The Old Testament is intriguing. The words you read are so real and even unreal at times. I've heard times over and over again by our culture that the Old Testament has no relation to our lives today.
But it does.
It offers and sets up the story of redemption that we see in the New Testament. Without knowledge of the OT, I'm not so sure that we could fully understand the New Testament. Without knowledge of the past, we will never understand fully why there was a need for redemption.
The book of Hosea has become one of my favorite Old Testament books if not my favorite book of the Bible. I read it first on my first trip to Togo. I've read it multiple times since then because it offers hope for this fragile heart. It offers a story of redemption to one so undeserving of it.
If you have never read this book, here is an overview: Hosea was a prophet called by God to the northern kingdom of Israel who had become a very sinful nation and who had forsaken their God. In return, God called Hosea to take a prostitute as his wife to be a real life witness of the Lord's love for His people. Hosea obeyed and took Gomer, an adulterous woman, as his wife. She then began to conceive children, possibly not even Hosea's children. Continuing with Israel, you clearly witness their unfaithfulness to God. As Gomer is unfaithful to Hosea, Israel is unfaithful to their God. Though He wishes to destroy them, God never can bring himself to do this task because His love is too strong for them and He longs to rescue and restore them.
This story offers hope to this fragile heart. As I read Hosea over and over again, I can relate because I can whisper that...
I am Israel,
I have forsaken my God over and over again,
I have had to be rescued countless times..
This story brings tears to my eyes each time Gomer is unfaithful to her husband, Hosea. It is a covenant between husband and wife, yet, it is broken more than once.
But haven't we broken a similar covenant with God more than once?
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
"And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness." (Deuteronomy 6:25)
As I meditate upon the words of Hosea to the people of Israel, I am pierced to the heart with conviction.
“Haul your mother into court. Accuse her!
She’s no longer my wife.
I’m no longer her husband.
Tell her to quit dressing like a whore,
displaying her breasts for sale.
If she refuses, I’ll rip off her clothes
and expose her, naked as a newborn.
I’ll turn her skin into dried-out leather,
her body into a badlands landscape,
a rack of bones in the desert.
I’ll have nothing to do with her children,
born one and all in a whorehouse.
Face it: Your mother’s been a whore,
bringing bastard children into the world.
She said, ‘I’m off to see my lovers!
They’ll wine and dine me,
Dress and caress me,
perfume and adorn me!’
But I’ll fix her: I’ll dump her in a field of thistles,
then lose her in a dead-end alley.
She’ll go on the hunt for her lovers
but not bring down a single one.
She’ll look high and low
but won’t find a one. Then she’ll say,
‘I’m going back to my husband, the one I started out with.
That was a better life by far than this one.’
She didn't know that it was I all along
who wined and dined and adorned her,
That I was the one who dressed her up
in the big-city fashions and jewelry
that she wasted on wild Baal-orgies.
I’m about to bring her up short: No more wining and dining!
Silk lingerie and gowns are a thing of the past.
I’ll expose her genitals to the public.
All her fly-by-night lovers will be helpless to help her.
Party time is over. I’m calling a halt to the whole business,
her wild weekends and unholy holidays.
I’ll wreck her sumptuous gardens and ornamental fountains,
of which she bragged, ‘Whoring paid for all this!’
They will soon be dumping grounds for garbage,
feeding grounds for stray dogs and cats.
I’ll make her pay for her indulgence in promiscuous religion—
all that sensuous Baal worship
And all the promiscuous sex that went with it,
stalking her lovers, dressed to kill,
And not a thought for me.”
God’s Message!
(Hosea 2:2-13)
In all of their wicked deeds, they forsook the only good and true thing that could ever exist. But I call this scripture to mind from the last chapter in Hosea:
"I will heal their way wardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them." (14:4)
This gives me hope like no other. This story is a beautiful example of redeeming love that the Father has for me and for you. To say that the old testament is irrelevant now is largely mistaken and even offensive. It gives us a greater appreciation for grace, something that we now receive because of Christ. This heart of mine takes refuge in these words that God whispers so gently to me and I will deeply cherish them forever.
"The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments."
(Deuteronomy 7:7-9)
