by idolatrous devotees with shameful, disgusting fertility rites. So now the remnant, enlightened with accurate knowledge, offered exclusive devotion to the true God.

20. (a) Whom today does the remnant of spiritual Israel know to be the One responsible for their spiritual paradise? (b) How has a “great crowd” of others stepped over into the spiritual paradise to enjoy it with the remnant?

²⁰ And now how about the restored remnant of spiritual Israelites of today? They too have come to recognize that the God who liberated them from Babylon the Great is responsible for the spiritual paradise of plenty, peace and security into which he has brought them since 1919 C.E. Hundreds of thousands of God-fearing people have taken note of this spiritual paradise of the remnant of spiritual Israelites, as the words of Ezekiel 36:35, 36 foretold: “People will certainly say: ‘That land yonder which was laid desolate has become like the garden of Eden, . . .’ And the nations that will be left remaining round about you will have to know that I myself, Jehovah, have built the things torn down, I have planted what has been laid desolate.” So a “great crowd” of honest observers have stepped over into the spiritual paradise to enjoy its spiritual abundance, peace and security along with the reconciled remnant.

21. (a) Whom does Jehovah thus declare to be his people, and who join in making public declaration that He is their God? (b) How does Jehovah fulfill the meaning of the name Jezreel here?

²¹ In this spiritually beneficial way Jehovah shows mercy to the remnant that had been deprived of his mercy while they were exiles in Babylon the Great during World War I. To those who were no people of His, Jehovah now says: “You are my people.” In heartfelt response the remnant says: “You are my God.” (Hos. 2:23) The “great crowd” of sheeplike companions who are also now residing in the spiritual paradise join the remnant in making public declaration that Jehovah is their God. (Rev. 7:9-17; John 10:16) All of this takes place in the restored earthly estate in which Jehovah has sown the remnant of spiritual Israelites like seed, in order to carry out the meaning of the name Jezreel, “God will sow seed.”

A TRUE-LIFE ILLUSTRATION OF GOD’S MERCY

22, 23. According to chapter three of Hosea, what was he instructed to do, and for what purpose?

²² With a heartwarming display of mercy Jehovah succeeds in resolving his marriage problem with his covenant people. To illustrate this vividly, Jehovah had his prophet Hosea enact a true-life drama. In Ho chapter three of his prophecy, Hosea tells us about it, saying:

²³ “And Jehovah went on to say to me: ‘Go once again, love a woman loved by a companion and committing adultery, as in the case of Jehovah’s love for the sons of Israel while they are turning to other gods and are loving [the associated] raisin cakes.’ And I proceeded to purchase her for myself for fifteen silver pieces and a homer measure of barley and a half-homer of barley. Then I said to her: ‘For many days you will dwell as mine. You must not commit fornication, and you must not come to belong to another man; and I also will be for you.’ It is because for many days the sons of Israel will dwell without a king and without a prince and without a sacrifice and without a pillar and without an ephod and teraphim. Afterwards the sons of Israel will come back and certainly look for Jehovah their God, and for David their king; and they will certainly come quivering to Jehovah and to his goodness in the final part of the days.”​—Hos. 3:1-5.

24. (a) Whom did Hosea then purchase, from whom and for how much? (b) How did Jehovah fulfill this prophetic drama in 537 B.C.E. and in 1919 C.E.?

²⁴ In the prophetic drama that Hosea obediently enacted, he pictured Jehovah. Hosea bought back his legal wife Gomer from the unnamed man with whom she had been living adulterously and to whom she had become a slave. In order to repurchase her, Hosea paid the equivalent of thirty silver shekels, the price of a slave. (Ex. 21:32) True to this picture, in 537 B.C.E. Jehovah repurchased the enslaved exiled Israelites in the land of Babylon. The redemption price he gave to Babylon’s conqueror, the Persian Cyrus the Great, as indicated in Isaiah 43:1-4. (Isa. 44:26 through 45:4) Similarly, in 1919 C.E., Jehovah as Heavenly Husband repurchased the remnant of spiritual Israel from enslavement in Babylon the Great and her worldly political associates. Mercifully Jehovah released the remnant by means of his Greater Cyrus, namely, Jesus Christ, to whom He gave ‘the nations as his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth as his possession.’​—Ps. 2:8, 9.

25. (a) As illustrated by Hosea, how did Jehovah discipline his covenant people in ancient times? (b) How was “David their king” looked for, and to which lookers was Jehovah’s mercy show?

²⁵ After Hosea lovingly took his legal wife Gomer back, he disciplined her with sexual restrictions, including, apparently, his own holding back from husbandly attentions. So, too, the exiled Israelites were disciplined, not being allowed to have Israelite kings or royal princes or idolatrous priests or other paraphernalia of idolatrous worship. (Hos. 13:11) Lovingly, in 537 B.C.E., Jehovah took back his disciplined, repentant remnant that turned back to him from apostate religion. These began looking and waiting for their Messianic Liberator from Gentile control. This Messiah was the King who was to come in the royal line of David. (Dan. 9:24-27) In God’s due time he did come. In 33 C.E. Jehovah glorified the Messiah Jesus as King in heaven. A remnant of believing Israelites followed him as their heavenly Messianic King. (Col. 1:13) These obtained Jehovah’s mercy.​—Rom. 9:24-26; 1 Pet. 2:9, 10.

26. Back there, who proved to be Lo-ruhamah (Unpitied One)?

²⁶ The unbelieving nation of Israel became as Lo-ruhamah (Unpitied One). Unrepentant Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E., and Jewish survivors were scattered world wide.​—Matt. 24:15-22; Luke 21:20-24.

27. (a) In this “time of the end,” how have the remnant come quivering to Jehovah, and, after finding “David their king,” what have they been doing? (b) This has resulted in Jehovah’s mercy being extended to whom else?

²⁷ Nineteen centuries have now passed. Since 1914 C.E. this unmerciful world, including Christendom, has been in its “time of the end.” (Dan. 12:4) After World War I a repentant remnant of true spiritual Israelites who were in the new covenant began looking for Jehovah their God. Trembling, quivering, they came to him for an approved covenant relationship with Him. (Ps. 50:5) They found “David their king,” namely, the now enthroned Jesus Christ, reigning as the empowered King in the heavens since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914. With holy enthusiasm they took up the fulfilling of his timely prophecy in Matthew 24:14. So, what have they been doing ever since? This: Preaching “this good news of the kingdom” earth wide “for a witness to all the nations” before the outbreak of the “great tribulation” that reaches its grand finale at Har–Magedon. This has resulted in God’s mercy being extended to a “great crowd” of sheeplike persons who are also seeking the one true God, Jehovah, and his Messianic King, the Greater David, particularly since 1935.

28. When will Jehovah’s mercy, already in operation toward the remnant and “great crowd,” reach its greatest brilliance? And how?

²⁸ Already, down till now, Jehovah’s mercy has been great and marvelous toward his reconciled remnant and the “great crowd” of Messiah’s sheeplike subjects. But his mercy will reach its greatest brilliance when he spares the remnant and the “great crowd” through the global “great tribulation” clear to its end at Har–Magedon. As objects of his unparalleled mercy on display before all the universe, he will bring them into his post-Har–Magedon New Order! “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort.”​—2 Cor. 1:3.