Day 202—We are in the seventh month of Bible reading. Praise God! Today, we read in another of the “minor prophets.”

    Day 202 – Hosea 8 – 14. (words of doom, but in the middle, God’s wooing them to return to Him)

Hosea continues to send bad news to Ephraim (the northern kingdom), describing to them (and us) how truly far they have strayed from the LORD, their God.

“They made kings, but not through me (God). They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold, they made idols for their own destruction.  I have spurned your (golden) calf, O Samaria. My anger burns against them.”   “For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is NOT GOD. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces. For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.”

With poignance, God remembers their beginning…

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt, I called my son.”   “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.”

But what is their response to this love?

“They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king because they have refused to return to ME.”  ” My people are bent on turning away from me…”

God’s grieving heart.

“How can I give you up, O Ephraim?

How can I hand you over, O Israel?

How can I make you like Adama?

How can I treat you like Zeboiim? 

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

I will not execute my burning anger;

I will not again destroy Ephraim;

for I am God and not a man,

the Holy One in your midst,

and I will not come in wrath.”

“….but Judah still walks with God, and is faithful to the Holy One.” (Although later, the judgment also comes on the southern kingdom.)

Hosea ends with a plea to RETURN TO THE LORD.

“Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take up your words and return to the LORD, say to him, ‘Take away all iniquity…”  “We will say no more, “our God” to the work of our hands. In YOU, the orphan finds mercy.”