מדרש אויף הושע 2:25

Another matter, “it will be that instead…” – that is what is written: “Many waters cannot extinguish love” (Song of Songs 8:7), and it says: “If a man would give [all the wealth of his house for love, he will be scorned]” (Song of Songs 8:7). Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥman said: This verse is speaking of two loves; its beginning is referring to the love of Israel. Were all the nations of the world to assemble, to uproot the love that is between Him and Israel, they would be unable, as it is stated: “Many waters cannot extinguish love.” “Many waters” is nothing other than the nations of the world, as it is stated: “Woe, the uproar of many peoples, [like the roar of the seas will they roar; the din of nations will roar like the din of great waters]” (Isaiah 17:12). “And rivers cannot wash it away” (Song of Songs 8:7), these are their kings and their princes, just as it is stated: “Therefore, behold, the Lord is raising the mighty and abundant waters of the River [upon them, the king of Assyria and all his glory]” (Isaiah 8:7). Its end is referring to the love of Torah. Were all the nations of the world to assemble and say: ‘We are selling all our assets and fulfilling Torah and mitzvot,’ the Holy One blessed be He would say to them: ‘Even if you sell all your assets to acquire the Torah, it will be a disgrace [bizayon] for you’ – “If a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he will be scorned [boz yavuzu lo]” (Song of Songs 8:7). For which love? For the love of Torah, as it is stated: “How I love Your Torah” (Psalms 119:97). They said to Him: ‘Why do You not accept us?’ He says to them: ‘Because you are sinners.’ They said to Him: ‘Are Israel not sinners?’ Rabbi Berekhya said: What is written thereafter? “We have a little sister, [and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day that she will be spoken for?]” (Song of Songs 8:8). The Holy One blessed be He said to them: ‘Just as this child when she is small’ and she offends her parents, her parents do not become annoyed at her, why, because she is small, so it is regarding Israel; when they sin, the Holy One blessed be He does not hold it against them.’ Know that it is so, as in the days of Hosea, they angered the Holy One blessed be He, and the Holy One blessed be He began intimidating them: “As they are the children of licentiousness…” (Hosea 2:6), “as she is not My wife” (Hosea 2:4), “call his name Not My People, as you are not My people” (Hosea 1:9). He uttered it with His mouth momentarily, although He did so only to cause them to repent, and [because] He could not bear it even briefly, Therefore while He was still in His place, He recanted: “It will be that instead […it will be said of them: Children of the living God]” (Hosea 2:1).
Rabbi Yitzḥak said: The Holy One blessed be He said to Israel: ‘I am first for good and last for evil.’ First for good: “I will say to Not My People: You are My people” (Hosea 2:25), and then: “he will say: My God” (Hosea 2:25). But for bad, I am last: “For you are not My people” (Hosea 1:9), and then: “I will not be yours” (Hosea 1:9). ⁴¹God calls Israel his nation to restore them before they call Him "our God," but when they are cast off, only after they stop being His nation and reject Him, He says "I will not be yours."
Rabbi Ḥanina said: The unknowledgeable think that when He says: “I will not be yours,” He is saying that He is not a God for you. No, but rather, what is “I will not be yours”? Even though you are not My people, as you seek to separate from Me, “I will not be yours” – My thoughts are not the same as yours. Rather, perforce, you will be My people. Likewise it says: “What enters your mind will not be, that which you say: We will be like the nations…” (Ezekiel 20:32). Rather, what will I do to you? “As I live, the utterance of the Lord God, with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, and with outpoured fury, I will reign over you” (Ezekiel 20:33). You learn the love of Israel before the Omnipresent.

