Year 2, Week 6, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 6, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Hosea 11-14.

Today’s reading continues the prophet Hosea’s words to Israel. Hosea 11 opens with a clear declaration of the LORD’s love for Israel: “I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them” (Hosea 11:4). And in spite of Israel’s unfaithfulness, the LORD would remain faithful: “My people are bent on turning away from me, and though they call out to the Most High, he shall not raise them up at all. How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender” (Hosea 11:7-8). Hosea 12 highlights the depth of Israel’s unfaithfulness: “The LORD has an indictment against Judah and will punish Jacob according to his ways; he will repay him according to his deeds” (Hosea 12:2). Hosea 13 underscores the LORD’s wrath against Israel’s sin: “He destroys you, O Israel, for you are against me, against your helper” (Hosea 13:9). Hosea 14 concludes with a call to repentance: “Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity” (Hosea 14:1).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was how a passage from Hosea is deployed in Matthew’s Gospel account to find completion in Christ: “And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son” (Matthew 2:14-15). Matthew quotes from Hosea: “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hosea 11:1). But before we go back to Hosea and understand what Hosea is saying, we will consider how Matthew used this verse from Hosea. In Matthew, we are introduced to some men from the east, who have followed a star signifying that a great Jewish King was born. When the men arrived in Jerusalem, they inquired: “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2). Herod, in consultation with Jewish religious leaders, determined that the men should go just a bit further down the road to Bethlehem, for the prophet Micah declared that the promised Davidic King would be from David’s ancestral city. After the men left to go see young Jesus, they returned home without reporting back to Herod. Herod’s paranoia led him to kill all the infants two and under fearing that this King would one day be a threat. But before Herod took such horrendous action, God warned Joseph to take young Jesus and flee: “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him” (Matthew 2:13). After some time, God instructed Joseph to return home with young Jesus: “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead” (Matthew 2:20).

Hosea 11 have some of the strongest, most intimate expressions of parental love. Israel is God’s son: “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me” (Exodus 4:22-23a). The heart of God’s love and care for His son is emphatically expressed by Hosea. The LORD would rescue his dear son from Egyptian captivity and begin the loving, nurturing, and training work of parenting: "Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them. I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them” (Hosea 11:3-4). But Israel was not a good son: "The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols” (Hosea 11:2). Israel spurned God’s love as they yearned for love from Baal. The LORD would discipline His son with a return visit to Egypt: “They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me” (Hosea 11:5). Well, not Egypt literally, but a captivity in the hands of Assyria.

Israel was God’s son whom He delivered out of Egypt. But Israel failed as a son. Jesus was God’s Son, whom He delivered out of Egypt. However, Jesus was a True Son, who did not fail His Father: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Jesus repeats the history of Israel as God’s Son; but Jesus, the “beloved Son,” loved and obey His Father in ways that Israel never achieved: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). And the True Son’s request of His Father is that their mutual love be experienced in the hearts of all who come to Jesus: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world…I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:24-26). All who belong to Jesus are loved by the Father with the same love that He has for Jesus. And as well-loved adopted Sons, in-dwelt His the Spirit of the Son, we are called to imitate our new family likeness: “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:1-2a).

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe