Notes of Faith September 24, 2023
Husband
ISH ִאישַׁ
Ish is the Hebrew word for “husband” in Hosea 2:2, 16. The word ba’al in the Hebrew Scriptures can also be translated “husband” (as well as “lord,” “owner,” or “master”), though this term usually refers to the Canaanite fertility god Baal (ba’al does occur in Hosea 2:16, “master”). Remarkably, in Isaiah and Jeremiah, this word is also used to describe God as the husband of His people, Israel. Though we never pray to ba’al, we do pray to the God who is the ideal husband, the one who provides for and protects His people and who refuses to divorce us no matter how unfaithful we may be. In the New Testament Jesus is presented as the bridegroom and the church as his bride.
“On that day she will call me her Ish,” declares Yahweh.
“She will no longer call me her master.
— Hosea 2:16
GOD REVEALS HIS NAME IN SCRIPTURE
HOSEA 1; 2:5–7, 16, 19–20; 3:1
Open your personal Bible translation and read the same passage. Make note where God calls Himself ISH.
2When Yahweh first spoke to Hosea, Yahweh told him, “Marry a prostitute, and have children with that prostitute. The people in this land have acted like prostitutes and abandoned Yahweh.”
She said, ‘I’ll chase after my lovers. They will give me food and water, wool and linen, olive oil and wine.’
“That is why I will block her way with thornbushes and build a wall so that she can’t get through.
She will run after her lovers, but she won’t catch them. She will search for them, but she won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I’ll go back to my first husband.
Things were better for me than they are now.’
“On that day she will call me her Ish,” declares Yahweh. “She will no longer call me her master.
“Israel, I will make you my wife forever. I will be honest and faithful to you. I will show you my love and compassion.
20I will be true to you, my wife. Then you will know Yahweh.”
Then Yahweh told me, “Love your wife again, even though she is loved by others and has committed adultery. Love her as I, Yahweh, love the Israelites, even though they have turned to other gods.
Understanding the Name
God’s passionate love for Israel is reflected in the Hebrew word Ish (EESH), meaning “husband.” When it is applied to God in the Hebrew Scriptures, it symbolizes the ideal relationship between God and Israel. God is the perfect husband — loving, forgiving, and faithful, providing for and protecting His people. This metaphor of monogamous marriage between God and His people is strengthened in the New Testament, which reveals Jesus as the loving, sacrificial bridegroom of the church. Our destiny, our greatest purpose as God’s people, is to become His bride.
God’s passionate love for Israel is reflected in the Hebrew word Ish (EESH), meaning “husband.”
Connecting to the Name
1. Why would God tell Hosea to marry a woman who would break his heart and make a fool of him?
2. Put yourself in Hosea’s place and imagine what you would feel like if your spouse were a prostitute or a philanderer. Now think about how God feels when His people stray from Him. How do you think God responds to unfaithfulness?
3. What kind of love is expressed in these verses?
4. What encouragement for your own life can you take from the story of Hosea and Gomer?
5. What encouragement can you take for the church?
6. Have you settled for a relationship that keeps God at arm’s length? In what ways could you lower your guard and start responding to Him, believing that He is your ideal husband?
Praying A PASSAGE with God’s Name
Praise God because He has revealed Himself as a husband of unlimited compassion. Focus on the name Ish, Husband, as you read Isaiah 54:5–7.
Your husband is your maker...
“Yahweh has called you as if you were
a wife who was abandoned and in grief,
a wife who married young and was rejected,” says your Elohim.
“I abandoned you for one brief moment,
but I will bring you back with unlimited compassion.
PRAYING THE NAME ISH FOR MYSELF
Look up and read: Hosea 2:16
Warnings against idol worship can be found throughout Scripture. It’s easy to think of idols as foreign objects, and ones that could be easily recognized. But, just by looking at the history of the Israelites, it seems like idols have always been insidious in nature, ready to slip into our lives without our notice. Humble yourself before God, your Ish, and ask Him to show you if there are any idols present in your life.
Promises from Ish
“Israel, I will make you my wife forever.
I will be honest and faithful to you.
I will show you My love and compassion.
— Hosea 2:19
Then I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, dressed like a bride ready for her husband.
— Revelation 21:2
FOR DEEPER STUDY
Read the following passages, considering the name ISH and how its meaning relates to the context of the passage.
Song 8:6-7
6 Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy is fierce as the grave.
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the Lord.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
he would be utterly despised.
ESV
Isa 62:4-5
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
ESV
Jer 3:14
14 Return, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
ESV
Jer 3:20
20 Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.'"
ESV
Eph 5:25-30
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body.
NASU
Excerpted from Praying the Names of God for 52 Weeks by Ann Spangler, copyright Ann Spangler.
We have a perfect Father/Husband! God created and loves us with a perfect love even when we do not return that love to Him. Let us remember the love of God and live in our ideal and perfect relationship that He created us for.
Pastor Dale