Bible in 90 Days - Day 64 (Daniel 9-Hosea 13:6)

God, the Bible is a very special book.

It is so big and so old.

What do these old words mean for our lives today?

Please send your Spirit,

so that we can understand your Word. Amen.

Hosea is prophesying before the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel to Assyria. This time period is one of the most unsettled for the northern kingdom, and Hosea commonly refers to this kingdom as Ephraim.

Hosea 2:16 is a play on words. The word for “master” here is baal, like the name of the god Baal. In context this is a common term for husband, but God is going to turn his people back to him to such an extent that they will not even use common words like this anymore – nothing that would be confusing God with any other gods. More than being “politically correct,” God will make even their language “theologically correct.”

2:19-20 contains the list of nouns that describe both God and what he expects from his people: righteousness, justice, love, compassion, and faithfulness. When God reaches his people this way and they respond, “then they will know the LORD.” (NIV says “acknowledge,” but “know” strikes me as more intimate and correct – it is the literal translation. Remember, when Adam “knew” Eve, children were born. God’s desire is that we know him, not just that we know about him.)

In chapter 3 Hosea buys his wife back. He has to do more than simply accept her; he has to go get her at cost to himself. What a fitting image for how God has redeemed us.

Jesus quotes the words of Hosea 6:6 (For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings) in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7. Jesus says we should learn what these words mean. Mercy and knowing God are the key terms here in 6:6.

Yesterday morning when we met we talked about how serious sin is to God. Hosea 7:2 is God’s testimony that he remembers sin. When God forgives us, he vows not to remember our sin (Isaiah 43:25 – “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more”). It would be dangerous to think of God as one who simply forgets all sin, though. God forgets the sin of those he has redeemed; the rest he remembers.