February 20: Does God want me back?

Wiley Richards is a retired professor of theology and philosophy at The Baptist College of Florida in Graceville.

We can get a better handle on today’s topic if we take our cue from the phrase “a child” in verse one. God compares his feeling toward Israel with that of a parent for a child. By analogy, we can extend the comparison to gain insights throughout the chapter. How does the Lord love us?

• He loved us when we were in the nursery (vv. 1-2). God’s love for Israel began when the nation was a child. He literally called them out of Egypt. God commanded Moses to deliver a message to Pharaoh saying, “Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my first-born.” The release of Israel and the subsequent giving of the law at Mt. Sinai provided the formal founding of Israel as a nation. It was not long before the nation lapsed into idolatry by worshiping the golden calf (Exod. 32). They burned incense to graven images (v. 2).

As someone has observed, the prophets sometimes wrote more than they understood. Their prophesies applied to their times, but often had secondary fulfillments in the messianic age. In this sense, Matthew 2:15 cites this verse as a prophesy of the flight into Egypt by Jesus’ family as they averted Herod’s wrath.

• God also loved us when we reached the level of child care (vv. 3-4). As He took Ephraim “by their arms.” We readily picture a parent bending over and holding a child by the arms as the little one, totally helpless and dependent, wobbles along taking those first steps. Israel experienced that level in the wilderness when food and water were gone. As they murmured, just as a child cries for food, God supplied them with the bitter waters of Marah, miraculously made sweet (Exod. 15:23-25).

Hosea preserved the image of God’s preserving love with God’s expression, “I drew them with cords of a man, with bonds of love.” The ropes of love for Israel were mediated through the ministry of Moses. God removed some of their burdens by removing the yoke from their jaws. Farmers who have plowed with animals understand the imagery. After a hard day of plowing an animal, the bit makes the mouth sore. Removing the bit, the farmer places a halter of rope around the animal’s head. The halter does not stand for full liberation, however, because the animal is still subject to the owner.

• The next level of youthful development could be characterized as rebellion (vv. 5-7). Not uncommonly, children resent the strict rules of accountability of the home. As soon as feasible, they break away to find their own freedom. How ironic that some join some branch of the military only to be exposed to a regimentation far exceeding anything they ever encountered at home, not to mention the loss of home cooking.

Israel of Hosea’s day followed the same kind of logic. Refusing to “return,” that is, repent, they turned to the Assyrians for leadership, spurning both God and Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar and his generals would prove to be horrible taskmasters (v. 6). The “most high” they chose was the worship of Baal, not God (v. 7).

• The final state resulted in adult bondage (vv. 8-11). God’s lamentation over Israel’s apostasy finds a responsive chord in any parent who has watched helplessly as a child, caught up in the drug culture, became almost impossible to reach. Yet, the parent hopes against hope for a miraculous change to take place. In much the same manner, God refused to give up on Israel. Almah and Zeboiim were two cities near Sodom and Gomorrah in the Dead Sea basin. When the angels entered the city (Gen. 19), their fates were sealed. God chose not to enter the cities again, thus sparing them (v. 9). He loved them.