Day 115 – January 29, 2024: Hosea 8-14

While we don’t hear again about the command of God for the prophet to marry an unfaithful woman, we do continue to see the unfaithfulness of both Israel and Judah. Israel is certainly emphasized, but Judah is also mentioned. We read a number of time the image of a lion who roars and devours. The Narnia series continue to stay with me every since I read them as a child. The mention of a lion can’t help but stir up good old memories of me where God was certainly seen as powerful, not necessarily safe, but completely good.

Like Psalms of lament this book of the Bible does end with a promise of forgiveness and restoration. It took a while, thirteen chapters, to get to this place, but we do see that the people of God will not only come back to God but also come back to the land that God had established for them. I found that as I read through this book of the Bible I was a bit out of breath. So much destruction for the people of God because of their unfaithfulness. It is deserved, but still disturbing. We see more than once images of pregnant women and children being dashed against the rock. I guess we can only take so much of that.