◄ Hosea 2:17 ►
For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.
Study Bible
For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals;

This phrase signifies God's intention to purify Israel from idolatry. The "Baals" refer to the various local deities worshiped in Canaan, often associated with fertility and agriculture. The worship of Baal was a significant issue in Israel, leading to spiritual adultery against Yahweh. This removal indicates a cleansing process, where God seeks to restore Israel's faithfulness to Him alone. The act of removing these names symbolizes a deeper transformation of heart and allegiance. In biblical context, this reflects the first commandment (Exodus 20:3) and the call to exclusive worship of Yahweh. The removal of Baal worship is also a prophetic act pointing to a future time of spiritual renewal and purity, aligning with the New Covenant promises found in Jeremiah 31:33, where God writes His law on the hearts of His people.

Exo 23:13 Pay close attention to everything I have said to you.…
Jos 23:7 So you are not to associate with these nations that remain…
Psa 16:4 Sorrows will multiply to those who chase other gods.…

no longer will their names be invoked.

This phrase emphasizes the complete eradication of Baal worship from Israel's practices. To "invoke" a name in ancient times was to call upon a deity for help, blessing, or guidance, indicating a relationship or dependency. By stating that these names will no longer be invoked, God is declaring an end to Israel's reliance on false gods. This reflects a return to covenant faithfulness, where Israel will call upon the name of the Lord alone (Joel 2:32). Theologically, this points to the exclusivity of worship due to God and foreshadows the ultimate fulfillment in Christ, who is the mediator of a new and better covenant (Hebrews 8:6). The eradication of idolatry is a theme that resonates throughout the prophetic literature, highlighting God's desire for a pure and devoted relationship with His people.

Zec 13:2 And on that day, declares the LORD of Hosts…
Deu 12:3 Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars,…
Zep 1:4 I will stretch out My hand against Judah…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Hosea
A prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the 8th century BC. His life and message were a reflection of God's relationship with Israel.

2. Israel
The Northern Kingdom, often depicted as an unfaithful wife in Hosea's prophecies, symbolizing the nation's idolatry and spiritual adultery.

3. Baals
Canaanite deities that Israel frequently worshipped, representing fertility and nature. Their worship was a significant source of Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness.

4. God (Yahweh)
The one true God, who desires a covenant relationship with Israel, characterized by faithfulness and love.

5. Covenant Renewal
The event or process where God promises to restore Israel, removing idolatry and renewing their relationship with Him.
Teaching Points
Idolatry's Deception
Idolatry is not just the worship of physical idols but anything that takes the place of God in our hearts. We must examine our lives for modern "Baals" that distract us from true worship.

God's Jealous Love
God's desire to remove the names of the Baals from Israel's lips reflects His jealous love. He wants an exclusive relationship with us, free from competing affections.

Covenant Faithfulness
Just as God sought to renew His covenant with Israel, He calls us to faithfulness in our relationship with Him. This involves repentance and a commitment to His ways.

Transformation of Speech
The removal of Baal's names signifies a transformation in what we speak and value. Our words should reflect our devotion to God and His truth.

Hope of Restoration
Despite Israel's unfaithfulness, God promises restoration. This gives us hope that no matter how far we stray, God is willing to restore us if we return to Him.
Bible Study Questions
1. What are some modern "Baals" that can distract us from our relationship with God, and how can we identify them in our lives?

2. How does the concept of God's jealous love challenge or encourage you in your personal walk with Him?

3. In what ways can we ensure that our speech and actions reflect our commitment to God, as seen in the transformation described in Hosea 2:17?

4. How does the promise of covenant renewal in Hosea relate to the new covenant described in Jeremiah 31:31-34, and what does this mean for us today?

5. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's restorative power in your life. How can this experience encourage others who may be struggling with spiritual unfaithfulness?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Exodus 20:3-5
The commandment against idolatry, emphasizing God's desire for exclusive worship and the prohibition of other gods.

Jeremiah 31:31-34
The promise of a new covenant, where God writes His law on the hearts of His people, reflecting a deeper, internal transformation.

1 Kings 18:21
Elijah's challenge to Israel to choose between Yahweh and Baal, highlighting the ongoing struggle with idolatry.

