Restoration of Israel the Lord (Yahweh)’s wife

Today’s passage prophesies the sixth stage of the relationship between the Lord and Israel as husband and wife (the stages are: marriage, the wife’s adultery, separation, divorce, judgment, and remarriage). Verse 14 says, “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her.” The phrase “allure her” shows that the Lord is gently and lovingly speaking to the people of Israel. When will this take place? And what wilderness is being referred to when it says, “bring her into the wilderness”? From prophecies recorded elsewhere in Scripture, we understand that this will occur in the middle of the Tribulation period. (1) Matthew 24:15-16 says, “Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.” This verse prophesies the appearance of the Antichrist and the flight of the Jewish people. (2) Revelation 12:6, 13-17 also prophesies that the Jewish people (referred to as “the woman”) will flee into the wilderness and remain there for three and a half years. (3) Micah 2:12 says, “I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture They will be noisy with men.” The phrase “sheep in the fold” can be translated literally as “sheep of Bozrah.” Bozrah is a place name in southern Jordan, known in Greek as Petra. From these points, we understand that the people of Israel will flee into the wilderness in the middle of the Tribulation period, and that the wilderness to which the Lord will lead them is the region of southern Jordan.

The valley of trouble becomes a door of hope

In that wilderness, the people of Israel will begin to respond to the Lord’s devote love. (1) God will turn the wilderness into a “vineyard,” and He will transform the “Valley of Achor (trouble)” into a “door of hope.” The “Valley of Achor” is the place where Joshua punished Achan, who committed a grave sin by stealing what was under the ban (Josh. 7:24-26). For the people of Israel, it truly became a “valley of trouble.” That very place will be transformed into a “door of hope” for entering the Promised Land. (2) At that time, the people of Israel will once again place their trust in the Lord, just as they did in the days of the Exodus. (3) This foretells the restoration of the marriage between the Lord and the people of Israel. The reason the Lord loves the people of Israel eternally is found in the Abrahamic covenant. God, with everlasting love, loves Israel and leads them. We who have believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior have also entered into an eternal covenant relationship with God. God will never forsake us. Let us become those who respond to God’s loving pursuit.