SUMMARY
Hosea promises that God, the loving parent, will not abandon the children of Israel.
ANALYSIS
Hosea–especially through the use of his own children’s names (see chapter 1)–had promised God’s judgment of the people. Now, Hosea promises that God, the loving parent, will not abandon the children of Israel. Using heartrending language, Hosea depicts God as the one who “taught Ephraim to walk,” who held the child Israel “in my arms,” and “bent down to them and fed them” (11:3-4). In spite of the children having rejected their parent, God asks, “How can I give you up, Ephraim?” (11:8). “My heart recoils within me….I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim” (11:8-9).
