Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #11 - Hope for Israel's Restoration

Our last study dealt with the potential hope for human reformation.  The final group of scriptures using the Hebrew word "tiqwa" (a confident hope) center around the promised hope of Israel's restoration.  We will begin by listing these six verses in the order they are found in the books of the King James Version of the English Bible.  We will highlight the pertinent words dealing with the subject of Israel's Hope but will give only a brief comment on each passage before attempting to make some general observations.  We will attempt to look at these passages in more depth in future postings as we are able, God willing.  Please take the time to read these verses in their contexts for a better understanding of their full meaning.

1)  Jeremiah 31:17 - "And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border."   Here we read of the future hope (in thine end or future) of the return of the dispersed people to their own land.  In this same chapter we also find the promise of the New Covenant.

2)  Lamentations 3:29 - "He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope."   Here we find the condition (if so be) of contrition (putting the mouth in the dust) that is a prerequisite of this hope.  In this same chapter Jeremiah speaks of hope five times in verses 18-29 using four different Hebrew words!  This will demand a separate study later on, but for now we note the context of the Lord's compassions that lead to this contrition.

3)  Ezekiel 19:5 - "Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion."  Here Ezekiel is looking back at Israel's misplaced hopes before the captivity.  As a lioness, Israel was placing her confidence in her princes (her whelps), not in the power of her God.  This is the crisis of hope unseen (when she saw).  She was looking in the wrong direction!

4)  Ezekiel 37:11 - "Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel:  behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts."  Here too is the crisis of a hope unconfessed  or rather the complaint of a lost hope.  However, the LORD immediately corrects this complaint with a prophetical confirmation of the hope of restoration.

5)  Hosea 2:15 - "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."  Here the place of Israel's trouble (the valley of Achor) and defeat (read Joshua 7) would become the place of Israel's triumph at their re-entry  into the land (a door of hope).

6)  Zechariah 9:12 - "Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope:  even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee."  Here we find hope declared to Israel in the midst of captivity and conflict.  They were prisoners of another nation, but as the people of God they were declared to be prisoners of hope.  A double blessing awaits them in the day when they will turn to the Lord their Strong Hold!

Obviously this subject is much larger than we can adequately deal with in our word study today.  But for now, we may note that the hope of Israel's restoration is inseparably tied with God's covenant promises to them.  He confirmed that covenant hope with them over and over again.  We must also recognize that their promised restoration is two-fold:  There is not only the promise of their physical return to the land, but of their spiritual return to the LORD!  Not only repatriation but regeneration is promised.  Not only conveyance to the land, but conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Meanwhile, as in their past so in the present, Israel is subject to God's loving correction.  They have been in one crisis after another and through many conflicts - and there are more to come!  Yet in God's loving compassion Israel has been preserved as a nation.  Their very existence is something of a perpetual miracle!  The return to the land has begun - something once thought an impossibility even by "Bible scholars".  But the need for contrition and conversion remains.  But this too will certainly come to pass in the day when God shall pour upon them the spirit of grace and they shall look upon Him they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10), and the fountain of cleansing for sin shall be opened to them (Zechariah 13:1).