Haftarah BeMidbar
Haftarah BeMidbar
Hosea 2:1-22
This is one of those passages where there is a fairly obvious discrepancy between the Hebrew Bible and English versions, so I have used the JPS translation here to cover all the bases.
Hos 1:10 (2:1) Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass that, instead of that which was said unto them: ‘Ye are not My people’, it shall be said unto them: ‘Ye are the children of the living El.’
The ones who are said to be “not my people” are 10-Israel. Yehudah was never said to be “not my people.” Yehudah has been recognized as “the chosen people” ever since the Exodus. It’s a shame they have spent much of that time, however, engaged in such blatant chillul Hashem.
Hosea, continued:
Hos 1:11 (2:2) And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up out of the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel.
In the Day of Jezreel – that is, the day of the Battle of Armageddon, which ends on Tishri 10th, Yom Kippur, Yehudah and Israel will finally be reunited under one leader – King Messiah ben David.
Hoshea, continued:
Hos 2:1 (2:3) Say ye unto your brethren: ‘Ammi’; and to your sisters, ‘Ruhamah.’
“Ammi” means “My People” and “Ruhamah” means “those receiving compassion.”
Hosea, continued:
Hos 2:2 (2:4) Plead with your mother, plead; for she is not My wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her harlotries from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
Isaiah sets the scene of 10-Israel’s divorce:
Isa 49:1 Listen, O isles, unto me, and hearken, ye peoples, from far: YHWH hath called me from the womb, from the bowels of my mother hath He made mention of my name;
Isa 49:2 And He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me; and He hath made me a polished shaft, in His quiver hath He concealed me;
Isa 49:3 And He said unto me: ‘Thou art My servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’
Isa 49:4 But I said: ‘I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and vanity; yet surely my right is with YHWH, and my recompense with my Elohim.’
Isa 49:5 And now saith YHWH that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, and that Israel be gathered unto Him – for I am honourable in the eyes of YHWH, and my Elohim is become my strength -
Isa 49:6 Yea, He saith: ‘It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the offspring of Israel; I will also give thee for a light of the nations, that My salvation may be unto the end of the earth.’
Isa 49:7 Thus saith YHWH, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to him who is despised of men, to him who is abhorred of nations, to a servant of rulers: Kings shall see and arise, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves; because of YHWH that is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee.
Isa 49:8 Thus saith YHWH: In an acceptable time have I answered thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
Isa 49:9 Saying to the prisoners: ‘Go forth’; to them that are in darkness: ‘Show yourselves’; they shall feed in the ways, and in all high hills shall be their pasture;
Isa 49:10 They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; for He that hath compassion on them will lead them, even by the springs of water will He guide them.
Isa 49:11 And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be raised on high.
Isa 49:12 Behold, these shall come from far; and, lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Sinim.
Isa 49:13 Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing, O mountains; for YHWH hath comforted His people, and hath compassion upon His afflicted.
Isa 49:14 But Zion said: YHWH hath forsaken me, and Adonai hath forgotten me.’
Isa 49:15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, these may forget, yet will not I forget thee…
Isa 49:22 Thus saith Adonai YHWH: Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and set up Mine ensign to the peoples, and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders…
Isa 50:1 Thus saith YHWH: Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, wherewith I have put her away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were ye sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.
Isa 50:2 Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish become foul, because there is no water, and die for thirst…
Hoshea continues:
Hos 2:3 (2:5) Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
Hos 2:4 (2:6) And I will not have compassion upon her children; for they are children of harlotry.
Hos 2:5 (2:7) For their mother hath played the harlot, she that conceived them hath done shamefully; for she said: ‘I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.’
This is a metaphor for chasing after false religions, such as Roman Catholicism and the protestant offshoots of it that teach Torahlessness, and other pagan faiths.
Hosea, continued:
Hos 2:6 (2:8) Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and I will make a wall against her, that she shall not find her paths.
Hos 2:7 (2:9) And she shall run after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them, and she shall seek them, but shall not find them; then shall she say: ‘I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.‘
When paganism fails 10-Israel, people will begin to return to Torah True observance (and faith in Yeshua as Messiah). That is what is beginning to happen right now.
Hosea, continued:
Hos 2:8 (2:10) For she did not know that it was I that gave her the corn, and the wine, and the oil, and multiplied unto her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.
Hos 2:9 (2:11) Therefore will I take back My corn in the time thereof, and My wine in the season thereof, and will snatch away My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness.
Hos 2:10 (2:12) And now will I uncover her shame in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of My hand.
Hos 2:11 (2:13) I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feasts, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her appointed seasons.
10-Israel will be so engulfed in paganism she will lose (that is, forget) all of YHWH’s festivals and feasts – this has obviously already happened. (Yehudah, meanwhile, has “Redefined” them and refuses to observe them on the correct days.)
Hosea, continued:
Hos 2:12 (2:14) And I will lay waste her vines and her fig-trees, whereof she hath said: ‘These are my hire that my lovers have given me’; and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
Hos 2:13 (2:15) And I will visit upon her the days of the Baalim, wherein she offered unto them, and decked herself with her ear-rings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot Me, saith YHWH.
This is “the time of visitation,” spoken of by Yeshua and the Prophets – the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, the Great Tribulation. 10-Israel will be “visited” by 144,000 Israelite youths, the Two Witnesses, and countless people who convert to belief in Yeshua and Torah True observance during the Tribulation – all of whom will try and teach errant 10-Israel the truth. But if that fails, then they will be “visited” by Elohim’s wrath.
Hosea, continued:
Hos 2:14 (2:16) Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly unto her.
Hos 2:15 (2:17) And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
The sheep hear their Shephard’s voice. The goats don’t.
Hosea, continued:
Hos 2:16 (2:18) And it shall be at that day, saith YHWH, that thou shalt call Me Ishi, and shalt call Me no more Baali.
“Ishi” means “My Husband,” and “baali” means “My Lord.” Almost all English Bibles substitute “lord” for the proper names of YHWH Elohim. We should not use those substitutes.
Hosea, continued:
Hos 2:17 (2:19) For I will take away the names of the Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be mentioned by their name.
A double prophecy – the names of pagan “gods” and the false names people attempt to give the true Elohim. Among those unauthorized names that are not going to be used is the name “Jesus.”
Hosea, continued:
Hos 2:18 (2:20) And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground; and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the land, and will make them to lie down safely.
Hos 2:19 (2:21) And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in justice, and in lovingkindness, and in compassion.
Hos 2:20 (2:22) And I will betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know YHWH.
Hos 2:21 (2:23) And it shall come to pass in that day, I will respond, saith YHWH, I will respond to the heavens, and they shall respond to the earth;
Hos 2:22 (2:24) And the earth shall respond to the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall respond to Jezreel.
Hos 2:23 (2:25) And I will sow her unto Me in the land; and I will have compassion upon her that had not obtained compassion; and I will say to them that were not My people: ‘Thou art My people’; and they shall say: ‘Thou art my Elohim.’
The re-unification of the 12 Tribes and the new mixed multitude (righteous gentiles) into the Millennial Kingdom.
Next: Talmidim BeMidbar.
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