Sunday, December 8 – Hosea 1-2, Additional Reading, Seek the Lord and Live, 2013 Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly Lesson 2 https://ssnet.org/lessons/13b/less02.html
1. Why does God tell Hosea to marry a Harlot? Hosea 1:12
2. How does God plan to win apostate Israel back to Himself? Hosea 2:14
3. What is the result of God’s mercy on apostate Israel? Hosea 2:23
Commentary and Reflection:
The name Hosea means “salvation.” So, when Hosea married the prostitute Gomer, salvation had come to Gomer. This sets the tone for the book of Hosea, as God has every intention of saving His apostate people. The message of Hosea comes to Israel as its pride was leading to apostasy and ruin. As Jesus had to be stern and severe with Laodicea because of its pride and apostasy (Revelation 3:14-21), God had to be stern and severe, warning Israel of its impending doom. In chapters 1 and 2 of Hosea, God uses some strong language to wake Israel up. He threatens to disown Israel like Jesus threatened to spew Laodicea out of His mouth. However, as Jesus tells Laodicea He rebukes those He loves, the message is clear to Israel that God loves Israel. While rebuking Laodicea, Jesus knocks at their heart’s door, asking to be invited in for what sounds like a romantic dinner. Likewise, while sternly rebuking Israel for its apostasy, God wins Israel back, not with violent barbaric measures, but by romantically luring her back to Him. “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Will bring her into the wilderness, And speak [comfort to her.” Hosea 2:14.
Years ago, a father called and invited me to come to the house and talk to his son, whom I had recently baptized. The father was upset that his son was acting disrespectfully and wanted me to lecture him. However, I had previously witnessed something between the two of them. Weeks earlier, at my request, the son had read a tribute in church that he had written for his daddy. In it he said that his dad is the one person who reminds him of Jesus. After church that same day, the youth room had some refreshments for the kids. The son was walking down the hallway with his treats when his father started yelling at him for eating food in church. The son was shocked and publicly humiliated. When I arrived at their home, the father invited the son to join us. The father thought I would lecture the son, but the visit took a surprising turn for the father. Instead, I asked the son how he felt when his father yelled at him for eating a cookie in the church hallway right after he read that beautiful tribute for him. The son talked about how hurt and humiliated he was. I shared with both how God did not yell and berate apostate Israel but lured her and spoke comfort to her. The father saw how he was pushing his son away by how he was acting towards him. He apologized and hugged his son. The son forgave him, and as the father became more tender towards his son, the son became so much more respectful.
Love does have to offer stern and severe warnings sometimes, but always wrapped in love and tenderness. After telling Laodicea He is about to vomit them out of His mouth, Jesus turns around and tells them they will be sitting with Him on His throne once they overcome. Jesus speaks of Laodicea overcoming as though He could not imagine the story ending any other way. Likewise, after some pretty strong words towards Israel in the first two chapters of Hosea, God ends chapter two with these words, “And I will have mercy on her who had [k]not obtained mercy;
Then I will say to those who were ]not My people, ‘You are My people! ‘And they shall say, ‘You are my God!” Hosea 2:23.
Let us take God’s warnings seriously. They are stern and severe because He loves us so much that He does not want us to perish! When God allures and speaks comforting words, let’s not take His mercy and goodness for granted. His goodness is meant to lead us to repentance and restoration. Romans 2:4.