“They aroused my jealousy with a non-god
and provoked me with their vanities;
I will arouse their jealousy with a non-people
and provoke them with a vile nation.”
-Deuteronomy 32:21
Today we’re going to follow on the heels of what I talked about yesterday concerning AMMI (my-people) versus LO-AMMI (non-people) or to put it in more modern vernacular…
…“Jews” versus “Gentiles”.
I talked about how God would turn His people over to a non-people or a wicked gentile nation because they went whoring after other gods.
Let’s take a look at the Book of Hosea to see how this prophecy really happened.
Click HERE to read Hosea 1:1-2:3
Did you read it?
Good, now let me give you some basic historical background of what’s going on in these passages.
The prophet Hosea lived during the middle of the 8th B.C.
This was when Israel had been split into the Northern Kingdom and Southern Kingdom for a good 175-200 years by this point in time.
Interestingly, most English Bibles will refer to the Northern Kingdom as “Israel”.
However, that’s not quite correct.
To be more accurate, the Northern Kingdom was actually called “Ephraim” or “Ephraim-Israel” because Ephraim was the ruling tribe among the 10 Israelite tribes who were concentrated in the Northern region of Canaan.
On the other hand, the Southern Kingdom was referred to as Judah because among the two tribes who lived there (Benjamin and Judah) Judah had the upper hand because it was the much bigger and stronger tribe.
Now the Northern Kingdom (Ephraim-Israel) was a political and spiritual disaster of gargantuan proportions.
They had been ruled by one ungodly king after another who had each without exception led the people into wicked idolatry.
Things had gotten so bad that the population of the Northern Kingdom no longer wanted to be considered a chosen people.
Instead they wanted to be much like their uncircumcised gentile neighbors.
Read that last part again because it’s key to what I’m presenting to you in this article.
The 10 Tribes of the Northern Kingdom wanted to have their status changed from AMMI to LO-AMMI.
Fortunately, Judah was a bit better than their northern neighbors in this aspect.
The dynasty of King David continued to rule over the Southern Kingdom and for the most part they desired to remain a people set apart for the Lord despite their tendency to flirt with idolatry from time to time.
So here’s what’s really happening in these verses.
Hosea was warning Ephraim-Israel that if they didn’t repent and shape up, the Lord was going to bring about what He had warned in the Song of Moses.
And true to His word, we see this happen when God orders Hosea to marry a whore.
Why did God do this?
Because this was an illustration of how Ephraim-Israel while being married to the Lord played the whore with its gentile neighbors.
We’re then told how Hosea went on to produce three children with his whore-wife.
The first one was called YIZRE’EL meaning “God sows”.
The second child was LO-RUCHAMAH meaning “no pity” or “no mercy”.
And the third child was named LO-AMMI which as we already learned means “not my people”.
So what was God trying to say through the prophet Hosea when he commanded him to marry a whore and bear children each with shall we say quite distinctive names?
It’s simple.
God was prophesying to Hosea what He was going to do to the Northern Kingdom because they went a whoring after the gods of the gentiles.
First, He will YIZRE’EL or “sow calamity” among them.
Second, He will LO-RUCHAMAH or “show no mercy” to them.
Finally, He will turn His people over to a LO-AMMIM or “non-people”(gentiles) which will result in them actually becoming LO-AMMIM or gentiles themselves over the course of time.
To put it plain and simple, the 10 Tribes of Israel will lose their identity as God’s chosen people as a result of consorting with the gentiles.
And by golly jeez that’s exactly what happened when the Assyrian Empire swallowed up the 10 Tribes.
That’s right.
The Lord told the 10 Tribes…
…”Alright homies. I’ve had it with you! Do you really wanna be like those unclean, and uncircumcised and lawless gentiles? Well, your wish is my command! Here you go!”.
And then Hashem turned Ephraim-Israel over to a non-people where they became a LO-AMMI.
You know the saying “Be careful what you pray for because you just might get it”.
Quite applicable to this situation I would say.
However, the story doesn’t end there.
And this is bad news for all those folks in the church who secretly harbor anti-Semitic notions and still like to cling to the idea that the church has somehow replaced Israel.
Check out the opening verses from Hosea Chapter 2.
“Nevertheless, the people of Israel will number as many as the grains of sand by the sea, which cannot be measured or counted; so that the time will come when, instead of being told, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said to them, ‘You are the children of the living God.’ Then the people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together; they will appoint for themselves one leader; and they will go up out of the land; for that will be a great day, [the day] of Yizre‘el.”
Again, understand that “Israel” in the above verses is referring to Ephraim-Israel or the 10 Northern Tribes.
In these verses we’re told that God in order to protect His Holy Name is eventually going to have mercy on Ephraim-Israel and that He will transform them back from being a LO-AMMI (non-people) to AMMI (my people).
He will once again have RUCHAMAH or pity and mercy on the 10 Northern Tribes who He had dispersed and bring them back to their inheritance.
In fact, this is happening today as the government of modern Israel continues to airlift remnants from 10 tribes as they’re discovered back into the Promised Land.
If by chance you are really a Hebrew (not a Jew because a Jew only comes from the Tribe of Judah) and don’t know it, rest assured the Lord is gonna find you and restore you back to the status of AMMI or one of His chosen in his own good time.
He has promised He will do so in His Word.
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