God’s Mercy to Mankind in Our Twentieth Century

“It is as he says also in Hosea: ‘Those not my people I will call “my people,” and her who was not beloved “beloved”; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” there they will be called “sons of the living God.”’”​—Rom. 9:25, 26.

1. For what mercy displayed by husbands can wives be glad today?

ALL OF US are glad that, at our birth, our parents had mercy upon us in our helplessness. Wives are glad when their husbands show them mercy in view of female ailments, emotional upsets and feminine foibles. Such wives can appreciate as something still proper for today the exhortation to mercifulness that was given nineteen centuries ago: “You husbands, continue dwelling in like manner with them according to knowledge, assigning them honor as to a weaker vessel, the feminine one, since you are also heirs with them of the undeserved favor of life.”​—1 Pet. 3:7.

2. Why are some not happy about God’s mercy today, thinking themselves more merciful than he is?

² There are still persons who try to apply in their lives the words taken from the famous Sermon on the Mount: “Happy are the merciful, since they will be shown mercy.” (Matt. 5:7) They are happy because of imitating the Creator of mankind in his display of mercy to our wayward race. Others, in increasing numbers, are questioning that mercy exists among the Creator’s qualities. They complain: “If there is a God, why does he permit all this wickedness and such hard times in the earth? If he is almighty, why does he not show us some merciful consideration and put a stop to it all and let us enjoy life?” Such complainers open themselves to invasion by the shocking theory, “God is dead!” That is, “dead” as far as his merciful concern for mankind goes. They may conclude that they themselves are more merciful to others than such a “dead” God is. They see no evidence of God’s mercy in our twentieth century.

3. In what way has God’s toleration of wickedness till now been for a merciful purpose toward us?

³ However, have we ever stopped to think that God’s permission of wickedness and of such hardness of living might really be for a merciful purpose? For instance, if the wickedness was not tolerated, mercy could not be shown simultaneously by God. Has not wickedness existed here on earth for thousands of years before we were born? Yes! So, if God Almighty had put a stop to such wickedness before our time, would we be here and alive today?

4. What eight humans do we have to thank for our being alive today, and why?

⁴ By checking authentic historical records we find that the Creator of heaven and earth put a stop to worldwide violence and wickedness more than forty-three centuries ago, in 2370 B.C.E. He brought a global deluge, through which only eight humans made their way safely and escaped in a huge waterproof ark. As a result, all those tens of thousands of families that did not get into the ark built by Noah and his three sons had all possible lines of descent down till now cut off by that world catastrophe. It is Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth and their faithful wives whom we have to thank for our being alive today in this twentieth century.​—Gen. 6:1 through 9:19.

5, 6. (a) What question now arises with regard to the duration of God’s mercy? (b) What balanced viewpoint does Paul give us in Romans 9:21-26?

⁵ Really, then, we can consider our personal existence today as being an evidence of God’s mercy, can we not? Yes, “mercy” despite all the violence and increase of lawlessness that mark our twentieth century. But now the big question is: How much longer is God going to put up with this wickedness on a global scale just for the sake of those taking advantage of his patience and mercy? Not much longer, according to all Bible indications. So, let us not complain about divine permission of evil on earth. Rather, let us avail ourselves of divine mercy. If we do so, then, shortly, when God stops all the wickedness prevailing among mankind, he will not stop our living also. Mercifully He will usher us into a righteous, peaceful new order here on earth. Hence, let us take the balanced viewpoint of the Christian apostle Paul, when he wrote:

⁶ “What? Does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for an honorable use, another for a dishonorable use? If, now, God, although having the will to demonstrate his wrath and to make his power known, tolerated with much long-suffering vessels of wrath made fit for destruction, in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory, namely, us, whom he called not only from among Jews but also from among [Gentile] nations, what of it? It is as he says also in Hosea: ‘Those not my people I will call “my people,” and her who was not beloved “beloved”; and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” there they will be called “sons of the living God.”’”​—Rom. 9:21-26; note also 1 Peter 2:9, 10.

GOD’S OWN MARRIAGE PROBLEM

7. Who was Hosea, and from what translation of his writings did Paul quote?

⁷ Who was that Hosea, from whose writings the apostle Paul made the above quotations? He was a prophet during the ninth and eighth centuries before our Common Era. The apostle Paul made his quotations from the Greek Septuagint Version renderings of Hosea 1:10 and Ho 2:23. There we read: “But it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said to them, You are not My people, they shall be called children of the Living God.” “And I will plant her for Myself in the land and love her who was not beloved; and to them who were not My people I will say, Thou art My people: and they will say, Thou the Lord art my God.”​—The Septuagint Bible by Charles Thomson.

8. By his words through Hosea, Jehovah indicated that what kind of problem existed between him and the one not beloved?

⁸ It is Jehovah God who thus speaks through the Hebrew prophet Hosea as His mouthpiece. In saying, “I will . . . love her who was not beloved,” or, “I will call . . . her who was not beloved ‘beloved,’” Jehovah indicated that some problem had existed between him and her whom he did not love for a time. According to the way that Jehovah speaks about the matter, it was a marriage problem between him and her. He likens her to a man’s wife.

