Hosea 12 is God’s indictment of both Israel (also called Ephraim) and Judah (the southern kingdom) for their deception, pride, and reliance on human schemes rather than on Him. God compares Israel’s behavior to their ancestor Jacob and calls them to repentance. Ephraim (the northern kingdom of Israel) is described as “feeding on the wind” and chasing the east wind. This means they were pursuing things that could never truly satisfy or help them. They were making political alliances with foreign nations like Assyria and Egypt instead of trusting God. God says that He has a case against His people and will judge them according to their actions. God reminds Israel of Jacob’s life. Jacob grasped his brother’s heel at birth (Genesis 25:26), he wrestled with God and prevailed through persistence and humility (Genesis 32:24–30), and he met God at Bethel. The point is not that Jacob was perfect, but that he eventually sought God’s blessing and submitted to Him. Israel (Jacob’s descendants) should follow that example. Verse 6 sums up the whole point of what God is saying to the Israelites.
“But you must return to your God. Maintain love and justice, and always put your hope in God.”
God doesn’t want religious rituals from us. He wants our hearts. The way we give our hearts to Jesus is through repentance, faithfulness, justice, and dependence on Him. In our human minds we read the law in the Old Testament as merely do’s and don’ts, but they are so much more than that. They were a way for the Israelites to give their hearts to God through obedience to him. Now that we are in the days of the new covenant Jesus has bridged the gap between us and the father. For us to embody God is to love what he loves the way he loves it. The only way we do this is by truly understanding and believing that giving our lives to Jesus is the only way we escape from the sinful flesh that we live in. It is by accepting what Jesus did for us on the cross. As humans we feel like we have to do a bunch of works to gain access to Jesus. Until we realize it isn’t what we do, but it is what Jesus does through us that makes us free. Once we truly realize what Jesus has done for us we are called to do all of the things we do “in love” for the rest of the time that we have on this earth. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 16:14 says “let all that you do be done in love.” The true source of love in us comes through Jesus Christ. We must choose everyday to become a vessel for the Holy Spirit to use. For us to lose ourselves is to gain everything. Love y’all! Have a great day!
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