Bible Reading Challenge Blog

While we read about the unfaithfulness of Israel, we begin to see something turn around with a promise that the Lion will roar and when that happens, then his cubs will come back to him from wherever it may have been that they strayed…Egypt, Syria, wherever.

I love the image of God as a mighty lion, partially because I am sympathetic to the Narnia series put together by C.S. Lewis which has a wonderful portrayal of our God who sacrificed it all for His people.  God is Aslan who is a lion in the Narnia series.  

The beginning of this chapter also has a picture of God remembering how much He loved his child when they were young.  He taught them how to walk, he held them, he even healed their wounds, but they were oblivious to it all even as he was healing and making them better.  They were distracted and looked away from him, even while he was healing them. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwEke2WGgi8

The blood that had to be shed was  the blood of Jesus, in this clip, the blood of Aslan.

Hosea begins by thinking back on glory days.  Speaking of…

The author speaks about the way in which Israel had grown, like a “luxuriant vine.”  But this reminiscing comes to a quick conclusion, actually it is only one verse, and then he begins to lay into Israel in vs.2 like he had before.  There is a mourning because they had lost their king because they did not fear the Lord. 

He portrays the mourning and the trembling of the inhabitants because the glory of Israel had departed.  It had departed because people were offering up sacrifices to false idols and priests had aligned themselves with false gods and idols.   The places will be abandoned and the people will no longer know their God and their God will be ashamed of them.  It sounds a lot like Genesis 6:6 where we read “and the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.”  Now that is pretty serious.

But there is still a way forward and you see that in vs.12 where we read: “sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, that he may come rain righteousness upon you.”  It sounds a  lot like: “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”  I know that the phrase the Lord helps those who help themselves is not in the Bible, but there is a bit of a tendency in these verses to point us in that direction.  It is completely contrary to our theological Protestant stance, but there has to be some motivation on the part of people in order to reap, as this chapter states, the full benefits of the Lord.

We find ourselves once again with the image of the prophet marrying the prostitute and the impact that had upon his life which was to be a metaphor for God and the people of Israel.  The unfaithfulness of the people of God is without question and this in turn leads to God abandoning those who were His people.

So this should give us some pause because the God that we know and love did not abandon us when we abandoned Him.  Rather, even while we were yet sinners, even while we decided not to follow Jesus, He went to the cross to die for us.  While this chapter in Hosea speaks of a punishment that will be carried out on the offspring, the glory that we find in our Savior is the hope for redemption and salvation that is offered not only to us, but to all those generations that will  come, to all who hope for His appearing.  So, while Hosea continues to provide a dark and gloomy picture and the sure destruction of the people of  God, we know that is not how the story ends.

Once again we read about the infidelity of the people of God.  We see a flashback to the time when the people of Israel, fresh from being set free from slavery in Egypt, how they turned on Moses and made a golden calf which they worshiped.  So here, again, Hosea speaks out against these idols which are finding their place in the ordinary life of Israelites.

What makes the people of God unique is that while all around them other nations worship other gods and serve other idols, Israel is supposed to be the only one who worships the one true God.  But this uniqueness has been lost, according to Hosea, and the people of God have become like any other nation with any other king.  This causes God to be furious.  We are never to become like those around us, allowing the culture and the norms of the day to dictate who we are and for what we should stand.  Once we exchange the Word of God with the word of culture, then our plodding down the wrong trail will go unchallenged.

The metaphor which repeats itself in these Scriptures is that of heat which is brought to a high temperature because of the consistent misdeeds performed by the people of God.  The entire chapter is a castigation against the people of Israel because they have turned their backs on the Lord.  There isn’t really any redeeming aspect of this chapter which might provide some hope.  And that happens periodically.  We see that happening where God simply tells the people: you are defiled, you are sinful, you do not deserve any of my grace.  You see that in a few Psalms and also in this chapter.  

Now, while there may not be any glimmer of hope in this chapter, almost  always in the Psalms we find that God has heard the plea of the sinner and the sinner returns back into God’s good favor.   It might be a few chapters before that happens to the people of Israel in Hosea, if it happens at all.

