Obadiah and Jonah

Posted on November 15, 2011 by parklinscomb

Because both Obadiah and Jonah are pretty short books, I’m combining them into one reading for today. Brief as these books are, however, they both have plenty of important teachings for us. And so to prevent this posting from turning into a minor book, I will keep my remarks about the highlights brief.

The obligations of family (Obadiah) — The book of Obadiah takes the nation of Edom to task specifically because they were distant brothers. Edom was, you might recall were descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. In the Exodus and wilderness wanderings stories Israel (descendants of Jacob) were forbidden to provoke or attack Edom (Esau) because they were brothers. Their relationship between these two brother-nations over the years had been strained, but the obligations of family still applied. Yet, when Israel was being attacked, the Edomites not only stood aloof but even gloated over Israel’s disaster. Family relations are always have their difficulties, whether we’re talking blood families or church families; but it is grudges that must be shunned, not family.

There’s no place safe from God (Obadiah 1:3,4) — The Edomites thought (wrongly) that they were safe from any military attacks, their fortresses were actually carved into the stone mountains of Edom. But there’s no place safe from God. Sometimes men still fool themselves that they have made themselves safe, even from God, through their money, their intellectualism, their science, their military, their arguments, and their hedges against disaster and catastrophe.

The sin and danger of gloating (Obadiah 1:10-16) — What goes around, comes around. What Edom was doing would come back to haunt them. Israel would come back from their captivity and flourish. Edom ultimately would cease to be a distinct nationality in time. Who would be getting the last “laugh”, as it were?

God’s prophecies don’t fail (Obadiah 1:17,18) — The nation and ethnicity of Edom would cease to exist as a distinct group after about 107, after the conquest of Edom by John Hyrcannus. God’s prophecies do not fail — either for good or for ill.

Can you use God against an enemy? (Jonah 1) — Jonah was a contemporary of Jereboam II, Amos, and Hosea. He lived and prophesied a mere 70 years before Israel would be brutally taken off into Assyrian captivity. If Jonah had any inkling of God’s plans for Israel through Assyria (either through something that God revealed to him personally or through the prophecies of Amos and Hosea), it’s easy to see why Jonah may not have wanted Assyria to survive. Jonah’s apparent plan was to use God against them; if they didn’t repent, God would surely destroy them. But will God be used in our personal conspiracies and prejudices? And the answer, of course, is no.

You can run but you can’t hide (Jonah 1) — A common misunderstanding about the gods (including the true God) in the ancient world was that the gods were localized and territory restricted — like men. Wars and conquests and even empires were considered to be not only a human endeavor, but also a divine endeavor — your god wanted to expand his territory. With such a misunderstanding in mind, Jonah was trying to escape the one true and living God, the One without boundaries, by running to Tarshish (modern Spain, like running to the other side of the world). How silly! But wait a minute, isn’t that what men still try to do as they do their evil in isolated areas or in the dark or in their hearts? God caught up with Jonah, and God will catch up with all of us.

The saving power of the spoken word (Jonah 3) — After Jonah is thrown overboard, swallowed by a great sea creature, kept 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the creature, and then vomited out onto the beach, he repented. Reluctantly, he journeys to Nineveh (capital of Assyria), and reluctantly, he preaches repentance. Just as Jonah had feared, Nineveh did repent. But there is a significant lesson here for us here about the power of God’s word as it is preached. Paul stated it well twice in the book of Romans: (Romans 1:16) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek,” and (Romans 10:13, 14) “for ‘WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’ How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?” People aren’t saved by great examples (as important as examples are for laying the groundwork of the message); they get the chance to be saved by hearing God’s words.

Caring about the wrong thing (Jonah 4) — Are you kidding? Jonah is worried about a stupid plant and his personal comfort more than the souls of the people? We can get quickly and easily outraged at Jonah’s self-centered priorities; but how different is this from getting upset at having to leave our own couches or La-z-Boys and 52″ flatscreen to teach a neighbor, visit a faltering brother, or help a struggling teen? Is it really so different? How many Jonahs does our own age have?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Not a prophet or the son of a prophet — Amos 7-9

Posted on November 14, 2011 by parklinscomb

Do you have to be a preacher, elder, or teacher to be responsible to speak the truth? It wouldn’t seem so with today’s reading of Amos.