9. Who is the one of whom Jehovah speaks as being married to him?

⁹ Who is this one of whom Jehovah speaks as being married to him? She is not a literal woman, an individual human female. By his own statements Jehovah shows that she is a people, the nation of Israel that descended from the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So she is a national wife, an organizational wife. Jehovah was married to the organization of the twelve tribes of Israel. Just like a purchased wife of the Middle East, the nation of the twelve tribes of Israel was married to its God, Jehovah.

10. When, where and how did this figurative marriage take place?

¹⁰ When did this marriage take place? It was in the year 1513 B.C.E., after Jehovah had purchased the twelve tribes of Israel. How? By liberating them from slavery in the land of Egypt. Then, under the visible leadership of the prophet Moses, Jehovah brought them to Mount Sinai on the Arabian Peninsula. There, through Moses as mediator between God and man, Jehovah proposed the forging of a bond of union between himself and the liberated Israelites. He proposed the making of a covenant between himself and them. This covenant was to be based upon a code of laws to which the nation of Israel would agree to be subject, just as in those days a woman was subject to the law of her husband. (Rom. 7:2) From atop Mount Sinai Jehovah said to the Israelites: “Now if you will strictly obey my voice and will indeed keep my covenant, then you will certainly become my special property out of all other peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me. And you yourselves will become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex. 19:1-6) Being properly informed, the Israelites voluntarily entered into this covenant.

11. How was the nation of Israel to keep the marriage tie between itself and Jehovah binding?

¹¹ In this manner, out there in the wilderness of Sinai, a marriage took place between Jehovah as Heavenly Husband and the nation of Israel as his earthly organizational wife. This sacred relationship was established over the shedding of the blood of animal sacrifices. Part of this blood was sprinkled upon the book of God’s law and part upon the people of Israel. (Ex. 24:1-8; Heb. 9:19, 20) From then on, for as long as the Law covenant continued in force, the Israelites were bound to be faithful and true to Jehovah their God, just as a woman should be faithful and true to her husband. According to the Ten Commandments, they were bound to worship Jehovah as their God without the use of any images. (Ex. 20:1-6) They had to consider themselves as his “special property,” belonging to no other owner. They had to keep themselves as a nation that is holy to Jehovah, separate from the worldly nations. By this course they would keep the marriage tie binding, inviolate.​—Jer. 2:2, 3; 31:31, 32.

12. Why is it important for us to consider the ancient marriage between Jehovah and the nation of Israel and the modern counterpart thereof?

¹² Today it is not uncommon for legal marriages to break up, even though it is between two individuals, a male and a female. So, how would a marriage between Jehovah and an entire nation of millions of individuals fare? We today ought to be interested in this, since what happened to that marriage of old became prophetic of something to happen to a later marriage of that kind. What happened to Jehovah’s marriage with Israel affected just a nation. But what happens to his later marriage affects the whole religious world, yes, it affects the entire human family. This means that we of today are affected. Hence, calamity is possible for all of us in the near future. This explains why it is so important for us to consider the ancient marriage between Jehovah and Israel and its modern counterpart.

HOSEA USED IN ILLUSTRATING MATTERS

13. Why was the kingdom over Israel transferred from Saul’s family to David’s family, and in whom was David’s royal line of descent to end up?

¹³ After some centuries the nation of Israel became dissatisfied with having only Jehovah their invisible Heavenly Husband as their King. So, at their request in 1117 B.C.E., he authorized the anointing of Saul of the tribe of Benjamin to be their first human king. Saul proved unfaithful to Jehovah. Consequently the kingship over all Israel was not allowed to continue in his family. Jehovah transferred the kingdom to David the son of Jesse of the tribe of Judah. In 1077 B.C.E. David started on his kingly career. In 1070 B.C.E. he made Jerusalem his capital over all twelve tribes of Israel. Because David kept faithful to the right worship, Jehovah made a solemn covenant with him for an everlasting kingdom in his family. So David’s royal line of descent would end up in the Messiah, who becomes an everlasting king.​—Acts 13:20-24; 2 Sam. 7:1-17.

14, 15. (a) Why and when was the kingdom of King David’s line of descent through Solomon reduced? (b) How did the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel turn adulterous, and to what god did it attach itself?

¹⁴ David’s first successor, King Solomon, finally gave way to unwisdom in departing from pure worship of Jehovah as God. For a divine punishment, King Solomon’s successors had their kingdom reduced to two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, this starting off after King Solomon’s son Rehoboam came to the throne. Then ten tribes broke away and set up an independent kingdom with Jeroboam the son of Nebat as king. This rebel king established a religious worship separate from Jehovah’s worship at Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. He turned the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel to the worship of two golden calves, one at Bethel and the other at Dan. In the days of Omri, the seventh king over the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, the city of Samaria was built and became the national capital.

¹⁵ In Samaria King Omri’s son Ahab introduced the worship of the Sidonian god Baal and built a temple to Baal there. (1 Ki. 16:23-33) By this unfaithful course the ten-tribe kingdom adulterously forsook the Heavenly Husband of all Israel and immorally attached itself to the false god Baal as the national husband.​—Hos. 9:10.

