Hosea 2:22

And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil,.... Or "answer" here the corn, and vines, and olive trees, are represented as requesting the earth to be let into it, and receive

And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. No JFB commentary on this verse.

In that day, when this new alliance is made, or in the day of gospel grace, I will hear: this general promise God gives us to encourage us to cry to him; he will so hear as to answer. Saith the Lord: this is the seal to the truth and certainty of the things promised. There is a subordination of causes, all second causes do in their ranks (like wheels in a curious engine) move as moved by the first great spring, and so contribute to the good of such as any way depend on them. Thus here, God, the first and universal cause, will influence the heavens, he will command their dew and showers; they would be as iron over us, if God did not command them to distil their drops on the earth; when this is dry, parched, and barren, it does as it were cry to the heavens for refreshing showers, for fruitful rains; when the seed sown, the vines and olives planted, are at a stand, take no rooting, they do as it were cry to the earth for its kindly influences and fatness, that they may spring up and yield fruit for Jezreel: which may call, and cry, and wait, but never be satisfied, if God do not hear them, and command his blessing of fructifying influences, which God here doth promise to his people on renewing covenant with them. God’ s seed, his gathered ones, his espoused church, shall be served to hey comfort by all the creatures. When disobedience, backslidings, idolatries, and such-like sins did provoke God to punish them with famine and scarcity; now their repentance and obedience shall be blessed with plenty, and God will set the frame of heaven and earth in due order to effect this, there shall be a harmony and correspondence between all subordinate causes moved by God the first great cause, whence expected events and fruits shall certainly be produced for their good and comfort.

Hosea 2:22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.Ver. 22. And the earth shall hear] That is, shall bear great store of grain, wine, and oil ( vinum pendulum, i.e. uvas). New and fresh oil the word signifies, newly expressed, clear and shining, such as is called golden oil, Zechariah 4:12. God’ s dear children shall have the best of the best, Isaiah 55:1-6. Even the kidneys of wheat, or whatsoever dainties the earth can afford them. They shall suck honey out of the rock; or, if it be but water, yet it shall be to them as sweet as honey, because therein they taste and see the Lord’ s goodness, and they have meat to eat that the world knows not of. And they shall hear Jezreel] That is, they shall answer the pains and prayers of God’ s people, who are here called Jezreel still (though the Septuagint read it Israel), not to upbraid them with their former wickedness and calamities thereby procured (which yet was the first reason of that name given them, Hosea 1:4), but rather to set forth the riches of his grace imparted to such a graceless people. And in addition to show that nothing could hinder them from partaking of those covenant mercies and that happy communion with God whereto they were now restored. This very name of theirs, once their shame, should now turn to their glory. Of Jezreel, scattered by God (which is one signification of the name), they should become Jezreel, a seed of God (which is another), that they might comfort themselves with the hope of Christ, the promised seed, and know that their posterity should not so degenerate into gentility, but that many of them should embrace Christ and inherit the promises, as did Araunah the Jebusite, who became a famous proselyte, Zechariah 9:7, and as Jether the Ishmeelite, 1 Chronicles 2:17, was for his faith and religion called an Israelite, 2 Samuel 17:25, and as Christ calleth himself Jesus of Nazareth, as a title of honour, which was once cast upon him as a reproach.

(21-23) Will hear.—More correctly, I will answer (the prayer of) the heavens. A sublime personification! Heaven pleads with Jehovah, the earth pleads with heaven, and the products of the soil plead with the earth. To all these prayers an answer is vouchsafed. Jehovah answers the heavens with the gifts of dew and rain, wherewith the heavens answer the cravings of the earth, and the earth the cravings of the corn, wine, and oil. And these last, in their turn, answer the wants of Jezreel, a name which, like Achor, is to be invested with brighter meanings. It is to represent a Divine seed—the people whom the Lord hath blessed. (See Stanley, Lectures on the Jewish Church, II. Series, Lecture 32 ad fin., where this idea is eloquently set forth.)

Verse 22. Shall hear the corn, and the wine] When they seem to express a desire to supply the wants of man. And they shall hear Jezreel.] The destitute people who are in want of the necessaries of life. This most elegant gradation in the exertion of the influences of nature, for the supply of the wants of man, may be considered thus:- 1. There is a concord, harmony, and mutual influence, which God has established in the parts of created nature, in reference to the support and preservation of the human race. 2. God alone is the author of all this; and unless he give his command, communicate his energetic influence to the different parts of nature, these effects will not, cannot be produced. 3. Jezreel, the people who have been dispersed for their iniquities, and now about to be sown or planted in their own land, will require the most fostering care. See on Hosea 2:23. 4. They are heard in desiring oil, wine, and corn. These are necessary to the support and comfort of life; and to those the desire of animal life naturally aspires. 5. These products are looked for from the EARTH. On it, and by it, grass grows for the cattle, and corn for the service of man. 6, The seeds or germs, whence proceed corn, wine, and oil, live and grow in the earth; but cannot come to perfection, unless the earth be impregnated with the dews and rains from the clouds. They are therefore represented as imploring the heavens to collect their clouds, to pour down their fructifying moisture upon it. 7. The clouds, or materials of which they are composed, not being able to arrange themselves, nor aggregate themselves so as to meet those demands, prevent drought, and maintain an effective vegetation, are represented as calling upon the heavens to form, arrange, and supply them with the requisite quantity of moisture. 8. God, who is the author of all being and all bounty, dependent on nothing, comes forward and says, I will hear the heavens, the clouds which are gathered in the atmosphere; he will arrange the particles, saturate those that are light, till they become sufficiently impregnated with the necessary fluid; and then direct them In his providence where to deposit their contents. And, 9. When brought to the proper place, he will shake them with his winds, or strike them with his thunder, so as to cause them to fall down in drops to fertilize the earth with their showers. Thus then - 1. God works upon the heavens. 2. In them the clouds are collected. 3. The clouds drop their moisture upon the earth. 4. The earth exerts its vegetative influence upon the germs which it contains. 5. They expand, increase, and become matured, under the genial influences of the heavens, sun, air, water, from the clouds, c. 6. Man receives and applies those bounties of Providence, and variously prepares them for the support and comfort of life.

14–23. And now the notes of threatening are dying away; bright and glorious days are announced for both sections of the nation. There shall be a second Exodus; no more idolatry; no more war; no. cloud upon Israel’s relation to her God. (Notice in passing the limitations of this stage of religious knowledge; the Messianic hope is as yet confined entirely to the people of Israel.)

18-23. Picture of the ideal future to be realized by the restored wife. Hosea 2:18 speaks of permanent peace, undisturbed by man and beast.