Not done by a professional, try this at home

The word that Amos was bringing to Jeroboam at Bethel was completely unwelcome — what a surprise. The priest of Bethel didn’t want to hear how his administration of religion was wrong and offensive to God; “Go home you seer!” But Amos wasn’t among the usual cadre of formally recognized prophets, a professional; he was just a man with a message from God for a people who were wandering far away from the Lord. He was just a regular guy, a part-time herdsman and part-time grower of sycamore figs — I guess you could say he was trying to hold down a couple of jobs, like a lot of us today. Many of us have a message from the Lord that people at your work, in your neighborhood, in your school need to hear — the story of Jesus’ life, His loving and sacrificial death on the cross, His glorious resurrection, and the forgiveness and new life and hope He provides. It doesn’t take a professional, so, try it at home

Watch out, when God calls it “qets“

There’s a pun Amos 8:2 where the Lord asks Amos what he sees and Amos replies a basket of fruit (“qayits“) — to which God replies, “The end (“qets”) has come for the people Israel. I will spare them no more.” The pun wasn’t supposed to be funny, just memorable. Wouldn’t it be terrifying to hear that God was saying that the end has come for you? I’ve mentioned it before, so I’ll not waste many words again here about this now, but God’s patiences really does have an end; and we are well advised to avoid pushing it. He is gracious and kind and long-suffering  — but the end of His patience is awful.

A new and terrifying kind of famine

Famine was a real fear in the ancient world. They couldn’t just overnight some grain or tomatoes from the next country over. It meant hunger, failing health, stunted growth for children, and starvation if it went on long enough. But because of Israel’s sinfulness, God was going to send a different kind of famine — of His word (8:11). There would probably be some who would happy about this, because they wouldn’t bothered by those pesky prophets and their old-fashioned notions about faithfulness and worship.

But when Israel did go into Assyrian exile and Judah into Babylonian exile the famine for God’s revelation became sharp and painful. And it is why the appearance of John the Baptist was such a big deal, why Jesus’ appearance as even a prophet (let alone Messiah) was such a big deal, and partially why there was a hunger among the Jews to hear the apostles as they preached with miraculous power demonstrating their true claim to prophecy.

But would you miss a famine of God’s word? How much dust is on your copy of the Bible? Got God’s word?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Yet you have not returned to Me — Amos 4-6

Posted on November 13, 2011 by parklinscomb

Calling God’s people back to truth is not easy. It often means calling people to abandon what they love, which is the reason for a couple of the more famous “sound bites” from Amos:

Amos 4:1 “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria, Who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, Who say to your husbands, “Bring now, that we may drink!””

Amos 6:1 “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion And to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria, The distinguished men of the foremost of nations, To whom the house of Israel comes.”

But it’s often the very things that we love the most that are the most powerful idols of our lives. Let’s see what else Amos says…

Meat hooks and fish hooks

Amos 4 has a resounding theme: “Yet you have not returned to Me.” Time and again God has sent not only His prophets but also disaster — a proverbial 2×4 between the eyes — to get Israel’s and Judah’s attention; yet they had not returned to God. As a result God was going to come in with the “big guns”, the Assyrians, who would conquer them and take them off into exile — literally with meat hooks and fish hooks. Yes, there are relief portraits on the Assyrian kings’ throne room walls of taking captives off with literal meat hooks! People struggle less, when you do that; and you terrify everyone who even gave a moment’s thought to resisting them.

It didn’t have to be this way; just a few verses later God appeals to them once more: “Seek Me that you may live.” And it has always been this way; God will make His appeals to us again and again — sometimes through His word, sometimes through consequences of our sins, sometimes through God-ordained punishment. We can return to God the easy way or the hard way.

Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate

Amos 5:14,15 is often called the heart of the prophets in that it expresses succinctly the message of all the prophets. Now, part of this passages commands that we “hate”. That’s pretty strong language, especially for our politically correct world. We’re told that we may not agree with something, but that we certainly shouldn’t hate something; we should be tolerant and inclusive and non-judgmental. Now, I’ll agree that hating people is certainly forbidden by the Lord, but it is OK to hate sin, hate an evil behavior, or hate deeds of darkness. And it is OK to kindly let men know that their immoral behavior is wrong — Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, Jude, and James all did. It has been 1) the tolerance of the deeds and 2) the almost eager acceptance of people who unrepentantly do immoral things that has greased the slippery slope of the moral decay of our society. It’s alright to have some strong feelings about right and wrong — we simply need to be careful to hate the sin, but love the sinner.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

