I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hosea 8-14.

    In describing the consequences of their sins Hosea says the evocative phrase, “They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind.” Or, as the NIV translates it, “They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.” In either case, this is such a colorful and succinct way of expressing the thought that it has become commonly used. Despite the fact that we use it all of the time and instinctively understand what it means, it is worth looking at a little closer. The people of Israel had rejected God and good. What do I mean when I say that? What did the prophet mean when he said the same thing using a few more words? Initially, they rejected God and started to worship other gods because they wanted to be like the “cool kids”, like everyone else. They didn’t think it mattered. They were still good people. Except that, in the process of rejecting God, they had rejected His definition of “good”. They no longer had any objective basis for good. Along with rejecting God, they had rejected the very idea that there was such a thing as good.

    In the same vein of agricultural metaphors Hosea tells the people of Israel, and us, to plow up the hard ground of their hearts. To be specific, he tells them that God had told them to plant the seeds of righteousness. Instead of doing as God had advised they had planted the wind. When Hosea was prophesying it was too late for the people of the Northern Kingdom, but it is not too late for us. We can plow up the hard ground of our hearts and plant the seeds of righteousness. If we do, we will harvest a crop of love. Now is the time to seek God. If we instead cultivate wickedness, which we too often do, we will harvest a crop of sin.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Hosea 1-7.

    Every time I read this I feel bad for Hosea’s daughter and second son. Can you imagine growing up with those names, Not Loved and Not My People? One can only hope that Hosea called them by the names which God said would one day apply to the people of Israel, “My People” and “The One I Love”. My inclination is to believe that God did not literally order Hosea to marry a prostitute. Instead, I believe that Hosea truly loved Gomer and chose to marry her despite indications that she would be unfaithful. God then used her behavior to illustrate His anger at the people of Israel and the reasons for it. I would not, however, try to convince someone who interpreted the passage more literally that they were mistaken.

    In light of my above opinion and reading between the lines of what Hosea writes in chapter 2, I think we see something of how Hosea’s relationship with Gomer went. And that gives us insight into God’s message for Israel (and to a degree for us). Gomer ran off after other men, leaving Hosea for those men. Perhaps Hosea took actions to keep other men from being with Hosea, or perhaps those men abandoned Gomer once they had taken their pleasure. Gomer then returned to Hosea, knowing that he would provide for her needs, but no sooner did he do so then she went after other men again. Then, when once more she had fallen on hard times, Hosea courted her once more. This time when he won her back she recognized the mistake she had made in pursuing other men and realized that her true happiness was being with Hosea.
    For me, seeing God’s charges against Israel as a metaphor drawn from Hosea’s personal experiences with his wife give the passage much more meaning. I can understand the hurt which Hosea felt, and thus the hurt which God feels when we are unfaithful. It also helps me understand the dynamics of God bringing us back to Himself.

    Hosea goes on to condemn the people of Israel because none of them follow God’s commands, none of them truly know Him. He calls out the religious leaders who preach against the sins of others, but refuse to repent of their own sins. We do not get to blame others for what is wrong around us. We need to look at our own lives and root out the sin within us. This message goes back to the one which God gave Ezekiel when He told Ezekiel to let His words sink into his own heart before he spoke them to the people. We need to hold ourselves accountable for our sins and seek to do God’s will. While I believe that we should take this passage to heart for ourselves, those who are leaders need to take it even closer to heart. Hosea calls out religious leaders who profit from the attempts people make at reparation for their sins. All too often, religious leaders encourage people to make reparations for their sins rather than encouraging them to stop sinning.

    Hosea goes on to reprimand us for our tendency to turn to God when things go bad, then go back to our sins when things get better. He even points out how we get it wrong when we do turn to God. We put our emphasis on offerings and sacrifices, but God wants us to love others and seek to know Him. The example I think of comes from the way we tend to do charity. Rather than seeking to find out what people in need actually need and want, we give them what we think they need and want (or what we think they should need and want). There is a place for not giving people what they tell us they need and want, but the sort of thing I am thinking of is summed up like this: we give people money when what they need is a job, or we give them food when what they need is a grocery store. Those two examples have one thing in common. What we give is something that requires little long term effort on our part, and fails to give the person the dignity of providing for themselves through their own effort. There is more to it than just giving the person dignity. Our solutions to people’s problems should not make them dependent on us or on others. Instead, we should strive to build them up so that they are no longer dependent on others.