Hosea 11 WHAT A PITY! A loving Father who doesn't give up on His wayward son, is contrasted with the ingratitude of a willful people - Israel. A God who pities those who have brought the wages of sin upon themselves, is contrasted with deceitful people who are willing to turn to anyone else but God for help. Hosea must have been able to identify easily with the heart of God as he wrote these words. What God had been going through with His people Israel for centuries, he was going through in a few short years with his wife Gomer. The longsuffering of God for His people was like a father teaching his child how to walk. Or like a husband lamenting over his wayward wife. Or like a Savior not giving up on his people.
God's love for Israel had been directed towards them all through their sad history. He had called them out of Egypt, but because they had rejected Him, they must become captives again, but this time to the Assyrians. A stubborn child is hard to teach when their behavior makes instruction and correction necessary. Parental affection is not lessened but cannot be demonstrated in the same way as toward an obedient child. A disobedient son is hard to live with when they are very young, but a parent lives in hope that there will be a change as a result of their love and concern being directed to changing that attitude toward one of appreciation and acceptance. We try by many ways to change the attitude of rebellion and wrong behavior to that which will be a benefit to them in years to come. But there does come a time when they have to assume responsibility for their own actions, and we have to leave them to accept the consequences of those actions.
When an Israeli's rebellious son reached a certain age and still continued in the course of rebellion and antagonism toward his parents, the parents were instructed by the law of God to bring that son before the elders of the people for an impartial judgment of his behavior. The judges had the responsibility to then bring upon that rebellious son just judgment. A son left uncorrected was a problem to his family when he was a child, but as he got older, his attitude and actions affected all the people who were associated with him in some way. Israel as a nation had become rebellious, ungrateful, unrepentant, and now the time was come to do something about the problem they had created.
"Out of Egypt have I called my son," was a phrase that was first applied to the nation when they were delivered from slavery by the mighty power of God. It also was a prophecy concerning our Lord Jesus Christ when He had been taken to Egypt by Joseph and Mary until the death of Herod. Then, "Out of Egypt have I called My Son," was a fulfillment of that prophecy in the life of our Lord.
God had loved, taught and drew Israel to Him as a father would his child, but "they knew it not." His "cords of a man, with bands of love" were taken for granted. God had constantly provided for His people but they were unthankful and unappreciative of everything He had done for them, and had turned to idolatry. Lack of appreciation and an attitude of entitlement in ungrateful people is a very common human trait today. Many parents never hear a genuine, "Thank you," after a good meal or act of kindness shown toward their children. Few teachers today ever hear a word of appreciation from students or the parents of students. Doctors and nurses seldom hear people say a sincere "Thank you" because people say to themselves, "That's what they are getting paid for." Most serious though, is the neglect of people to give an intelligent, "Thank You" to God for His mercy, grace, love, longsuffering, fullness of provision for us, and for the gift of eternal life provided for us at the infinite cost of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. We have what we enjoy because of the benefits, blessings and actions of people who lived before us. We should not forget that all we have; we have received in one way or another from someone else. We need to remember that no one can go up against God's will and win.
Discipline is a fundamental need to the well-being of any people. It is given ahead of time with the desire to keep anything untoward from happening in the life of a person, and assembly and a country. Discipline always has to be with the view of creating positive behavior and/or correcting bad behavior. It should always be with the intent that the one we love is preserved to fulfill their full potential which a legitimate objective. Parameters of behavior need to be clearly understood as to what they are and why they are in place. There are times when we may have to change the methods of disciple. The growth of an individual, the aging process and other variables in life have to be considered with common sense. Some discipline is for guidance and some is for the nurture and admonition needed.
The ten northern tribes of Israel only survived as an entity for 200 years because of a bad start, bad political and religious leadership and unwillingness to repent of sin. God did not want to have to give up on "Ephraim" like He did on the cities associated with Sodom and Gomorrah. Judgment is inevitable when wickedness and inward sin is not faced and repented of. God's grief over His people reflects His compassion, but His character demands consequences consistent with the evil committed.
The perception of most people about God, is that He is slightly higher than man in knowledge, power, wisdom and authority. So many will only seek the Lord when there is a difficulty they can't handle personally and they turn to God as a last resort. When God doesn't respond they way they think He should, they blame Him for the outcome that is different than what they wanted. God Himself made the plain distinction that cannot be misunderstood, "I am God, and not man." That indicates in the form of a warning, that if He were only a mere man, they would have been gone long ago. Their present survival was only because He is God who loves them. Israel was like Gomer, Hosea's wife, and like he still loved her and did not want to give her up, God did not want to give up on Israel.
Justice and mercy are not often seen or experienced together. In spite of where the Jews are now, there is a different end to their story. Israel was deceitful in negotiating with other nations and were certainly deceitful in their association with God. Deceit in nations and in individuals does not produce anything good. it calls into question anything that might seem good at the moment but reputation is always considered in making decisions regarding that people or person. Judah had some good kings who brought the people back to God and to obeying His laws at least for periods of time. Priests served in the temple and the feasts were occasionally kept. However, the attraction of pagan worship and evil rituals were infecting the nation just under the surface. Because of the positive influence of a few, the nation of Judah continued one hundred fifty years after the northern tribes were taken away.
There are still some vestiges of truth in Christendom today in this country. In some parts of the world there are strong influences for righteousness amid unrighteous laws and strong persecution against the people of God. Unfortunately, in this country we have gotten so used to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and God, that people now ignore God as an inconvenience and the name of our Lord as a curse word. In our religious practices it is far more popular to entertain the people than to tell them the truth about sin, righteousness and judgment to come. We must be warned, "Just judgment is coming in God's own time and way. Repentance toward God still is possible if we confess and forsake sin.