16. How did the kings of the kingdom of Judah down to Hezekiah conduct themselves religiously?

¹⁶ What about the kings of the two-tribe kingdom of Judah? They wavered between the pure worship of Jehovah and the attaching of themselves to false gods. King Ahaz, the twelfth king when counted from David, turned to false worship. He even shut the doors of Jehovah’s temple in Jerusalem. But his son, King Hezekiah, reopened the temple doors and restored pure worship for the kingdom of Judah. Quite beneficially, down into King Hezekiah’s reign, Hosea continued prophesying. This prophet found himself right in the thick of the things about which he was talking.

A DISTASTEFUL ASSIGNMENT OF SERVICE?

17, 18. What kind of assignment was Hosea given, and why do we know that what he tells us about it is nothing fictitious?

¹⁷ How would any of us feel if, on becoming marriageable, we were told by our father as marriage maker to marry a woman who we were informed would prove unfaithful, giving herself over to adultery and finally leaving us for another lover? It might be somewhat distasteful, might it not? Yet something like this actually happened to Hosea. It is nothing imaginary, fictitious, mythical!

¹⁸ As a real historical person, Hosea tells us the facts in the prophetic book that bears his name. His truthfulness is backed up by the fact that he is quoted from for at least seven times in the later inspired writings from Matthew to Revelation.a He is quoted from even by the Founder of Christianity himself. So, when Hosea tells us about his assignment of service as a prophet of Jehovah, we have solid reason for believing that he is telling the pure truth, rather than relating to us some trumped-up story for the entertainment of readers of pornographic literature. Also, since the prophetic meaning of Hosea’s course fits in with the historical outcome of a still-existing people, its truth becomes all the more convincing.

19. In the reigns of what kings of Judah and of Israel does Hosea locate his prophetic work?

¹⁹ Locating himself in a definite period in the documented history of the twelve tribes of Israel, Hosea introduces himself, saying first of all: “The word of Jehovah that occurred to Hosea the son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, the king of Israel.” (Hos. 1:1) Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were descendants of King David and reigned at Jerusalem over the two-tribe kingdom of Judah. Uzziah began to rule as king in 829 B.C.E. and Hezekiah ended his reign in 716 B.C.E. So the combined reigns of these kings embraced a period of 113 years. On the other hand, in the line of kings over the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, Jeroboam the son of Joash was the second to bear such name and hence he was Jeroboam II.

20. Whose great-grandson was Jeroboam II, and when during this king’s reign did Hosea start on his prophetic career?

²⁰ This Jeroboam’s great-grandfather was King Jehu the son of Nimshi. Jehu destroyed Baal worship out of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. He had Queen Jezebel thrown out of a window to her death, as she had wickedly promoted Baalism in Israel. Later Jeroboam II came on the scene as king during the reign of King Amaziah over Judah. Jeroboam’s reign overlapped onto the reign of Amaziah’s successor, King Uzziah. Hence, during the time that Jeroboam’s reign overlapped onto that of King Uzziah, or after 829 B.C.E., Jehovah God started Hosea off on his prophetic career.

21. What kind of wife did Jehovah tell Hosea to take, and why?

²¹ Can we imagine Hosea’s reaction when what he next relates took place? “There was a start of the word of Jehovah by Hosea, and Jehovah proceeded to say to Hosea: ‘Go, take to yourself a wife of fornication and children of fornication, because by fornication the land positively turns from following Jehovah.’”​—Hos. 1:2.

22. In what way was the woman Hosea was to take a “wife of fornication,” and how were her children to be “children of fornication,” and why?

²² Do we feel shocked at Hosea’s being started off on his prophetic career with such a command as that? However, Jehovah was not commanding Hosea to marry a woman who was already a whore. The woman whom Hosea is told to take to himself as a wife is not called ‘a fornicating woman (or, wife),’ but Jehovah calls her a “wife of fornication [literally, fornications].” Furthermore, since this woman was to be used as an illustration of Jehovah’s figurative earthly “wife,” she would not fit the picture by being a wanton, whorish woman from the start. Jehovah married or took in marriage a morally clean, “virgin” wife for the purpose of bringing forth to Him legitimate children in a spiritual sense. So the expression “children of fornication” is prophetic of the kind of “children” that He would get in a spiritual way, the kind of “children” that they would turn out to be. Why so? “Because,” as Jehovah says, “by fornication the land positively turns from following Jehovah.” The “land” here meant was that of ten-tribe Israel.

23. Whom did Hosea take as his wife, and what did she bear to him?

²³ Although the marriage prospects were bad for the time being, Hosea obeyed the divine command. In such a way as this he entered upon his career as Jehovah’s prophet. “And he proceeded to go and take Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, so that she became pregnant and in time bore to him a son.”​—Hos. 1:3.

24. What did Jehovah say to call the boy, and for what reason?

²⁴ This son was Hosea’s legitimate son, not a ‘son of fornication’ that had to be adopted by Hosea. On the eighth day from this son’s birth, when he was to be circumcised, what was Hosea to name the boy? The boy’s name was to be prophetic; and so Jehovah, who was directing the prophetic drama, named it for Hosea. The name was to point to one of Jehovah’s purposes. “And Jehovah went on to say to him: ‘Call his name Jezreel, for yet a little while and I must hold an accounting for the acts of bloodshed of Jezreel against the house of Jehu, and 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.