 

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Working toward a crescendo — Amos 1-3

Posted on November 12, 2011 by parklinscomb

Good sermons, crafted well, are wonderful things — until they step on your toes. And no, I’m not saying it just because I preach. Think about Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech — really a sermon. It attempted to lift up one race and urge another to embrace equality — included biblical references and all. The early part of Amos’ prophecy is a sermon that cleverly condemns the people that Israel wanted to hear condemned. In fact it sort of made the rounds of Israel’s enemies. At the end of each little condemnation, you can (in your imagination) hear the audience shout “Amen”. But as the sermon proceeds, the condemnations circle closer and closer to home, still receiving “Amens” until Amos starts meddling and condemning Israel’s own actions!

  • Damascus (1:3-5) — Amen!
  • Philistia (1:6-8)— Amen!
  • Tyre (1:9,10) — Amen!
  • Edom (1:11,12) — Amen
  • Ammon (1:13-15)— Amen
  • Moab (2:1-3)— amen
  • Judah (2:4,5)— uh – amen?
  • Israel (2:6-8)— crickets

And isn’t that the way it usually goes. We’re fine to hear about someone else’s condemnation — they deserve it! But keep your sermons out of my life! Now, it true that a preacher will occasionally cop a really bad attitude and sound (probably in his frustration) like “Everyone’s going to Hell and I’m glad”. But we must always be careful to 1) not kill the messenger, 2) realize that we really do need the critique to keep us on the straight and narrow, and 3) no one (not your or me) are perfect.

Israel’s sin was enormous and they needed to be confronted about it — and they were being confronted about it by the prophets. But they were telling the prophets to stop! But as Amos put it, “A lion has roared! Who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken! ho can but prophesy?!”

Amos 3:2 has an interesting thing for God to say, “You only have I chosen among all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” We don’t know for sure, but it appears as if this answer is coming from a people who are arguing that although they aren’t perfect, they’re better than the Gentile nations around them. It’s rather like a child arguing with a parent about about how much better they are than the kids from the really dysfunctional home up the street. “Well, yeah, the parent might say, but you’re my kid and you will not act this way.” Special privileges come with special responsibilities. We’re you raised in a Christian home with great parents? Are you sometimes tempted to compare yourself to other Christians to justify doing things you’d like to do. With special privileges come special responsibilities.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Locusts — the book of Joel

Posted on November 12, 2011 by parklinscomb

The east wind always bring disaster for Israel. It comes right off the Arabian desert and it brings desert winds, drought, and sometimes locusts. Joel’s prophecy is about a disaster of locusts brought on Israel because of their turning away from Him. We thankfully know little about locust plagues except through reading about them, but they eat everything — bark off trees, everything green, right down to the root. The magnitude of the disaster would be determined by the size of the swarm, and this plague was apparently going to go into the record books, if they had had them. Even 1:18 notes that the sheep — who’ll eat anything — will have nothing to eat. It would be a severe enough plague that even elite (priests and royalty in this case), would suffer (1:13); they are usually the last to feel the pinch in almost every age.

Because of this prophecy of agricultural disaster a certain kind of language is being used here — sometimes called “Day of the Lord” language. Let me give you some samples out of Joel:

Joel 1:15 “Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, And it will come as destruction from the Almighty.”

Joel 2:1, 2 “Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.”

Joel 2:10, 11 “Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness. The LORD utters His voice before His army; Surely His camp is very great, For strong is he who carries out His word. The day of the LORD is indeed great and very awesome, And who can endure it?”

Joel 3:9-17 (I quoted only 13,14) — “Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full; The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.”

But among these Day of the Lord passages is one particularly important one…

Joel 2:28-32 ““It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. “Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, Blood, fire and columns of smoke. “The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As the LORD has said, Even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.”

If if sounds familiar, it should. It is the explanation Peter gives on the occasion of the first Gospel sermon on the day of Pentecost to a crowd who were wondering about the meaning of the sounds, tongues of fire over the apostles’ heads, and their speaking in tongues (Acts 2:17-21) — making this prophecy especially important to Christians. Sometimes folks think of the “Day of the Lord” as “end of time” prophecy, but this Pentecost “Day of the Lord” prophecy demonstrates that it is really about a time in which God acts mightily in this world. The typical “moon turning to blood” symbolism is less about disaster and more about “stunning” and “amazing” and perhaps even “impossible”.