Revelation 2:14
The warning to the church about the dangers of idolatry and compromise, showing the timeless relevance of Hosea's message.
Sermons
AllurementJ. Orr Hosea 2:14-18
Israel's RestorationC. Jerdan Hosea 2:14-20
People
Hosea, Ishi, Jezreel, Zephaniah
Places
Egypt, Jezreel, Valley of Achor
Topics
Aside, Baalim, Baals, Ba'als, Invoked, Lips, Longer, Lords, Mentioned, Mouth, Names, Remembered, Remove
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Hosea 2:17

     5164   lips

Hosea 2:14-20

     1085   God, love of
     6730   reinstatement

Hosea 2:16-20

     5717   monogamy

Library
The Valley of Achor
'I will give her ... the valley of Achor for a door of hope.'--HOSEA II. 15. The Prophet Hosea is remarkable for the frequent use which he makes of events in the former history of his people. Their past seems to him a mirror in which they may read their future. He believes that 'which is to be hath already been,' the great principles of the divine government living on through all the ages, and issuing in similar acts when the circumstances are similar. So he foretells that there will yet be once …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Unknown Giver and the Misused Gifts
"For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal. Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax."--Hosea 2:8-9. In reading any of the records concerning the people of Israel and the people of Judah, one stands amazed at two things, and scarcely knows which to wonder at most. The first thing which causes astonishment is the great …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892

27TH DAY. Everlasting Espousals.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever."--HOSEA ii. 19. Everlasting Espousals. How wondrous and varied are the figures which Jesus employs to express the tenderness of His covenant love! My soul! thy Saviour-God hath "married thee!" Wouldst thou know the hour of thy betrothment? Go back into the depths of a by-past eternity, before the world was; then and there, thine espousals were contracted: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." Soon shall the bridal-hour …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

"I Know, O Lord, that Thy Judgments are Right, and that Thou in Faithfulness Hast Afflicted Me. " -- Psalm 119:75.
"I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there." -- Hosea 2:14,15. "I know, O Lord, that Thy judgments are right, and that Thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." -- Psalm 119:75. I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength -- Thee shall my rescued heart embrace; Thy love, in all its breadth and length, Shall be my peaceful dwelling place. Whom have …
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations

The Secret of his Pavilion
Gerhard Ter Steegen Hos. ii. 14 Allured into the desert, with God alone, apart, There spirit meeteth spirit, there speaketh heart to heart. Far, far on that untrodden shore, God's secret place I find, Alone I pass the golden door, the dearest left behind. There God and I--none other; oh far from men to be! Nay, midst the crowd and tumult, still, Lord, alone with Thee. Still folded close upon Thy breast, in field, and mart, and street, Untroubled in that perfect rest, that isolation sweet. O God, …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

And After. (xxx, xxxi, xxxix-Xliv. )
There are two separated accounts of what befel Jeremiah when the city was taken. Ch. XXXIX. 3, 14 tells us that he was fetched from the guard-court by Babylonian officers,(609) and given to Gedaliah, the son of his old befriender Ahikam, to be taken home.(610) At last!--but for only a brief interval in the life of this homeless and harried man. When a few months later Nebusaradan arrived on his mission to burn the city and deport the inhabitants Jeremiah is said by Ch. XL to have been carried off …
George Adam Smith—Jeremiah

And that this Race was to Become an Holy People was Declared in the Twelve...
And that this race was to become an holy people was declared in the Twelve Prophets [283] by Hosea, thus: I will call that which was not (my) people, my people; and her that was not beloved, beloved. It shall come to pass that in the place where it was called not my people, there shall they be called sons of the Living God. (Hos. ii. 23, i. 10) This also is that which was said by John the Baptist: That God is able of these stones to raise up sons to Abraham. For our hearts being withdrawn and taken …
Irenæus—The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching

Entire Sanctification in Prophecy.
The Major Prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The twelve prophetic books in the Old Testament following the book of Daniel are called the Minor Prophets. In the writings of both classes we find many allusions and predictions as to the entire sanctification of believers in the gospel dispensation and under the reign of Messiah or Christ. The sixth chapter of Isaiah is usually regarded as his call to the prophetic office. Whether this be so or not, it records a very wonderful experience …
Dougan Clark—The Theology of Holiness

The Prophecy of Obadiah.
We need not enter into details regarding the question as to the time when the prophet wrote. By a thorough argumentation, Caspari has proved, that he occupies his right position in the Canon, and hence belongs to the earliest age of written prophecy, i.e., to the time of Jeroboam II. and Uzziah. As bearing conclusively against those who would assign to him a far later date, viz., the time of the exile, there is not only the indirect testimony borne by the place which this prophecy occupies in …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Controversy Concerning Fasting
"And John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they come and say unto Him, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but Thy disciples fast not?" MARK 2:18 (R.V.) THE Pharisees had just complained to the disciples that Jesus ate and drank in questionable company. Now they join with the followers of the ascetic Baptist in complaining to Jesus that His disciples eat and drink at improper seasons, when others fast. And as Jesus had then replied, that being a Physician, …
G. A. Chadwick—The Gospel of St. Mark

