We’ve made it to the final chapter of Hosea. So let’s recap the big picture of what we’ve seen so far: Israel (the northern kingdom) has been persistently rebellious against God – chasing after other gods (to provide food) and other nations (to provide security), rather than trusting God. You know, the one who led them… Continue reading Hosea 14

We’re nearly finished our series through Hosea. (And this is the last of the gloom-and-doom negative chapters; tomorrow’s is much brighter!) And this chapter, in big picture terms, is more of the same. So we won’t spend a long time on each verse. I’ll just provide a few notes to give us an idea of the… Continue reading Hosea 13

Yesterday, Hosea used the story of the patriarch Jacob to describe the people of Israel in his own day. Jacob sought to deceive and manipulate, rather than wait on God. He suffered the consequences (estrangement from his brother and exile away from the land). But still he encountered God, struggled with him, and was restored. Israel… Continue reading Hosea 12:7-14

We finished last week’s look at Hosea 4-11 on a positive note: God, depicted as a loving parent, unable to completely reject his rebellious son (despite the fact that he deserves it). Chapter 11 ended with the promise of restoration: Hosea 11:11 They will come from Egypt, trembling like sparrows, from Assyria, fluttering like doves. I will settle… Continue reading Hosea 11:12-12:6

In most families, it takes a fair bit for parents to kick their kids out of home. (For my dad, the standing threat was he’d kick me out if I got an earring. I never got to test if he was serious, because I’m not into unnecessary pain. Or earrings, for that matter. In my… Continue reading Hosea 11

My wife is a primary school teacher. One of the less pleasant parts of her job is having to discipline children who have misbehaved. And over the past generation, the discipline options for teachers have (rightly, in most cases) become far more limited. So teachers have to be more creative than just sending children to the… Continue reading Hosea 8-10

Yesterday in Hosea 6, we saw how Israel’s shallow, presumptuous “repentance” was unacceptable to God. Today, the accusations continue, moving to the political realm. But first, we get another difficult-to-understand section, in which God seems to be saying that his people’s sin is so great it’s getting in the way of him restoring them: Hosea 6:11… Continue reading Hosea 7

Yesterday, we left Israel accused of idolatry – worshipping the Canaanite fertility gods and goddesses – largely because they had been led astray by the priests. After two chapters of strong words, it ended with this frightening image – along with a tinge of hope: Hosea 5:14-15 For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, like a… Continue reading Hosea 6

We’re going to pick up the pace a bit in our reading through Hosea. (We took our time with the first three chapters last week: we saw the contrast between Israel’s unfaithfulness and God’s undeserved love that sets out to win back his wife, depicted in the real-life object lesson of Hosea and Gomer.) The next few… Continue reading Hosea 4-5