Quote:
Originally Posted by coksiw
That's an interesting thought.
I guess you also connect it to: Gen 48:19 NKJV - (19) But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations."
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Well, yes, that's certainly part of it. However, the verse in Genesis is talking about Israel (specifically Ephraim) becoming a multitude of nations, whereas Hosea brought in the added idea of nations as "heathen". That is, Hosea had more to do with the tribes becoming legally classified in the same status as all the other nations. The New Testament term "gentiles" means not just "nations", but has a theological concept often added to it of being "heathen" (similarly to how Greeks viewed everybody as either Greek or Barbarian, Judeans viewed everybody as either Judean or Gentile/Greek).