Hosea 1 - Day 743 (link to reading)
Scripture: Hosea 1:1-10 Commentary (workingpreacher.org): In Hosea 1, God commands the prophet Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman named Gomer, whose unfaithfulness will become a living metaphor for the Israelites’ religious apostasy. Hosea is further told to give his children symbolic names that communicate God’s displeasure with the people of Israel. At the end of the chapter, however, those names are reversed to show the restoration of the people to God’s favor. (The lectionary reading only includes part of the reversal, which continues in Hosea 1:11–2:1) Hosea 2 and 3 also present Hosea’s family life as an analogy for God’s relationship to Israel... Hosea 1 employs a literary motif that biblical scholars call the “prophetic marriage metaphor” (see also Isaiah 1; Jeremiah 2-4; Ezekiel 16, 23). This metaphor represents God as a husband and God’s people as an unfaithful wife. It criticizes the worship of other deities as spiritual adultery, while emphasizing God’s mercy in restoring the broken relationship. The metaphor assumes a hierarchical view of marriage, in which the husband has considerable power over the wife... Application: God is willing to do whatever it takes to get our attention and rebuild His relationship with us. Even if that meant coming to earth and sacrificially dying on a wooden cross to atone for the sins of the world. Prayer: Lord Jesus, have your way in me... Comments are closed.
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AuthorHusband, Father, Pastor.... Archives
January 2024
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