Hosea: God Refights the Whole Relationship

My quest to read through the prophets continues.

“There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying.”

- Hosea 4:1-3

“When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your fathers, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved.”

- Hosea 9:10

The LORD has a charge to bring against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel; as a man he struggled with God. He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there – the LORD God Almighty, the LORD is his name of renown! But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.

- Hosea 12:3-6

“In my anger, I gave you a king, and in my wrath I took him away.”

- Hosea 13:11

“When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me. So I will come upon them like a lion, like a leopard I will lurk by the path. Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open.”

- Hosea 13:6-8

“Pains as of a woman in childbirth come to him [Ephraim], but he is a child without wisdom; when the time arrives, he does not come to the opening of the womb.”

- Hosea 13:13-14

(Alternate title I considered for this post: “Hosea: Israel Too Stupid to Find the Birth Canal.”)

But the LORD is God, and not man:

“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? ...My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man – the Holy One among you. I will not come in wrath. They will follow the LORD; he will roar like a lion. When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west.”

- Hosea 11:8-10

“Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.”

- Hosea 6:3