25. (a) Thus calamity was foretold for what royal house and for what nation? (b) In what way was the nation of Israel not to commit spiritual adultery against Jehovah?

²⁵ Thus calamity was foretold both for the royal dynasty of King Jehu after its fourth generation and for the whole ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. This kingdom was the larger part of the one-time united twelve-tribe kingdom of Israel. That original nation of Israel was spiritually married to Jehovah God in the wilderness of Sinai away back there in 1513 B.C.E. That was when the Mosaic Law covenant was established between Israel and Jehovah. According to the marriage contract, the twelve-tribe nation of Israel was to be faithful and true to Jehovah by worshiping Him alone as its God. Israel was not to become guilty of spiritual adultery by departing from him for the worship of false gods.

26. Whom did Hosea’s wife picture?

²⁶ Jehovah’s marriage to Israel was pictured by Hosea’s marriage to Gomer, whose name means “Completion.” Logically, then, Gomer pictured the nation of Israel; but in Hosea’s day Israel was represented by the ten-tribe segment thereof that became the kingdom of Israel of only ten tribes. After more than 150 years of this kingdom, it had become true of its “land” as Jehovah said: “By fornication the land positively turns from following Jehovah.”

27. In spite of Israel’s pure beginning, how did the national situation become, according to Hosea 10:1, 2?

²⁷ In spite of Israel’s pure beginning under the prophet Moses, the national situation had become as Jehovah inspired his prophet to say, in Hosea 10:1, 2: “Israel is a degenerating vine.b Fruit he keeps putting forth for himself. [A wanton vine was Israel, and lavishly he bore. (Moffatt’s translation)] In proportion to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. In proportion to the goodness of his land, they put up good pillars [sacred stones (Moffatt)]. Their heart has become hypocritical; now they will be found guilty.”

THE PROPHETIC THRUST OF THE NAME “JEZREEL”

28. What does the name Jezreel mean, and, because of its prophetic significance, why was it a fitting name for Hosea’s son?

²⁸ Because of the action that Jehovah purposed to take against spiritually adulterous Israel, Jehovah had Hosea call his firstborn son by Gomer by the name Jezreel. The name was very fitting. In Hosea’s language, Hebrew, it meant “God Will Sow.” Yes, “sow,” but not in a beneficial sense. Here ‘sowing’ has the meaning of ‘scattering, dispersing,’ since, when one sows seed, one scatters it. Jehovah’s acting against the royal “house of Jehu” with a scattering motion would mean its breakdown, its dissolution. Similar action against the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel would mean its dissolution, its disintegration.​—Compare Luke 22:31.

29. What did King Jehu do about Baal worship, and what about calf worship, in violation of what commandments?

²⁹ At the city of Jezreel was where King Ahab of Israel had a royal residence, although his capital was in the city of Samaria. The later dynasty of King Jehu also had its royal residence at Jezreel. In obedience to his commission from Jehovah God, Jehu had violently rooted Baal worship out of the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel. Still, he kept up the worship of the two golden calves and ignored Jehovah’s worship at Jerusalem. By such worship of graven images Jehu’s house violated the Ten Commandments. They also violated the command not to murder.​—Ex. 20:2-6, 13.

30. How did Jehovah hold an accounting against Jehu’s house for its bloodshed at Jezreel?

³⁰ Thus a record of bloodshed began to be made by the calf-worshiping dynasty of King Jehu, the royal residence of which was at Jezreel. The Giver of the Ten Commandments could not overlook this record. Accordingly he said: “I must hold an accounting for the acts of bloodshed of Jezreel against the house of Jehu.” (Hos. 1:4) Exactly so, the dynasty of King Jehu over Israel was brought to a violent end after Zechariah, the son of Jeroboam II, had reigned for but six months. He was murdered.​—2 Ki. 15:8-12.

31. How was the royal rule of the house of Israel made to cease, and how was it as if “the low plain of Jezreel”?

³¹ Thus the royal dynasty of King Jehu over Israel ended in 791 B.C.E. But the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel itself continued on for fifty-one years more, till 740 B.C.E. Then Jehovah ‘caused the royal rule of the house of Israel to cease.’ (Hos. 1:4) He used the Assyrian World Power to “break the [battle] bow of Israel in the low plain of Jezreel.” The overthrow of Israel’s capital city of Samaria brought the apostate nation low. The nation’s power was scattered when the Israelite survivors were deported to the distant provinces of the Assyrian Empire, scattered like seed. The terrible experience matched the symbolical meaning of the expression “the low plain of Jezreel [God Will Sow Seed].” This was nothing like when the liberator of Israel, Judge Gideon, with but three hundred chosen warriors, scattered the marauding Midianites not far from Megiddo, near “the low plain of Jezreel.” (Judg. 6:33, 34) But in 740 B.C.E., without a liberator and no longer able to battle for existence, the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel ‘ceased,’ perished.

32. Why should we try to catch the import of the foregoing in our twentieth century?

³² Do we catch the import of this for us today? We should do so, for, in our twentieth century, it is finding its fulfillment in the modern-day counterpart of the spiritually adulterous, unfaithful Israel. That counterpart is Christendom, with nearly a billion church members all around the globe. In the face of Christendom’s impending calamity, we may ask, Where, then, is the mercy of Jehovah God to be seen in operation? Our further consideration of Jehovah’s dealings with his prophet Hosea will make this clear.

