Hosea 5-6

Hosea 5-6

            It’s so easy to think, “All Israel had to do was trust the Lord,” but it’s not always that simple. Well, it is that simple, but we don’t see things clearly. Imagine Israel. Hosea says they are sick and covered in sores (5:13). They know things aren’t going their way. They are surrounded by more powerful enemies Their economy is being squeezed. Things look grim. What’s the most natural thing to do? Find an ally. So, they turn to Assyria. What the Lord wanted was a radical dependence on him, that they would forsake their dalliances with the nations around them and their gods. I daresay we’re the same way. We want to rely on the Lord; we think we do. But our confidence is ultimately in different places—in our own abilities to fix our problems, in our finances to see us through, whatever. Those are pretty natural places to look for security, and we often don’t see it for the idolatry that it is.

            There are some important lines in chapter 6. The first paragraph (vv. 1-3) seem to be Israel’s confession, that the Lord who punishes also restores and that they only need to seek Him. The reference to “after two days, after three” in verse 2 may be the Scripture Paul is referring to in 1 Corinthians 15:4 when he says that Jesus “was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” Second, Jesus quote 6:6 in Matthew 9 and 12. The point here is that God doesn’t want mere mechanical performance of the sacrificial system; what matters is faith, faith that is active and living and manifests itself in a changed life. There’s a lot more that could be said there! I direct you to the Small Catechism and its discussion of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Altar. Finally, there’s a translational issue at 6:7. NIV takes Adam as referring to a place, down near the Jordan River. But the NIV’s footnote indicates that it could also be translated “like human beings.” NIV favors the first because of the second half of the verse and the word there that is there. Still, it’s interesting to think that maybe Hosea was being intentionally ambiguous, reminding Israel that for all her special role in God’s plan of salvation, she was still only human and therefore as much a part of God’s problem as the Gentiles.