A last thing to note here is that — once again — repentance is the key to avoiding disaster.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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O Death, where are your thorns? — Hosea 13-14

Posted on November 10, 2011 by parklinscomb

Today our reading finishes the book of Hosea with a couple more penetrating thoughts to mull over.

As unpleasant as it is…

One of the most dangerous misunderstandings common among “casual” western “believers” is that since God is love, that He couldn’t possibly punish. The Bible is, of course, full of examples of God’s punishment; but Hosea probably does the most among all the prophets to destroy this misunderstanding. In Hosea God is portrayed accurately as a God deeply in love with His people, deeply wounded by their unfaithfulness, and deeply conflicted about the punishment they rightly deserved; but it also is clear as crystal that He would “pull the trigger” on the punishment: (Hosea 13:14) “Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight.”

Interestingly enough, Paul quotes this passage (in part) as the crescendo of his teaching on the resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15 (vv. 55-57) in triumphant irony! Because though God will definitely punish the guilty, He also victoriously redeems the penitent through the “thorny” and “stinging” death of His Son, Jesus. So, which will it be for you and me?

Presenting our lips “as bulls”

There’s a beautiful picture in 14:2 that is generally hidden from the English reader, unless the reader adventures into the side notes of his/her Bible. The Masoretic text, arguably the authoritative Jewish Hebrew text, actually says, “Forgive all iniquity, and accept that which is good; so will we render for bullocks the offering of our lips” (Jewish Publication Society translation). That is, those who have been redeemed would offer their praise and thanks like an offering to the LORD. To get the full impact of this, you need to recall that such sacrifices are the LORD’s property alone, dedicated completely to Him and Him alone. These lines from Hosea, therefore, are offering back to God completely a committed relationship and praise — “holy unto the LORD” in the original sense of the phrase. This verse would, in fact, seem to be foundation of the New Testament passage, Hebrews 13:15, 16,  “Through Him [Christ] then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Present your lips — and life — as bulls this Sunday in worship among the saints.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Break up your fallow ground — Hosea 10-12

Posted on November 9, 2011 by parklinscomb

Well, glad you joined me again. Today’s reading continues to rebuke the wayward and hurtful nation of Israel for their flagrant sin. By the way, as you may remember me saying in a previous post, it was true that Israel was deeply into idolatry. Because of the number of Asherah images found in Israel, archaeologists in Biblical Archaeology Review have suggested that the worship of Yahweh was really a minority religion. Elijah would have agreed. And Hosea, who lived in the days of Isaiah, Hezekiah, and others, is tasked with calling Israel, if possible, back from the brink of disaster, Assyrian captivity.

House of idols

You’ve read in today’s reading about Beth-Aven (10:5), but perhaps you couldn’t find it on a map. It is probably a substitute name to Bethel (the name meaning “House of God”), so named by Jacob after his dream of the ladder going up to heaven. Dan and Bethel had been the first places in the kingdom of Jeroboam to receive images of calves to worship as the true God. As time moved on, it became the location of a lot of idol worship; and Hosea is — in rebuke — renaming it Beth-Aven (House of evil, iniquity, emptiness, or idols — the word can have all of these meanings).

How does such a place go from “House of God” to “House of idols”? The answer is: a small step at a time. By seemingly meaningless accommodations to public popularity (think the sin of Jeroboam), to new accommodations to multiculturalism or diversity (think Ahab and Jezebel), to further changes to accommodate politics, and voila “House of idols”. If any of this sounds contemporary, your hearing is just fine; it sounds familiar to me, too.

Fallow ground

As a part of Hosea’s (God’s) plea with Israel to return to the one true God, a farming metaphor is used that (most of us being city folk) don’t get — “Break up your fallow ground” (10:12). Fallow ground is a field that has not been plowed, sowed, or cultivated. It grows weeds and thorns, and it is fruitless. That’s what Israel had become to God, fruitless, fallow ground. But calling Israel fallow ground and urging them to break it up, plow it, is an invitation to do and be something different.

Fruitlessness is not good in the Bible. Such plants or ground is always condemned as being useless. Have you been fallow?

