[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during June 2020]
Henry Ford is reputed to have declared “History is bunk!”. A poorer but wiser man observed that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it1. That was certainly the case for the kingdom of Israel in the time of Hosea’s prophecy and it still is relevant to us today.
One of the first things that we are told about Hosea is that he prophesied during the reigns of four kings of Judah and one king of Israel. Three of those kings are recorded as doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord; the other two did what was evil.
From Judah’s perspective, its four kings represent 97 ‘right’ years and 16 ‘evil’ ones. We might be tempted to think that a ratio of 6:1 is not so bad. After all, it reflects my ‘O’ level performance some 50+ years ago and my mother thinks I turned out all right, eventually. God’s verdict on Judah is found in Hosea 1 verse 7 “Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them – not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.”
However, if we look at the northern kingdom, Israel, then a different picture emerges. Most of its kings were branded as those who did evil in the sight of the Lord and their people followed their example. In reign after reign the nation turned its back on God, and repeated defeats and disasters failed to teach them the error of their ways. Notice that in the verse preceding the one above God stated “I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them.”
The book of Hosea makes for difficult reading, confusing in its context and depressing in its repetition of the consequences of the nation’s errors. We could dismiss it as being of no relevance to us but that would be a mistake. It is encouraging to reach the final chapter of the book to find it portraying a much brighter picture:
“Return, Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall!”
“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them.”
“The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.”
~~~~~~~~
.
Return to Mid-week Meditations
Jump to Index of Bible Passages
.
[1] Attrbuted, with variations, to George Santayana, philosopher and writer.
Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
