Hosea was obedient to God. He married Gomer, and she bore him three children. Then she probably left him and committed adultery with her lovers. However, Jehovah told Hosea to love Gomer again as a symbol of His intention to love Israel again by redeeming her, making a covenant with her, and restoring her to Himself (Hosea 3:1-3).
Hosea told Gomer, the woman of adulteries, to abide with him many days without going about as a harlot or being another man’s, and he would be the same toward her (v. 3). According to verse 4, this symbolizes that the children of Israel would abide for many days without king, without prince, without sacrifice, without pillar for worship, and without ephod and teraphim, that is, idols in homes. The “many days” began when the Babylonians burned the temple. For seventy years the Jews did not offer sacrifices. Then the temple was rebuilt, but it was utterly destroyed by the Roman prince Titus in A.D. 70. Hence, from that time Israel has been without king, without prince, and without their worship of offering sacrifices to God. Furthermore, from that time until the present, a period of nearly two thousand years, the Jews have not worshipped idols.
Among the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah ministered for the longest period of time, from 760 B.C. through the reign of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. He was probably martyred during the reign of Manasseh. Isaiah is called the greatest prophet because his book is the longest in length, the broadest in scope, and the most detailed in the matters concerning the Messiah. The prophecies in the book of Isaiah are mainly concerning Christ’s life and work, but the prophecies are also concerning the captivity of God’s people and their return.
In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah the prophet saw the vision of Jehovah of hosts and heard Him say, “Whom shall I send?” (Isa. 6:8). Isaiah answered God’s calling, and God said to him, “Go and say to this people, / Hear indeed, but do not perceive; / And see indeed, but do not understand. / Make the heart of this people numb; / Dull their ears, / And seal their eyes; / Lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, / And their heart perceive and return, and they are healed” (vv. 9-10). In response to the Lord’s charge, Isaiah asked a question. He said, “How long, Lord?” And the Lord said, “Until cities lie devastated, / Without inhabitants, / And houses are without people, / And the land is devastated and a waste; / And Jehovah has sent men far away from it, / And desolate places abound in the midst of the land. / But there will still be a tenth part in it; / And it in turn is to be burned” (vv. 11-13). This prophetic warning was given in approximately 758 B.C., and it was fulfilled in approximately 606 B.C. by the Babylonian invasion and captivity (2 Kings 24—25). The Babylonians devastated Jerusalem and carried away the people.
Isaiah 48 is a chapter containing Jehovah’s calling Israel to come out of Babylon. Verses 20 and 21 say, “Come out from Babylon; / Flee from the Chaldeans; / With a voice of shouting declare; / Let them hear this, / Send it out unto the end of the earth; / Say, Jehovah has redeemed / His servant Jacob. / And they did not thirst / When He led them through the dry places; / He caused water to flow / From the rock for them; / And He split the rock, / And the waters gushed out.” This prophecy was fulfilled in Israel’s return from captivity.
Verses 14 and 15 say, “Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! / Who among them has declared these things? / Jehovah loves him; he will do His pleasure / On Babylon, and His arm will be upon the Chaldeans. / I, even I, have spoken; indeed, I have called him; / I have brought him, and his way will prosper.” Him in these verses refers to Cyrus the king of Persia (44:28; 45:1), who typifies Christ as the Servant of Jehovah. Cyrus did Jehovah’s pleasure on Babylon. History says that God used Cyrus, a Gentile king, to subdue Babylon and to release the captives of Israel. This was out of God’s love.
Cyrus the king of Persia was used by God to do many things. Thus, he was God’s servant. God needed a man to defeat His enemy Babylon, who had taken His people captive and had destroyed His holy temple. God used Cyrus to subdue Babylon. After obtaining the authority to reign, Cyrus, according to God’s will, made a proclamation that fulfilled the end of the seventy years of captivity: Israel was released from captivity. Cyrus also made a decree for the Jews to rebuild the holy temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1-3). This was what Isaiah had prophesied, saying, “Who says to Cyrus, He is My shepherd, / And he will fulfill all My desire, / Even by saying of Jerusalem, She will be built, / And of the temple, Her foundations will be laid” (Isa. 44:28).