Continuing in Hosea...
Hosea 2:1-23
1 Say ye unto your brethren, Ammi; and to your sisters, Ruhamah.
Ammi means 'my people' and Ruhamah means 'loved', and is applied to the house of Judah at Jerusalem that was still faithful then. In Hosea 1 God was still in favor with the house of Judah at Jerusalem, but determined to end the northern kingdom of the house of Israel for its false idol worship (put as Loruhamah and Loammi). This is a Message for the house of Israel (ten tribes) to plead with her mother (Israel). It's important to keep the symbolic names from Hosea 1 in mind while reading this.
2 Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not My wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, "I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink."
God is speaking this to the house of Israel, the northern kingdom of ten tribes with its capital city at Samaria in the northern lands of Israel. It's about the golden calf idol worship that Jeroboam first setup in Bethel and Dan (1 Kings 12-13). The later kings of Israel over the ten tribes kept continuing in it, king Jehu even following God's command to destroy the family of Ahab and Jezebel, and her Baal prophets in Israel, but still allowing the old gold calf worship that king Jeroboam originally setup in 1 Kings 12. God uses the idea of the house of Israel as a spiritual harlot, going after Baal worship as a prostitute goes after her lovers. They considered their increase came from that, instead of from God, and forgot Him.
6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
This is about God scattering the ten tribes out of the lands of Israel. Eventually, He would bring the kings of Assyria upon them and scatter them to the land of the Medes. The king of Assyria would then place peoples from Babylon in the land in their stead, which became the later Samaritans. God would give the ten tribes to follow after her lovers in Baal worship, and hedge up her paths after scattering so she wouldn't find her way back to her origins. This is where the idea of the ten tribes becoming 'lost' comes from. When the ten tribes of Israel were taken captive to Assyria and the land of the Medes, she became lost, taking on customs of false worship and names of the nations. After a while, she would seek to return, but not find her way back. But per Amos 9 we know God knows... where He scattered the ten tribes to.
8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
9 Therefore will I return, and take away My corn in the time thereof, and My wine in the season thereof, and will recover My wool and My flax given to cover her nakedness.
The house of Israel (ten tribes) didn't recognize that her corn and wine and oil came from God's blessings, and not from Baal worship. So can you imagine how God felt about the ten tribes recognizing Baal instead of Him? This is why God said He gave the ten tribes a "bill of divorce" (Jer.3). Thus the house of Israel's nakedness was exposed to those captive over her, and the curses God mentioned in Deut.4 and 28 came into effect for her. The Behistun Rock in modern Iraq carved on a mountain side near Ectabana depicts ten Israelite chieftans bound in captivity by the king of Assyria. So there's archaeological evidence for their captivity of 2 Kings 17.
10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of Mine hand.
11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, "These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them."
This is another way how the ten tribes of Israel became lost to theirselves, and to the world. Unlike the house of Judah, the ten tribed house of Israel became like lost sheep in the desert. She lost her heritage of God's feast days, sabbaths, new moons, and her solemn feasts, and instead followed after Baal idol worship. It begin while in captivity to Assyria and the land of the Medes.
13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat Me, saith the LORD.
So God gave the ten tribes of Israel over into Baalism, a pagan idolatry system that began in ancient Babylon. God uses harlot symbology here for Israel's false idol worship, which is very important to understand. It's used a lot in the New Testament Books also for those under Christ that turn away from Him in the last days.
14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
This part of the prophecy is especially important for Christian history. God shows that He would scatter the ten tribes to the wilderness, then "speak comfortably unto her", and "give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth..." Where did this take place?
This prophecy has a dual type fulfillment. It involves acceptance of The Gospel of Jesus Christ by these, along with believing Gentiles they were scattered amongst. That's why apostles Paul and Peter would quote from this concerning Christ's Church under The New Covenant (Rom.9:24-26; Rom.11:30-32; 1 Pet.2:9-10).
The connection when they would no longer think of God as Bali (Baal), but call Him "Ishi" (Man) is in connection with the idea of a friend of God. Abraham was called the Friend of God per James 2:23. That's about God's Promise of Salvation by Faith first given through Abraham (see Gal.3 also).
All this is prophecy of when the ten tribes of Israel were scattered among the Gentiles and would come to Christ while in new lands outside the holy land along with many Gentiles. Since apostles Paul and Peter used this about The Gospel, it has a partial fulfillment when Christ crucified was preached, and many believed. The other fulfillment part of this prophecy is in final with the ten tribes gathered back to the holy land under Christ. That's what Achor is pointing to, which is an area in the holy land (Isaiah 65:9-10). It's like the dual prophecy of our redemption by Faith under Christ Jesus. A believer now becomes "a new creature" by Faith on Christ, but we still wait for the redemption of our body with Christ's coming Kingdom at His return.
