Eighth Sunday after Epiphany
Preaching
Preaching And Reading The Old Testament Lessons
With an Eye to the New
Hosea could very well be called "the prophet of intimacy" - of intimacy with God. Hosea's ministry took place in northern Israel during the early days of the kingship of Jeroboam II (786--746 B.C.). And when he characterizes for his compatriots the relationship they are to have with their Lord, Hosea uses two figures of speech. First of all, Israel's relation to her God is to be like that of a faithful wife with her husband. The Lord "wed" his bride Israel in the desert (13:5), providing for her every need like a loving husband for his wife (cf. 2:8), and in response to his love he asked that Israel love him in return, with all her heart, in faithfulness and righteousness. Second, however, the prophet changes metaphors to characterize Israel's relation with God as that of an obedient and loving son to his father. When God delivered Israel out of bondage from the land of Egypt, he adopted Israel as his son, teaching the infant how to walk, lifting him up in his arms, showering upon him the love of a father for his first--born child (cf. 11:1--4). And God the Father expected his son to love him in return, with steadfast devotion.
We can see from the use of such metaphors to characterize the relation with God that the message of Hosea and of the Old Testament is far from that legalism often ascribed to the Book of the Old Covenant. Hosea is speaking in terms of the deepest and most heartfelt devotion. And indeed, the entire Bible calls for us to have such an intimate relation with our Lord. In some portions of the New Testament, Jesus is metaphorically termed the bridegroom of the church (Mark 2:19 and parallel). In others, we members of the church are the sons and daughters whom God has adopted into his family (Galatians 4:4--7). Throughout the sacred story, God asks of us the most intimate and heartfelt love in return for his love. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30). That is the greatest commandment.
As is so often true of us, however, Israel in Hosea's time is neither a faithful wife nor an obedient son to God. The metaphor that predominates in the first three chapters of the prophet's book is that of marriage, and instead of being a faithful wife, Israel has been a whore. She has given herself to other lovers, that is, to other gods and goddesses, whom she thinks can furnish her with the good things of life. The result is that God is portrayed in Hosea as divorcing his unfaithful wife (1:9; 2:2), to leave her to her own devices and to fall victim to the onslaught of the Assyrian Empire. And the northern kingdom of Israel was in fact conquered by the forces of Assyria under Sargon II in 721 B.C., her populace was exiled, and the ten tribes that made up northern Israel disappeared forever from history. Hosea does not portray that fall, but he predicts it.
What then? Does God desert his people? Has his love finally had enough of Israel's unfaithful whoredom and abandoned her altogether? That's a burning question for us too, is it not, because what one of us here this morning can claim that we have always been faithful to our Lord? Have we too not gone after other gods, whom we think can furnish us with the good things of life - after money and financial success, after social status and importance, after glorification of ourselves that we have so euphemistically labeled self--esteem, or indeed, after other gods of sex and power? Just look at the covers of all of the popular magazines as you go through the supermarket line. You can read there what our society and often we are chasing after. Like Israel in the time of Hosea, we have declared, "I will go after other lovers." And so are we in danger of being deserted by our God as Israel in Hosea's time was apparently deserted?
We have to look deeper into the heart of this God portrayed by Hosea to find any answers. And our prophet enables us to do that too. What do we find God doing in the Book of Hosea? We find him weeping: "How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? ... My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender" (11:8). And so the promise of our text for the morning is that God will not finally desert his covenant people. No, what he will do is to start his history with Israel all over again. He will woo his bride once more in the wilderness, as he courted her in the beginning, and he will speak tenderly to her heart. The Valley of Trouble (Achor) will be turned into a "door of hope" for his people, and Israel will become his faithful lover as she was in the beginning when the Lord first delivered her out of Egyptian slavery (2:15).
God will betroth Israel to himself, says our text (vv. 19--20). Betrothal in Israel was legally tantamount to marriage, a binding commitment, and as a sign of that commitment, the bridegroom paid a price to the father of the bride. However, Hosea changes that custom to portray God as paying the price to the bride herself. And what will God give to his bride Israel? He will instill in her righteousness and justice, steadfast love and mercy, faithfulness and knowledge of himself in an everlasting covenant (vv. 19--20). The Lord will transform his people's hearts and minds, so that they will love him faithfully and forever. He will make them new persons from the inside out. Never again will they go after other gods and goddesses, those hated fertility gods of Canaan called the baals. The name "Baal" will be lost forever from their vocabularly (vv. 16--17). Never again will the land know warfare from its enemies, for the weapons of war will be abolished (v. 18). Indeed, even the fight with nature that threatens the life of Israel will be stilled, and God's people will dwell in security and in peace.
God promises all such good things will come about for his covenant people "in that day" (v. 16). That is a phrase in the scripture that always signifies an unknown time in the future, when God's kingdom will have begun on earth at the end of time and human history. In other words, this promise by God to Israel in the preaching of Hosea is an eschatological promise.
It is a puzzling promise, however, because in the eighth century B.C., northern Israel disappeared into Assyrian exile and has never been heard from again. How can God fulfill a promise to a people who are no more? How can he forgive those who no longer exist?
To answer that, we have to turn to see what the Gospel according to Matthew does with the prophecies of Hosea. Our text from Hosea portrays God beginning his history with his chosen people all over again, and Matthew is convinced that God did that in the life of Jesus. Matthew uses the words of Hosea 11:1 that speak of Israel as God's son, and he applies them to the flight of Joseph and Mary and the infant Jesus to Egypt. Joseph "rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, 'Out of Egypt have I called my son' " (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:14--15).