This is gonna hurt me more than it’ll hurt you

Almost all of us heard our parents say something like this, just before they punished us. And we all thought, “Yeah, sure.” And then we become parents and realize to our surprise that they were actually telling the truth.

In Hosea 11:8, 9 God wrestles with the sharp pain of Israel’s sin to His great heart. Like a wounded lover, His initial response is to simply cut her loose in divorce and destruction. But then God’s tender heart responds:

“How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, All My compassions are kindled. I will not execute My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, And I will not come in wrath.”

He can’t utterly destroy her. It’s not that He isn’t capable of it — Admah and Zeboiim were examples of how He did destroy some places utterly. But He sees the possible redemption in the Remnant and He restrains His hand. And just so our merciful God still deals with His children — even the stubborn — giving them chance after chance.

Now one day God’s patience will end and He’ll have to cut loose those who want to be cut loose. But until then, marvel at the love and patience of our God. As Peter reminds us, 2 Peter 3:15 “and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you,”

What was God looking for?

God’s call wasn’t a complicated one: 1) return to (and KNOW) Me, 2) observe kindness (loyalty, covenant love), 3) observe justice, and 4) wait for the LORD. These are pretty broad commands that include a lot of specific applications, but they serve as pretty good principles even in the New Testament, even in the modern day.

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Burned on one side and raw on the other — Hosea 7-9

Posted on November 8, 2011 by parklinscomb

Well, I’m hopeful that you were able to get my blog yesterday. I had to do it one handed on my iPhone due to the other hand holding the hand of sister in Christ in a hospice room. I’m never sure what the iPhone blogs are going to do. Anyway, the blog was short and hopefully sweet, though I didn’t really address some really great passages in this great book of Hosea, like…

Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.” This knowledge was not mere intellectual awareness, but rather relationship — destroyed for lack of relationship (which would issue in repentance and obedience). 

Hosea 4:11 “Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding.” The word for understanding here is the Hebrew word for heart, the seat of one’s inner thoughts. And indeed the slavery of these and other modern things is powerful, changing our thoughts and paradigms. Paul put it this way, (2 Corinthians 4:4) “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

Hosea 6:4 “What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning cloud And like the dew which goes away early.” Which begs the question of us, “What kind of ‘staying power’ does your loyalty to the Lord have?”

Hosea 6:6 “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” This sort of exposes the lie that “It’s easier to get forgiveness than permission,” doesn’t it? God is more interested in seeing us live righteous lives than in how many prayers of contrition we might be able to offer.

But then there’s today’s reading, chapters 7-9:

Hosea 7:8 “Ephraim mixes himself with the nations; Ephraim has become a cake not turned.” How would you like a pancake that never got turned? Burned on one side and raw on the other? That’s what Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) had become to God. Useless, inedible, a waste of His time and good efforts. And it had all come as Israel had mixed itself with the nations — the worldly, pagan, immoral, idolatrous, ungodly cultures that surrounded them. Makes you think, doesn’t it? Are we becoming cakes not turned?

Hosea 7:16 “They turn, but not upward…” The blessings that God had brought upon Israel had caused them to to turn, alright — not to Him, but away from Him! All the blessings that you have — count them for just a minute — are they turning you toward or away from the LORD? You know, sometimes I think that God doesn’t give us what we ask for, specifically because He knows that it would run us and ruin us. 

Hosea 8:7 “For they sow the wind And they reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; It yields no grain. Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up.” Here’s a famous passage that deepens in meaning, when we read the context. It’s about doing a “little bad” and getting a lot of bad as a consequence. Who ever thinks that their little pet sin is really of any consequence? An angry outburst, a bad example, a moral indiscretion. It’s amazing how little seeds grow into much bigger plants.

Hosea 9:7 “The days of punishment have come, The days of retribution have come; Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired man is demented, Because of the grossness of your iniquity, And because your hostility is so great.” The preaching of righteousness often is classed as foolishness, because (Hosea 4:11) “Harlotry, wine and new wine take away the understanding.”

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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Destroyed for lack of knowledge — Hoses 4-6

Posted on November 7, 2011 by parklinscomb

I wrote this at the bedside of a member of our congregation who’s in hospice. Today’s reading one which is typical of Hosea about knowing God. His people were destroyed for lack of knowing Him. As I sit here with dying disciple of Jesus, I’m impressed with the peace, confidence, and comfort even in such extremis in life. Pity those without this Savior of hope, without the knowledge of true relationship.