[Footnotes]

God’s Mercy on Display at Har–Magedon

1, 2. (a) In whose marriage affairs did Jehovah dramatize his own? (b) How did Israel turn adulterous in the days of King Jeroboam I?

MARRIAGES between men and women have run into difficulties during the reign of sin and wickedness on earth. That is what happened to God’s marriage with the ancient nation of Israel.

² God dramatized his own marriage affairs in those of his prophet Hosea. At God’s command Hosea had married Gomer the daughter of Diblaim. This pictured Jehovah’s marriage to ancient Israel by means of the Mosaic Law covenant at Mount Sinai in 1513 B.C.E. After King Solomon, the son of David, died in 997 B.C.E., the long-married nation of Israel was split up into two sections. The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin stayed together under the kingdom of Judah, the other ten tribes under the kingdom of Israel. The latter’s first king was Jeroboam the son of Nebat of the tribe of Ephraim. Under this Jeroboam I the kingdom of Israel broke its marriage contract with Jehovah; it boycotted His worship at Jerusalem and set up its own national worship with idolatrous images, two golden calves, one at Dan and the other at Bethel. Thus, like the prophet Hosea’s wife Gomer, the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel turned adulterous.

3. What did Jehovah say to call Gomer’s second child, and why?

³ After Gomer bore to Hosea a legitimate son named Jezreel, how did Hosea’s marriage affairs go in illustration of Jehovah’s affairs with the twelve-tribe nation of Israel? Hosea proceeds to tell the story, saying: “And she proceeded to become pregnant another time and to give birth to a daughter. And He [that is, God] went on to say to him [that is, to Hosea]: ‘Call her name Lo-ruhamah, for I shall no more show mercy again to the house of Israel, because I shall positively take them [the Israelites] away. But to the house of Judah I shall show mercy, and I will save them by Jehovah their God; but I shall not save them [the Judeans] by a bow or by a sword or by war, by horses or by horsemen.’”​—Hos. 1:6, 7.

4. Whom did Gomer’s daughter have as her father, and against whom was her name prophetically directed?

⁴ In the above case, Hosea does not say that Gomer bore “to him” a daughter. So it is generally understood that this daughter who was called Lo-ruhamah was a ‘child of fornication.’ (Hos. 1:2) Such a committing of adultery by Hosea’s wife Gomer matched the course of affairs in the marriage relationship between Jehovah God and the nation of Israel. Of course, in Hosea’s affairs, the vital thing here is the meaning of the name given to Gomer’s daughter​—and the reason why Jehovah told Hosea to call her by that unpleasant, ominous name. The daughter’s name Lo-ruhamah literally means “Not Pitied Female.” Jehovah directed that name prophetically against the spiritually adulterous ten-tribe nation of Israel, with its royal residence at the city of Jezreel. For what reason?

5. In what did Jehovah’s not showing mercy to the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel result, and how will Christendom’s experience be similar?

⁵ In our twentieth century Christendom should listen to Jehovah’s giving of the reason, because the name Lo-ruhamah applies now. The reason He gives applies to Christendom today: “For I shall no more show mercy again to the house of Israel.” (Hos. 1:6) Christendom is now the one unpitied, the one not being shown mercy. Similar to the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, she is given over to spiritual adultery against Jehovah God, with whom she claims to be in marriage relationship by means of the “new covenant” that was mediated by Jesus Christ in the year 33 C.E. (Jer. 31:31-34; Luke 22:19, 20; Heb. 8:6-12) Because, from Hosea’s day onward, Jehovah no longer had mercy upon the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, what resulted? The destruction of that spiritually adulterous kingdom in less than a century afterward, that is, in 740 B.C.E. Similarly, Jehovah’s no longer having mercy upon Israel’s modern-day counterpart will end up in Christendom’s annihilation during the coming “great tribulation” that reaches its climax at Har–Magedon.​—Matt. 24:21, 22.

6. According to Hosea 1:7, was there a total withdrawal of Jehovah’s mercy from all Israel at the time of destruction of the ten-tribe kingdom?

⁶ At the time of his wiping out the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, was Jehovah totally heartless? Was there a total withdrawal of his mercy from all tribes of the nation that had originally entered into marriage relationship with him through the Law covenant at Mount Sinai? Jehovah himself answers these questions, saying: “But to the house of Judah I shall show mercy, and I will save them by Jehovah their God; but I shall not save them by a bow or by a sword or by war, by horses or by horsemen.”​—Hos. 1:7.

7, 8. (a) What was the reason for which Jehovah had mercy upon the house of Judah? (b) Because of the then dominant world power, what would Jehovah have to do in order to save Judah without war equipment?

⁷ It will be good for us to note the cogent reason for which Jehovah chose to show mercy to the two-tribe kingdom of Judah, with its capital at Jerusalem. In Hosea 11:12 Jehovah makes plain his reason for divine mercy, in saying: “With lying, Ephraim has surrounded me, and with deception the house of Israel [which was represented by the dominant tribe, Ephraim]. But Judah is yet roaming with God, and with the Most Holy One he is trustworthy.”a The house of Judah still “roamed” with Jehovah as the Most Holy One, its God. So, for the sake of his name, Jehovah was obliged to save the house of Judah. That is why he said: “I will save them by Jehovah their God.”

