By John McKennaBy John McKenna
We have shown in the last two studies (January and March) how Israel turned the great I-AM of the Lord her God into the Not-I-AM that allows her to break her covenant vows to Yahweh and marry herself to her idols.
For this sin against her covenant-making God, the People of God bring down upon themselves the fire of his judgment against their evil opposition to him. The children of the marriage of the prophet Hosea to the temple priestess Gomer bear names that embody the divine judgment against Israel.
We have also studied the nature of this judgment. When the great I-AM who covenants with his people is denied his real presence with Israel, the result is disobedience throughout the land.
Instead of faithfulness, loyal covenant love and real knowledge of God in the land, there are false swearing of oaths, murder, stealing, adultery and ecological crises in Israel.
Yahweh's case against his people is won with evidence not even the heavens and the earth can deny.
Ignorance of who God truly is in his acts toward his people mean for Israel a complete breakdown of her existence and eventual exile from the land at the hands of the Assyrian Empire.
But we have also seen that this judgment is not the last word of the prophet. Hosea also knows of a salvation that is the ultimate word of the Lord for Israel.
In fact, it is the point and counterpoint resolution of divine judgment and salvation that is marked by the whirlwind of God's word blowing through the land. The holy passion of the divine judge is experienced with a purpose that rests ultimately in the promise he will keep with his people. We may study this passion by looking at the love songs in the Book of Hosea (Hosea 11:1-11 and Hosea 14:1-8).
Hosea 11:1-11 involves a change in the main metaphor of marriage in the Book of Hosea. It relies on the father-son relation rather than the husband-wife relation for speaking about the covenant between God and Israel.
It sees Israel being delivered as a son from his slavery in Egypt. The whole history of the People of God in covenant with the Lord is rehearsed in this complaint of a father over his son.
Even though the Lord brought Israel forth as his son from Egypt into the land, yet the boy would not return to his Father's love. Even though the fire of the sword was upon him, Israel did not turn to his Father.
And then we read this:
"How can I give you up, O Ephraim!
"I will deliver you, O Israel!
"How can I give you up as I did Admah?
"Or treat you as I did Zeboim?
"My heart writhes within me!
"With compassion, I long to be with you!
"I will not be angry with you!
"I will not turn and destroy Ephraim!
"For I am God and not a man,
"The Holy One in your midst!" (author's translation).
For me, these texts are some of the most powerful verses in the Old Testament.
They show us the great I-AM in covenant with his people. In his divine and holy freedom he decides to save Israel, as if Israel were his son, even though his son is only and always the rebel toward him.
This verse demonstrates the loyal love of the Lord God in covenant with his people and the great pathos in God's divine determination to save Israel as his people, in spite of their disobedience.
The salvation of Israel is rooted in the divinely free will and holy passion of God as Father for Israel his son. God is not only present with Israel in the history of the world, but also present with Israel as the son of his holy love.
Here, Israel's fortunes are turned at last to the great I-AM. The same lion that devours his people in judgment shall gather them back together with a roaring love that none shall be able to deny.
The other love song appears in Hosea 14:1-8. Here words of love are put into the mouth of Israel.
"Wipe away our iniquity and embrace us with goodness that the peace offering may be the fruit of our lips."
As the bride of the Lord God, Israel is to enjoy union and communion with her husband. In this way, their marriage will be restored. The covenant promise will be fulfilled.
These are words of love that remind us of one of the greatest love songs--the Song of Solomon.
Hosea declares that Jezreel will become once again the Lord's Israel. Not-pitied will become Pitied. Not-My-People will become My-People. The Not I-AM shall be at last the great I-AM the Lord her God--all this with a love that drops down from the heavens to drench like the morning dew the thirsty land of the People of God.
It is possible to read verse 5 of this love song in the following way: "I-AM is as the dew with Israel!"
In this way, we might hear the usual translation "I will be as the dew to Israel" as the great reversal of the great I-AM with Israel. The Lord with his people would be as the dew is to the land.
According to the words of Hosea's prophecy, this means that Israel will blossom in her covenant with her God. She shall be fruitful in his loyal love. She shall be healed in the shadow of his goodness, enriched in the beauty of his passion for her.
She shall know and be known by the great I-AM who is the Creator and Redeemer of the world. She shall be found embraced by his promise. The Ephraim that could not be given up is freed from her idols.
"O Ephraim, what more have I to do with idols?" (Hosea 14: 8)
The day will come for the People of God when, freed from their idols and idol-making, freed from her betrayal of her husband, she will know the joy of union and communion with her God.
She will bear the Messianic promise. She will know no more the idols of her disobedience against the Lord, but rather she will bear the fruit of their covenanted love for one another.
This fruit will be as of the olive tree. It is a fruitfulness that comes when the great I-AM, the Lord God who is with her, fulfills his vows to her. Perhaps this is the greatest love song in the world.
These love songs teach us, even in the midst of the divine judgment, the source of the relentless freedom with which God pursues the one he loves.
In this covenant, God is for his people with such fearsome love that, beyond all the punishment of his judgment against her, they will experience the great promise of the Lord. The great I-AM will not be denied. In the world, Israel shall become his faithful wife.
The whirlwind of this judgment and salvation in the Book of Hosea ends with an exhortation that calls attention to the role of wisdom in the prophecy of the history of Israel:
"Who is wise? He will discern these things.
"Discerning, he will know them,
"For the ways of the Lord are right,
"And the righteous walk in them,
"But transgressors stumble in them" (Hosea 14:9).
The question asks the readers to be wise in such things as the book contains. The prophet would have his readers understand the future to which his ministry would point the People of God.
The righteousness of God in covenant with his people will be confirmed. His people will become fully justified.
The wicked will stumble in the Lord God's judgment against the unrighteous. They will perish.
Wisdom and holy passion will come together so that Israel will experience in the latter days the joy of God's redeeming love.
Next time, we will consider the relation of wisdom to prophecy.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1999