Hosea 13 | Wayfarer

“When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud;
then they forgot me.“
Hosea 13:6 (NIV)

Wendy and I got to celebrate Thanksgiving with our daughter Madison and her husband, Garrett, in South Carolina last week. Madison is pregnant with grandchild #3, a girl, due in late January. It was so much fun to be able to hang out with them and enjoy a family feast together. It was so good.

Thanksgiving is perhaps my favorite holiday in its simplicity, and in the fact that it’s core meaning hasn’t been diluted and profaned by mass commercialization. It’s about having a meal with loved ones and being grateful. When I stop to meditate and truly contemplate all that I have to be thankful for, it’s like a spiritual chiropractic adjustment. It helps my spiritual alignment.

Many, many years ago I was reading through the book of Deuteronomy and stumbled upon a verse that immediately leapt off the page and embedded itself in my soul:

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
Deuteronomy 8:10 (NIV)

Anyone who knows Wendy and me, or has followed this blog for any length of time, knows that enjoying a good meal with good people having good conversation is one of our greatest joys in life. At the end of such a meal, Deuteronomy 8:10 almost always rises up my soul, reminding me to en-joy the moment and praise the One who has so richly blessed me with such goodness. It reminds me of what David said in Psalm 16, my boundary stones have fallen in pleasant places.

As we near the end of Hosea’s prophetic messages, there is little mincing of words. God through Hosea indicts the people of Israel for straying so far from the One who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt and allowed them to prosper. He references rule number one of the Top Ten He’d given them: No other gods. Not only had they worshiped other gods, but they’d committed human sacrifices to these idols. Add murder to the idolatry.

What I found fascinating in today’s chapter was God’s observation that amidst God’s goodness and blessing, the people of ancient Israel forgot God. Their affluence, prosperity, and blessing led to them forgetting their entire history and the God who graciously revealed Himself, rescued them from slavery, and blessed them abundantly.

As Wendy and I sit and read the news, I often think to myself that many of our cultural ills are rooted in our affluence. Life becomes very small if and when you’re simply and literally trying to survive each day. When I have far more than I need in every way, especially time, it’s easy for my soul and mind to wander into silly and foolish places. I believe that is the very thing God was reminding the people of ancient Israel, and me, in today’s chapter.

In the quiet this morning, I continue to ride the wave of gratitude that last week prompted when, once again, I ate and was so blessedly satisfied in a multitude of ways.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

46 is the earliest (nearly) complete manuscrip... — (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;
I will redeem them from death.
Where, O death, are your plagues?
Where, O grave, is your destruction?”
Hosea 13:14 (NIV)

One of the cool things about God’s Message is that no matter how many times you wander through it and no matter how well you think you know it, you always stumble upon something new.

I read this verse of prophetic judgment from Hosea this morning, and it struck me that it was reminiscent of a verse from Paul’s letter to those following Jesus in the city of Corinth. So, I did a little exploration. Sure enough, in the Greek translation of the original Hebrew version of Hosea (which Paul would have studied and read) this verse would have read:

O death, where is your punishment?
O grave, where is your sting?

So, I flipped over to Paul’s letter and read:

Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul actually quoted two prophetic texts. The first line was from the prophet Isaiah, and the second two lines was our verse from today’s chapter. What I found really inspiring this morning is that the words from the prophet Hosea were harbingers of doom. There was no hope in them in the context of Hosea’s message. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, they become words of hope and assurance to those who follow. This very verse is a word picture of God’s story. The assurance of doom and death is transformed into the assurance of hope and life.

God so loved you and me that He sent His only Son Jesus, so that those who believe will not experience the doom in the words of Hosea’s prophecy, but the life, hope and assurance that – with the same words – Paul describes in his letter to the Corinthians.