The Lost Israelites identified and warned by the Prophet Hosea (15 May 2016, 7 Iyar, 5776)
Hosea: A Few Highlights from the Book of Hosea.
Hosea describes the exiled Ten Tribes as Children of Gomer. The name Gomer meant the Cimmerians.
These three sons of Gomer (i.e. Cimmerians) represent three sections of the exiled 10 tribes who will link up with European Nations. They do not represent Judah who is separately spoken of (1:7).
Hosea 1:
7 But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses or horsemen.
Much of Hosea is directed expressly to the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.
The Lost Tribes of Israel will be rejected, then accepted (1:10) (Yebamot 17), (2:23). They will be extremely numerous (1:10).
Hosea 1:
10 Yet the number of the sons of Israel
Will be like the sand of the sea,
Which cannot be measured or numbered;
And in the place
Where it is said to them,
You are not My people,
It will be said to them,
You are the sons of the living God.
Hosea 2:
23 I will sow her for Myself in the land.
I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion,
And I will say to those who were not My people,
You are My people!
And they will say, You are my God!
The Ten Tribes will have worshipped the baal (2:8, 2:13).
Hosea 2:
8 For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil,
And lavished on her silver and gold,
Which they used for Baal.
13 I will punish her for the days of the Baals
When she used to [h]offer sacrifices to them
And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me, declares the LORD.
The Celts in Britain and Gaul worshipped bel i.e. the baaal.
Righteousness, judgment, lovingkindness, and mercy are required of us (2:19).
Hosea 2:
19 I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,
In lovingkindness and in compassion,
20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.
Then you will know the LORD.
The Lost Ten Tribes must Return to God, to Jerusalem [reconciliation with Judah], and to the Kingdom of David (3:5).
Hosea 3:
5 Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.
Ephraim represents all of the northern Lost Ten Tribes of Israel as well as the specific tribe of Ephraim.
Ephraim will have brough forth "strange children" (5:7).
Hosea 5:
They have dealt treacherously against the LORD,
For they have borne illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them with their land.
This means they will have intermarried with non-Israelites and their identity will not be clear.
Gilead and Schechem (representing the USA) were known for their murderers and violence (6:8).
Hosea 6:
Gilead is a city of wrongdoers,
Tracked with bloody footprints.
9 And as raiders wait for a man,
So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem;
Surely they have committed crime.
10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
Ephraim's harlotry is there, Israel has defiled itself.
11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you,
When I restore the fortunes of My people.
Judah will be preparing the foundations of the Land for all the Tribes to Return (Hosea 6:11).
Hosea 6:
11 Also, O Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you,
When I restore the fortunes of My people.
The Exiles will return from the West (11:10).
Hosea 11:
10 They will walk after the LORD,
He will roar like a lion;
Indeed He will roar
And His sons will come trembling from the west.
11 They will come trembling like birds from Egypt
And like doves from the land of Assyria;
And I will settle them in their houses, declares the LORD.
Judah will have remained faithful (11:14).
Hosea 11: (NASB Incorrect)
Ephraim surrounds Me with lies
And the house of Israel with deceit;
Judah is also unruly against God,
Even against the Holy One who is faithful.
This should be rendered as:
Judah still rules with God
and is faithful to the saints.
Hosea 11: (KJV correct)
12 Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.
Ephraim is described as a cheating merchant (12:7).
Hosea 11: (NASB correct)
A merchant, in whose hands are false balances,
He loves to oppress.
8 And Ephraim said, Surely I have become rich,
I have found wealth for myself;
In all my labors they will find in me
No iniquity, which would be sin.
cf. Terms applied to Britain, "Nation of shopkeepers", "Perfidious Albion". cf. The USA the greatest Capitalist nation on earth.
Ephraim is a merchant (12:7).
Ephraim mistakenly puts his trust in Assyria and other "lovers".
Association with Machmad (i.e. Islam) (Mohamot) augurs not well for Ephraim and is liable to bring disaster due to Muslim terrorists (Hosea 9:1).
The overall message of Hosea is rejection of Ephraim by the Almighty followed by a reconciliations. This applies to all the Lost Ten Tribes and also to Judah.
Israel will return unto God and be blessed once again (chapter 14).
Hosea 14 The Ten Tribes need to repent and then God will have mercy on us.
Hosea 14: (NASB correct)
1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God,
For you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take words with you and return to the LORD.
Say to Him, Take away all iniquity
And receive us graciously,
That we may present the fruit of our lips.
3 Assyria will not save us,
We will not ride on horses;
Nor will we say again, Our god,
To the work of our hands;
For in You the orphan finds mercy.
4 I will heal their apostasy,
I will love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from them.
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
He will blossom like the lily,
And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
6 His shoots will sprout,
And his [h]beauty will be like the olive tree
And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
7 Those who live in his shadow
Will again raise grain,
And they will blossom like the vine.
His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?
It is I who answer and look after you.
I am like a luxuriant cypress;
From Me comes your fruit.
9 Whoever is wise, let him understand these things;
Whoever is discerning, let him know them.
For the ways of the LORD are right,
And the righteous will walk in them,
But transgressors will stumble in them.