Day 202 (Hosea 8-14) - Year 8

**Tara-Leigh Cobble** (0:01)
Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara-Leigh Cobble and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.
Today we finished our 21st Book of the Bible. Hosea continues today to prophesy to God's people, and he reminds them that there are consequences for their sins. Their hearts have wandered far from God, and it doesn't just show up in their religious practices. It shows up in their autonomous choice of leaders and how they don't consult God about those decisions. It shows up in the way they look to other nations for help and pay tribute to pagans instead of trusting in God for their needs. Our relationship with God isn't isolated by where we spend our Sunday mornings. Nearness to God impacts every area of our lives, and so does turning away from him. They tried to solve the problem by becoming more religious, but they were just adding gods and pagan alters into the mix instead of turning to Yahweh.
He compares their actions to another tragic event we've read about. Remember back in Judges 19, when a man and his concubine were traveling home and stopped to spend the night in the town of Gebaia and the tribe of Benjamin? Then a bunch of the leaders of Gebaia kidnapped her, raped her, beat her, and left her for dead. God is saying that Israel as a whole has acted that way. Imagine a whole nation of people who just do whatever they want to please themselves, harm others in the process, and feel no remorse.
You may recall that the wicked actions of those leaders in the tribe of Benjamin led to a major rift among the tribes. Sin brings division.
As a result of the way God's people have abused his blessings and forgotten him, God says he will reverse their freedom. They will go back to Egypt and Assyria as captives and exiles. After all this time, they still haven't learned to trust God. And after all this time, they'll return to their original place of bondage in Egypt. This will serve as discipline for them, training them to trust him.
Chapter 11 is a beautiful poem where God compares his relationship with Israel to a father and a son. Verse 1 says, Out of Egypt I have called my son. This is clearly a reference to God's rescue of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, but it also serves a secondary purpose that would only be revealed several hundred years later. This verse foreshadows God calling Jesus and his parents out of Egypt where they had been living for two years when Jesus was a baby and a toddler. And this verse is quoted in reference to Jesus in Matthew 2.15.
Okay, back to Ephraim Israel. God talks about raising them up, teaching them how to walk, healing them, feeding them, comforting them, easing their burdens. But they were bent on turning away from him. His heart burns with anger at their actions, and he promises to punish them. But then he has a shift in tone. His heart softens toward them and he relents. God's emotions are so complex.
In Chapter 12, Hosea recounts the story of Israel's patriarch Jacob, and he urges them to keep living out of the relationship God began with them all the way back then. He lets them know they're not alone and reminds them that God is the one who started all this and that God can be trusted to continue it. Verse 6 says, By the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God. Their hope lies in the fact that God will help them to do what he's called them to do. God will equip them with what they need to repent and remain faithful to himself. But Hosea knows they won't lean in to this help. They'll continue to do things as they've always done them. They'll pursue wealth and independence. And as verse 13-6 reminds us, abundant provision can make you forget the provider. It says, when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up. Therefore, they forgot me.
The problem with sheep and their terrible eyesight and their short-term memory is that their awareness often terminates on what's right in front of them. They can't see any further ahead, and they can't remember what it's like to be hungry. But when God gives gifts to his kids, it's intended to arc our hearts upward to him in praise. A gift is just a way to connect you to the giver. If our affection terminates on the gift itself, we're better off not having it, because it's going to go away anyway. It's going to break or fade or be forgotten or just be a disappointment. Kind of like King Saul, the king they asked for and regretted.