"Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God." - Hosea 1:6-7
The second son born to Gomer and the third child born during Hosea's marriage.
Basics
- Grandfathers: Beeri, Diblaim (Hosea 1:1,3) (inferred)
- Father: Hosea, the son of Beeri (Hosea 1:1)
- Mother: Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim (Hosea 1:3)
- Brother: Jezreel (Hosea 1:4)
- Sister: No Mercy (Hosea 1:6)
Hosea's ministry
His legitimacy
Scripture distinguishes that Jezreel was born to Hosea, while his siblings No Mercy and Not My People were merely "born," so perhaps Jezreel is the only biological child Hosea had. (Hosea 1:3,6,8)
His name
The Lord gave him his name. "Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God." Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God." And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be fathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. (Hosea 1:8-11)
The Lord named him to negate Israel as His people. Yet Israel's whoredom has not negated His promise that Israel shall multiply like the sand of the sea.
(The ESV Study BibleTM, English Standard Version (ESV) by Crossway Bibles, 2007. Page 1624)
Gomer must repent her adultery
When Hosea threatens his wife with divorce, he says, "Say to your brothers, 'You are my people,'" and to plead with their mother to put away her whoring from her face and her adultery from between her breasts. He warns them he will have no mercy on children of whoredom who were conceived through shameful actions.
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, "You are not my people," it shall be said to them, "Children of the living God." And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel. (Hosea 1:8-11)
A new covenant
And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.' For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 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. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
And in that day, I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.'