November 21, 2019: Day 68 – Hosea 13

Remember that the only reason why Israel received a king in the first place was that they asked that God would appoint to them a king who would rule over them.  God did not really want that, it wasn’t the most ideal plan, because he told them that a king will require taxes from you, a king will take your sons and make them join the army, a king will take your daughters and they will be a part of his court.  Basically with a king you will not have the same freedoms that you have now.  But we want one, the Israelites said, because everyone else had one and they seem to be doing fine.  

But now that they have turned their back on the Lord the king will serve no purpose because this king is not drawing the people closer to the Lord, but rather has his own intentions on his mind.  He has his own desires and his own interests in mind which do not correspond to the interests of the nation, or certainly not of the interests of God.  

As I read vs.14 and following it makes me think of Paul’s Scripture in I Corinthians 15.  Death, where is your sting etc.  Read it again starting in I Corinthians 15:54-55.  It is a great consolation and assurance in times when we are in need of a reminder that God is in control even in the midst of death.  The death that is depicted in vs.16 is a terrifying one.  It is one that is echoed in Psalm 137 especially in verses 8 and 9.