⁸ Jehovah purposed to save the house of Judah at the same time that he took the ten-tribe kingdom away and caused the “royal rule of the house of Israel to cease.” In order to do so, Jehovah had to have a confrontation with the Assyrian Empire. By highly militarizing itself, Assyria had become the dominant world power of that day. Under those circumstances, in order for Jehovah to save the house of Judah without a battle bow, sword, war, chariot horses and horsemen, he would be required to perform some extraordinary act.

A FOREGLEAM OF DIVINE MERCY AT HAR–MAGEDON

9. After Samaria’s destruction, how did the situation become most challenging to Jehovah with respect to Jerusalem?

⁹ In 740 B.C.E. Jehovah used the Assyrian World Power as his “ax” to chop down the adulterous, idolatrous “house of Israel.” Its royal residence at Jezreel was emptied, its capital at Samaria was overthrown, the surviving Israelites were carried away into exile in distant provinces of Assyria. (Isa. 10:15) This produced a threat for Jerusalem, where King Hezekiah of the royal family of David reigned over the two-tribe kingdom of Judah. Eight years later the military hosts of Assyria invaded the land of Judah and began reducing its cities. The invading Assyrian king, Sennacherib, had plenty of bows, swords, war equipment, chariot horses and horsemen with him. In what way, now, would Jehovah’s mercy to the house of Judah be shown? The situation became most challenging to Jehovah.

10, 11. How did Jehovah now save the house of Judah to exalt his own name?

¹⁰ While besieging the city of Libnah, Sennacherib sent his God-defying ultimatum to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, some twenty miles away. In indignation Jehovah inspired his prophet Isaiah to give a defiant message for the Assyrian delegation before Jerusalem’s walls to take back to blasphemous Sennacherib. After this king got the warning message, Jehovah saved Judah to exalt his own name.

¹¹ “And it came about on that night,” as the record in 2 Kings 19:35-37 tells us, “that the angel of Jehovah proceeded to go out and strike down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When people rose up early in the morning, why, there all of them were dead carcasses. Therefore Sennacherib the king of Assyria pulled away and went and returned, and he took up dwelling in Nineveh. And it came about that as he was bowing down at the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, themselves struck him down with the sword, and they themselves escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esar-haddon his son began to reign in place of him.”

12. Of what was that display of Jehovah’s mercy toward the house of Judah a foregleam?

¹² Was that not a preeminent display of Jehovah’s mercy toward the kingdom of Judah that was then holding faithfully to its spiritual marriage relationship to Him? With comforting significance for us today, it was a foregleam of the mercy that Jehovah will display during the future war at Har–Magedon. (Rev. 16:14, 16) No divine mercy will be shown to the God-defying hordes on earth who will fight under Satan the Devil against the faithful witnesses of Jehovah during the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at what is called Har–Magedon.b Jehovah will save his faithful witnesses on earth without their resorting to bows, swords, warfare, horses and horsemen or other military resources.

13. To whom will the name Lo-ruhamah then apply, and so who will survive the display of God’s wrath upon the “vessels of wrath”?

¹³ That will be a time for the display of divine wrath upon the “vessels of wrath” and for the display of divine mercy upon the anointed remnant of Christ’s joint heirs who are prefigured by “the house of Judah.” (Rom. 9:22) These will be holding true to the new covenant, the covenant by which Jehovah is married to his spiritual Israel. The remnant being faithful spiritual Israelites, the name Lo-ruhamah (Not Pitied) does not apply to them as it does now to Christendom. (Gal. 6:16; Jas. 1:1; Rev. 7:4-8) It is “by Jehovah their God” that the spiritual remnant will be saved! They will survive!

14, 15. (a) What experience did Jehonadab the son of Rechab have with King Jehu? (b) What national calamities did the descendants of Jehonadab survive, and whom today did those Rechabites picture?

¹⁴ In ancient times, when King Sennacherib threatened Jerusalem, not only “the house of Judah” experienced Jehovah’s mercy. Non-Jews known as Rechabites also did. They were the descendants of Jehonadab the son of Rechab the Kenite. When King Jehu of Israel was driving to Samaria to destroy Baal worship there in fulfillment of Jehovah’s commission to him, he invited Jehonadab to ride with him and said: “Do go along with me and look upon my toleration of no rivalry toward Jehovah.” (2 Ki. 10:15-27) Jehonadab did so.

¹⁵ At Samaria’s downfall in 740 B.C.E. the descendants of the Rechabite Jehonadab survived. They also survived Sennacherib’s invasion of the land of Judah in 732 B.C.E. Later we find the Rechabites associated with the kingdom of Judah in the days of Jeremiah the prophet. That was during Jerusalem’s last days before it was destroyed by the Babylonians in the year 607 B.C.E. Because of their faithfulness Jehovah promised the Rechabites his protection so that they would survive Jerusalem’s destruction. (Jer. 35:1-19) Whom did those recipients of Jehovah’s mercy picture? The “great crowd” of Jehovah’s worshipers who are associated with the anointed remnant today. These also will survive through the coming “great tribulation,” with a paradise earth as their hope.​—Rev. 7:9-17.