See you torrow, Lord wiling.

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The great love story of the Old Testament — Hosea 1-3

Posted on November 6, 2011 by parklinscomb

Well, today we start the minor prophets. They’re called the minor prophets, not because they are less important, but because they are generally shorter. You may also occasionally see them referred to as “the twelve” among the prophets, because, of course, there are twelve of them. Although Joel is considered to be the oldest among the twelve, Hosea is first in the list; in other words, they have not been organized chronologically, although the last three are from the days of the return from exile.

Hosea is sometimes called the great love story of the Old Testament. There are other love stories in the OT, of course, Ruth, Song of Solomon, and even some passages of Ezekiel. But Hosea is considered to be the best among them, because its first chapters are a parable manifested in the prophet’s own life about God’s love affair with unfaithful Israel. In case you ever thought that God was too great to be effected by emotion, think again! This story contains all the emotions of love, jealousy, outrage, compassion, vengeance, tender persuasion, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

A key word found in this prophet is “knowledge”, but it is not an “intellectual awareness” kind of knowledge. Rabbi Abraham Heschel points out that it is the same word that is used in Genesis, when Adam knew Eve and she conceived and bore a son! God is not, of course, suggesting some sort of spiritual sex; rather, it is a metaphor for a real relationship. This knowledge is about the kind one has of a friend, family member, or intimate. And certainly as you read through the book it becomes clear that it is about really knowing God. Later, in Ephesians and Revelation, the metaphor is extended to speak of the church (God’s NT people) as the bride of Christ. Later, when God proclaims, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6),” perhaps it will mean more. It invites the reader to empathize with God as He suffers with His unfaithful people.

And to do all this God uses the vehicle of Hosea’s personal suffering, a parable created by God’s command to Hosea to marry a woman of loose morals, Gomer, because the land of Israel commits flagrant harlotry. She bears three children: Jezreel (named for the name of the valley region where the northern kingdom of Israel was located), Lo-ruhamah (“lo” being the Hebrew for “no” and “ruhamah” is the word for “compassion”), and Lo-ammi (“ammi” being the word for “my people”) — who knows for sure who their real father was. Names all chosen to relate a message that Israel would be treated with no compassion, as if they were not even God’s people.

But the LORD then tells Hosea to tell Ammi and Ruhamah to plead with their unfaithful mother to change, or else face the terrible consequences of her many indiscretions. Of all things, the prophet goes on to say, unfaithful Gomer (Israel) thinks that it is her lovers who have provided for them all this time, when it has been Hosea (God)! But it becomes clear (2:14) that it is only abandoning her, stopping the provision of food and protection, that will bring her around again. The punishment will not be sheer vengeance, but has an honorable purpose — reconciliation.

And it worked. Chapter 3 sees Hosea redeeming Gomer, who has had to sell herself into slavery, because Hosea had stopped supporting her like a wife; and it is in that low state that she apparently “comes to herself”. Similarly, Israel (after the exile) would return back to the LORD.

Let me make just a few observations…

God wants a relationship

One of the key differences between Judaism/Christianity and other world religions is that the gods of other religions couldn’t care less about a relationship with their worshippers. The real God is different. But, as anyone who has ever been in a relationship knows, it is work — on both sides. God isn’t interested in you merely knowing about Him; He wants you to “know” Him. It can’t be casual or a hobby or neglected.

Punishment is intended to get us to come to ourselves

Although bad things sometimes happen to good people, sometimes bad things happen to people who’ve sinned, not just as vengeance from God, but as a call back to God. Whenever it has been suggested by any religious person that any of the recent disasters our country has suffered might be punishment from God, there has always been a hue and cry that the God of love simply doesn’t do things like that — but as the story of Hosea demonstrates, He can and He does sometimes to get us to come back to Him. Disasters aren’t always from God, Job teaches us that, but not everyone is a Job and sometimes such things can be directly from God as a plea to return — and sometimes it still works.

What do our sins do to God?

God is not an impersonal force, and He’s not so big that He doesn’t suffer at our betrayal and neglect. This story is one that should easily evoke the pains of empathy in any human being who has ever loved another — and help us understand God’s heartache at our unfaithfulness. The question is whether or not we care. Do you care?

See you tomorrow, Lord willing.

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