Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Oseas 2:1

“Lift up the head etc.” Although Rashi explained this as a term for “taking an accounting” (Exodus 30:12), nevertheless it used the language of lift up [se’u], when you lift up [ki tissa], lift up [nassa], because through the act of counting, God elevates and lifts them with greater elevation above all nations who do not have an individual count, like the straw that the owner of the threshing floor does not count. Similarly, the nations do not have individual Providence, only general providence for the preservation of the species, like other animals and beasts of the field. But each individual from Israel is watched over specifically, and even one of them is considered as important as an entire nation, as it says, and many of them will fall (Exodus 19:21) — even if only one of them falls, it is considered as if many have fallen. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, gave them a count like the stars, about which it is said, He brings out their host by number, He calls them all by name (Isaiah 40:26). So too it is said here by the number of names to indicate that those who lead the many to righteousness are like stars forever (Daniel 12:3), and each one has individual Providence. And regarding the contradiction raised in Yoma 22b between verses — it is written, the number of the children of Israel (Hosea 2:1), which implies they have a number, and then it says, like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor counted — according to the simple meaning, this is not a contradiction, because with the Holy One, blessed be He, they certainly have a number like the stars that He brings out and brings in by number. Thus they have a number to indicate that the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over each one individually. And what is written which cannot be measured nor counted refers to human beings, who certainly cannot count them due to their great multitude.

This statement can be understood by a comment on a verse in the book of Hosea 2:1: “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea; none can count nor number.” The two halves of this verse seem to contradict one another. While the sand of the sea is numerous, it is finite. So how can we say it cannot be counted or numbered?
The Talmud (Yoma) states that the two halves of this verse refer to two types of people: those who obey God’s will and those who fail to do so. According to this interpretation, the Bible distinguishes those Jews who observe God’s commandments from those who fail to do so by saying that those who fail to live by the commandments shall be like “the sand of the sea,” while those who do so shall be so numerous that it will be “impossible to count or number them.” Those who observe the commandments will be blessed with continuing generations forever and, therefore, in this sense they are infinite and beyond measure. This applies not only to the nation, but to the individual.
The verse in Isaiah, then, compares the people of Israel to the plants of the field, which continue to increase and be reborn just as the righteous of Israel shall do. The word Rav (populous) adds something more than just physical increase; it is a veiled reference to their commitment to the God’s will. The three adjectives in this verse: Gadol, Atzum V’rav can be translated according to this commentary as follows: The people became distinctive, numerous and faithful nation.