In other words, in our Lord Jesus Christ, God begins his history with his covenant people - with us, his church, his bride, his sons and daughters - all over again, as he promised he would do in our text for the morning. And through the work and person of Jesus Christ, God can indeed turn all of us into faithful people, transforming us in our hearts and minds by his Spirit, until we live with him in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and mercy. God can make us new persons in Jesus Christ. And by faith in our Lord, we can have a "door of hope"; we can look forward with certainty to his kingdom of peace and safety, when war is no more and his good realm has come on all the earth.
We can see from the use of such metaphors to characterize the relation with God that the message of Hosea and of the Old Testament is far from that legalism often ascribed to the Book of the Old Covenant. Hosea is speaking in terms of the deepest and most heartfelt devotion. And indeed, the entire Bible calls for us to have such an intimate relation with our Lord. In some portions of the New Testament, Jesus is metaphorically termed the bridegroom of the church (Mark 2:19 and parallel). In others, we members of the church are the sons and daughters whom God has adopted into his family (Galatians 4:4--7). Throughout the sacred story, God asks of us the most intimate and heartfelt love in return for his love. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30). That is the greatest commandment.
As is so often true of us, however, Israel in Hosea's time is neither a faithful wife nor an obedient son to God. The metaphor that predominates in the first three chapters of the prophet's book is that of marriage, and instead of being a faithful wife, Israel has been a whore. She has given herself to other lovers, that is, to other gods and goddesses, whom she thinks can furnish her with the good things of life. The result is that God is portrayed in Hosea as divorcing his unfaithful wife (1:9; 2:2), to leave her to her own devices and to fall victim to the onslaught of the Assyrian Empire. And the northern kingdom of Israel was in fact conquered by the forces of Assyria under Sargon II in 721 B.C., her populace was exiled, and the ten tribes that made up northern Israel disappeared forever from history. Hosea does not portray that fall, but he predicts it.
What then? Does God desert his people? Has his love finally had enough of Israel's unfaithful whoredom and abandoned her altogether? That's a burning question for us too, is it not, because what one of us here this morning can claim that we have always been faithful to our Lord? Have we too not gone after other gods, whom we think can furnish us with the good things of life - after money and financial success, after social status and importance, after glorification of ourselves that we have so euphemistically labeled self--esteem, or indeed, after other gods of sex and power? Just look at the covers of all of the popular magazines as you go through the supermarket line. You can read there what our society and often we are chasing after. Like Israel in the time of Hosea, we have declared, "I will go after other lovers." And so are we in danger of being deserted by our God as Israel in Hosea's time was apparently deserted?
We have to look deeper into the heart of this God portrayed by Hosea to find any answers. And our prophet enables us to do that too. What do we find God doing in the Book of Hosea? We find him weeping: "How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? ... My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender" (11:8). And so the promise of our text for the morning is that God will not finally desert his covenant people. No, what he will do is to start his history with Israel all over again. He will woo his bride once more in the wilderness, as he courted her in the beginning, and he will speak tenderly to her heart. The Valley of Trouble (Achor) will be turned into a "door of hope" for his people, and Israel will become his faithful lover as she was in the beginning when the Lord first delivered her out of Egyptian slavery (2:15).
God will betroth Israel to himself, says our text (vv. 19--20). Betrothal in Israel was legally tantamount to marriage, a binding commitment, and as a sign of that commitment, the bridegroom paid a price to the father of the bride. However, Hosea changes that custom to portray God as paying the price to the bride herself. And what will God give to his bride Israel? He will instill in her righteousness and justice, steadfast love and mercy, faithfulness and knowledge of himself in an everlasting covenant (vv. 19--20). The Lord will transform his people's hearts and minds, so that they will love him faithfully and forever. He will make them new persons from the inside out. Never again will they go after other gods and goddesses, those hated fertility gods of Canaan called the baals. The name "Baal" will be lost forever from their vocabularly (vv. 16--17). Never again will the land know warfare from its enemies, for the weapons of war will be abolished (v. 18). Indeed, even the fight with nature that threatens the life of Israel will be stilled, and God's people will dwell in security and in peace.
God promises all such good things will come about for his covenant people "in that day" (v. 16). That is a phrase in the scripture that always signifies an unknown time in the future, when God's kingdom will have begun on earth at the end of time and human history. In other words, this promise by God to Israel in the preaching of Hosea is an eschatological promise.
It is a puzzling promise, however, because in the eighth century B.C., northern Israel disappeared into Assyrian exile and has never been heard from again. How can God fulfill a promise to a people who are no more? How can he forgive those who no longer exist?
To answer that, we have to turn to see what the Gospel according to Matthew does with the prophecies of Hosea. Our text from Hosea portrays God beginning his history with his chosen people all over again, and Matthew is convinced that God did that in the life of Jesus. Matthew uses the words of Hosea 11:1 that speak of Israel as God's son, and he applies them to the flight of Joseph and Mary and the infant Jesus to Egypt. Joseph "rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, 'Out of Egypt have I called my son' " (Hosea 11:1; Matthew 2:14--15).
In other words, in our Lord Jesus Christ, God begins his history with his covenant people - with us, his church, his bride, his sons and daughters - all over again, as he promised he would do in our text for the morning. And through the work and person of Jesus Christ, God can indeed turn all of us into faithful people, transforming us in our hearts and minds by his Spirit, until we live with him in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and mercy. God can make us new persons in Jesus Christ. And by faith in our Lord, we can have a "door of hope"; we can look forward with certainty to his kingdom of peace and safety, when war is no more and his good realm has come on all the earth.
