Torn Apart
The passage before us is grim, but there are notes of hope in Hosea’s words, and glimpses of the gospel. Again we see that the idols Israel has turned to are nothing compared to Yahweh. By refusing to repent, Israel is rejecting their only hope. In the second section of
Hosea 13, three figures of judgment are displayed:
the incompetent king (vv. 10–11), the unborn child (vv. 13–14), and the withering wind (v. 15).
1. Look at 13.1-3: “…they sin more and more, and make for themselves metal images, idols skillfully made of their silver….” What truth is the prophet seeking to expose in this verse?
2. Hosea uses four similes in 13:3 to describe the effect idol worship has on people: they become like mist, dew, chaff, and smoke. What do these images communicate about Israel? How is the Lord contrasted to them in verse 4?
3. How can verse 13 and verse 14 exist side by side?Israel refuses to repent and be healed, which Hosea likens to a baby who refuses to be born, and yet Yahweh decides to redeem these stubborn people. How do you make sense of this? What is the author trying to show us?
4. Bitter consequences are spelled out graphically in 13:15–16: loss of every material thing and of life itself. When Yahweh lifts the restraints imposed by his patience and grace, there is no hope. Even when confronted with such loss, Israel remains stubborn. What truths about the nature of sin are revealed through Israel’s stubbornness?
5. The seeming back and forth imagery in Hosea’s poetry is quite staggering. From Israel’s adultery, to Yahweh’s burning anger and impending punishment, to Israel’s stubbornness, to Yahweh’s remembering them as an innocent child and his commitment to have mercy and deliver them from their own sin. What goes through your mind as you read these radical swings? What is true about them in our experience as humans, and as Christians? How do these truths influence your view of who Yahweh is and how He views people?