Hosea 2:11

Sometimes I have encountered people who have used passages as this one in Hosea to teach that the feasts of Yahweh, mentioned primarily in Leviticus 23, should not be observed under the New Covenant. Usually this verse is quoted, and then it is explained that this was a prophecy which spoke of a future time when Yahweh would place an end to these celebrations. The future time given by such interpreters is the time after the cross of Christ.

Sometimes, I am really amazed at the quality of study, or should I say lack of quality, that people put into texts of Scripture. I do not think that the intent of the prophet Hosea here is that difficult to ascertain, that is, if we read Hosea 2:11 in context of at least chapters 1-3 and even more so in the context of the entire prophetic work.

Hosea 1:1 tells us that Hosea was given a word of Yahweh during the reigns of certain kings in Judah and Israel, and in reading chapter 1 we find that Israel is likened to a promiscuous woman.

When Yahweh first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him: Go and marry a promiscuous wife and [have] children of promiscuity, for the whole land has been promiscuous by abandoning Yahweh. (Hosea 1:2 HCSB)

Here Yahweh basically setting the seen for the house of Israel to actually, physically see what they are doing to Yahweh. Israel was Yahweh's symbolic bride at the time, but Yahweh was so fed up with her going after other lovers that he was going to divorce the house of Israel and send them off into captivity.

Notice Hosea chapter 2. Yahweh begins by saying that Israel is not His wife, and He is not her husband. He orders her to remove the whorish look from her face, and the adultery from between her breast. Here, Yahweh uses such graphic language to reveal the seriousness of the transgression of His people. He had promised and given to Israel many blessings, yet she played the harlot and sought after other gods, which in reality were no mighty ones.

...their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them shamefully. For she thought: I will go after my lovers, the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink. (Hosea 2:5 HCSB)

When we read verses 6-10 we find that because of the actions of His beloved bride Yahweh would send strong calamity and cursing. This includes blocking her way with thorns and enclosing her with a wall (vs. 6), and taking back the grain, new wine, and oil that He had blessed her with (vs. 9). He would also remove the fine wool and linen that covered her nakedness, leaving her naked, cold, and ashamed in the sight of her lovers (vs. 9-10). Among all these curses came yet another, and this was the removal of her celebrations which she had been blessed with and enjoyed so much: the feasts, new moons, and sabbaths (vs. 11).

Yahweh is telling Israel that because she has played the harlot, He will remove the good and pleasant things He has given, including the festivals she enjoyed. Yahweh's removal of these festivals was a curse upon the people, seeing that they did not deserve to celebrate them, enjoying the blessings of fellowship with brethren, singing to Yahweh, and time off from laboring.

Yahweh surely did this very thing by sending the house of Israel into Assyrian captivity, causing the festivals to cease in Israel. These same festivals ceased for the nation of Judah as well, whilst in Babylonian captivity, yet they were restored during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The true meaning of the text, in context, is that when Israel played the harlot, Yahweh took many things away from her which she once enjoyed. Grain, wine, oil, figs, jewels, wool, linen, beauty, and all the joyous festivals. All of these were precious gifts of her husband, but she left this husband, so He made her like a deserted, parched land (Hosea 2:3). 

Nothing in the context leads to the conclusion that Yahweh has removed the feasts, new moons, and sabbaths from New Covenant worship.

Matthew Janzen