1. Hosea 2:19 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

How does marriage (betrothal) relate to covenant?

Hosea 2:19 (ESV)

19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy.

Hosea 2:19–20 is a unit, with the marriage metaphor clearly emphasized through the threefold repetition of the verb betroth.1 This language or metaphor brings the reader back to Hosea 2:2, when God said, she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Therefore similarly to the reversal of the children’s names (Hosea 2:1, Hosea 2:23), having delivered a damning case against Israel, it appeared that their covenant relationship (or marriage) to God was going to end (in divorce), but God reaffirms his unwavering commitment to them, taking the gracious initiative to renew his covenant relationship with them. The marriage metaphor powerfully illustrates this. It is God who heals the rift between himself and his wayward, adulterous wife through remarriage. Thus, the image shows God unilaterally binding Israel to himself as he both takes the initiative and pays the cost to redeem his people.2