THOSE “NOT MY PEOPLE”

16. (a) What will Christendom’s rejection as being no part of Jehovah’s people mean for her? (b) What was the second son of Hosea’s wife called, and why?

¹⁶ Now before the outbreak of the “great tribulation” in the near future, is the time for us to avail ourselves of Jehovah’s mercy. Let us never forget: Christendom is to be shown no mercy during the coming tribulation. Hence, we should want to dissociate ourselves from her. At that time her being rejected as being no part of Jehovah’s people will be made known beyond all denial. That will mean destruction for her! She is the Lo-ruhamah (Unpitied One) of today. (Hos. 1:6) Her total rejection was foreshadowed in the further marriage affairs of the prophet Hosea. He refers to his wife Gomer when he says: “And she gradually weaned Lo-ruhamah, and she proceeded to become pregnant and give birth to a son. So He [Jehovah] said: ‘Call his name Lo-ammi, because you men are not my people and I myself shall prove to be not yours.’” (Hos. 1:8, 9) With those words the first chapter of Hosea’s prophetic book ends in Jewish Bible translations and in editions of the Greek Septuagint Version of Hosea.

17. Why was Lo-ammi a fitting name for Gomer’s second son, and so what did Jehovah say to the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel in that connection?

¹⁷ The second son of Hosea’s wife Gomer is also understood to be not of Hosea’s fatherhood, but a child of Gomer’s adultery. Hosea does not say that Gomer bore this second son to him. So there was good reason for Jehovah to have the boy called Lo-ammi, for the name means “Not My People.” It had prophetic meaning. In explaining his reason for giving the boy such an ominous name, Jehovah addressed himself to the ten-tribe “house of Israel,” when he said: “Because you men are not my people and I myself shall prove to be not yours.” With such words Jehovah declared himself to be no longer the Heavenly Husband of the covenant-breaking “house of Israel.”

18. When and how did Jehovah let it be known that the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel was not his people?

¹⁸ Jehovah let it plainly be known that he was no longer the God and spiritual Husband of the apostate “house of Israel.” This Jehovah did when he permitted the capture of Israel’s capital city Samaria by the Assyrians in 740 B.C.E. Thus that “house of Israel” was no longer His people; it was, as he said, Lo-ammi, or, “Not My People.” Like a divorced wife, that people went off into exile in Assyria. That spiritually adulterous “house of Israel” had despised the opportunity offered to it in the Mosaic Law covenant of becoming to Jehovah a “kingdom of priests.”​—Ex. 19:5, 6.

19. Jesus Christ will let Christendom know that she has no part in fulfilling the purpose of the new covenant, when what words of his come true?

¹⁹ Jehovah’s “new covenant,” as mediated by Jesus Christ the Greater Moses, has a similar purpose. That purpose will not be realized in Israel’s modern counterpart, Christendom. She has tried to reign on earth in this present system of things by serving as religious consort to political rulers of this world. Jesus Christ will let her know that she is not in line for joint heirship with him in the heavenly kingdom, when his words come true: “Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will. Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.”​—Matt. 7:21-23.

HOPE OF DIVINE MERCY FOR INDIVIDUALS

20, 21. (a) When were individuals of the exiled “house of Israel” allowed to avail themselves of Jehovah’s mercy, and how? (b) Jehovah pointed forward to that with what words at Hosea 1:10, 11?

²⁰ Christendom’s ancient type, the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel, was never again established on its God-given land in the Middle East. Nevertheless, individual members of that rejected “house of Israel” were allowed to avail themselves of Jehovah’s mercy and return to him and become part of his approved people. This privilege would be theirs when Assyria’s successor, the Babylonian World Power, would be overthrown. Then Cyrus the Conqueror would release the exiled worshipers of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Pointing forward to that, Jehovah continued on to say through his prophet Hosea:

²¹ “And the number of the sons of Israel must become like the grains of the sand of the sea that cannot be measured or numbered. And it must occur that in the place in which it used to be said to them, ‘You men are not my people,’ it will be said to them, ‘The sons of the living God.’ And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will certainly be collected together into a unity and will actually set up for themselves one head and go up out of the land, because great will be the day of Jezreel [God Will Sow].”​—Hos. 1:10, 11.

22. A typical fulfillment of that prophecy took place when, and how did the “day of Jezreel” become “great” for them?

²² A typical fulfillment of that merciful prophecy took place in 537 B.C.E., when Babylon’s conqueror, Cyrus the Persian, let a faithful remnant of “the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah” leave, “go up out of the land” of Babylonian exile. In unity they went, under orders by Jehovah’s servant Cyrus, to rebuild Jehovah’s temple at Jerusalem. (2 Chron. 36:20-23; Ezra 1:1-11) Then, on their own land, the remnant could become populous again, like the unmeasured, unnumbered grains of sand on the seashore. In that way ‘great would be the day of Jezreel.’ Here the name Jezreel, meaning “God Will Sow,” is to be fulfilled in a favorable manner. God sows the sons of his restored people like seed, multiplying them.

