Hosea

Folks,

The other evening at Eucharistic Adoration I had the opportunity to read the 14 chapters that comprise the Book of the Prophet Hosea. It should take the average reader less than an hour to go through it, and I heartily recommend it. Though I had been taught about Hosea and Gomer, and their children Jezreel (a boy - God Plants), Lo-Ruhamah (a girl - Not Loved), and Lo-Ammi (a boy - Not My People), and though I understood the analogy between Hosea and Gomer, and the Lord and Israel, reading the story from beginning to end really made me think about the depth of God's love for us.

Hosea was ordered to marry a harlot and love her as his wife:

Again the LORD said to me: Give your love to a woman beloved of a paramour, an adultress; Even as the LORD loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and are fond of raisin cakes. (Hosea 3:1)

In spite of this, the Lord loved Israel with all His Heart:

When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. The more I called them, the farther they went from me, Sacrificing to the Baals and burning incense to idols. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love; I fostered them like one who raises an infant to his cheeks; Yet, though I stooped to feed my child, they did not know that I was their healer. (Hosea 11:1-4)

However, there were unavoidable consequences for Israel's idolatry and worship of Ba'al, and in this case that meant annexation by Assyria. Yet this grieved the Heart of the Lord:

How could I give you up, O Ephraim, or deliver you up, O Israel? How could I treat you as Admah [sister town near Sodom], or make you like Zeboiim [sister town near Gomorrah]? My heart is overwhelmed, my pity is stirred. I will not give vent to my blazing anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again; For I am God and not man, the Holy One present among you; I will not let the flames consume you. (Hosea 11:8-9)

Ezekiel 18:32 comes to mind at this point:

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, says the Lord GOD. Return and live!

This is why Exodus 34:14 states:

You shall not worship any other god, for the LORD is 'the Jealous One'; a jealous God is he.

The Lord doesn't want any of us to suffer punishment. He wants us for Himself, in His loving and caring arms. But idolatry brings separation from His loving arms and hence the suffering of punishment. It enslaves and imprisons in unending torture, hence God being jealous for us, for our well-being. God has planted us (Jezreel). We alone get to decide if we will be Lo-Ruhamah (Not Loved) and Lo-Ammi (Not My People).