Why did God choose Jerusalem? Read Psalm 79

God did not tell us why He chose Jerusalem.  But He did tell us why He rejected Shiloh, the first location of the tabernacle in Israel.  Psalm 78 tells the story of Shiloh and Jerusalem, so let us tell a Reader’s Digest version and then we will use Psalm 79 for application.

     Listen to a story (v1-4), a story of God’s choosing Israel, giving them His law and telling them to pass it on (v5-8).  The story is a time when Ephraim didn’t trust God to keep His covenant but turned back in the day of battle (v9-11). 

     Ephraim knew God was faithful in the wilderness when He performed great works for Israel (v12-16).  They knew that Israel continually tested God at that time (v17-20) and of God’s anger (v21-25).  On one occasion God gave them the food they craved and then struck them with a terrible plague (v26-31). 

     Furthermore, Ephraim remembered that this punishment did not change Israel’s tendency (v32-33).  Over and over, Israel would return when God punished her, only to turn away again as things got better (v34-39).  They tempted God, limited God and did not remember how God had subdued Egypt and delivered His people (v40-55).  And when Israel entered the Promised Land they kept doing the same things, testing and provoking God (v56-58). 

     So the time came when Ephraim turned away from God.  Ephraim forgot God’s faithfulness as the Nation had done.  Ephraim was the tribe that had the tabernacle, in Shiloh, a city in the hill country of Ephraim.  This happened when Israel brought the Ark of the Covenant from Shiloh to carry into battle (1 Sam. 4).  The Ark was captured, and while it was returned, the Ark never did return to Shiloh.  They had made a mockery of God before the heathen, trusting not in God but in the Ark! Thus God removed His presence from Shiloh (v59-64).

     Instead, after some time, God awoke (figuratively speaking; it seemed to Israel like God was sleeping; v65-66) and instead made Judah the tribe of His choice and Zion the place where He would dwell with Israel, through David (v67-72).

Psalm 79 is about the temple in Jerusalem at a time when the temple was defiled (v1-4).  But note: the Psalmist prayed how long (v5-7).  He did not doubt that God would keep His promise; he knew it was not .if when when.  So they prayed that the Lord would be compassionate (v8-10) so that they might fulfill their God-given mission of being a witness to the nations (v11-13).

This has application to the Church.  God placed local churches so the nations might hear the gospel of Christ.  But remember that Jesus said He would remove the lampstand (Rev. 2:5) if a church was unfaithful to their calling.  The work of God will be done in the age of the Church as well as through Israel.  But He will always honor His Name and will not allow His people to dishonor that Name.  Let us remember His faithfulness.  Let us be faithful to Jesus’ great commission!

Hosea 14

Israel had sought help from men, but God said He was her only help and would be her King (13:10).  Israel’s choice to follow other gods had left her dead (13:1), but God said He would resurrect her (13:14).  Today’s passage brings us to this time of Israel’s restoration, a restoration that will not only return her to the prosperous land but which will make her the holy nation, the faithful wife.

·        14:1-3: Because God’s promise is first and fundamentally spiritual, the restoration begins with a cry to Israel to return to the LORD your God.  It is a classic call to faith that calls for recognition that you have stumbled because of your iniquity.  It calls for words, a public confession if you will, calling out to God to take away all iniquity and to receive us graciously.  It calls for repentance, turning their back on Assyria and the gods they have trusted in before.  All of this is one act of faith, trusting God who is merciful to the fatherless.  How this message needs to be preached today in every context, to Israel and to the nations.  This is the call of the gospel!

·        14:4-7: What will happen if Israel will do this?  God will heal her of the disease she had which no one could cure (Hos. 5:13).  God would love her freely without the complication of His righteous anger that she was now experiencing.  God would be to Israel as the dew or light rain in the morning that brings a blessing to the crops (not like the early dew that passes away (13:3).  She shall grow like the lily, deepen her roots like Lebanon which is known for the cedars that put down deep roots, and be beautiful like as olive tree.  

Hosea’s prophecy ends with a personal plea to the people of his day.  While the word of the LORD has taken Israel to the future, the message of the prophet is very much for the present.  The plea is to any who call themselves wise, who consider themselves to be prudent.  If you are really that smart, we might say, then recognize the truth of what I have been saying and order your life accordingly.  

What has Hosea said?  Simply that the people of Israel have turned away from the LORD and sought other lovers.  The result is that she is suffering and the suffering will only get worse.  But if and when Israel returns to the LORD He will respond with great love.  If you are wise you will return to the LORD!  Why would you continue to forfeit His blessing?

“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. … Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame. … For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” (Romans 10:9-13).

osea 13

We continue to see God’s wooing of His unfaithful wife, calling her to come back to Him in truth.  To come back in truth means she must come in repentance, recognizing the grievousness of her adultery; and it means she must come with singleness of heart, recognizing her one true Husband is the LORD.  Consider this as we think about today’s reading.

·        13:1-3: The LORD rightly describes the effect of Israel’s unfaithfulness.  At one time Ephraim was of significant standing among the tribes of Israel.  But when she chose to follow Baal, in the days of Ahab and Jezebel, she died.  And the LORD notes, that even though Baal worship was removed under Jehu, Ephraim now sins more and more through the worship of the calves.  Molded images are found everywhere, and people are called to worship with deep attachment to this idolatry, as is suggested by the reference to kissing the calves.  What is the effect of all this?  Four similes, the morning cloud, the early dew, the chaff blown from the threshing floor, and smoke from a chimney, all tell us that the once significant Ephraim is of no consequence.

·        13:4-6: The problem is that Israel had one God, the LORD, from her very beginning in Egypt.  He was their only Savior.  He had proven Himself in the wilderness, providing for them in the most barren situation.

·        13:7-8: That is why God has disciplined and will continue to punish Israel.  God uses powerful similes of Himself: He will be like a lion, a leopard lurking by the road, a bear deprived of her cubs and a ferocious wild beast that tears its prey to pieces.

·        13:9-11: Yes, Israel is nothing like she should and would have been; she is destroyed.  But all of this is the backdrop for God’s pleading with her to return to Him.  Your help is from Me; I will be your King.  God had given Israel a king in Jeroboam I, in the time of Solomon; but because of her unfaithfulness He had taken him away.  God is offering to be her true King.

·        13:12-16: The overall message here is that Ephraim will experience God’s judgment, a judgment that will be severe and that is deserved.  But look at the wonderful message in v14: God will resurrect Ephraim.  You may recognize these words from the resurrection passage in 1 Cor. 15:54.  God will redeem Israel from the death He brings upon her.  This brief passage is described more fully in the valley of dry bones passage in Ezek. 37:1-14.  It anticipates not only restoration to the land but more importantly, the blessing of the New Covenant when God’s Spirit will fill the people of Israel.

God is calling us to this same sincerity of worship.  No hypocrisy.  No double-mindedness.  As Paul told Timothy, we are called to love God from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith (1 Tim. 1:5).