In Hosea 2:3 taking Israel into the wilderness was understood as a threat to remove all the blessings she enjoyed in the land. It was a form of punishment that fitted the crime of her idolatrous affair. Seeking fertile abundance from the Baals, she would be met with scarcity and lack. But in Hosea 2:14 the Lord is inviting Israel into the wilderness with the purpose of bringing her to her senses. It is, if you like, the return to their honeymoon days (Jeremiah 2:2). The wilderness was where the Mosaic covenant was made between God and his new bride. It takes them back to a life lived in modest, thankful dependence on God’s sustaining grace. In her discontented pursuit of riches, Israel is a long way away from the matrimonial devotion of her youth.¹