Hosea 14, Meditate on These Things

Here are some notes from the closing chapters of Hosea (12-14).

·       12:4-5: Jacob actually struggled against God when he wrestled with the Angel of the LORD.  I read this in the English translation of the Jewish Publication Society.  They called the Angel a “god-like creature.”  But Hosea makes it clear that Jacob wrestled with a “Being” that bore the “memorable name” of the LORD.  Translations do make a difference!

·       13:1: Ephraim (Israel, the Northern Kingdom) exalted himself.  But self-exaltation leads to idolatry.  Rom. 1 makes this clear.  Men turn from God (v21), and then profess themselves to be wise, becoming fools (v22), who, by definition, say “there is no god” (Ps. 14:1).  But people will always know, at some point, that they have a spiritual component in themselves.  Self-exaltation will never satisfy.  So, not wanting to return to their Creator, they attribute deity to some animal or other creature and worship that instead (v23).  So we see in Hosea.  Self-exaltation led to Baal worship.

·       In 12:1 Hosea said, “Ephraim feeds on the wind and pursues the east wind.”  In 13:15 we read, “An east wind shall come; the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness.”  In her idolatry, Ephraim or Israel (N. Kingdom) allied themselves with the gods of the East.  When judgment came, it was Assyria, “the wind of the LORD” from the east that was used by God to bring an end to the idolatrous nation.  Man can never stand against the plan of God.  God even uses the wicked nation to do His will.

·       In 14:1-3 God even gives Israel the words to say in order to repent.  Now that might sound a bit suspicious.  Words are just words.  The issue is the heart.  But think about this.  Jesus said, For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned (Mt. 12:37).  When Jesus said this He was depending on the fact that our words would be an expression of the heart.  So of course the heart is the issue.  BUT remember Rom. 10:9-10.  There are words that must be expressed to be saved.  Jesus must be confessed.  But read it all: if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him, from the dead, you will be saved.  And if you did not get that, we get a repeat: For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.  So, in Hosea, God gives them the words, for in those words it is clear what must be in the heart.  God will never be mocked.  He will always know our hearts.  So hear the words, and then, from the heart, put your faith in Christ!