Hosea 1:11

"And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint themselves one head, and shall go up from the land; for great shall be the day of Jezreel."

The fulfillment of the prophecy that the children of Judah and of Israel should be gathered together was fulfilled on Pentecost, "the one head," being none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. "The Gentiles were adopted into the Church, which, at the Day of Pentecost, was formed of Jews and Gentiles become one in Christ."[33] Not only were there Jews incorporated into the church on that occasion; but many Jews of the dispersion (the ten tribes) were also included (See James 1:1). Thus Jews who were the children of both Judah and of Israel were included among the very earliest members of the church, the holy apostles themselves being Jews.

"Great shall be the day of Jezreel ..." It was at Jezreel that the sinful kingdom ended (although that of Judah was for a time deferred); and this made the way for the reunification of the true (the spiritual) Israel. It was there that the "middle wall of partition" began to be broken down, from that time forward being consigned to destruction. Hailey accurately discerned this thus:

"This refers back to Hosea 1:4; for inasmuch as the kingdom had been brought to an end, now Israel and Judah (and the Gentiles) could be brought together as one."[34]

This gathering of Judah and Israel unto one head cannot refer to the return from Babylonian captivity, for as Given pointed out, "There went up unto that second house (temple) only Judah and Benjamin."[35] "That restoration was far too meager in its dimensions to come up to this splendid prophecy,"[36] although of course, such a token restoration serves as a fulfillment in miniature of the far greater thing that has taken place under the glorious reign of the Messiah.

In closing the notes on this chapter, it should be noted that these last two verses (Hosea 1:10,11), do not actually close chapter 1, which properly ends with verse 1 of chapter 2 (Hosea 2:1).[37] We shall discuss Hosea 2:1, however, in the place where it appears in our version.