23. (a) After rejecting whom, and by what action of Jehovah, did the nation of Israel cease to be His people? (b) Upon whom of that rejected nation did Jehovah show mercy, and how?

²³ So, no longer would Jehovah say to them, Lo-ammi, or, “Not My People.” In a typical way they would be called “The sons of the living God.” With reference to the antitypical fulfillment of this in the realm of Christianity, the apostles Paul and Peter wrote in Romans 9:25, 26 and; 1 Peter 2:9, 10. After the natural sons of Israel rejected Jesus as the Messiah in 33 C.E., they ceased to be Jehovah’s people. He abolished his Law covenant by means of which he had been married to the twelve-tribe nation of Israel in Moses’ day. But he mercifully accepted a believing remnant of the nation of natural Israel and brought them into the new covenant mediated by his Son, Jesus the Messiah. In such a way he founded a new nation, a spiritual Israel.​—Gal. 6:16; Jas. 1:1; Rom. 2:28, 29; Rev. 7:4-8.

24. Why and when did Jehovah turn to those who had never been his people, and how did he make them his people?

²⁴ Unhappily, not enough natural Israelites became Christians to make up the full “seed of Abraham” in whom all earthly nations are to be blessed. So Jehovah turned to those who had never been His people, persons “Not My People,” Lo-ammi. He opened the way in 36 C.E. for such non-Israelite believers to become part of the spiritual Israel in the new covenant. These were made part of “Abraham’s seed,” which was to become like the sands upon the seashore.​—Gal. 3:8-29; Gen. 22:18.

25. (a) Who is the “one head” whom the “collected” remnant of spiritual Israelites “set up for themselves,” with what liberation accompanying? (b) Who expect to survive the war at Har–Magedon with them?

²⁵ The “one head” that the “collected” spiritual Israelites “set up for themselves” is Jesus Christ, the now reigning King. By means of him as the Greater Cyrus, the repentant remnant was released from the power of Babylon the Great in 1919 C.E., after World War I. This remnant was used to restore Jehovah’s pure worship on earth. Jehovah has made these liberated spiritual Israelites “the sons of the living God.” According to his mercy they expect to be saved at the approaching “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon, yes, to live through it to see his New Order start off. A “great crowd” of fellow worshipers, like the ancient Rechabites, also expect to share in God’s mercy and to survive with the remnant.

26, 27. (a) Those now hoping in God’s mercy must recognize Christendom to be what spiritually, and why do they not want to be her “children”? (b) What does Jehovah instruct them to say with regard to those who are objects of his mercy?

²⁶ Do we ourselves today hope in Jehovah’s mercy? If so, then we must recognize Christendom to be the spiritual fornicatrix that she is. By defiling herself with Babylonish religion, she has made herself part of Babylon the Great. Along with that world empire of false religion, she will be destroyed in the oncoming “great tribulation.” We do not want to be any of her “children of fornication.” As objects of Jehovah’s mercy, we act as He now instructs us:

²⁷ “Say to your brothers, ‘My people!’ and to your sisters, ‘O woman shown mercy [Hebrew: O Ruhamah]!’ Carry on a legal case with your mother; carry on a legal case, for she is not my wife and I am not her husband. And she should put away her fornication from before herself and her acts of adultery from between her breasts, that I may not strip her naked and actually place her as in the day of her being born, and actually set her like a wilderness and place her like a waterless land and put her to death with thirst. And to her sons I shall not show mercy, for they are the sons of fornication. For their mother has committed fornication. She that was pregnant with them has acted shamefully, for she has said, ‘I want to go after those passionately loving me, those giving my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’”​—Hos. 2:1-5.

28. it will now be the course of obedience to back up Jehovah in what legal case before the universe, and so we shall approve of what action taken by him in the “great tribulation”?

²⁸ Obediently, then, let us back up Jehovah the Heavenly Husband as he carries on his legal case against Christendom, who hypocritically claims to be in covenant relationship with him as his wife. Let us point out before the Supreme Court of the universe that she is guilty of spiritual fornication, adultery, in making herself a friend of the world. (Jas. 4:4) She has gone after the prominent, influential, wealthy worldlings for them to satisfy her selfish, materialistic desires. Despite divine admonition she has stubbornly refused to put away her fornication from before her face and her adultery from between her breasts. Her religious children, her church members, are “sons of [spiritual] fornication.” We shall heartily approve of it when Jehovah has her destroyed in the “great tribulation.”

29. To whom should we make expressions of family relationship, and during what coming war may we hope for Jehovah’s further mercy?

²⁹ Let us feel a brotherhood with those whom we Scripturally recognize to be Jehovah’s people, of whom he says, “My people!” Let us feel a family relationship, like that of sisters, to the cleansed, faithful and true organization upon which Jehovah has shown mercy in this “time of the end” in this world’s history before the impending “great tribulation.” (Matt. 24:21, 22; Rev. 7:14) Let us recognize her as the modern Ruhamah and say to her, “O woman shown mercy!” (Hos. 2:1) For our sincerely doing this we may hope to experience Jehovah’s further mercy, when he displays it to his worthy ones at the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon.​—Rev. 16:14, 16.

(To be continued)

[Footnotes]