Chapter 2 opens with God, like an aggrieved husband, at the court filing charges for divorce. He says, ″Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband″ (Hosea 2:2).

Why is He so angry? We see how far things have deteriorated between God and His people in verses 3-4. Note how strongly God feels and speaks. This is no small thing.

Yet look at what Israel said: ″I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink″ (v. 5). She thought she had got all she had by her cleverness in pursuing other gods (like Baal), but in verses 9-13 God says, ″That's where you're wrong!″ These things weren't Israel's but God's. He had given them the prosperity that they now enjoyed out of His love, and He could just as easily take it away.

God laments, ″She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold-which they used for Baal″ (v. 8). Can you hear the pain as God speaks? Like a husband who has given a keepsake to his wife only to discover that she has given it to another man, God feels cheated by His people, who had turned to foreign gods. No wonder He cannot bring himself to speak directly to His wife (vv. 2-4).

God had gone to great lengths to rescue His people, protect them, and provide for them. Under King Jeroboam II, they had become very rich. Yet Israel ″decked herself with rings and jewellery, and went after her lovers″, forgetting the Lord (v. 13). That's the danger of material prosperity. Moses had warned of this in Deuteronomy 8:10-14, 18-19. When we enjoy material comforts, it's easy to think that we're in control and that we don't need God anymore.

So God issues His people a final warning in verses 2-3. Essentially, He says: ″Stop being unfaithful or I will take everything from you.″ It is a stark warning that we ignore at our peril.

Heavenly Father, show me where in my life I have forgotten you. Help me to turn from that attitude. In your mercy, amen.