Another matter, “your belly is a pile of wheat,” but would one of pine cones not be fairer than one of wheat? But it is possible for the world to exist without pine cones, but it is not possible for the world to exist without wheat. Rabbi Idi said: Just as this wheat kernel is cleft, so Israel’s circumcision is cleft.³¹This is a reference to peria, the process in which the membrane under the foreskin is split and pulled back (Maharzu). Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥananya said: Just as wheat absorbs, so too Israel absorbs the property of the nations of the world. That is what is written: “You shall devour all the peoples…” (Deuteronomy 7:16), and it is written: “You will consume the wealth of the nations and in their glory you will revel” (Isaiah 61:6). Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: Just as with wheat, its waste is measured with it, so too Israel, “from the hewer of your wood to the drawer of your water” (Deuteronomy 29:10).
Rabbi Yitzḥak said: Just as these wheat kernels, when they go out for sowing go out by measure, and when they enter from the grain pile they enter by measure, so too Israel, when they descended to Egypt they descended by number, as it is stated: “With seventy people, your ancestors descended to Egypt” (Deuteronomy 10:22), and when they ascended, they ascended by number, as it is stated: “some six hundred thousand men on foot” (Exodus 12:37). Rabbi Ḥonya said regarding the statement of Rabbi Yitzḥak: Just as the landowner does not monitor boxes of manure, and not boxes of hay, and not boxes of straw, and not chaff; why? Because they are considered worthless; so too, the Holy One blessed be He does not monitor the nations of the world, why, because they are considered worthless, as it is stated: “All the nations are like nothing before Him…” (Isaiah 40:17). Whom does He monitor? Israel, as it is stated: “When you take a census of the children of Israel…” (Exodus 30:12), “take a census of the entire congregation of Israel” (Numbers 1:2).
Rabbi Neḥemya [said] in the name of Rabbi Avun: The nations of the world have no planting, have no sowing, and have no root, and the three of them are in one verse: “It is as though they were not planted, as though they were not sown, as though their trunk had not taken root in the earth” (Isaiah 40:24). However, Israel has planting, as it is stated: “I will plant them in this land” (Jeremiah 32:41), and it is written “I will plant them upon their land” (Amos 9:15). They have sowing, as it is stated: “I will sow her for Me in the land” (Hosea 2:25). They have root, as it is stated: “It is coming that Jacob will take root” (Isaiah 27:6).
To what is this matter comparable? Hay, chaff, and straw were deliberating with each other. This one said: The land was sown for my sake, and that one said: The field was sown for my sake. The wheat said to them: Wait until the [time for] threshing arrives and we will know for whose sake the field was sown. The time of the threshing arrived, and when they entered the threshing floor, the field owner emerged to winnow it. The chaff went with the wind, he took the hay and cast it to the ground, he took the straw and burned it, and he took the wheat and made it into a pile. People would pass and everyone who saw it would kiss it, just as it says: “Kiss the grain” (Psalms 2:12). So too the nations of the world; these say: We are the true Israel, and the world was created for our sake, and those say: We are the true Israel and the world was created for our sake. Israel said to them: Wait until the day the Holy One blessed be He will arrive and we will know for whose sake the world was created. That is what is written: “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven [and all the wicked people and all the evildoers will be like straw; and that coming day will burn them]” (Malachi 3:19), and it is written: “You will winnow them and the wind will carry them” (Isaiah 41:16). However, it is stated in Israel’s regard: “But you will rejoice in the Lord, you will be glorified in the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 41:16).

"Command the Children of Israel" (Numbers 34:2:). This is what is stated in the verse (in Numbers 23:19), "God is not a man to be deceitful," [meaning] a man will not make God deceitful; "nor the son of" Amram (this is a play on words, as the verse reads, the son of man, "Adam") to make Him "change His mind." As [only after God] said, "Let Me go," did the son of Amram stand and make Him change His mind, as stated (Exodus 32:14), "And the Lord rescinded the evil that He was saying to do to His people." Another interpretation (of Numbers 23:19): "God is not a man to be deceitful," with the good. When He speaks to bring good - even if the generation is liable - He does not go back on it, [as] "God is not a man to be deceitful." But when He speaks to bring evil, He does go back on it, as it is stated (Numbers 23:19), "He said it but does not do [it]." You should know that He said to Avraham (Genesis 15:5), "Look toward heaven and count the stars...." And He did it, as stated (Deuteronomy 1:10), "The Lord, your God, multiplied you, and behold you are today...." [But when] He said to Avraham (Genesis 15:13), "Know well that your offspring shall be strangers [... four hundred years]," they were oppressed for only two hundred and ten years. That is [the meaning of], "God is not a man to be deceitful" - with the good. But with the evil, "He said it but does not do [it]." [In this vein,] He said to Israel, "as you are not My people" (Hosea 1:9). But He went back and said, "and I will say to Not My People, 'You are My people'" (Hosea 2: 25). That is [the meaning of], "He said it but does not do [it]." He said to Avraham, "As I will give [the land] to you and your offspring" (Genesis 26:3), and He did not go back [on it]. As it is stated (Numbers 34:2), "when you come to the Land of Canaan," and He brought them into the Land.