Slices
Prepare
Take some time to look back over your life. How has God worked through events and in your experience?
Bible passage
Israel’s sin
12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
Israel with deceit.
And Judah is unruly against God,
even against the faithful Holy One.
12 Ephraim feeds on the wind;
he pursues the east wind all day
and multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a treaty with Assyria
and sends olive oil to Egypt.
2 The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah;
he will punish Jacob according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;
as a man he struggled with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favour.
He found him at Bethel
and talked with him there –
5 the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord is his name!
6 But you must return to your God;
maintain love and justice,
and wait for your God always.
7 The merchant uses dishonest scales
and loves to defraud.
8 Ephraim boasts,
‘I am very rich; I have become wealthy.
With all my wealth they will not find in me
any iniquity or sin.’
9 ‘I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the days of your appointed festivals.
10 I spoke to the prophets,
gave them many visions
and told parables through them.’
11 Is Gilead wicked?
Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?
Their altars will be like piles of stones
on a ploughed field.
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram;
Israel served to get a wife,
and to pay for her he tended sheep.
13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,
by a prophet he cared for him.
14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed
and will repay him for his contempt.
Explore
Now Hosea reminds God’s people of their past – in particular, the patriarch Jacob, and then their rescue from Egypt. Unruliness, deceit and unfaithfulness have often characterised their behaviour – and these bring consequences (11:12 – 12:2).
Jacob had been the archetypal deceiver, taking advantage of others for his own gain. In Hosea’s day, untruthfulness has become the way in which society works; wealth is founded on dishonesty. Yet, those guilty do not acknowledge their sin (vs 7,8). But there is hope. God came to Jacob and ‘he struggled with God’. He wept, prayed and talked with him (vs 4,5). So, Hosea tells the people, return to God. For Hosea’s listeners there is a sense of possibility: wait for God (v 6).
Then, Hosea reminds the people of their rescue from Egypt (v 9). Now, looking at their idolatry and wickedness, God asks, ‘Was it for this that I redeemed you?’ (v 11).* The reference to Gilgal may recall the stones of remembrance marking their crossing of the Jordan (Joshua 4:20). Sacred memories have been desecrated. Before the words of judgement (v 14), linger over the words of verses 9 and 10. God’s call to tent-living and the forgotten Festival of Tabernacles echoes the words of 2:14,15. These are words of invitation: to be with God is more important than ‘bread alone’.
*Derek Kidner, Love to the Loveless (1981), p111
Respond
Set apart time to be with God. Listen afresh to his call to you.
Deeper Bible study
Take a moment to be still before God. Allow the peace of the Holy Spirit to descend upon you. Let this time be precious, fuelling your day.
In today’s reading, Hosea’s message continues to remind the people of where they have come from and how far they have drifted from God. Rather than seeking to return to the God who had called them in the first place, they were preferring to offer peace treaties with international rivals. A key message comes in verse 6, where we read, ‘But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always’. They are challenged to wait for God rather than be tempted to buy help from other nations. God does not want them to return to the land of their former slavery (Egypt), or to put their faith in the land in which they would end up being exiled (Assyria).
Sometimes the familiarity of what we have already experienced is more attractive an option than trusting God to answer our prayers, but God wants us to develop a resilience in our faith, holding fast to some of the basics like love, justice and patience. When Simon Peter failed Jesus, he returned to the comfort of the fishing boats. Part of his restoration process was declaring his love for Jesus and following him, leaving behind the old familiar practices.1
Some of Hosea’s listeners used dishonest scales, rather than maintain justice. Some of them trusted in their wealth, as if they could buy their way out of corruption – but all areas of our lives lie open before God. Whenever we feel that faith is too hard, bring it to Jesus. The grace that helped Peter is the grace that is offered to us. Through all of this, we are reminded of the words of Micah, that we are required to ‘act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God’.2
Consider the areas of love, justice and faith-filled patience. Are there any areas that you need God’s help with today? Are there areas in which restoration is required?
Pray for Scripture Union
In today’s world, with social media and personal opinion having so much influence, young people struggle to know what truth is. Praise God for the faithful witness of Lox and Ruth in helping young people to know the truth that will set them free (John 8:31). (This week's prayers relate to this story.)