'Fruit which is Death'
'Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. 2. Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: He shall break down their altars, He shall spoil their images. 3. For now they shall say, We have no king, because we feared not the Lord; what then should a king do to us? 4. They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Wilderness State
"Ye now have sorrow: But I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." John 16:22. 1. After God had wrought a great deliverance for Israel, by bringing them out of the house of bondage, they did not immediately enter into the land which he had promised to their fathers; but "wandered out of the way in the wilderness," and were variously tempted and distressed. In like manner, after God has delivered them that fear him from the bondage of sin and Satan; …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

How the Rude in Sacred Learning, and those who are Learned but not Humble, are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 25.) Differently to be admonished are those who do not understand aright the words of the sacred Law, and those who understand them indeed aright, but speak them not humbly. For those who understand not aright the words of sacred Law are to be admonished to consider that they turn for themselves a most wholesome drought of wine into a cup of poison, and with a medicinal knife inflict on themselves a mortal wound, when they destroy in themselves what was sound by that whereby they ought, …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Of Inward Silence
Of Inward Silence "The Lord is in His Holy Temple, let all the earth keep silence before him" (Hab. ii. 20). Inward silence is absolutely indispensable, because the Word is essential and eternal, and necessarily requires dispositions in the soul in some degree correspondent to His nature, as a capacity for the reception of Himself. Hearing is a sense formed to receive sounds, and is rather passive than active, admitting, but not communicating sensation; and if we would hear, we must lend the ear …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

"Thou Shalt Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother. "
From this Commandment we learn that after the excellent works of the first three Commandments there are no better works than to obey and serve all those who are set over us as superiors. For this reason also disobedience is a greater sin than murder, unchastity, theft and dishonesty, and all that these may include. For we can in no better way learn how to distinguish between greater and lesser sins than by noting the order of the Commandments of God, although there are distinctions also within the …
Dr. Martin Luther—A Treatise on Good Works

Nature of Covenanting.
A covenant is a mutual voluntary compact between two parties on given terms or conditions. It may be made between superiors and inferiors, or between equals. The sentiment that a covenant can be made only between parties respectively independent of one another is inconsistent with the testimony of Scripture. Parties to covenants in a great variety of relative circumstances, are there introduced. There, covenant relations among men are represented as obtaining not merely between nation and nation, …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Of Rest in the Presence of God --Its Fruits --Inward Silence --God Commands it --Outward Silence.
The soul, being brought to this place, needs no other preparation than that of repose: for the presence of God during the day, which is the great result of prayer, or rather prayer itself, begins to be intuitive and almost continual. The soul is conscious of a deep inward happiness, and feels that God is in it more truly than it is in itself. It has only one thing to do in order to find God, which is to retire within itself. As soon as the eyes are closed, it finds itself in prayer. It is astonished …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

The Beginning of Justification. In what Sense Progressive.
1. Men either idolatrous, profane, hypocritical, or regenerate. 1. Idolaters void of righteousness, full of unrighteousness, and hence in the sight of God altogether wretched and undone. 2. Still a great difference in the characters of men. This difference manifested. 1. In the gifts of God. 2. In the distinction between honorable and base. 3. In the blessings of he present life. 3. All human virtue, how praiseworthy soever it may appear, is corrupted. 1. By impurity of heart. 2. By the absence of …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

The Gospel Feast
"When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat?"--John vi. 5. After these words the Evangelist adds, "And this He said to prove him, for He Himself knew what He would do." Thus, you see, our Lord had secret meanings when He spoke, and did not bring forth openly all His divine sense at once. He knew what He was about to do from the first, but He wished to lead forward His disciples, and to arrest and …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VII

The Worst Things Work for Good to the Godly
DO not mistake me, I do not say that of their own nature the worst things are good, for they are a fruit of the curse; but though they are naturally evil, yet the wise overruling hand of God disposing and sanctifying them, they are morally good. As the elements, though of contrary qualities, yet God has so tempered them, that they all work in a harmonious manner for the good of the universe. Or as in a watch, the wheels seem to move contrary one to another, but all carry on the motions of the watch: …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

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