For more than a year...
Illustration
For more than a year, there has been a televangelist jousting tournament underway punctuated with mudslinging and accompanied by choruses of imprecations and maledictions invoked from both the religious and secular spheres. One of the stars to emerge from this drama was Tammy Faye Bakker. Early into the saga's unfolding, Tammy Faye broke the code of silence and defended her husband with attending tears and whimpers. With her monologue concluded, she burst into emotional song and barely completed a tear-drenched verse. My normally calm and nonjudgmental blood began to boil as I contemplated the question of appropriate responses to sinfulness -- which is also the theme of Hosea.
This text must be considered alongside chapter 5 which provides an all-inclusive litany of Israel's sinfulness and harlotry. The judgment meted out will pertain to priests, kings, and to all. In 5:15, the "I" opening the verse is emphatically placed to remind the erring nation of the centrality of God in this crisis. It is an overt clue pointing out the direction their inquiry should take and the locale of the crisis' resolution. They are given a chance to change their tune.
But instead, they respond with a contrived, accusatory, pretentious hymn of penitence. (6:1-3) In 6:1, they blame Yahweh as the source of their distress and in verse 2, their arrogance and affront demand that God act quickly with beneficent showers. God resumes the jeremiads in verses 4-5 and in verse 6, blueprints for them of the components for appropriate worship.
This text must be considered alongside chapter 5 which provides an all-inclusive litany of Israel's sinfulness and harlotry. The judgment meted out will pertain to priests, kings, and to all. In 5:15, the "I" opening the verse is emphatically placed to remind the erring nation of the centrality of God in this crisis. It is an overt clue pointing out the direction their inquiry should take and the locale of the crisis' resolution. They are given a chance to change their tune.
But instead, they respond with a contrived, accusatory, pretentious hymn of penitence. (6:1-3) In 6:1, they blame Yahweh as the source of their distress and in verse 2, their arrogance and affront demand that God act quickly with beneficent showers. God resumes the jeremiads in verses 4-5 and in verse 6, blueprints for them of the components for appropriate worship.