17 For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more be remembered by their name.
Contrary to popular thought, the archaeological and anthropological history of the ten tribes of Israel can be traced. The Assyrian tablets exist to identify their captivity to Assyria while in Baalism, including names of what the Assyrians called them. It's connected with the name Cimmerian that came from Assyria, as translated by professor Leroy Waterman in the 1930's directly from the tablets. Then the field of anthropology and archeology has done much study on the Cimmerian peoples that migrated from the east into Asia Minor and became the founding peoples of the western Christian nations.
The history of the nations of Asia Minor and western Europe before The Gospel was preached to them, is that they were following all sorts pagan idol worship of false gods beforehand. In Britain it was Druidism; in Scandinavia it was Odin, Thor, etc., in Greece it was Apollos and Mars, in Rome it was Mercury, etc., that being an ancient link to Baal worship from the east. But when The Gospel was specifically preached by Christ's Apostles and disciples to those specific nations first outside the holy land, those western nations began to come to Christ on national scales, Britain being the very first on a national scale in the 1st century A.D with the Culdee Church. This why the Book of 2 Esdras in the Apocrypha refers to the ten tribes crossing through the Dariel Pass in the Caucasus Mountains near the Black Sea on their towards the West.
18 And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
19 And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.
20 I will even betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the LORD.
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
22 And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel.
23 And I will sow her unto Me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not My people, "Thou art My people"; and they shall say, "Thou art my God."
(KJV)
This latter part of the prophecy is especially about Christ's coming in final. However, Apostles Paul and Peter both quoted the idea from this last verse about the strangers that were not God's people that obtained mercy through Israel's unbelief, but under Christ Jesus and The Gospel obtained mercy and are now the sons of God, along with those of Israel that believe.
It means the believing Gentiles cannot claim The Gospel came to them only, but also to the ten tribes of Israel that were scattered amongst them to where they both together would become Ammi (My people) to God. This is how the early history of the Christian west is the pointer to where the majority of the lost ten tribes of the "house of Israel" wound up, and again became Ammi to God under Christ Jesus along with believing Gentiles. After the "house of Judah" (Jews) rejected The Gospel, it was those nations of Asia Minor and western Europe where The Gospel was preached next, and accepted on national scales, fulfilling part of the prophecy here in Hosea and in Genesis about God's Birthright promise to Abraham involving Christ's Salvation by Faith. It specifically fulfilled the promise that Ephraim was to become "a multitude of nations" (Gen.48). Per 1 Chron.5, to Ephraim and Manasseh (sons of Joseph) is where God's Birthright wound upon. The first king over the ten tribes was of the house of Joseph, Ephraim, which became the head tribe over the "house of Israel." (1 Kings 11).
The partial fulfillment of this Hosea prophecy under The Gospel of Jesus Christ is about the ten tribes as the founders of the western Christian nations, and that might ire some believing Gentiles, but it should not. For it reveals that God kept His promises to the ten tribes of Israel, and that through their fall The Gospel would also go to the Gentiles, and both the believing Israelite and Gentile together would become Christ's Church.
The other point that's important to remember about this Hosea prophecy, is that it was not about the southern kingdom of the "house of Judah" (Jews of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi). That should be remembered from the Hosea 1 chapter where God showed in Hosea's day Judah was still faithful at that time, and had not yet fallen away to Baal like the ten tribes then did. Around 120 years after God scattered the ten tribes out of the holy land, the house of Judah likewise fell into idol worship of the nations. God brought the king of Babylon upon Jerusalem-Judea and took them captive to Babylon for 70 years. That was a completely different time and different geographical captivity than the ten tribes going to Assyria and the land of the Medes.
In this way, the two houses of Israel became further split by two different captivities. But the Jews of the house of Judah never lost their heritage of God's feast days, sabbaths, etc. Yet a number of Jews were also scattered to the west and came to Christ Jesus along with the ten tribes and Gentiles. This is why the areas Paul and Christ's Apostles were sent to preach involved these nations in Asia Minor and western Europe. Many Jews were scattered within those nations also, while the scattered ten tribes there by then had totally lost their heritage as literal Israelites. The Jews didn't loose their heritage as Israel. And it's in this way that the two houses (two sticks) of Israel are still divided today, for the majority of the house of Judah still refuses The Saviour Jesus Christ.
Not understanding this has created much confusion with Old Testament prophecy involving the two separate houses of Israel. Those who are taught and think only Jews are Israelites will confuse Bible prophecy that is meant only for the ten tribes of the house of Israel and visa versa.