The last call of despair we read when God says that I am the one who trained them and showed them the way forward, and yet they have turned their back on me.  It sounds like a parent who has poured their time and their money into their child only to see him or her cast it aside without any recognition of the sacrifice that the parent may have made.  It reminds me of the prodigal son who did not care for what the father represented but only wanted what he considered his due.  The Father embraces the son when he comes back.  We expect our Father to do the same for Israel, but we will see.

There are some references in this chapter of Hosea to the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Look at vs.2 where we read that on the third day he will raise us up.  It reminds me of the song below.

If you look at vs.6 you will see a description of what exactly the Lord wants from us.  “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”  It is easy to make a sacrifice to the Lord, but harder to love God in all situations.  It is hard to know God, but it is easier to know about God.  

Vs. 9 once against speaks about the priests who have gathered as bandits and have turned their backs on the people of Israel.  Again, Hosea speaks out against the leaders of Ephraim, the northern part of the kingdom, also known as Israel.  

This chapter begins with a castigation against the priests.  So, why would that be?  The priests in this time were not speaking out against the negative culture and influences of society at this time.  If the leader were corrupt then the priests remained silent.  The priests were in place to support the status quo.  I was recently sent a pretty powerful link that might be good for people to listen to in regards to truth.

https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5idXp6c3Byb3V0LmNvbS8yMDIxMjgucnNz&episode=QnV6enNwcm91dC0yMDY3NTcw

This prophecy sounds more like a scolding than anything else.  This chapter  does not contain any expressions of hope, but primarily a scolding of things gone bad. 

We now move away from the first chapters which really focused on the metaphorical use of marriage to depict the prophet married  to an unfaithful woman, to pretty much straight prophecy and speaking against the current situation of Israel.  Notice the use of Ephraim which is really Israel or the northern kingdom.  We do have a divided kingdom where we have Israel or Ephraim or the northern kingdom.  We also have Judah which is considered the southern kingdom.  

Look at vs.2 where the prophet speaks out strongly against the people by listing 5 of the 10 commandments that they have broken.  Look at the list: swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery.  That’s not completely comprehensive, but not bad in a single sentence.  Vs.6 is a powerful verse which tells us: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.  Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also deadly.  Not a good trade-off.

We find that things had gotten so out of hand with Hosea’s ex that she is now on the block for auction.  Hosea ends up buying his wife back from the auction block for 15 shekels of silver which was half of what Judas was given in order to betray Jesus.  Keep that in mind.  Also, keep in mind that in today’s  value those 15 shekels could be worth around $8,000.  Not a very high price in order to get back your wife, you would think.  But it is still a price and it is still something that should not have had to be done.

There is something in recognizing that God had to pay a price in order to get us back.  That price is seen by Jesus on the cross who gave of his life in order to reclaim us as His children.  We would still be wandering like the wife of Hosea, who knows where we would have ended up, without that sacrifice of our Lord.  

Once he does reclaim her and buy her back, he lays down ground rules this time.  They are ground rules that will not only affect her but also affect him.  No more adultery, no more unfaithfulness, and no more intercourse even with me.  Wait, what?  How come this is part of the deal?  They have every right to be together as husband and wife.  But there was necessary to have a time where things become normalized once again before we dive into all of the pains and pleasures of a marriage relationship.  This transitional period is crucial for any couple who has just experienced a trauma together.  

We find some hope in this chapter, but not until after we find destitution and betrayal.  We find the prophet asking the children of his wife to appeal to her to turn from her adulterous ways.  Yeah, so using kids as leverage is never a godly thing.  We next find a time in the life of the wife, who is the nation of Israel, when it will be stripped bare and it will cause her to say: “I will return to my first husband, for it was better with me then than now.”  It took getting to the very base, to the lowest of the low before she is able to realize what she had given up.

Once that desolation takes place, once Israel finds itself utterly hopeless, then God will act.  If you look at vs.14 you will see the transition take place from hopelessness to hope.  She will respond as in her youth, when she was taken out of Egypt.  That should be a very direct and familiar reference to the nation of Israel who was led out of slavery in Egypt in order to go into the promised land, where they found themselves now.  But remember, even in that story there was utter betrayal by the people.  

This chapter ends with the words  that we need to hear and that we need to have repeated to us: “You are my people” and then we would respond: “You are my God.”